Kings … princes … priests … fathers: These were the leaders of the people of Israel (see verse 32 above). Good News Translation consistently uses the common current English word “ancestors” as the translation of the Hebrew fathers. Stylistically, Good News Translation reorders the listing to place the more inclusive word “ancestors” first, and many translators will find it helpful to follow this example.
Have not kept thy law or heeded thy commandments and thy warnings …: God has kept the promises made to them, but they have not kept God’s law (torah in Hebrew), they have not obeyed his commandments (mitswah), and they have not paid attention to his warnings. Although the idea of warning has occurred in earlier verses, this is the only time that it occurs as a noun in Ezra–Nehemiah. Here it is followed by the verb. In Hebrew warnings which thou didst give them is literally “warnings which you warned to them,” and in some languages there may be a similar expression that is natural style. Unlike in verses 13 and 14 above, here Good News Translation does not combine the separate meanings of the Hebrew terms for law into one or two English terms. That is because here there are clearly two distinct ideas that are being expressed: 1) the torah or the totality of God’s Law and 2) the mitswah or the legal code that God gave them and the warnings that he sent when they disobeyed his commands.
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 .