Nehemiah 1

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Codex Leningradensis (1008).

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^A; 5th century).

Verse 1

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah.

And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,

• "Chisleu (Kislev)": While Ezra uses numbered months (the nomenclature of the Torah), Nehemiah uses 'Babylonian calendrical names'.
• "The twentieth year": for the reign of Artaxerxes I corresponds to 445 BC, thirteen years after Ezra's arrival in Jerusalem.
• "Shushan" or "Susa"
• "Palace" (NKJV: “citadel"): or "fortified palace", also elsewhere in the book.

Verse 2

That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

• "Brethren": or "brothers", can be taken figuratively, but Williamson, noting Nehemiah 7:2, suggests to take this literally.

Verse 3

And they said to me, "The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire."

The news of the state of Jerusalem troubled Nehemiah partly because of the 'shame' (reproach; herpa) of this circumstance ("on taunts of foreigners", Psalm 69:20, 21; 71:13; 89:51; 119:22; Isaiah 51:7; Jeremiah 51:51; Lamentations 3:61; Zephaniah 2:8), but perhaps because he is surprised that 'the walls are still down, even after the temple has been rebuilt'.

Verse 5

and said:

"I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and mercy for those who love Him and keep His commandments."

• "Keep": from the Hebrew verb Hebrew: שָׁמַר (shamar, "to observe; to keep") is often used as an idiom that means "to obey" the commandments of God (for examples, Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:16; 23:24; 29:8; Judges 2:22; 1 Kings 2:43; 11:11; Psalm 119:8, 17, 34; Jeremiah 35:18; Ezekiel 17:14; Amos 2:4).

Verse 11

"O Lord, I implore You, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. And let Your servant prosper this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man."

For I was the king's cupbearer.

• "Cupbearer" (cf. Genesis 40:1; 41:9): considered by many scholars to mean "one who tasted wine for poison" (Xenophon. Cyropaedia. 1.3.9), but in the LXX (oinochoos in Alexandrinus and others) causes the rise of a variant that suggests Nehemiah was a "eunuch" (eunouchos) found only in Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, and Venetus, but rejected by most scholars. However, the arguments against Nehemiah's physical mutilation (as 'eunuch') 'tend to be motivated by the myth of Persian beneficence' Isaiah 56:4–5, and should not be dismissed lightly, as sociological studies indicate a possibility in tradition of Nehemiah as a eunuch.