Nehemiah 13:1-31

Nehemiah 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13


Nechem-Yah returns to Yeru-Shala'im, after an unstated time-period return to Persia, that latter probably in 433 BCE.


13:1 BA YOM HA HU NIKR'A BE SEPHER MOSHEH BE AZNEY HA AM VE NIMTS'A KATUV BO ASHER LO YAVO AMONI U MO-AVI BIK'HAL HA EOLOHIM AD OLAM

בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא נִקְרָא בְּסֵפֶר מֹשֶׁה בְּאָזְנֵי הָעָם וְנִמְצָא כָּתוּב בּוֹ אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָבוֹא עַמֹּנִי וּמוֹאָבִי בִּקְהַל הָאֱלֹהִים עַד עוֹלָם

KJ: On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever;

BN: On that day they read in the book of Mosheh in the hearing of the people; and it it was found written that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of Elohim for ever...


BAY YOM HA HU: The "day in question" being the day of the dedication of the wall, which was the central subject of chapter 12, though with multiple digressions; 12:45 uses the same phrase, and it too then goes into a detailed digression; so we again resume the account here.

The allusion is to Deuteronomy 23:4/5 - see my notes there. Hugely significant to the listeners, because significant numbers of them are going to fail this "racial purity" test, and find themselves apartheided from the community. Huigely significant - and yet alsouteronom deceitful. The Deuteronomy text says explicitly "ten generations", and ten generations, even in our modern world where women are having their babies in their thirties rather than their teens, is still three hundred years - and the Mosheh legends, if they have any historicity, were not less than eight hundred years before this, so the curse no longer applies.

But the Deuteronomy text is also confusing, because self-contradictory; because it also says "AD OLAM", "for ever". Or maybe that was the bit that Ezra added, in order to de-obselitise it!

All of which tells us a rather more important fact (important to us moderns anyway). That even if the Book of Deuteronomy was written at this time, or even later in the version that we now have, as many scholars now believe, the Redactors clearly must have had something from which to work, because this is presented as a discovery, and appears to have taken the discoverers by surprise, whereas those texts clearly added at this time, created to meet contemporary needs but given retroactive validation through theillusion of historicity, are presented by both Ezra and Nechem-Yah in a very different tone.


13:2 KI LO KIDMO ET BENEY YISRA-EL BA LECHEM U VA MAYIM VA YISKOR ALAV ET BIL'AM LEKALELO VA YAHAPHOCH ELOHEYNU HA KELALAH LI VERACHAH

כִּי לֹא קִדְּמוּ אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּלֶּחֶם וּבַמָּיִם וַיִּשְׂכֹּר עָלָיו אֶת בִּלְעָם לְקַלְלוֹ וַיַּהֲפֹךְ אֱלֹהֵינוּ הַקְּלָלָה לִבְרָכָה

KJ: Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing.

BN: Because they did not meet the Beney Yisra-El with bread and with water, but hired Bil'am against them, to curse them; nevertheless our gods turned the curse into a blessing.


KI LO KIDMU: This is not actually what it says in the version of Deuteronomy 23:5 that has come down to us. The "original" reads:

עַל דְּבַר אֲשֶׁר לֹא קִדְּמוּ אֶתְכֶם בַּלֶּחֶם וּבַמַּיִם בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם וַאֲשֶׁר שָׂכַר עָלֶיךָ אֶת בִּלְעָם בֶּן בְּעוֹר מִפְּתוֹר אֲרַם נַהֲרַיִם לְקַלְלֶךָּ
Because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road, when you were coming out of Mitsrayim; and because they hired Bil'am ben Be'or from Petor of Aram Naharayim to curse you.
Nechem-Yah's paraphrase makes sense however, because he needed to explain and not just quote.


13:3 VA YEHI KE SHAM'AM ET HA TORAH VA YAVDIYLU CHOL EREV MI YISRA-EL

וַיְהִי כְּשָׁמְעָם אֶת הַתּוֹרָה וַיַּבְדִּילוּ כָל עֵרֶב מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל

KJ: Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

BN: And it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Yisra-El all the alien mixture.


CHOL EREV: For me this is hugely difficult - all the blacks on the left please, all the whites on the right; all the gays on the left, all the straights on the right; all the Amonim and Mo-Avim on the left, all the Beney Yisra-El on the right; left-hand line, shower time. The expulsions of the Jews from European countries through the Christian epoch, the explusion of Jews from every Arab country since 1948, the laws preventing Jews from accessing schools, cultural institutions, sporting associations et cetera... and why should we expect others to treat us any better than we are treating them, based on the clear instructions of the deity?

As the verses that follow will make clear, there are going to be whole families affected by this mechitsah.

But the facts are the facts, and Judaism, like it or not, is a religion based on racial purity, with a membership rooted in biological heredity, and therefore of necessity an apartheid state. It is also the primary explanation of why the Jewish people have survived, and why Mark Twain's famous remark is accurate, even despite his massive over-statement of the numbers.


