Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women?: The marriages of Solomon to foreign women are given as an example of the danger of such liaisons. He had wives from among the peoples mentioned in Deut 23.4-9, and they led him into idolatry (see 1 Kgs 11.1-10). This sentence begins another rhetorical question in Nehemiah’s series of accusations. As with Nehemiah’s earlier rhetorical questions, Good News Translation again changes the question into a statement and makes its meaning explicit. This will be a helpful model for many translators if it expresses the full strength of the rhetorical question.

The rhetorical question is followed by four statements:
1) Among the many nations there was no king like him, and this was the fulfillment of a promise of God (see 1 Kgs 3.12-13).
2) He was beloved by his God is a reference to Solomon’s personal name, Jedidiah, which means “beloved of the LORD” (see 2 Sam 12.25).
3) God made him king over all Israel is evidence of God’s love for him.
4) Nevertheless foreign women made even him to sin, and this emphasizes that if Solomon with all his wisdom and devotion to God and power could be led into sin by foreign wives, others would be even more likely to sin as a result of such marriages.

Among the many nations there was no king like him: No king in his time could compare with Solomon in wisdom or in wealth (1 Kgs 3.12-13; 2 Chr 1.12). There was no one who was equal to him, there was no one comparable to him, there was no one as great as he was among the many nations. These were the kingdoms and the peoples other than Israel (see Ezra 6.21). Contemporary English Version expresses this in contemporary English: “the greatest king on earth.”

He was beloved by his God is a passive construction. It will be necessary in some languages to state this with an active expression, for example, “his God loved him” or “the God that he served loved him.”

God made him king expresses a causative action. God caused him to be the king over all Israel, that is, over all the land of Israel or over all the people of Israel.

Nevertheless foreign women made even him to sin: The conclusion is very emphatic. It begins with an intensive conjunction followed by the third person singular masculine pronoun in Hebrew, which is literally “even him foreign wives caused to sin.” Revised English Bible translates “nevertheless even he was led by foreign women into sin.” The verb here is causative and may be rendered “they led him into sin” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) or “they caused him to enter into sin” (Deftere Allah). New Jerusalem Bible adds an exclamation point at the end of this clause for emphasis.

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 .

Shall we then listen to you…?: Nehemiah continues with his series of rhetorical questions. He asks whether we should listen to the people he is accusing. The we here is clearly the exclusive first person plural pronoun because Nehemiah is disassociating himself and those with him from the people who have married foreign wives. Listen implies following their example (so Good News Translation). To do so would be to do all this great evil. The word evil occurs here for the fourth time in this chapter (earlier in verses 7, 17, 18) and it is modified by the adjectival phrase all this great. Nehemiah explains what this great evil is. It is to act treacherously against our God. This is to be unfaithful to their covenant with God, or as Revised English Bible and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh say, “breaking faith with our God” (see Ezra 9.2; 10.2). The pronoun our here is the inclusive plural because he is the God of all the people of Israel.

By this complex rhetorical question Nehemiah strongly asserts that we the people today should not follow the example of those Jews who are marrying foreign women, as Solomon did, for that is a sin against our God. Notice here that Good News Translation retains the rhetorical question. The answer to the question is certainly understood to be an emphatic “No!” Translators should express equivalent drama in their rendering of this episode.

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 .

Nehemiah made an example of one of the most blatant violations of the prohibition against marrying foreigners. According to the Law, a high priest could not marry a foreign woman (see Lev 21.14). The high priesthood was inherited so the grandson of a high priest could become the high priest. Eliashib was high priest when Nehemiah first came to Jerusalem (Neh 3.1). Jehoiada was high priest after his father (see Neh 12.10-11), but whether he had become high priest by this time is not known. His son had married a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite (see Neh 2.10). Jehoiada and “Joiada” (Good News Translation) are alternate spellings for the same name.

Son-in-law: In some cultures this is referred to as the “in-law” relationship (compare Neh 6.18). One of Jehoida’s sons had an “in-law” relationship with Sanballat by having married his daughter, and this was unacceptable according to the prohibition in Lev 21.14.

