The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing: The repetition of officials in this verse may indicate that the first part of the verse is the conclusion of the preceding verse and it may mean that none of them knew that Nehemiah had gone to inspect the walls. However, this is more generally considered to be a repetition of the intention of Nehemiah in 2.12 to keep his plans secret (see Contemporary English Version). If so, the chronology of events here must be made clear. Nehemiah has now returned inside the city but no officials know about the inspection tour that he has completed. They do not know what his destination was or what his activity was. Therefore, Good News Translation puts the verbs had gone and was doing in the pluperfect: “where I had gone or what I had been doing.”

I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest that were to do the work: Jews may be a separate group (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version) or a general heading with four subdivisions: priests, nobles, officials, and the rest (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). The form of the Hebrew does not indicate that it is a general heading. The term Jews originally referred to the inhabitants of Judah, but after the exile this name took on a more ethnic and religious sense. Sanballat, for instance, was a worshiper of Yahweh who lived in Judah, but he does not include himself in the category of Jew (see Neh 4.1-2; 6.6). If Jews refers to a separate category of people here, it may refer specifically to those who returned from exile in Babylonia.

For priests see the comments at Ezra 1.5. The priests were important leaders with increasing involvement in political administration after the exile because of the dominant role of the Temple in the economy.

The combination of the nobles, the officials, and the rest is also found in Neh 4.14, 19. If these are not subcategories of Jews, they may all be types of leaders. The Hebrew term translated nobles refers to function rather than to nobility. It probably refers to local leaders (see 1 Kgs 21.8, where Good News Translation renders it “leading citizens”).

For officials see the comments at Ezra 9.2, where Revised Standard Version renders it “chief men.” The exact divisions and functions of the groups that are listed cannot be indicated with certainty. The first occurrence of this term in the verse may simply be a general word for leaders translated “local officials” in Good News Translation (see also Neh 4.14). In some cultures expressions like “heavy people” and “big people” may be used for these general categories of leaders.

The rest that were to do the work may refer to other leaders (Nouvelle version Segond révisée), to “the rest of the administration” (Williamson 1985), only to those who will do the work (Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), or to all other Jews who were to be involved in the work along with those already mentioned (Good News Translation, New International Version, Contemporary English Version). The phrase, that were to do the work, does not necessarily refer only to the rest but may include everyone mentioned in the verse. Good News Translation makes this explicit by saying “anyone else who would be taking part in the work.” This is the first reference in the book to the work that Nehemiah intends to do (see verse 18 below). The repetition of this word throughout the remainder of the book and allusions to it make it one of the theme words in the book of Nehemiah (see “Translating Ezra and Nehemiah,” page 20).

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 .