Nehemiah credits God with giving him the solution to the problem noted in verse 3 above: God put it into my mind, which is literally “God gave it to my heart” (see New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). The Jews considered the heart to be the center of reasoning (see Ezra 7.10). Nehemiah says that God gave him the idea or God “inspired” him (so Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible) to carry out a census. He would have an official count made of the people to determine the number of people and to identify those of pure ancestry. Other languages may use an idiom similar to the one in Hebrew, such as “God gave the thought to me” or “God put it in my liver.”

See Neh 2.16 for a discussion of nobles and officials. People refers to the general population of Jews, the “ordinary citizens” (so New Living Translation). Note that Good News Translation reverses the order of nobles, officials, and people. It goes from the larger grouping to the smaller more specific groups. It mentions first “the people” and then “their leaders and officials.” Translators should use the order that is appropriate in the receptor culture.

To be enrolled by genealogy: The census would be taken by family. New International Version translates “for registration by families” and Revised English Bible has “to be enrolled family by family.” See Ezra 2.62.

The book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first refers to a list or a census that had been taken earlier (so Good News Translation, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Nehemiah started with the record of those who were the first to return from exile. Revised English Bible calls it a “register of the genealogies of those who had been the first to come back.” For came up, see the comments on “go up” at Ezra 1.3.

I found written in it: The words found written are a formula used in Nehemiah to introduce a quotation from another writing (also in Neh 8.14; 13.1). If a language uses neither a passive verb nor a verb that describes a state or situation, this may be rendered in an active construction by supplying an indefinite subject; for example, “I found that they had written these things in it.”

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .