When it began to be dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath: Nehemiah himself took action to stop commercial trade on the Sabbath. This verse begins with the Hebrew construction with the connective conjunction and the verb “to be.” This construction is a discourse marker that signals new action in the narrative (see Neh 1.1). Nehemiah ordered the doors of the city to be shut during the Sabbath. The meaning of the phrase began to be dark is not clear. Some commentators have understood the Hebrew to refer to “shadows,” for example, “When evening shadows fell on the gates…” as in New International Version (similarly New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). But that meaning is not well established. Others have proposed the meaning “cleared” based on the Syriac translation “to clean, purge,” as in Revised English Bible: “When the entrances to Jerusalem had been cleared….” Because the Sabbath began at sunset, the phrase must refer to that time of day. Although this is Friday evening, translators should not use Friday here because of possible connotations for readers today that would be anachronistic. Preferably, translators can say something like “on the night before the Sabbath” or “the night of the eve of the Sabbath” for before the sabbath. A footnote may be added to provide a brief explanation about the beginning of the Sabbath as in Good News Translation.

I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the sabbath: Revised Standard Version uses the synonyms commanded and gave orders to translate the Hebrew verb that means “to say, to command.” The first time “I said” occurs in the Hebrew text it is followed by the statement, “They shut the doors.” The second time “I said” occurs in the Hebrew it is followed by a negative order. Most translations interpret the first clause to represent a first command to shut the doors before the beginning of the Sabbath. This is followed by the second command that the doors were not to be opened until the Sabbath had ended. The text does not indicate to whom the commands were directed. In some languages it will be necessary to indicate someone as subject of the verbs, for example, the indefinite “they” or “men.” In the next sentence he says what action he took to have the gates guarded. For doors see Neh 3.1.

And I set some of my servants over the gates, that no burden might be brought in on the sabbath day: Set is the causative of the verb “to stand,” meaning that Nehemiah “stationed” (New International Version) or posted some of his men at the gates; that is, he gave his men responsibility over the gates. This introduces an implicit third command that is also negative. The last half of this sentence could be restructured and expressed explicitly as “I commanded them, ‘Do not allow people to bring anything into the city on the Sabbath.’ ”

My servants refers to members of the governor’s guard (see Neh 4.16). Nehemiah gave these men the responsibility to prevent any burden being brought through the city gates on the Sabbath. A burden was any load that could be carried by a person or by a load-bearing animal. Nehemiah’s action would not have stopped individual people from going in and out of the city.

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 .