From that day on: As noted in the previous verse, the Hebrew construction with the connective conjunction and the verb “to be” begins this verse. It is followed by the time phrase From that day on to indicate a new development. King James Version renders the whole expression as “And it came to pass from that time forth” in its archaic English. Translators need to use an appropriate discourse marker in the receptor language.

Half of my servants worked on construction, and half held spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail: From his own servants Nehemiah organized the defense of those building the wall so that they could continue their work. In Hebrew servants is literally “young men.” These were Nehemiah’s own guards who were allotted to him as governor. They are distinguished from his kinsmen and formed a special militia. New Jerusalem Bible calls them his “retainers.” He assigned half of them to work on construction and half of them to protect the workers. It may be stated that he divided his own servants into two groups that were equal in number, one group to build and the other group to be ready to fight and defend the workers.

The defenders were armed with short spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. In verse 13 only offensive weapons were cited. Here defensive arms are included, namely, shields and coats of mail. Coats of mail are breastplates made of iron. Contemporary English Version says “They wore armor.” In some languages these will be “clothes of metal” while in other cultures where protective armor is not known, a longer description will be required. The shields were made of wickerwork from willow branches or leather stretched over a wooden frame. They were the smaller type of defensive shields sometimes called bucklers and not large warriors’ shields. With the shields they were able to protect themselves in hand-to-hand fighting, and the armor protected them from arrows and spears that were used at a distance.

The leaders stood behind all the house of Judah: The leaders were the supervisors who were keeping watch. New Jerusalem Bible omits this word on the assumption of a duplication in the Hebrew text, but this has no textual basis. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project supports the Hebrew text with an A rating. They stood behind the workers. This expression is interpreted in several different ways. It may mean that they took up positions behind the people (New International Version), that they gave support to the workers (Good News Translation), that they looked after the people (Bible en français courant), or that they directed the work. Revised English Bible translates “and officers supervised all the people of Judah.”

All the house of Judah is a figure of speech used here to refer to all the Jews who were working on the wall. Good News Translation interprets it as a formulaic expression that means “the people,” who then are identified in the next verse.

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 .