OET interlinear NEH 4:4

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

שְׁמַ֤ע אֱלֹהֵ֨י⁠נוּ֙

(Some words not found in UHB: and=he/it_said Yehuda failing ability the,burden_bearers and,the,rubble much and,we not able to,rebuild in/on/at/with,wall )

Nehemiah starts talking directly to God at this point in the book. The implication is that he heard about what Sanballat and Tobiah were saying, and in response, he prayed the prayer that is recorded here in 2:4–5. If it would be helpful in your language, you could say that explicitly. Alternate translation: “When I heard about what they were saying, I prayed and said, ‘Listen, our God’”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / aside

שְׁמַ֤ע אֱלֹהֵ֨י⁠נוּ֙

(Some words not found in UHB: and=he/it_said Yehuda failing ability the,burden_bearers and,the,rubble much and,we not able to,rebuild in/on/at/with,wall )

Nehemiah’s prayer here is a particular type of aside. In an aside, someone who is speaking to or about one person or group will pause and speak confidentially to somebody else about them. Often an aside is spoken to the audience of a work about someone who is being addressed within the work. But in this case, Nehemiah pauses from addressing the audience that is hearing his story; he speaks confidentially to God in prayer about two of the characters in the story. If it would be helpful in your language, you could show this is a prayer is distinct from the story by making it a direct quotation.

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

הָיִ֣ינוּ בוּזָ֔ה

(Some words not found in UHB: and=he/it_said Yehuda failing ability the,burden_bearers and,the,rubble much and,we not able to,rebuild in/on/at/with,wall )

The abstract noun contempt refers to the way Sanballat and Tobiah regarded the Jews, which led them to make fun of the Jews. You can translate the idea behind this term with a verb like “mocking.” Alternate translation: “our enemies are mocking us”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

וְ⁠הָשֵׁ֥ב חֶרְפָּתָ֖⁠ם אֶל־רֹאשָׁ֑⁠ם

(Some words not found in UHB: and=he/it_said Yehuda failing ability the,burden_bearers and,the,rubble much and,we not able to,rebuild in/on/at/with,wall )

Return on his head is an idiom that means that what a person expected to happen to someone else happens to them instead. Alternate translation: “Make them people whom others will mock”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

וּ⁠תְנֵ֥⁠ם לְ⁠בִזָּ֖ה בְּ⁠אֶ֥רֶץ שִׁבְיָֽה

(Some words not found in UHB: and=he/it_said Yehuda failing ability the,burden_bearers and,the,rubble much and,we not able to,rebuild in/on/at/with,wall )

As in 1:2, the abstract noun captivity refers to a conquering army forcing all or some of a captured population to move to a different place. You can translate the idea behind it with verbs such as “capture” and “force.” Alternate translation: “Allow their enemies to capture them and force them to go to a foreign land”