13:4 VE LIPHNEY MIZEH EL-YASHIV HA KOHEN NATUN BE LISHKAT BEIT ELOHEYNU KAROV LE TOVI-YAH

וְלִפְנֵי מִזֶּה אֶלְיָשִׁיב הַכֹּהֵן נָתוּן בְּלִשְׁכַּת בֵּית אֱלֹהֵינוּ קָרוֹב לְטוֹבִיָּה 

KJ: And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah:

BN: Now before this, Eli-Yashiv the priest, who was in charge of the rooms of the house of our gods, had formed an alliance with Tovi-Yah...


EL-YASHIV: Is this the same El-Yashiv that we encountered in Nehemiah 3:1 as the High Priest? If so, his having made a political alliance with Tovi-Yah would have been hugely significant, assuming it is also the same Tovi-Yah who was Sanvalat's partner in the attempt to stop the Beney Yisra-El rebuilding the wall of Yeru-Shala'im, the one who (6:2) invited Nechem-Yah to Ono so that he and Sanvalat could "do mischief".

LIPHNEY MIZEH: The MI is redundant; LIPHNEY ZEH would be quite sufficient.

KAROV: May not be a full "alliance", but certainly "established a close relationship".

BEIT ELOHEYNU: Nechem-Yah still not converted to YHVH worship, still the polytheist he has always been.


13:5 VA YA'AS LO LISHKAH GEDOLAH VE SHAM HAYU LEPHANIM NOTNIM ET HA MINCHAH HA LEVONAH VE HA KEYLIM U MA'SAR HA DAGAN HA TIYROSH VE HA YITS'HAR MITSVAT HA LEVIYIM VE HA MESHORERIM VE HA SHO'ARIM U TERUMAT HA KOHANIM

וַיַּעַשׂ לוֹ לִשְׁכָּה גְדוֹלָה וְשָׁם הָיוּ לְפָנִים נֹתְנִים אֶת הַמִּנְחָה הַלְּבוֹנָה וְהַכֵּלִים וּמַעְשַׂר הַדָּגָן הַתִּירוֹשׁ וְהַיִּצְהָר מִצְוַת הַלְוִיִּם וְהַמְשֹׁרְרִים וְהַשּׁוֹעֲרִים וּתְרוּמַת הַכֹּהֲנִים

KJ: And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the offerings of the priests.

BN: And set up for him a suite of rooms, where in the past they had laid the meal-offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Leviyim, and the singers, and the gate-keepers; and the heave-offerings for the priests.


LISHKAH GEDOLAH: No, this is a full-scale alliance, and if the store-rooms of the Leviyim have been cleaned out to provide him with such a palatial home, at the very heart of the very heart of Yeru-Shala'im, then no wonder the Yehudim are stlll speaking Aramaic, those committed to divorcing their foreign wives have not done so, and every other complaint that Nechem-Yah is about to launch. It is not El-Yashiv but Tovi-Yah who is currently in charge of Yeru-Shala'im.


13:6 U VE CHOL ZEH LO HAYIYTI BIYRU-SHALA'IM KI BISHNAT SHELOSHIM U SHETAYIM LE ARTACHSHAST MELECH BAV-EL BA'TI EL HA MELECH U LE KETS YAMIM NISH'ALTI MIN HA  MELECH

וּבְכָל זֶה לֹא הָיִיתִי בִּירוּשָׁלִָם כִּי בִּשְׁנַת שְׁלֹשִׁים וּשְׁתַּיִם לְאַרְתַּחְשַׁסְתְּא מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל בָּאתִי אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ וּלְקֵץ יָמִים נִשְׁאַלְתִּי מִן הַמֶּלֶךְ

KJ: But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king:

BN: But through all this time I was not in Yeru-Shala'im; for in the thirty-second year of Artachshast king of Bavel I came to the king, and after a number of days I asked leave of the king...


The impression of the last few chapters was of a continuous event, the completion of the walls, the celebrations, the new year festivals, Sukot, etc, and that he was there; at what point(s) in the text do the time-shifts happen? But it means that the dedication of the wall took place only after his return; the reading of the Torah must have taken place before however, because in the next several verses he will express deep disappointment that the covenant made at that time has not been followed through.

32nd: Nehemiah 2:1 told us that it was the 20th year of Artachshast when he first became aware of the situation in Yehudah and asked permission to go and sort it out. When he was granted permission (2:6) he agreed a fixed time, and a fixed date of return; we were not told what the limit was, but clearly it had been reached. If he arrived at the start of year 21, spent three days surveying the problem, and then just fifty-two days to undertake the rebuild, even allowing for some rest and recuperation, and then the ten days of Torah reading and covenant ceremony, he could easily have been back in Persia for ten years now.

BA'TI: Tells us that he is writing this in Susa or Bavel, not Yeru-Shala'im; the other way around and he would have HALACHTI, "gone", to the king.


13:7 VA AV'O LIYRU-SHALA'IM VA AVIYNAH VA RA'AH ASHER ASAH EL-YASHIV LE TOVI-YAH LA'ASOT LO NISHKAH BI CHATSREY BEIT HA ELOHIM

וָאָבוֹא לִירוּשָׁלִָם וָאָבִינָה בָרָעָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה אֶלְיָשִׁיב לְטוֹבִיָּה לַעֲשׂוֹת לוֹ נִשְׁכָּה בְּחַצְרֵי בֵּית הָאֱלֹהִים

KJ: And I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.

