OET interlinear NEH 4:21

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

וַ⁠אֲנַ֖חְנוּ עֹשִׂ֣ים בַּ⁠מְּלָאכָ֑ה

(va⁠ʼₐnaḩnū ˊosim ba⁠mməlāʼkāh)

This means the work of rebuilding the wall. If it would be helpful in your language, you could say that explicitly. Alternate translation: “So we continued to work on rebuilding the wall”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / synecdoche

וְ⁠חֶצְיָ֗⁠ם מַחֲזִיקִים֙ בָּֽ⁠רְמָחִ֔ים

(və⁠ḩeʦyā⁠m maḩₐzīqīm bā⁠rəmāḩim)

“Them” means the men who would otherwise have been working as builders or carrying loads, but who were serving as guards instead. As verses 4:13 and 4:16 make clear, the weaponry included not just spears, but also shields and bows and arrows. So Nehemiah is using “spears” here to refer to all of the weaponry. Alternate translation: “half of the men served as guards and kept their weapons ready”

Note 3 topic: translate-fraction

וְ⁠חֶצְיָ֗⁠ם

(və⁠ḩeʦyā⁠m)

Here half means one part out of two equal parts.

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / merism

מֵ⁠עֲל֣וֹת הַ⁠שַּׁ֔חַר עַ֖ד צֵ֥את הַ⁠כּוֹכָבִֽים

(mē⁠ˊₐlōt ha⁠shshaḩar ˊad ʦēʼt ha⁠kkōkāⱱim)

Nehemiah is referring to the entire day by speaking of two extreme parts of it, the time when first light of morning appears and the time when it becomes dark enough to see the stars, in order to include everything in between. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this meaning with a single phrase. Alternate translation: “at all times,” otherwise “from the time when the light of dawn appeared in the morning until the time when the stars appeared at night”

מֵ⁠עֲל֣וֹת הַ⁠שַּׁ֔חַר

(mē⁠ˊₐlōt ha⁠shshaḩar)

This phrase refers to the daily appearance of light rising in the east in the early morning hours prior to the sun rising above the horizon. Alternate translation: “the first light of day”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

צֵ֥את הַ⁠כּוֹכָבִֽים

(ʦēʼt ha⁠kkōkāⱱim)

Here Nehemiah describes the appearing of the stars as if they came out of an enclosed container. Alternate translation: “the very beginning of the night”