Nehemias hearing the miserable state of his countrymen in Judea, lamenteth, fasteth, and prayeth to God for their relief.
Nehemias hearing the miserable state of his countrie men in Iurie, 4. lamenteth, fasteth, and prayeth God for their relief.
1The words of Nehemias the son of Helchias. And it came to pass in the month of Casleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in the castle of Susa,Storia di Nehemia figliuolo di Helcia. Io mi trovava l'anno ventesimo, il mese di Chasleu, nel castello di Susa;THE wordes of Nehemias the sonne of Helchias. And it came to passe in the moneth of Casleu, the twenteth yeare, and I was in Susis the castel.Verba Nehemiæ filii Helchiæ. Et factum est in mense Casleu, anno vigesimo, et ego eram in Susis castro. 2That Hanani one of my brethren came, he and some men of Juda; and I asked them concerning the Jews, that remained and were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.Quando venne Hanani, uno de' miei fratelli, con alcuni uomini di Giuda: e io domandai ad essi nuove riguardo' ai Giudei, che restavano, ed erano avanzati alla cattività, e riguardo a Gerusalemme.And Hanani one of my brethren came, him selse and men of Iuda, and I asked them of the Iewes, that remayned, and were left aliue of the captiuitie, and of Ierusalem.Et venit Hanani, unus de fratribus meis, ipse et viri ex Juda: et interrogavi eos de Judæis qui remanserant, et supererant de captivitate, et Jerusalem. 3And they said to me: They that have remained, and are left of the captivity there in the province, are in great affliction, and reproach: and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire.E quelli mi dissero: Quelli, che sono rimasi dalla cattività, e sono stati lasciati nella provincia, sono in afflizione, e ignominia: e le mura di Gerusalemme sono per terra, e le sue porte sono state consunte dalle fiamme.And they sayd to me. They that remayned, and are left of the captiuitie there in the prouince, are in great affliction, and in reproche: and the wal of Ierusalem is broken downe, and the gates therof are burnt with fire.Et dixerunt mihi: Qui remanserunt, et relicti sunt de captivitate ibi in provincia, in afflictione magna sunt, et in opprobrio: et murus Jerusalem dissipatus est, et portæ ejus combustæ sunt igni. 4And when I had heard these words, I sat down, and wept, and mourned for many days: and I fasted, and prayed before the face of the God of heaven.Udite queste parole io mi posi a sedere, e piansi, e mi afflissi per molti giorni: e digiunava, e faceva orazione dinanzi al Dio del cielo;And when I had heard these maner of wordes, I sate, and wept, and mourned many dayes: and fasted, and prayed before the face of the God of heauen.Cumque audissem verba hujuscemodi, sedi, et flevi, et luxi diebus multis: jejunabam, et orabam ante faciem Dei cæli:
5And I said: I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, strong, great, and terrible, who keepest covenant and mercy with those that love thee, and keep thy commandments:E diceva: Io ti prego, o Signore Dio del cielo, forte, grande, e terribile che mantieni il patto con quei, che ti amano, e osservano i tuoi comandamenti:And I sayd: I besech thee Lord God of heauen, strong, great, and terrible, which keepest couenant & mercie with them that loue thee, and keepe thy cōmandmentes:et dixi: Quæso, Domine Deus cæli fortis, magne atque terribilis, qui custodis pactum et misericordiam cum his qui te diligunt, et custodiunt mandata tua: 6Let thy ears be attentive, and thy eyes open, to hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, night and day, for the children of Israel thy servants: and I confess the sins of the children of Israel, by which they have sinned against thee: I and my father’s house have sinned.Porgi le tue orecchie, e apri gli occhi tuoi, e ascolta l'orazione del tuo servo, la quale io in questo tempo a te rivolgo di giorno, e di notte pe' figliuoli d'Israele tuoi servi, confessando i peccati dei figliuoli a Israele, co' quali hanno offeso te: io, e la casa del padre mio abbiamo peccato.let thine eares be harkning, and thine eyes open, to heare the prayer of thy seruant, which I pray before thee this day, night & day for the children of Israel thy seruantes: and I confesse for the sinnes of the children of Israel, in which they haue sinned to thee: I & my fathers house haue sinned,fiant aures tuæ auscultantes, et oculi tui aperti, ut audias orationem servi tui, quam