Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep; fowls likewise were prepared for me: The livestock that was butchered each day to serve all the guests at Nehemiah’s table included one ox, six choice sheep and fowls. The number of fowls is not indicated, but it must have been many.

The Hebrew word translated ox most commonly refers to a single head of cattle. It is usually, but not always, a male and most often it is a work animal. Here it is meat for eating. Translators must be careful to use the correct expression for meat that is eaten. For one ox, the American edition of Good News Translation says “one beef,” the British edition says “one ox,” and the Australian edition says “two sides of beef.” The Hebrew word rendered sheep is used for both sheep and goats. If the receptor language does not have a general expression for small domestic animals that refers to sheep and goats, then it is best to translate “sheep,” as most translations do. They are referred to as choice sheep. These were very fine animals, that is the “best” ones (Good News Translation). Languages that have special terms to describe choice animals should use such a term here, for example, Revised English Bible calls them “prime sheep.” The Hebrew word rendered fowls is used to refer first to small chirping birds and then to birds in general. Many English translations therefore use the general though archaic word fowls, while others specify “poultry” or “chickens” (Good News Translation).

Prepared for me means everything was provided at Nehemiah’s expense. Nehemiah paid for it all. This applied to the whole list of animals and also to the wine.

Every ten days skins of wine in abundance: After a period of ten days a new supply of wine would be provided. Some languages use special verb constructions to indicate habitual or repeated action. Such a verbal form would be appropriate here.

Skins of wine refers to bags made from animal skins that served as containers for wine. Instead of skins of wine, the Hebrew text and ancient versions have “with all the wine.” Two Hebrew manuscripts have skins of wine, and this is followed by Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, and Jerusalem Bible. The Hebrew text does not give the exact amount of wine as it does for the animals, but a large quantity is indicated by “all” and is preferred by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project with a B rating. This is followed by Luther, New International Version, Contemporary English Version, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and is recommended to translators. Wine “of all kinds” in New International Version is based on a proposed emendation of the Hebrew text.

Again Nehemiah explained that he did not take the food allowance of the governor to cover the expense of feeding all these people (see verse 14 above). He said this was because the servitude was heavy upon this people. Servitude may refer to the work they were doing on the wall, but a different word is used for “work” or “labor” on the wall in verse 16. Therefore, here it probably refers to the heavy burden of paying the king’s tax (see verse 4 above). The picture of weighing heavily is repeated here from verse 15 above.

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 .