BN: And I came to Yeru-Shala'im, and was apprised of the dreadful thing that El-Yashiv had done for Tovi-Yah, providing him with a dwelling-place among the cells of the house of Ha Elohim.


13:8 VA YERA LI ME'OD VA ASHLICHAH ET KOL KELEY VEIT TOVI-YAH HACHUTS MIN HA LISHKAH

וַיֵּרַע לִי מְאֹד וָאַשְׁלִיכָה אֶת כָּל כְּלֵי בֵית טוֹבִיָּה הַחוּץ מִן הַלִּשְׁכָּה

KJ: And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber.

BN: And it made me very upset; and I had all of Tovi-Yah's household stuff removed from the chamber.


VA YER'A: A verb we usually associate with "fear"; but we have seen the word RA, which is from the same root, used to mean "sad" or "grief" on several occasions in both Ezra and Nehemiah.


13:9 VA OMRAH VAYETAHARU HA LESHACHOT VA ASHIYVAH SHAM KELEY BEIT HA ELOHIM ET HA MINCHAH VE HA LEVONOT

וָאֹמְרָה וַיְטַהֲרוּ הַלְּשָׁכוֹת וָאָשִׁיבָה שָּׁם כְּלֵי בֵּית הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת הַמִּנְחָה וְהַלְּבוֹנָה

KJ: Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense.

BN: Then I gave orders that they clean the rooms; and I had them bring back to them there the vessels of the house of Elohim, with the meal-offerings and the frankincense.


pey break


13:10 VA ED'AH KI MENAYOT HA LEVIYIM LO NITANAH VA YIVRECHU ISH LE SAD'EHU HA LEVIYIM VE HA MESHORERIM OSEY HA MELA'CHAH

וָאֵדְעָה כִּי מְנָיוֹת הַלְוִיִּם לֹא נִתָּנָה וַיִּבְרְחוּ אִישׁ לְשָׂדֵהוּ הַלְוִיִּם וְהַמְשֹׁרְרִים עֹשֵׂי הַמְּלָאכָה

KJ: And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field.
BN: And it came to my attention that the portions of the Leviyim had not been given to them; so that the Leviyim and the singers, who did the work, had fled, every last man back to his fields.


MENAYOT: This relates to Nehemiah 11:23, as part of the covenant agreed by the people at the time of Torah-reading.

As quickly as this, all the vows and promises made at the covenant renewal ceremony are being broken - and why are we not surprised? Fortunate that the fields adjacent to the walls were given to the Kohanim, so that they can rush back to them and not starve!


13:11 VA ARIYVAH ET HA SEGANIM VA OMRAH MADU'A NE'EZAV BEIT HA ELOHIM VA EKBETSEM VA A'AMIDEM AL AMDAM

וָאָרִיבָה אֶת הַסְּגָנִים וָאֹמְרָה מַדּוּעַ נֶעֱזַב בֵּית הָאֱלֹהִים וָאֶקְבְּצֵם וָאַעֲמִדֵם עַל עָמְדָם

KJ: Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place.

BN: Then I gave the leaders a piece of my mind, and asked them: "Why has the house of Elohim been abandoned?" And I gathered them together, and put them in their place.


VA A'AMIDEM AL AMDAM: on this occasion the translation works very well, though today we would say "put" rather than "set". Though in fact, other than metaphorically, it both is and isn't strictly what he did. He literally put them in their places, the Kohanim in front of the altar, the singers on their platform, the conductor on his rostrum, the treasurer in his office, and said: now do your jobs properly.


13:12 VE CHOL YEHUDAH HEVIY'U MA'SAR HA DAGAN VE HA TIYROSH VE HA YITS'HAR LA OTSAROT

וְכָל יְהוּדָה הֵבִיאוּ מַעְשַׂר הַדָּגָן וְהַתִּירוֹשׁ וְהַיִּצְהָר לָאוֹצָרוֹת

KJ: Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the oil unto the treasuries.

BN: Then all of Yehudah brought the tithes of the corn and the wine and the oil to the treasuries.


The system is essentially little different from the one imposed on the Egyptians by Yoseph when he was Vizier, except that Yoseph required 100% of the crop, where here it is only a tithe. Corporation tax, Biblical syle.


13:13 VA OTSRAH AL OTSAROT SHELEM-YAH HA KOHEN VE TSADOK HA SOPHER U PHEDA-YAH MIN HA LEVIYIM VE AL YADAM CHANAN BEN ZACHUR BEN MATAN-YAH KI NE'EMANIM NECHSHAVU VA ALEYHEM LACHALOK LA ACHEYHEM

וָאוֹצְרָה עַל אוֹצָרוֹת שֶׁלֶמְיָה הַכֹּהֵן וְצָדוֹק הַסּוֹפֵר וּפְדָיָה מִן הַלְוִיִּם וְעַל יָדָם חָנָן בֶּן זַכּוּר בֶּן מַתַּנְיָה כִּי נֶאֱמָנִים נֶחְשָׁבוּ וַעֲלֵיהֶם לַחֲלֹק לַאֲחֵיהֶם

KJ: And I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah: and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah: for they were counted faithful, and their office was to distribute unto their brethren.

