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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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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
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
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
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
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.
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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
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.
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
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