Nehemiah 3
The full text of Nehemiah 3 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 Then Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests rose up and built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set its doors in place. They consecrated the wall as far as the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel.
2 Next to him, the men of Jericho built. And next to them, Zakkur son of Imri built.
3 The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They laid its beams and set its doors, bolts, and bars in place.
4 Next to them, Meremoth son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz, made repairs. Next to him, Meshullam son of Berekiah, son of Meshezabel, made repairs. Next to him, Zadok son of Baana made repairs.
5 Next to them, the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work of their lord.
6 Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired the Old Gate. They laid its beams and set its doors, bolts, and bars in place.
7 Next to them, Melatiah the Gibeonite, Jadon the Meronothite, and the men of Gibeon and Mizpah made repairs—those under the authority of the governor of the province Beyond the River.
8 Next to them, Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Next to him, Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs. They restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.
9 Next to them, Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs.
10 Next to him, Jedaiah son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house. Next to him, Hattush son of Hashabneiah made repairs.
11 Malkijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-Moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens.
12 Next to them, Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs—he and his daughters.
13 Hanun and the residents of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They rebuilt it and set its doors, bolts, and bars in place. They also repaired a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the Dung Gate.
14 Malkijah son of Rekab, ruler of the district of Beth-Hakkerem, repaired the Dung Gate. He rebuilt it and set its doors, bolts, and bars in place.
15 Shallun son of Col-Hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it, roofed it, and set its doors, bolts, and bars in place. He also repaired the wall of the Pool of Shelah by the king's garden, as far as the steps going down from the City of David.
16 After him, Nehemiah son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-Zur, made repairs up to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool and the House of the Warriors.
17 After him, the Levites made repairs: Rehum son of Bani. Next to him, Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, made repairs for his district.
18 After him, their brothers made repairs: Bavvai son of Henadad, ruler of half the district of Keilah.
19 Next to him, Ezer son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the angle of the wall.
20 After him, Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the angle to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.
21 After him, Meremoth son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz, repaired another section, from the door of Eliashib's house to the end of his house.
22 After him, the priests who lived in the surrounding area made repairs.
23 After them, Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs opposite their house. After them, Azariah son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, made repairs beside his house.
24 After him, Binnui son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to the angle and to the corner.
25 Palal son of Uzai made repairs opposite the angle and the tower projecting from the upper palace near the court of the guard. After him, Pedaiah son of Parosh made repairs.
26 The temple servants living on Ophel made repairs up to a point opposite the Water Gate to the east and the projecting tower.
27 After them, the Tekoites repaired another section, from opposite the great projecting tower to the wall of Ophel.
28 Above the Horse Gate, the priests made repairs, each one opposite his own house.
29 After them, Zadok son of Immer made repairs opposite his house. After him, Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, made repairs.
30 After him, Hananiah son of Shelemiah and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. After them, Meshullam son of Berekiah made repairs opposite his living quarters.
31 After him, Malkijah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and the merchants, opposite the Inspection Gate, and to the upper room at the corner.
32 Between the upper room at the corner and the Sheep Gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs.
Translation notes (9)
- Nehemiah 3:1a The register that follows traces the wall counterclockwise from the Sheep Gate in the north and returns to it in verse 32. That the high priest and the priests build first, and consecrate what they build, frames the whole work as an act of worship.
- Nehemiah 3:5a Hebrew tsavvar (צַוָּאר), 'neck', underlies the idiom rendered here as 'shoulders'; the nobles literally 'did not bring their neck into the service of their lord', the image of an ox refusing the yoke. The plural form adonehem, 'their lord', may denote God as a plural of majesty, or Nehemiah as governor.
- Nehemiah 3:8a The verb azav (עזב) ordinarily means 'to leave' or 'to abandon'; here it likely reflects a homonymous root meaning 'to restore', supported by Semitic cognates. The Broad Wall (hachomah harechavah) is commonly identified with the seven-meter-thick fortification excavated by Nahman Avigad in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter, built in Hezekiah's day and evidently still standing in Nehemiah's time.
- Nehemiah 3:11a The Tower of the Ovens (migdal hattannurim) likely stood near Jerusalem's bakers' quarter; Jeremiah 37:21 mentions a street of the bakers in the city. The phrase rendered 'another section' is literally 'a second measured portion' (middah shenit), which may imply that these men had already completed work elsewhere on the wall.
- Nehemiah 3:12a The phrase hu uvnotav (הוּא וּבְנוֹתָיו), 'he and his daughters', marks the only explicit mention of women among the builders in this register. Because banot, 'daughters', elsewhere denotes dependent villages of a town, some commentators have read it so here; but attached to a personal subject the natural sense is that Shallum's own daughters shared the work.
- Nehemiah 3:15a Hebrew shelach (שֶׁלַח) derives from a root meaning 'to send', referring to water conveyed by conduit from the Gihon spring. The pool is likely the same as the Shiloah of Isaiah 8:6 and the Siloam of John 9:7, where the Greek text interprets the name as 'Sent'.
- Nehemiah 3:16a This Nehemiah son of Azbuk is distinct from the book's author. The qivre David, 'tombs of David', place the royal necropolis inside the city walls on the southeastern hill, consistent with 1 Kings 2:10, where David is buried in the City of David. The phrase rendered 'the artificial pool' is literally 'the pool that was made', that is, a man-made reservoir rather than a natural spring.
- Nehemiah 3:25a The court of the guard (Hebrew chatsar hammattarah) was an enclosure within the royal palace complex where prisoners were held; Jeremiah was confined there during Zedekiah's reign (Jeremiah 32:2). Its mention indicates that parts of the pre-exilic palace of the kings of Judah still stood in Nehemiah's day and served as landmarks for the wall builders.
- Nehemiah 3:26a The temple servants are the netinim (נְתִינִים), literally 'given ones', a class assigned to assist the Levites (Ezra 8:20). Ophel designates the fortified ridge rising between the City of David and the Temple Mount, a district evidently allotted to these servants after the return from exile.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own modern English translation, worked directly from the original Hebrew and honest to the earliest manuscripts. It was completed in 2026 — the most modern English Bible translation — and is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter, including all of Nehemiah, is free to read here on the web.
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