BN: And I appointed treasurers over the treasuries: Shelem-Yah the priest, and Tsadok the scribe, and from the Leviyim Pheda-Yah; and next to them was Chanan ben Zachur ben Matan-Yah; for these were considered trustworthy, and their task was to distribute to their kinsmen.


OTSRAH:I have gone for "treasurers" only because the precise position is unclear. Mere ledger-clerks? Fully-fledged accountants? A Treasurer is usually a Board member rather than a practitioner.

TSADOK HA SOPHER: Has Ezra retired and Tsadok been appointed to replace him, SOPHER being a title? Or are there are numerous scribes, of which Ezra happened to be one, and Tsadok another?

pey break


13:14 ZACHRAH LI ELOHAI AL ZOT VE AL TEMACH CHASADAI ASHER ASIYTI BE VEIT ELOHAI U VE MISHMARAV

זָכְרָה לִּי אֱלֹהַי עַל זֹאת וְאַל תֶּמַח חֲסָדַי אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתִי בְּבֵית אֱלֹהַי וּבְמִשְׁמָרָיו

KJ: Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof.

BN: Remember me, O my god, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my god, and for its wards.


ZACHRAH: The next of the seven occasions of Nechem-Yah's "remember me" prayers; the first was at 1:8; the others at 5:19, 6:14, and three more to follow in this chapter, at verses 22, 29 and 31. Seven is the sacred number of YHVH, which makes me wonder about this, because at no point until now has Nechem-Yah declared for YHVH, always declaring for Elohim. Perhaps this is his negotiating position with the Kohanim and Leviyim: I will follow YHVH from now on, if you will too - their "not following" being more about daily practice.

There is something a touch dislikeable about this verse, the familiar egotism of Nechem-Yah coming through again. Everybody's memoir tells the good about them, and manages to skip or miss the bad - that goes without saying. But who adds lines like this one - well, me actually, right now, asking the gods to look on me with favour for the amazing work of scholarship I have undertaken in these pages, and please also commend me for my brilliant insights, and for the errors of others that I have faithfully pointed out, which nobody, being less skilful and scholarly than me, had ever seen before. In all humility. Amen.

And Nechem-Yah isn't even done yet!


13:15 BA YAMIM HA HEMAH RA'ITI VIYHUDAH DORCHIM GITOT BA SHABAT U MEVIY'IM HA AREMOT VE OMSIM AL HA CHAMORIM VE APH YAYIN ANAVIM VE TE'ENIM VE CHOL MAS'A U MEVIY'IM YERU-SHALA'IM BE YOM HA SHABAT VA A'ID BE YOM MICHRAM TSAYID

בַּיָּמִים הָהֵמָּה רָאִיתִי בִיהוּדָה דֹּרְכִים גִּתּוֹת בַּשַּׁבָּת וּמְבִיאִים הָעֲרֵמוֹת וְעֹמְסִים עַל הַחֲמֹרִים וְאַף יַיִן עֲנָבִים וּתְאֵנִים וְכָל מַשָּׂא וּמְבִיאִים יְרוּשָׁלִַם בְּיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת וָאָעִיד בְּיוֹם מִכְרָם צָיִד

KJ: In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals.

BN: In those days saw I in Yehudah people treading winepresses on the Shabat, and bringing in heaps of corn, and loading asses with them; likewise wine, grapes and figs, and all manner of goods which they brought into Yeru-Shala'im on the very day of Shabat; and I issued a formal warning to them on the day on which they sold those victuals.


HA HEMAH: And please, o ye gods, forgive me for all my grammar and syntax [syntactical?] and speling erors, of which I appear to have made yet another here (and another with Yeru-Shala'im later in the verse; apparently it needs a preposition and a dative). Amen ve amen. (Oh, and another one: VA A'ID is a brilliant exemplar of the use of the Vav Consecutive in the first person, but it turns out that it needs a transitive object: "them").

Note the italics in the KJ version, all of them picking up the errors in the verse.

BE YOM MICHRAM: If they were selling these goods on the Sabbath, and you issued a formal warning that day, I hope you did it orally and not in writing, because, had you done it in writing, that would have constituted a breach of the Sabbath. (Remember me, o ye gods, for the number of times I have hyprocritically noted the hippocrisies of others, even mis-spelling the word hypocrices as I did so. Amen).


13:16 VE HA TSORIM YASHVU VAH MEVIY'IM DA'G VE CHOL MECHER U MOCHRIM BA SHABAT LIVNEY YEHUDAH U VIYRU-SHALA'IM

וְהַצֹּרִים יָשְׁבוּ בָהּ מְבִיאִים דָּאג וְכָל מֶכֶר וּמוֹכְרִים בַּשַּׁבָּת לִבְנֵי יְהוּדָה וּבִירוּשָׁלִָם

KJ: There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.

BN: And there were men from Tsur dwelling there, who brought in fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the Shabat to the Beney Yehudah, and in Yeru-Shala'im.


HA TSORIM: Men of Tsur, which is to say Tyre, in what is now southern Lebanon. But it is also possible that these were not Tyrian fisherman, but men of Beit Tsur, which was a suburb of Yeru-Shala'im itself, according to Nehemiah 3:16, as well as a town elsewhere in Kena'an - see my notes on this at 3:16.

