Many years thou didst bear with them, and didst warn them by thy Spirit through thy prophets: Many years refers to the period of time when kings were ruling in Israel. The Good News Translation rendering “Year after year” makes explicit that God’s patience was continuous and that his warnings were repeated again and again. During that time the prophets were led by God’s Spirit to warn the people (see Zech 7.12).

Bear with means “to be patient with” (so Contemporary English Version) or “to put up with” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).

For thy Spirit, see the comments on verse 20 above. Good News Translation avoids translating Spirit (ruach in Hebrew) by using the verb “inspired,” which means that God communicated the message of warning to his prophets for them to give it to the Israelites. It is preferable, however, to retain an explicit mention of God’s Spirit as most translations do.

For thy prophets, see Ezra 5.1. In Hebrew through thy prophets is literally “by the hand of your prophets,” which Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translates as “by the agency of your prophets” (also Nouvelle Bible Segond). Translators must make it clear that God’s warning was given by his Spirit to his prophets for the people.

They would not give ear: The Hebrew verb here may be translated “they did not give heed” or “they did not pay attention” (similarly New International Version). Good News Translation uses the contemporary English expression, “were deaf,” which means that they did not listen to the warnings.

Thou didst give them into the hand of: See verse 27 above.

The peoples of the lands here refers to the Assyrians and Babylonians who took the people of Israel into exile. However, the translator should not refer explicitly to these peoples. Rather, translators should say “other nations” (Good News Translation), “people of foreign countries” (Nouvelle Bible Segond), or “people of other countries” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).

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 .