ego oro coram te hodie nocte et die pro filiis Israël servis tuis: et confiteor pro peccatis filiorum Israël, quibus peccaverunt tibi: ego et domus patris mei peccavimus, 7We have been seduced by vanity, and have not kept thy commandments, and ceremonies and judgments, which thou hast commanded thy servant Moses.La vanità ci sedusse, e noi non osservammo i tuoi comandamenti, e le ceremonie, e i precetti intimati da te a Mosè tuo servo.we haue bene seduced with vanitie, and haue not kept thy commandments, and cerimonies and iudgement, which thou hast commanded to Moyses thy seruant.vanitate seducti sumus, et non custodivimus mandatum tuum, et cæremonias, et judicia quæ præcepisti Moysi famulo tuo. 8Remember the word that thou commandedst to Moses thy servant, saying: If you shall transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:Ricordati della parola data da te a Mosè tuo servo, quando dicesti: Se voi sarete prevaricatori, io vi dispergerò tralle genti.Remember the word, that thou didst command vnto Moyses thy seruant, saying: When you shal transgresse, I will depresse you into peoples:Memento verbi quod mandasti Moysi servo tuo, dicens: Cum transgressi fueritis, ego dispergam vos in populos:
9But if you return to me, and keep my commandments, and do them, though you should be led away to the uttermost parts of the world, I will gather you from thence, and bring you back to the place which I have chosen for my name to dwell there.Ma se tornerete a me, e osserverete i miei precetti, e gli adempirete, quand'anche foste trasportati agli ultimi confini del mondo, io di là vi riunirò, e vi ricondurrò al luogo eletto da me, perchè portasse il mio nome.and if you returne to me, and keepe my precepts, and doe them, although you shal be led away to the vttermost partes of heauen, thence wil I gather you, and bring you backe into the place, which I haue chosen that my name should dwel there.et si revertamini ad me, et custodiatis præcepta mea, et faciatis ea: etiamsi abducti fueritis ad extrema cæli, inde congregabo vos, et reducam in locum quem elegi ut habitaret nomen meum ibi. 10And these are thy servants, and thy people: whom thou hast redeemed by thy great strength, and by thy mighty hand.Or questi son servi tuoi, e tuo popolo redento dalla tua gran possanza, e dal robusto tuo braccio.And they are thy seruantes, and thy people: whom thou hast redemed in thy great strength, and in thy mighty hand.Et ipsi servi tui, et populus tuus, quos redemisti in fortitudine tua magna, et in manu tua valida. 11I beseech thee, O Lord, let thy ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name: and direct thy servant this day, and give him mercy before this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.Io ti prego, o Signore, sian le tue orecchie intente alla orazione del tuo servo, e alle preghiere de' servi tuoi, i quali son risoluti di temere il nome tuo: e assisti oggi il tuo servo, e fa, ch'ei trovi misericordia presso quest'uomo Perocché io era coppiere del re.I besech thee Lord, let thine eare be attent to the prayer of thy seruant, and to the prayer of thy seruants, which will feare thy name: and direct thy seruant this day, and giue him mercy before this man. for I was the kings cupbearerObsecro, Domine, sit auris tua attendens ad orationem servi tui, et ad orationem servorum tuorum, qui volunt timere nomen tuum: et dirige servum tuum hodie, et da ei misericordiam ante virum hunc. Ego enim eram pincerna regis.
1:1
Year of the World 3550, Year before Christ 454.
Menochius
Words, or transactions written by Nehemias. (Menochius)
Helcias, or Hebrew and Septaugint, "Chelcias."
Casleu, the third of the civil year, 1 Esdras 10:9.
Josephus
Year of Artaxerxes, (Calmet) after he was associated with his father on the throne; (Tirinus) or rather the death of Xerxes. From this period the seventy weeks of Daniel are dated, (Du Hamel) or from the 23rd of Artaxerxes, and the 28th of Xerxes, (Tirinus) as above three years must have been consumed in making preparations for the walls, etc. (Josephus, [Antiquities?] 11:5.)
Haydock
The name of Nehemias, "comforter of God," as well as his being sent by a king to build, etc., prefigured Jesus Christ, sent by God to comfort and establish his Church. (Ven. Bede) (Worthington) (Haydock)
Susa. Hebrew, "in Susa, the palace," where the kings of Persia resided in the months of winter, (Athen. 12:1.) and of spring. (Xenophon) (Cyr. viii.) (Curt. 5:8.)