Compare Jesus' complaints when he visits the Temple three hundred and fifty years later (Matthew 21:12)!


13:17 VA ARIYVAH ET CHOREY YEHUDAH VA OMRAH LAHEM MAH HA DAVAR HA RA HA ZEH ASHER ATEM OSIM U MECHALELIM ET YOM HA SHABAT

וָאָרִיבָה אֵת חֹרֵי יְהוּדָה וָאֹמְרָה לָהֶם מָה הַדָּבָר הָרָע הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם עֹשִׂים וּמְחַלְּלִים אֶת יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת

KJ: Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?

BN: So I engaged in debate with the nobles of Yehudah, and said to them: "What wicked thing is this that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?..


VA ARIYVAH: See my translation of this word at verse 11, above. It is likely more accurate there.

CHOREY YEHUDAH: Properly speaking "the parents", which infers women as well as men, though this is clearly not Nechem-Yah's intention. Tribal parents.


13:18 HA LO CHOH ASU AVOTEYCHEM VA YAV'E ELOHEYNU ALEYNU ET KOL HA RA'AH HA ZOT VE AL HA IR HA ZOT VE ATEM MOSIYPHIM CHARON AL YISRA-EL LECHALEL ET HA SHABAT

הֲלוֹא כֹה עָשׂוּ אֲבֹתֵיכֶם וַיָּבֵא אֱלֹהֵינוּ עָלֵינוּ אֵת כָּל הָרָעָה הַזֹּאת וְעַל הָעִיר הַזֹּאת וְאַתֶּם מוֹסִיפִים חָרוֹן עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל לְחַלֵּל אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת


KJ: Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.

BN: "Did your ancestors not do exactly the same thing, and because of it our gods brought all the trouble we've been having on our heads; on us, and on this city? And yet you bring more wrath upon Yisra-El by profaning the Sabbath."


AVOTEYCHEM: Why not AVOTEYNU? Is he disowning the deity? Or simply distancing himself from them? ALEYNU adds that distance: you are doing it, we are suffering.

pey break


13:19 VA YEHI KA ASHER TSALELU SHA'AREY YERU-SHALA'IM LIPHNEY HA SHABAT VA OMRAH VA YISAGRU HA DELATOT VA OMRAH ASHER LO YIPHTACHUM AD ACHAR HA SHABAT U MI NE'AREY HE'EMADETI AL HA SHE'ARIM LO YAV'O MAS'A BE YOM HA SHABAT

וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר צָלְלוּ שַׁעֲרֵי יְרוּשָׁלִַם לִפְנֵי הַשַּׁבָּת וָאֹמְרָה וַיִּסָּגְרוּ הַדְּלָתוֹת וָאֹמְרָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִפְתָּחוּם עַד אַחַר הַשַּׁבָּת וּמִנְּעָרַי הֶעֱמַדְתִּי עַל הַשְּׁעָרִים לֹא יָבוֹא מַשָּׂא בְּיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת

KJ: And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.

BN: And it came to pass that, when the gateways of Yeru-Shala'im began to grow dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and gave instruction that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath; and I set some of my servants over the gates, that no goods should be brought in on the Sabbath day.


SHA'AREY YERU-SHALA'IM: A minor piece of pedantry here; gates don't become dark, but the gateways do.

Amusing (is that the mot juste!) to see that the same conflict existed in those days as they do in ours. Many Jews regard themselves as Jew-by-culture, or Jew-by-ethnicity, or in the case of th land of Yisra-El Jew-by-citizenship and Jew-by-nationality, and the religious aspect may or may not be of importance to them. So the attached article, from 1918, could just as easily have been in one of the parchment-tabloids of Nechem-Yah's day - click here.


13:20 VA YALIYNU HA ROCHLIM U MOCHREY CHOL MIMKAR MI CHUTS LIYRU-SHALA'IM PA'AM U SHETAYIM

וַיָּלִינוּ הָרֹכְלִים וּמֹכְרֵי כָל מִמְכָּר מִחוּץ לִירוּשָׁלִָם פַּעַם וּשְׁתָּיִם

KJ: So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.

BN: So the merchants and the sellers of all kinds of goods lodged outside Yeru-Shala'im on one or two occasions.


From the tone of this, especially the placement of the last phrase, we can almost hearing him saying "oh dear, oh what a shame", and smiling as he says it.

But what actually does he mean by "once or twice"? That they tried hanging out there once or twice, in the hope of getting into the city and doing some business, but it didn't work, so they went away? Or that they came with their goods but couldn't get in; and rather than going home and returning the next day, they simply camped for the night on the grass verge? See next verse.


13:21 VA A'IYDAH VAHEM VA OMRAH ALEYHEM MADU'A ATEM LENIM NEGED HA CHOMAH IM TISHNU YAD ESHLACH BACHEM MIN HA ET HA HI LO VA'U BA SHABAT

וָאָעִידָה בָהֶם וָאֹמְרָה אֲלֵיהֶם מַדּוּעַ אַתֶּם לֵנִים נֶגֶד הַחוֹמָה אִם תִּשְׁנוּ יָד אֶשְׁלַח בָּכֶם מִן הָעֵת הַהִיא לֹא בָאוּ בַּשַּׁבָּת

KJ: Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath.

