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Nehemiah 3 · a question people ask

"The Lord’s work" (3:5): whose work did the nobles hold back from?

In the text

The WEB reads, "their nobles didn’t put their necks to the Lord’s work" (3:5). In Hebrew, the Lord’s is adoneihem, a form of the word adon, "lord", with "their". Strong's describes adon as "sovereign, i.e. controller (human or divine)": the same word can be used of a human master or of God. The WEB takes it as the Lord. The verse doesn't say more, and it doesn't say why the nobles held back. Whichever way the word is read, the chapter records only that they didn't put their necks to the work, and it goes on to name the Tekoites repairing "another portion" (3:27).

The verses

“Next to them, the Tekoites made repairs; but their nobles didn’t put their necks to the Lord’s work.”
Nehemiah 3:5 · World English Bible
“After him the Tekoites repaired another portion, opposite the great tower that stands out, and to the wall of Ophel.”
Nehemiah 3:27 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Nehemiah 3

Nehemiah 3: Next to him

Nehemiah 3 isn't a dull list: it walks the wall from the sheep gate round to the sheep gate, priests, goldsmiths, a perfumer, district rulers and Shallum's daughters side by side, and under almost every "made repairs" is chazaq, "be strong", 35 times in the chapter; one line of holding back, and Nehemiah himself isn't named once.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions