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Journey of a Passage

Nehemiah 4:1–23 (Hebrew 3:33–4:17)

Where chapter 4 begins

English Bibles begin chapter 4 with Sanballat's mockery; the Hebrew Bible keeps it as the end of chapter 3 (3:33–38). The words are the same; only the numbering differs. The library's Hebrew follows the Hebrew numbering.

Read Nehemiah 4:1–23 (Hebrew 3:33–4:17) in every edition

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original Ezra–NehemiahMemoir c. 430 BC; book compiled c. 400–300 BC (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Ezra–Nehemiah
Greek
  1. Greek 2 Esdras 11–23 (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BC or laterTranslated from a Hebrew text of Ezra–Nehemiah
Latin
    English
    1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    Every witness, in order

    1. Memoir c. 430 BC; book compiled c. 400–300 BC (debated)

      Original Ezra–Nehemiah

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. No Qumran fragment of Nehemiah has been identified.

    2. Translated c. 2nd century BC or later

      Greek 2 Esdras 11–23 (library text: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of Ezra–Nehemiah

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      (4:1) Or, lorsque Sanaballat apprit que nous relevions les remparts

      Giguet's French follows the English-style numbering. Greek 2 Esdras via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Ezra–Nehemiah

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      (3:33) וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר שָׁמַע סַנְבַלַּט כִּי־אֲנַחְנוּ בוֹנִים אֶת־הַחוֹמָה

      (3:33) And when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall

      Hebrew 3:33–38 = English 4:1–6; Hebrew 4:1–17 = English 4:7–23.

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      (4:1) But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth

    What changed, and why

    Chapter divisions were added in the 13th century (Stephen Langton) and verse numbers later; Hebrew and English traditions sometimes divide differently. A reference like "Nehemiah 4:1" therefore points to different verses in Hebrew and English Bibles. The site's reader handles both.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedEnglish Nehemiah 4:1–6 is Hebrew 3:33–38.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Labor, Ridicule and the Watch →Sanballat mocks "these feeble Jews" before the army of Samaria; Tobiah jokes that a fox would break their wall. Nehemiah prays for their reproach to return on them. The wall rises to half its height. When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, Ammonites and Ashdodites plot an attack, Nehemiah posts guards by families, half the men work and half hold spears, and a trumpeter stays by his side.