I commanded the Levites that they should …: Nehemiah replaced his own servants with Levites to guard the gates. And I commanded is from the verb “to speak, to command.” This may be translated “Then I told the Levites that they should….” Then there follow three verbs describing what they should be doing. First they should be the ones purifying themselves, then the ones coming, and then the ones guarding the gates. And the purpose of these three acts is to keep the sabbath day holy. In English and in many other languages the three instructions can be expressed with infinitives (so Good News Translation) or with imperatives as follows: “Purify yourselves, then go and guard the gates.”

The fact that Nehemiah had the Levites purify themselves indicates that guarding the city gates was considered to be a religious duty since it was to be done on the Sabbath. Levites were responsible for guarding the gates of the Temple. Now that responsibility was extended to the gates of the city on the assumption that the whole of the city was regarded as sacred and holy. For comments on the concepts of purify and purification, see Ezra 6.20.

Come and guard the gates: The Hebrew verb translated come in Revised Standard Version may also mean “go” as in Good News Translation. The choice here depends on whether Nehemiah is seen to be near the gates so the Levites would come and guard the gates, or if Nehemiah was farther away from the gates and was sending the Levites to go and guard the gates. In some languages the verb “to come” or “to go” followed by a second verb does not focus literally on coming or going but rather indicates beginning or undertaking an action. Here Revised English Bible translates that the Levites were to “take up duty as guards,” and this may be a helpful model.

To keep the sabbath day holy is literally “to sanctify the day of the Sabbath” (so Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Darby). The Hebrew verb for “sanctify” has the causative meaning “to set aside as sacred,” “to hallow,” “to cause to be holy,” or “to cause to be set aside for God.” Nehemiah emphasizes here the importance of the Sabbath and of keeping it holy (see Neh. 9.14; 13.15). For a discussion of holy, see Ezra 2.63.

Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me …: Again the narrative is interrupted by Nehemiah’s personal prayer, which is set apart as a separate paragraph in Good News Translation. Each time Nehemiah says this prayer, it is slightly different from the last time he said it (see verse 14 above). This time he begins with an intensive Hebrew conjunction rendered also and he asks God to Remember this act of piety in my favor. New Jerusalem Bible and Revised English Bible say “to my credit”; that is, he asks God to remember him favorably for this act also. And as in the earlier prayer, he adds a second request. Spare me means “spare my life,” and this is a request for long life. This may also be translated “have compassion on me” (New American Standard Bible), “have mercy on me” (New American Bible), or “have pity on me” (New Jerusalem Bible).

Nehemiah bases his prayer on God’s steadfast love (chesed in Hebrew), that is, God’s faithfulness to the covenant (see Ezra 3.11). In his prayer in verse 14 he drew attention to his own chesed, but here he appeals to God’s chesed.

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 .