I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem: The second appointment was made by Nehemiah. The Hebrew verb translated gave … charge can mean “to order” or “to command.” This is appropriate for an appointment made by the governor. Thus, Nehemiah “gave the order” for Hanani and Hananiah to be in charge over Jerusalem. New Jerusalem Bible renders it “I entrusted the administration of Jerusalem to….”

For Hanani my brother, see Neh 1.2. Hananiah is the long form of Hanani. There is a question as to whether Nehemiah appointed one or two people in this verse. Good News Translation like Revised Standard Version makes the interpretation that Nehemiah appointed two people. In the Hebrew text both names are preceded by the object marker seemingly indicating that they are two different people. This is also supported by “them” in the next verse. This means that there were two administrators over the city of Jerusalem. These were probably military positions responsible for the security of the city.

The word for governor is literally “head,” meaning “the one in charge of.” It is not governor here in the sense of having jurisdiction over territory (see Ezra 4.9). Here it is a military position, referring to “the commander of the fortress” (so Contemporary English Version). For castle see the comments on “fortress” at Neh 2.8.

He was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many: He refers to Hananiah as Good News Translation makes explicit. The recommendation of Hananiah is given in terms of his personal qualities of being trustworthy and devout. He was a man who was characterized by faithfulness (ʾemet in Hebrew), that is, he was an honest man who fulfilled his promises. He was also a man who feared God. This does not mean that he was afraid of God, but that he respected and revered God. The comparative word more applies to both faithful and God-fearing. The comparison with many is expressed in different ways in different languages; for example, “His trustworthiness and his fear of God surpassed many other people’s” or “His faithfulness and his respect of God was much, the faithfulness and the respect of God of many other people was little.”

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 .