They are thy servants and thy people: Nehemiah repeats the theme of servanthood, reminding God of the covenant relationship with his people. They are not simply one of the nations among whom they are scattered. Here they are thy people, that is, God’s people. Good News Translation reflects the emphasis of the repetition of meaning in the use of the two words by saying “your own people.”
Whom thou hast redeemed: God has fulfilled his promise by redeeming the Jews from exile to return to Jerusalem. The focus here is that God freed his people from captivity by his power (so New American Bible). Good News Translation expresses this through the verb “rescue,” while Bible en français courant and bcc say “deliver.” At the same time the basic meaning of the verb is “to buy back, to redeem” and many versions retain this figurative language in translation (so New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).
Thy great power and thy strong hand: The author uses two expressions to convey the same meaning. Both expressions include a noun and a modifying adjective. The first is prosaic, the second is figurative or poetic language. God is pictured as a person with human characteristics. He acts with great power by using his strong hand. Good News Translation replaces the picture of God’s strong hand with the abstract term “strength,” which is generally synonymous with “great power.” Bible en français courant similarly omits the figure of speech by translating “your might, your irresistible power,” as does Contemporary English Version with “great strength and mighty power.” However, because of the importance of the Old Testament picture of God’s “hand” of deliverance from bondage (see Exo 13.9; Deut 5.15), translators should retain it here, if it conveys the same meaning.
Good News Translation brings forward the vocative “Lord” to this verse from the next verse to make it clear that the quotation of God’s words to Moses that began in verse 8 closed at the end of verse. Translators may restructure here as Good News Translation has done to highlight Nehemiah’s plea to the Lord.
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 .