Du Hamel
Susa was situated on the river Coaspes, between the provinces of Babylon and Persia. (Du Hamel)
1:2
Hanani, a relation, whom Nehemias brought back, 2 Esdras 7:2.
Calmet
Came. Some Latin copies add, "to me," (Lyranus) as if a deputation had been sent; but of this the text is silent. (Calmet)
1:3
Menochius
Province of Judea, subject to the Persians, as it was afterwards to the Romans; though, at present, they were allowed to have governors of their own nation. (Menochius)
Haydock
Reproach, on account of the surrounding enemies. (Haydock)
Tirinus
Fire, recently; (Menochius. See 1 Esdras 4:12., and 9:9.) or rather by Nabuchodonosor; as the kings of Persia would not suffer the city to be fortified, for fear of a fresh rebellion. (Lyranus) (Tirinus)
Haydock
We find that little progress (chap. 3.; chap 4.) (Calmet) had at least been made in the work, though the blame must rather be laid on the enemies of Israel, than on several of the kings of Persia, who seem to have authorized the undertaking, which Cambyses, or Smerdis, had for a time interrupted. They only specify, indeed, that leave was granted to build the temple. But they allowed them to erect houses for themselves, which could not have been done to any purpose, among so many enemies, unless they had been defended by some sort of fortifications. (Haydock)
1:4
Calmet
Days; about four months, till Nisan. (Calmet)
1:6
Menochius
They. Hebrew and Septuagint, "we have sinned." (Menochius)
1:7
Haydock
Vanity. Hebrew, "we have been corrupted." (Vatable) "we have dealt very corruptly." (Protestants) (Haydock)
Calmet
The author of the Vulgate has read e for é. (Calmet)
Septuagint, "we have been very dissolute, or weak."
1:9
World. Literally, "of heaven, or the sky," (Haydock) which seems to the vulgar (Calmet) to rest upon the horizon. (Tirinus) See Deuteronomy 30:4.
1:10
Menochius
Redeemed, or liberated from great evils. (Menochius)
1:11
Calmet
Man; (virum) the great king, (Haydock) Artaxerxes. (Calmet)
Cup-bearer; Athersatha, 1 Esdras 2:63., and 2 Esdras 7:65.
1:1
Nehemias by his legacie, being sent from a king. by his name which signifieth comforter from our Lord; and by his building againe the walles of Ierusalem; prefigured our Sauiour, who was sent from God the Father, himselfe being the comforter of mankind, and the send•• of an other comforter the Holie Ghost, to remaine with his Church. S. Beda. prolog in Nehemiam.
1:1
1. THE WORDS OF NEHEMIAH. — For here Nehemiah speaks, and recounts his deeds for the Jews and in recounting writes them down. Whence it is clear that he is the author of this book. Note: Nehemiah under Cyrus with Zerubbabel had brought the Jews back from Babylon to Jerusalem: soon when Cambyses the son of Cyrus hindered the building of the city and temple, he returned to Babylon, and by his industry, sanctity and service bound King Artaxerxes to himself and the Jews. IN THE MONTH OF CASLEU (which corresponds partly to our November, partly to December) IN THE TWENTIETH YEAR — of Artaxerxes, not Mnemon, as Scaliger and Pererius wish, but Longimanus, as the Interpreters teach throughout. AND I WAS IN SUSA THE CASTLE. — Susa was the seat and palace of Artaxerxes and the kings of the Persians, so called from lilies, and from the fertility of lilies. For Susan means lily. See the words of Daniel 8, 2. This city was most fortified, and therefore is called a castle.
1:2
2. And there came Hanani one of my brethren, — that is, my fellow-tribesmen, namely descended from the tribe of Levi, from which I descend.
1:3
3. AND THE WALL OF JERUSALEM IS BROKEN DOWN, AND THE GATES THEREOF ARE BURNT WITH FIRE — by the Chaldeans, 4 Kings chapter last, 10. But Nehemiah had known this long before, indeed had seen it, when under Cyrus he returned to Jerusalem. Wherefore it appears that the Jews under Darius Hystaspes, while building the temple, at the same time restored the city, walls and gates with light work. For how would so many thousands of Levites and priests serving the temple, and citizens brought back from Babylon, have dwelt safe and secure, unless in Jerusalem enclosed with walls and closed with gates? Here it appears that, after Nehemiah's return from Jerusalem to Babylon, the Samaritans and other enemies of the Jews invaded Jerusalem, broke down the walls, and burnt the gates, and Hanani here announces this to Nehemiah, who hearing it groaned, and lamented the calamity of his fatherland, of which he was most loving. For it appears that many of the Jews, who had returned from Babylon to Jerusalem, when they saw the desolation of the city and the frequent assaults of enemies, returned to Babylon, and therefore it was easy for the enemies to break down the walls of the city and burn the gates: not so the temple, because this was like a citadel and was strenuously defended by a few Jews fighting for their altars and hearths.
