complete verse (Nehemiah 11:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Nehemiah 11:21:

  • Kupsabiny: “All the people who worked in the House of God settled in the mountain of Ophel. Ziha and Gishpa were leading those people.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But the servants in the temple who were-being-supervised by Ziha and Gishpa lived there in the mountain-like of Ofel.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But the temple workers lived on Ophel Hill in Jerusalem. They were supervised by Ziha and Gishpa.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Nehemiah 11:21

But the temple servants lived on Ophel: This verse begins with the Hebrew connective conjunction, which is adversative here (But). It draws a contrast between the people who were mentioned above and the temple servants (also New King James Version , Revised English Bible, Amplified Bible). However, Good News Translation and many other versions do not translate the Hebrew conjunction. For temple servants, see Ezra 2.43-54. For Ophel see the comments at Neh 3.26.

Ziha and Gishpa were over the temple servants: The Ziha family is listed in Ezra 2.43 and Neh 7.46. Ziha and Gishpa were in charge of the Temple servants (so New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).

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 .