InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEUT JOB YEHO (JOS) HERO (JDG) RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG YOEL (JOEL) MIC ISA ZEP HAB YIR (JER) LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBAD DAN EZEK EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL 2 PS WIS TOB MAN BAR G DAN G ESD L ESD ESG JDT 3 MAC SIR 1 MAC 2 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL LAOD PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
InterlinearVerse Neh C1 C2 C3 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13
Neh 4 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23
OET-LV (NEH 4:5) [fn] And_ foes_of_our _they_said not they_will_know and_not they_will_see until that we_will_come into of_them_of_the_midst and_we_will_kill_them and_we_will_put_an_end_to DOM the_work.
4:5 Note: KJB: Neh.4.11
OET (OET-RV) Then those against us said, “We’ll rush in among them and kill some of them before they even see us or know that we’re coming, then that will bring the work to an end.”
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism
לֹ֤א יֵדְעוּ֙ וְלֹ֣א יִרְא֔וּ עַ֛ד אֲשֶׁר־נָב֥וֹא אֶל־תּוֹכָ֖ם
not know and=not see until (Some words not found in UHB: and=they_said foes_of,our not know and=not see until which/who come to/towards of_them_of,the_midst and,we,will_kill_them and,we_will_put_an_end_to DOM the,work )
These two phrases mean similar things. The enemies use the repetition to emphasize how confident they are of launching a surprise attack. If it would be helpful in your language, you could combine these phrases. Alternate translation: [They will not be expecting an attack until we are right there,] otherwise “before they see us and know we are coming, we will rush down on them”
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
וְלֹ֣א יִרְא֔וּ
and=not see
While the enemies could be referring to the Jews literally not seeing them approach, “seeing” could also be a way of describing knowledge, notice, or attention. In that case this expression would mean the same thing as “they will not know.” Alternate translation: [they will not be expecting]
OET-LV (NEH 4:5) [fn] And_ foes_of_our _they_said not they_will_know and_not they_will_see until that we_will_come into of_them_of_the_midst and_we_will_kill_them and_we_will_put_an_end_to DOM the_work.
4:5 Note: KJB: Neh.4.11
OET (OET-RV) Then those against us said, “We’ll rush in among them and kill some of them before they even see us or know that we’re coming, then that will bring the work to an end.”
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.