BN: Then I asked them: "Why are you hanging about the wall?", and warned them, "If you do so again, I will have you arrested." From that time forth they didn't come on the Sabbath.


VA A'IYDAH: "Testified", here and at verse 15, above, is not the right choice of vocab - to "testify" against them he would have had to bring a law-suit, which as governor he could have done; but that is not the sense of his statements. Other translators have gone for "forewarned them", "I gave them advance notice", "I engaged in discourse with them"; no, none of these are strong enough. "I let them know", even less so. At v15 I went for "I issued a formal warning", but this one sounds rather more verbally informal. The odd word-order doesn't help either; I have rearranged it inmy translation.

IM TISHNU: Another splendid idiom that has not been revived in modern Ivrit. It simply makes a verb out of the number two (Shenayim - שנים).

YAD ESHLACH BACHEM: Sounds like he's threatening to beat them, but he means that he’ll have the guards move them on. This is the governor speaking, and "lay hands on you" means police and lawyers, not the back of his hand.

samech break


13:22 VE OMRAH LA LEVIYIM ASHER YIHEYU MITAHARIM U VA'IM SHOMRIM HA SHE'ARIM LEKADESH ET YOM HA SHABAT GAM ZOT ZACHRAH LI ELOHAI VE CHUSAH ALAI KEROV CHASDECHA

וָאֹמְרָה לַלְוִיִּם אֲשֶׁר יִהְיוּ מִטַּהֲרִים וּבָאִים שֹׁמְרִים הַשְּׁעָרִים לְקַדֵּשׁ אֶת יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת גַּם זֹאת זָכְרָה לִּי אֱלֹהַי וְחוּסָה עָלַי כְּרֹב חַסְדֶּךָ

KJ: And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.

BN: And I told the Leviyim that they should purify themselves, and that they too should come and keep the gates, to ensure the sanctity of the Sabbath day. Remember me, O my gods, for this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your mercy.


The enthusiasm for building the wall may have been rather more secular and defensive than religious, and people always do what popular politicians require of them. Clearly he and Ezra are somewhat alone in trying to establish this very strict cult on a reluctant people, and even a reluctant priesthood (see verse 25); though he still hasn't adopted YHVH as his deity (rather countering my thought at verse 14).

ASHER YIHEYU MITAHARIM : But didn't they go through an entire ceremony of purification, last time he was here (see chapter 12:30 ff)? Oh dear, what chance is there for religious fanaticism, when even the ordained priests can't follow the catchechism?!

pey break


13:23 GAM BA YAMIM HA HEM RA'IYTI ET HA YEHUDIM HOSHIYVU NASHIM ASHDODYOT (ASHDADIYOT) AMONYOT (AMANIYOT) MO-AVIYOT

גַּם בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם רָאִיתִי אֶת הַיְּהוּדִים הֹשִׁיבוּ נָשִׁים אשדודיות (אַשְׁדֳּדִיּוֹת) עמוניות (עַמֳּנִיּוֹת) מוֹאֲבִיּוֹת

KJ: In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab:

BN: In those days I also me the Yehudim who had married women of Ashdod, of Amon, and of Mo-Av.


RA'IYTI: "Saw", or "met", in the sense of the state governor doing the official tour of duty.

ASHDODYOT, AMONYOT, MO-AVIYOT really need to be rendered as such, to retain the cultural tone. AMONYOT particularly strikes me - is this the same as the city/province of Amman in Jordan, or just Amonite women in general? Probably the latter.

The campaign against non-Yehudi wives began at Ezra 10:10, where Ezra obtained a promise from the entire populace to divorce them and only marry racial pure women with the ability to prove that purity, and then published a name-and-shame list of those who still hadn't, especially the Kohanim and Leviyim. Apparently, like all the other agreements that have not been implemented, Nechem-Yah has come back to find this one still pending. So we have a picture of two religious fanatics, fundamentalists with unlimited ego, dictatorially-minded, seeking to impose Absolute Omnideism and Jewish Apartheid on a people that is ethnically mixed and culturally diverse, most of whom would rather be attending the Rites of Asherah than the Covenant Renewal ceremony, and swearing oaths of allegiance to the new regime that they have absolutely no intention of keeeping, neither the common people, nor the priesthood. Not a terribly good re-start for proto-Judaism.


13:24 U VENEYHEM CHATSI MEDABER ASHDODIT VE EYNAM MAKIRIM LEDABER YEHUDIT VE CHILSHON AM VA AM

וּבְנֵיהֶם חֲצִי מְדַבֵּר אַשְׁדּוֹדִית וְאֵינָם מַכִּירִים לְדַבֵּר יְהוּדִית וְכִלְשׁוֹן עַם וָעָם

KJ: And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.

BN: And their children half-spoke in the language of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Yehudit language, but each according to the language of his people.


CHATSI MEDABER: Half-spoke, I think, in the sense that it was a mixed-up language, half Aramaic and half Ashdodit, the Phoenician dialect of Hittite spoken by the Pelishtim, the original Palestinians. A comparision might be made with the mingling of Anglo-Saxon in southern England and Viking in northern England that led to Olde Aenglish in the 9th and 10th centuries, or the mixing of Norman French with Olde Aenglish in the 12th and 13th centuries that led to Middle English.

YEHUDIT: I have, throughout TheBibleNet, insisted on calling the language of the Bible Yehudit and not Hebrew - and here is why.

I would like to make the comment that "at least, in making this of all statements, Nechem-Yah has for once said something in completely correct Yehudit, grammatically, syntactically and in his spelling". But alas I cannot, for he has not.


13:25 VA ARIV IMAM VA AKALELEM VA AKEH ME HEM ANASHIM VA EMRETEM VA ASHBIY'EM BE ELOHIM IM TITNU VENOTEYCHEM LIVNEYHEM VE IM TIS'U MIBNOTEYHEM LIVNEYCHEM VE LACHEM

וָאָרִיב עִמָּם וָאֲקַלְלֵם וָאַכֶּה מֵהֶם אֲנָשִׁים וָאֶמְרְטֵם וָאַשְׁבִּיעֵם בֵּאלֹהִים אִם תִּתְּנוּ בְנֹתֵיכֶם לִבְנֵיהֶם וְאִם תִּשְׂאוּ מִבְּנֹתֵיהֶם לִבְנֵיכֶם וְלָכֶם

KJ: And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.

BN: And I argued with them, and swore at them, and slapped several of them, and pulled their hair, and made them swear by Elohim: "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves...


How much admiration do we have for this man, this fanatic, who believes - as all demagogues and despots believe - that he knows what is right and proper, that he speaks the word of the deity, and that he has the power to enforce his will? Mussolini got the trains to run on time, and Castro built the finest Disaster Medical Assistance system in the Third World, Junipero Serra brought the whole of California to the church, and Oliver Cromwell allowed the Jews back in: great men all, if that is all that we remember of them. Like Ezra, we have to recognise that Nechem-Yah was an obsessive, a cult-leader, a fanatic - and from this verse, not very good at maintaining the good temper expected of a diplomat and a politician

And did he really hit them? When he admitted this in an earlier verse (or was it an earlier chapter), I assumed he was metaphorising. But in this verse he clearly admits that it was physical, literal.


13:26 HA LO AL ELEH CHAT'A SHELOMOH MELECH YISRA-EL U VA GOYIM HA RABIM LO HAYAH MELECH KAMOHU VE AHUV LE'LOHAV HAYAH VA YITNEHU ELOHIM MELECH AL KOL YISRA-EL GAM OTO HECHETIY'U HA NASHIM HA NACHRIYOT

הֲלוֹא עַל אֵלֶּה חָטָא שְׁלֹמֹה מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל וּבַגּוֹיִם הָרַבִּים לֹא הָיָה מֶלֶךְ כָּמֹהוּ וְאָהוּב לֵאלֹהָיו הָיָה וַיִּתְּנֵהוּ אֱלֹהִים מֶלֶךְ עַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל גַּם אוֹתוֹ הֶחֱטִיאוּ הַנָּשִׁים הַנָּכְרִיּוֹת

KJ: Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.

BN: "Did not Shelomoh king of Yisra-El sin by these things? Yet among most of the nations there was never a king like him, and he was beloved of his god, and Elohim made him king over all Yisra-El; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin...


SHELOMOH: See the link.

LE'LOHAV: implies that it was a different god from the one Nechem-Yah is following - and in all honesty, it was.

HECHETIY'U: The sin in question, however, wasn't the racial purity of the women, nor their absurd number, but that he allowed each of them to bring their gods and goddesses with them, into the palace and into the Temple - see 1 Kings 11:1-6.

I am far from clear what he is trying to say in this analogy,  but I think his intention is that the current generation have sinned, as Shelomoh did, but he became great anyway - unstated, but through the building of the Temple - and therefore, by doing the same thing, and by following Nechem-Yah's edicts re true Judaism, so can they. But you have to be able to read deeply into this to reach that intention. Superficially it comes across as a man offering them a counter-argument to his absurd dogma; the obvious response to him being, that Shelomoh had a thousand wives, most of them non-Jewish, and he became a great king, so why is it a problem if I take a non-Jewish wife as well?


13:27 VE LACHEM HA NISHM'A LA'ASOT ET KOL HA RA'AH HA GEDOLAH HA ZOT LIM'OL BE'LOHEYNU LEHOSHIV NASHIM NACHRIYOT

וְלָכֶם הֲנִשְׁמַע לַעֲשֹׂת אֵת כָּל הָרָעָה הַגְּדוֹלָה הַזֹּאת לִמְעֹל בֵּאלֹהֵינוּ לְהֹשִׁיב נָשִׁים נָכְרִיּוֹת

KJ: Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?

BN: "Shall we all then follow your example and commit this great evil, to break faith with our god by marrying foreign women?"


