Nehemiah answers the king very carefully to advance his plan to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city. Let the king live forever! was the standard address to a Babylonian or Persian king (see Dan 2.4; 3.9; 5.10; 6.6, 21). The Good News Translation expression is an equivalent English rendering: “May Your Majesty live forever!” Some versions retain a third person form similar to the Hebrew for addressing the king; for example, “May His Majesty live forever!” (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Bible en français courant uses a more informal style with the second person singular pronoun: “Majesty, I wish for you to live forever!” If the receptor language has a form for royal address, it would be appropriate to use it here.
Why should not my face be sad? is a rhetorical question that conveys Nehemiah’s strong emotions. He was not asking for an answer from the king, but was justifying himself before the king. This question repeats the second of the three expressions used in the previous verses to describe his appearance before the king. Nehemiah’s response should not be translated in such a way that it implies that he was disrespectful or arrogant before the king. Contemporary English Version therefore restructures the response in the form of a declaration: “I feel sad because….” Good News Translation retains the rhetorical question but rephrases it in a form that is more common in modern-day English: “How can I keep from looking sad…?”
Nehemiah attributes his sadness to his concern for his city. His appeal to the king is to win the king’s sympathy for himself personally without specifically referring to the name of his city Jerusalem. This avoids any political thoughts that might be raised in the king’s mind from any negative reports about Jerusalem from the local officials.
Nehemiah’s request is made even more personal by identifying the city as the place of my fathers’ sepulchres. This a reference to his family ancestry, and is literally “my fathers’ house of tombs.” Achaemenian royal tombs were constructed in the form of houses. Nehemiah’s use of this phrase probably made the king think of the tombs of his own ancestors. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible uses the word “tombs” in place of the more archaic sepulchres. New Revised Standard Version uses the more common word “graves.” Good News Translation refers to “the city where my ancestors are buried,” and New International Version says “the city where my fathers are buried.” Both these versions use natural English expressions without referring explicitly to the tombs that Nehemiah mentions (also Contemporary English Version). Unless explicit reference to burial places is taboo in the receptor culture, the translator should not omit this reference.
Nehemiah then speaks of the city itself. He gives a picture of a city that is completely defenseless without walls or gates for protection. First, he describes the state of the city. He says that it lies waste. It has been destroyed (Nouvelle version Segond révisée), it has been devastated (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), it is desolate and in ruin (Bible en français courant); that is, the walls of the city and the houses have been broken down. Second, he repeats a specific part of the message that he had received, namely, that its gates have been destroyed by fire (see Neh 1.3). This is literally “its gates have been eaten by fire” (so New American Bible, Chouraqui). The verb “eat” is used metaphorically to speak of the destruction of the gates by fire. Equivalent usage in English is “consumed by fire” or “devoured by fire.” Translators should not supply the name of the city at this point in the account because Nehemiah himself does not do so. He wants to gain the king’s personal sympathy before letting him know which city he is talking about.
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 .