O Lord, let thy ear be attentive …: Nehemiah concludes his prayer with another plea to God to hear the request he has made on behalf of all the people of Jerusalem. This invocation differs from the first one in verses 5-6 above, since here he addresses God with the title Lord and he asks only for his ear to be attentive, making no mention of God’s eyes. He asks that God “listen” to his prayer as God’s servant and to the prayer of God’s servants. These are identified as people who delight to fear thy name. Having confessed that they had been unfaithful in the covenant relationship, Nehemiah now affirms that they have pleasure in being in awe of God. Fearing God’s name does not have the literal meaning here of being fearful, but rather of respecting or revering (so New English Bible, New International Version, New Revised Standard Version) his name. To fear someone’s name is to be in awe of that person. Good News Translation translates this in contemporary English: “who want to honor you.” Bible en français courant renders it “who find their joy in honoring you.” Compare Deut 28.58; Psa 61.5; 86.11; 102.15.

Give success to thy servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man: These two final requests in Nehemiah’s prayer are in the form of a parallelism. The first request is general, the second is specific. He states his requests with great humility, referring to himself in the third person rather than the first person, and then identifying himself as a servant. In the first part of the parallelism, he asks that God will give success to thy servant today. Nehemiah plans to appeal to the king and therefore he requests that God will make him successful or prosperous in his effort. In the second part, he asks that God will grant him mercy in the sight of this man. He asks for “compassion” or “favor” (New American Bible) in the Persian king’s eyes. New English Bible renders it “put it into this man’s heart to show me kindness.”

This man is not identified although the reader will soon know who is meant. It is possible that the connotations of referring to the king in this manner may be slightly pejorative. Some commentators suggest that by saying this man, Nehemiah makes it clear that God to whom he is praying is greater than this earthly ruler. Good News Translation identifies the person as “the emperor.”

The supplication in this verse is made emphatic by the double use of the particle naʾ (see verses 6 and 8 above). It occurs in the plea that God will listen to him, where Good News Translation and New Jerusalem Bible render it as “now.” Darby represents the emphasis by using a verb of insistence: “I beg you.” It occurs again in the first of his two requests for help. Most translations omit it here, but Darby translates “I pray you.”

Now I was cupbearer to the king: This final sentence provides a closing to the chapter that brings the reader back to verse 1, where Nehemiah was introduced as the son of his father. In this closing he is introduced by his profession or his standing in the court of the king.

Now translates the connective conjunction in Hebrew and may be rendered “At the time” (New Jerusalem Bible, New Revised Standard Version; similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). At this point in the account Nehemiah uses an emphatic pronoun for I and identifies himself as a cupbearer to the king. This was a position of trust and influence for it gave him access to the king. The cupbearer tasted the food before the king ate and he guarded the royal quarters. One Septuagint manuscript has “eunuch.” This reflects the fact that Persian kings often had eunuchs serve them since they were in contact with the women of the royal household. Eunuchs were men who had been castrated so that they were impotent. But there is no indication in the Hebrew text whether or not Nehemiah was a eunuch. If there is no technical term for cupbearer, translators may use a descriptive expression, for example, “the one who gave drink to the king,” “the king’s drink-bringer” or “the wine-giver to the king.” Some languages may use a particular expression to indicate that this was a position that he held, or that he was chosen for this task.

Some versions present the biographical statement at the end of this chapter as the beginning of the second chapter (so New English Bible). Contemporary English Version restructures this statement to incorporate it as part of verse 1 of the next chapter. It is preferable to retain the traditional presentation following MT, as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have done. The translator should use an appropriate discourse marker to introduce the final statement so that it does not stand alone out of context. If possible, there should also be an emphatic pronoun to draw attention to Nehemiah as cupbearer to the king.

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 .