Nehemiah 2:15

Neh 2:15 Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and [so] returned.

Ver. 15. Then went I up in the night] sc. By moonlight; for the moon is mistress of the night, Psa 136:9, by the brightness she borroweth from the body of the sun, which the moon receiveth and reflecteth, like a lookingglass.

And viewed the wall] That which was left of it, τα λειψανα, as Scaliger’s epitaph is, Scaligeri quod reliquum est, Scaliger’s relics.

And entered by the gate of the valley] Where he first went out; so he walked the round, not caring to observe that rule of Pythagoras, Eadem via qua progressus fueris ne regrediare, Go not back the same way you came out.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then went I up . . . by the brook--that is, Kedron.

and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned--the gate leading to the valley of Jehoshaphat, east of the city. He went out by this gate, and having made the circuit of the city, went in by it again [BARCLAY, City of the Great King].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. By the brook] Kidron.

By the gate of the Valley] The valley through which the brook Kidron flowed. It was by this gate he went out; so he went all round the city, and entered by the same gate from which he had gone out.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(15) By the gate of the valley, and so returned.—The itineration seems to have completed the circuit of the walls.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. Then went I up] The tense in the original denotes the gradual progress.

by the brook] i.e. the ‘nakhal’ or ‘brook’ (χείμαρρος) of Kedron. Leaving the ruined line of wall, he goes down to the hollow of the Kedron valley, and proceeds northward ‘up’ the stream, surveying the remains of the walls that crowned the steep declivity on his left.

and turned back] R.V. and I turned back. This word has been taken to mean not a retracing of his steps, but the turn westward in his route, which would lead eventually in the direction from which he had started. After leaving the Kedron valley the journey would not be so difficult, being probably on the more level ground where the ruins had been cleared; or where less destruction had been wrought. The absence of mention of any spot on the N. or N.W. wall has caused others to suppose that Nehemiah ‘turned back,’ having seen enough, without completing his circuit of the walls. More probably we have here an instance of condensation on the part of the compiler who at this point passes at once to the return journey, without giving us sufficient material to judge whether the complete circuit of the walls was made.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did..... The rulers of the city of Jerusalem, who seem to be officers of the king of Persia, since they are distinguished from Jewish rulers in the next clause:

neither had I as yet told it to the Jews; what he came about and designed to do:

nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers; the principal men among the Jews, both ecclesiastical and civil:

nor to the rest that did the work; of building and repairing; neither those that were employed in it, nor those that overlooked it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The brook - The Kidron watercourse, which skirted the city on the east.

Turned back - i. e. he turned westward, and having made the circuit of the city, re-entered by the valley-gate.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Torrent of Cedron, having gone round the city. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

By the brook of Kidron; of which See Poole "2Sa 15:23". And so returned; having gone round about the city.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Then went I up… by the brook — He probably left his beast by the king’s pool, and went on foot up the brook, or valley of the Kedron, and viewed the wall on the east side of the city; then he turned back, walking down the brook Kedron again to the place where he left his beast, and then rode back around the southern and western walls, and again entered the city by the same gate of the valley through which he had gone out.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By the brook. "The brook Kidron," which skirted the city on the east. From this he would be able to "look up at the eastern wall" along its whole length, and see its condition. Following the brook, he was brought to the north-eastern angle of the city; on reaching which he seems to have "turned back" towards the point from which he had started, and skirting the northern wall, to have re-entered by the gate of the valley.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then I (went on) ascending the valley and viewing the wall, and so entered by the valley-gate, and returned. ואהי with the participle expresses the continuance of an action, and hence in this place the continuous ascent of the valley and survey of the wall. The נחל which he ascended was doubtless the valley of Kidron (קדרון נחל, Sa2 20:23; Kg1 2:37, and elsewhere). ואבוא ואשׁוּב are connected, שׁוּב expressing merely the idea of repetition (Gesenius, heb. Gram. 142, 3): I came again into the valley-gate. Older expositors incorrectly explain these words to mean, I turned round, traversing again the road by which I had come; Bertheau: I turned to go farther in a westerly direction, and after making the circuit of the entire city, I re-entered by the valley-gate. This sense is correct as to fact, but inadmissible, as requiring too much to complete it. If we take אשׁוּב adverbially, these completions are unnecessary. Nehemiah does not give the particulars of the latter portion of his circuit, but merely tells us that after having ascended the valley of Kidron, he re-entered by the valley-gate, and returned to his residence, obviously assuming, that from the upper part of the vale of Kidron he could only return to the valley-gate at the west by passing along the northern part of the wall.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

So I went up ... and I turned back

The other men with Nehemiah also followed him. AT: "So we went up ... and we turned back" (See: Synecdoche)

by the Valley Gate

"through the Valley Gate"

the rest who did the work

This refers to the men who would later rebuild the walls. AT: "the others who would later do the work of rebuilding the walls" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

gate

rule

Jew

priest

noble

works

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

And I ascended And I was ascending from one side at night, and I was breaking the wall with the men who were with me.

and I returned and came And when I returned, I came by way of the Gate of the Valley.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.