inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Neh 4:21)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai translation uses the exclusive pronoun, excluding the reader.

complete verse (Nehemiah 4:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Nehemiah 4:21:

  • Kupsabiny: “We would start the work very early and close very late in the evening. Half of the men were always on guard.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Therefore we (excl.) continue to work from dawn till twilight/dusk, and half of the people are-guarding with weapons.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Every-day that is what we (excl.) did, the half guarded armed-with-weapons and the (other) half worked. We began as it was getting-light until the stars were visible at night.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “So we continued to work. Half of the men continued to hold their spears all day, from when the sun rose in the morning until the stars appeared at night.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Nehemiah 4:21

This verse summarizes the continuation of the work. Half of the people worked while the other half stood guard with their spears, as Good News Translation makes explicit. Since the builders no longer went home at night outside Jerusalem (see the next verse), Nehemiah was able to extend their working hours from the usual sunrise to sunset (see Deut 24.15) to all the daylight hours from the break of dawn till the stars came out. This brought the beginning of the work day from sunrise to the earliest light of the dawn, and the end of the work day from the time of sunset to the time when it was dark enough to see the stars. This added at least two hours to the work day. Translators must therefore be more precise than saying “from sunrise to sunset” as in New Living Translation. For easy understanding, Good News Translation provides a good model for the whole 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 .