LEHOSHIV: The second time that he has used this word for marriage, rather than LEHITCHATEN, which we would use today. There is a very interesting sociological essay to be written on this, but in brief, LEHITCHATEN is a reflexive verb, suggesting mutuality and agreement, where LEHOSHIV, which comes from the root YASHAV, "to sit down", "to settle", "to dwell", but in the Hiphil or causative form, is about "making someone dwell", which is a decidedly unequal relationship in which the woman is purhased as property and comes to the marriage-bed as a mere chattle. CHATAN, the Pa'al form of that root, was used then - we will see it in the very next verse - as it is today, both in the sense of son-in-law, and specifically the bridegroom (who of course is the son-in-law as well), while MECHUTEN in Yiddish is still used for the in-laws.

NACHRIYOT: as opposed to GOYOT or GEROT. All three are used, generally in the masculine, to mean "strangers", "foreigners", or "non-Yehudim", but the nuances are subtle. Click here for my essay on the subject.

Nechem-Yah is still speaking to these men, until the end of this verse.


13:28 U MIBNEY YO-YAD'A BEN EL-YASHIV HA KOHEN HA GADOL CHATAN LE SANVALAT HA CHORONI VA AVRIYCHEHU ME ALAI

וּמִבְּנֵי יוֹיָדָע בֶּן אֶלְיָשִׁיב הַכֹּהֵן הַגָּדוֹל חָתָן לְסַנְבַלַּט הַחֹרֹנִי וָאַבְרִיחֵהוּ מֵעָלָי

KJ: And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.

BN: And one of the sons of Yo-Yad'a ben El-Yashiv the high priest was son-in-law to Sanvalat the Choroni; therefore I drove him away.


A rather good marriage, you would have thought, the son of the High Priest to the most important man in all the surrounding states - except that this is the same Sanvalat, along with the same Tovi-Yah who Nechem-Yah has also just thrown out, who did everything in their power to prevent the reconstruction of the walls of Yeru-Shala'im, tried to trick Nechem-Yah into a meeting where they planned to "do him mischief", and were generally committed to the prevention of the return of a Zionust state!


13:29 ZACHRAH LAHEM ELOHAI AL GA'ALEY HA KEHUNAH U VERIT HA KEHUNAH VE HA LEVIYIM

זָכְרָה לָהֶם אֱלֹהָי עַל גָּאֳלֵי הַכְּהֻנָּה וּבְרִית הַכְּהֻנָּה וְהַלְוִיִּם

KJ: Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.

BN: Remember them, O my gods, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Leviyim.


Nechem-Yah's religious fanaticism is reflected best of all in this constant returning to prayer, asking his god to remember him for all these good deeds he has done - the kind of validation one only needs if one is either feeling sanctimonious, which is probably the case with Nechem-Yah, though others do the same when they are feeling guilty and making confession of things that they know aren't really quite right. It would be nice, occasionally, to hear Nechem-Yah saying something like "Lord, forgive me for being over-zealously dogmatic and bigotedly narrow-minded in your name. Amen." This instance is different though. This is Nechem-Yah seeking vengeance on those who disagree with him, but using the gods because he has no means of his own available. "Dear God, please remember these people - and send them to Hell not Heaven, and make it the 9th circle. Amen." The precedent for that most disgraceful of all Jewish prayers, Rabban Gamliel's "Ve La Malshinim", the twelfth "blessing" (on this occasion "blessing" in quotation marks, because really it is a curse) in the Amidah - see my note on this at Ezra 9:1.


13:30 VE TIHARTIM MI KOL NECHAR VA A'AMIYDAH MISHMAROT LA KOHANIM VE LA LEVIYIM ISH BIMLA'CHTO

וְטִהַרְתִּים מִכָּל נֵכָר וָאַעֲמִידָה מִשְׁמָרוֹת לַכֹּהֲנִים וְלַלְוִיִּם אִישׁ בִּמְלַאכְתּוֹ

KJ: Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business;

BN: Thus did I purge them from everything foreign, and instituted rotas for the priests and for the Levites, each man to his own task...


VE TIHARTIM: We go to the Bible for an understanding of what is right and wrong - often learning from bad examples not to follow as well as good examples that we should. In this verse we can hear the speeches of Marine Le Pen, of Nigel Farage, of President Erdogan in his hatred of the Kurds, of President Trump planning his wall along the Mexican Gulf. The fear of foreigners and everything foreign, apparently sanctioned and approved by the deity.


13:31 U LE KURBAN HA ETSIM BE I'TIM MEZUMANOT VE LA BIKURIM ZACHRAH LI ELOHAI LE TOVAH

וּלְקֻרְבַּן הָעֵצִים בְּעִתִּים מְזֻמָּנוֹת וְלַבִּכּוּרִים זָכְרָה לִּי אֱלֹהַי לְטוֹבָה

KJ: And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

BN: ... and for the wood-offering, at the appointed times, and for the first-fruits. Remember me, O my gods, for good.


Sheen break - end of book (is this the only book that ends with a Sheen, or is it because Nechem-Yah's is the very last book of all?).

And why a Sheen, which is the penultimate letter of the alphabet, and not a Tav, which is the very last? Because the original shape of the Tav was a cross, and it was used to brand cattle destined for sacrifice - the Mark of Kayin (Cain). The Sheen allows for Shalom, which is not just "peace", but, more fully and more correctly, "completion". And so it now is.



Nehemiah 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13




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