1:9
9. The ends of heaven, that is the extreme regions of the earth: for those things which are extreme in our horizon appear to touch the extremity of the curved and round heaven. Thus the eye of the common people judges, to whose sense Holy Scripture sometimes conforms itself. The Septuagint translates, at the summit of the foundation of heaven, that is from that part where heaven appears to be founded, and as it were to rest upon and lean upon the extremity of the earth. Thus it is said in Deuteronomy XXX, 4: "If thou be driven to the ends of heaven," that is to the extreme parts of the earth, which appear to be as it were hinges sustaining heaven, "from thence the Lord thy God will bring thee back."
1:10
10. Whom thou hast redeemed, — from Egyptian servitude, and afterwards often from the yoke of the Philistines, Ammonites, Midianites, etc., as is evident from the book of Judges and Kings.
1:11
11. And grant him (to me Nehemiah) mercy before this man — King Artaxerxes, whose cupbearer I am, so that from him I may obtain what I desire to ask when the occasion is given, namely the restoration of Jerusalem.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
1:1
Achaemenids (Old Persian Hakhāmanishiya, Greek *Achaemenidae*)
At Susa (v.) the palaces of the A. and their citadel have been explored by M. Dieulafoy and by J. de Morgan, from 1884 onward (Neh. 1:1; Tob. 1:2). At Persepolis E. Herzfeld discovered in 1933 the archives of the A. kings with over 30,000 tablets, of which 500 in Aramaic.
… The term, derived, like the others of the Hebrew calendar in the post-exilic era, from the Babylonian system, appears in the Bible only in the post-exilic writings (Zech. 7:1; Neh. 1:1; 1 Macc. 1:57; 2 Macc. 1:9, 18). From the time of Judas Maccabeus, on the 25th of this month it became customary to celebrate solemnly the feast of the "dedication of the Temple" or …
Nehemias (Hebr. Nēḥemyāh, Septuagint Nemía[s], Vulg. Nehemias)
… Nehemias). - Restorer of Jerusalem (5th century B.C.) after the exile; he was the son of Hachaliah (Neh. 1:1).
… Esth. 3:15; 9:6, 11 etc., distinguishes the two parts with different names: in Hebrew, respectively, bīrāh (Aramaic "fortress," and, by extension, "acropolis") and 'îr. In the citadel (Neh. 1:1) Nehemiah received from one of his pa-
T. is among the month names of Babylonian origin, introduced into Palestine at a rather late period, since they are encountered only in the post-exilic biblical texts (tēbhēth in Esth. 2:16; nīsān in Esth. 3:7; Neh. 2:1; 'ādhār in Esth. 3:13; 8:12; kislēw in Neh. 1:1).
1:2
… A Levite, son of Heman, head of the 18th class of singers (I Chron. 25, 4-25). A priest, son of Immer, who sent back the foreign woman married in exile (Ezra 10, 20). A brother of Nehemiah, to whom the latter entrusted the government of Jerusalem (Neh. 1, 2; 7, 2). A priest, who took part in the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. 12, 55).
1:4
… Other designations are Qēdhā Jīšrā'ēl 'Holy One of Israel', an expression frequent in Isaiah, and 'Elōhē haš-šāmajim 'God of heaven', which is read in less ancient texts (Jon. 1:9; Ps. 135:26; Esd. 1:2; Neh. 1:4, 5 etc.). …
1:10
Johanan (HEB. JĒHĀHĀNĀN AND JĀHĀNĀN "JAHWEH IS GRACIOUS")
12. Priest or Levite, son of Eliashib, in whose chamber at the Temple the sorrowful Ezra took refuge (Ezra 10:6). Perhaps he is the same I., grandson of Eliashib (Neh. 1:10 ff., 22 ff.), high priest in 410, to whom the Jews of Elephantine vainly appealed (Cowley Papyrus 30). The chamber later bore his name; in the time of Ezra he was a child (A. Fernandez, …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.