I chased him from me, which is literally “I caused him to flee away from me,” means that the guilty person was expelled from the Jewish religious community. New Living Translation says “I banished him from my presence,” and Bible en français courant “I expelled him from Jerusalem.” Good News Translation says it in simple language with “I made Joiada leave Jerusalem.”

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 .

Remember them, O my God: Nehemiah this time in another brief prayer asks God to Remember the wrongdoers as in Neh 6.14, rather than himself (see also Neh 4.4). Nehemiah has taken Jehoiada’s son as an example and has punished him, but in his prayer he calls upon God to punish all those guilty of violating the priesthood through marriage with foreigners. This is a call for God’s vengeance and punishment upon them because of the evil things they have done. In translation it will be necessary in some languages to say something like “O my God, remember those people and punish them” (compare Contemporary English Version, which has “I pray that God will punish them”).

They have defiled the priesthood: They have brought defilement or pollution upon the priesthood (see Ezra 2.62) by marrying foreigners, that is, by marrying into Sanballat’s family. They have made the state of being a priest unclean before God. This can be translated “they have put [ritual] filth upon being a priest.”

The defilement extends to the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. Following another manuscript tradition, some translations say “covenant of the priests and the Levites” (Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Osty-Trinquet). To defile a covenant means not only to break it, but also to bring dishonor upon it (so Bible en français courant). For comments on covenant, see Ezra 10.3. The covenant here could refer to the oath made by the Jews in Neh 10.28-30 to separate themselves from the peoples of the land and not intermarry with them. But this prohibition was not limited to the priests and Levites. In Num 25.12-13 there is a covenant of peace and perpetual priesthood given to the descendants of Phinehas because of his zealousness in opposition to intermarriage with foreigners. Mal 2.4-9 may be a commentary on this covenant as it refers to a covenant of life and peace with Levi that included reverence for God, righteousness in life and speech, and the responsibility to teach knowledge to the people. In the context of the Malachi passage, there is also a condemnation of marriage with “the daughter of a foreign god” (Mal 2.11).

Good News Translation is a good model for the translator to follow in translating this verse (see also New Jerusalem Bible and Revised English Bible). In many languages it will also be helpful to treat this verse as a separate paragraph as Good News Translation does.

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 .

I provided for the wood offering … and for the first fruits: Nehemiah also takes credit for making provision or for establishing regulations for the firewood for the Temple and for gathering the offerings of the first fruits. The wood offering was regulated in Neh 10.34 as part of the oath taken by the people. The arrangements for the collection of the first fruits were also part of the oath in Neh 10.35-39, and their gathering and distribution were regulated in Neh 12.44-47. Good News Translation specifies what offerings the people were to bring on the basis of Neh 10.35, and translators may wish to do the same in order to avoid possible ambiguity about the meaning of first fruits.

For at appointed times, see the comments at Ezra 10.14 and Neh 10.34.

Remember me, O my God, for good: In conclusion, Nehemiah prays the prayer that he has prayed earlier in Neh 5.19 and verses 14, 22 and 29 of this chapter. Up to now it has been in the form of an interruption in his account. Here it is his conclusion, and this is the shortest version of the prayer. He only asks God to Remember him for good or “favourably” (Revised English Bible). He leaves it implicit that he is asking his God to remember him because of all that he has done for the Temple and its personnel. This is a request for God’s blessing and protection (see Ezra 8.22; Neh 2.18), and it provides the ending to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

The closing prayer is final in its brevity and abruptness. Translators should render it similarly to its form in the earlier versions, if possible, repeating the form of the first part of the prayer in Neh 5.19, with which it is identical. The prayer should be grammatically and syntactically complete. It may be presented in the form of an exclamation as in Revised English Bible, which has “God, remember me favourably!” Like the earlier prayers, it may be set apart in a separate paragraph as in Good News Translation.

The text ends here without any formal discourse mark of the closing of the narrative of Ezra-Nehemiah. No special discourse markings should be used to draw the book to a close because none are used in the Hebrew text. Nehemiah’s short prayer constitutes the end of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.