I went out: Nehemiah went outside the city, as is made explicit in Good News Translation. From the preceding verse it is clear that he did not go alone, but that he was accompanied by some men. Nevertheless, as he recounts the event, he focuses on himself as the leader of the group by using the first person singular pronoun instead of the first person plural pronoun that would include the men who accompanied him. Good News Translation specifies the cardinal directions in this verse and the following one to help the reader follow Nehemiah’s inspection tour (also Contemporary English Version). Translators may do likewise if this will be helpful.

By night may be rendered “during the night” or “at night.” Because the previous verse tells us that Nehemiah got up at night, Good News Translation makes clear that “It was still night” when Nehemiah carried out this activity.

By the Valley Gate to the Jackal’s Well and to the Dung Gate: The places named in Nehemiah’s inspection of the broken down city walls cannot all be identified with certainty. However, archaeological excavations give a general understanding of the direction and locations of his route. Nehemiah traveled in a counterclockwise direction starting at a gate on the western wall at the eastern hill of the City of David. He went out of the city through the Valley Gate overlooking the Tyropoeon Valley on the west side of the city. From there he went past the Jackal’s Well. This was probably a spring or well between the Valley Gate and the Dung Gate. In Hebrew Well is literally “eye,” which is the word for a spring or source of water. A spring is where water bubbles or flows naturally out of the ground, while a well is a hole that is dug in search of underground water. The Hebrew word translated Jackal can mean a sea or land monster or a jackal. Some versions therefore call it the “Serpent Well” (so New King James Version ). Others call it “Dragon’s Well” (Amplified Bible), “Dragon’s Spring” (New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), or “Dragon’s Fountain” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible).

The Dung Gate is literally “the gate of the ash heaps.” This was at the extreme southern end of the city where the western and eastern walls met. It was 500 meters (1,640 feet) south of the Valley Gate (Neh 3.13) and led to the city dump in the Valley of Hinnom. This is where rubbish and refuse from the city was thrown. Good News Translation translates “Rubbish Gate,” Contemporary English Version says “Garbage Gate,” while New King James Version says “Refuse Gate.” It may be difficult in some cultures to name a gate after rubbish. Perhaps the gate may be described as being beside the place where rubbish from the city was thrown.

And I inspected: Most versions translate the verb to mean “inspect” or “look closely at.” Most commentators read it to mean that Nehemiah inspected the walls of Jerusalem as he went from the Valley Gate to the Dung Gate. The phrase can be translated “As I went along, I inspected” or “Going along, I looked closely at.”

Walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates: Here Nehemiah has a firsthand look at the condition of the walls and gates of Jerusalem as they were described to him by the people who came from Jerusalem to Susa (see Neh 1.3) and as he himself had described them to the king (verse 3 above). The walls are referred to here in the plural because Nehemiah inspected the condition of all the remaining parts of the wall (see the comments on “wall” at Neh 1.3). Jerusalem is specified here by name to draw attention to the identity of the city.

For the places mentioned here and in the next two verses, see the map of the wall of Jerusalem in the introductory comments on Neh 3.1-32.

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 .