to fasten upon · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person common plural
Levites
הַלְוִיִּ֖םhal.vi.Yim
H3881
a Levite or descendant of Levi · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
Rehum
רְח֣וּםre.Chum
H7348
Rechum · proper noun, a man's name
son
בֶּןben-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Bani
בָּנִ֑יba.Ni
H1137
Bani · proper noun, a man's name
him
יָד֣וֹya.Do
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
repaired
הֶחֱזִ֗יקhe.che.Zik
H2388
to fasten upon · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Hashabiah
חֲשַׁבְיָ֛הcha.shav.Yah
H2811
Chashabjah · proper noun, a man's name
ruler
שַׂרsar-
H8269
a head person (of any rank or class) · noun, common masculine singular construct
half
חֲצִיcha.tzi-
H2677
the half or middle · noun, common masculine singular construct
part
פֶ֥לֶךְFe.lekh
H6418
a circuit (i.e. district) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Keilah
קְעִילָ֖הke.'i.Lah
H7084
Keilah · proper noun, a place name
part
לְפִלְכּֽוֹle.fil.Ko
H6418
a circuit (i.e. district) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Joshua 15:44 And Keilah, and Achzib, and Mareshah; nine cities with their villages:
1 Samuel 23:1-13 Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshingfloors.
1 Chronicles 23:4 Of which, twenty and four thousand were to set forward the work of the house of the LORD; and six thousand were officers and judges:
Nehemiah 3:16 After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of the half part of Beth-zur, unto the place over against the sepulchres of David, a…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 3:1–end
The best way to know how to divide this chapter is to observe how the work was divided among the undertakers, that every one might know what he had to do, and mind it accordingly with a holy emulation, and desire to excel, yet without any contention, animosity, or separate interest. No strife appears among them but which should do most for the public good. Several things are observable in the account here given of the building of the wall about Jerusalem: -
I. That Eliashib the high priest, with his brethren the priests, led the van in this troop of builders, Neh 3:1. Ministers should be foremost in every good work; for their office obliges them to teach and quicken by their example, as wel…
the sepulchres of David, and to the pool that was made, and unto the house of the mighty--that is, along the precipitous cliffs of Zion [BARCLAY].
Adam Clarke on Nehemiah 3:16
The pool that was made - Calmet supposes that this was the reservoir made by Hezekiah, when besieged by Sennacherib, Ch2 32:4.
The house of the mighty - Probably a place where a band of soldiers was kept, or the city guard.
John Gill on Nehemiah 3:17
After him repaired the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani,.... Who was one of them, as he that follows was another:
next unto him repaired Hashabiah, the ruler of the half part of Keilah: a city of the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:4
in his part; either with the men of that part of Keilah under his jurisdiction, or at the expense of that part of it.
Keil & Delitzsch on Nehemiah 3:16-17
The wall from the steps leading from the city of David to the angle opposite the armoury. From Neh 3:16 onwards we find for the most part אחריו, after him, instead of ידו על, which only occurs again in Neh 3:17 and Neh 3:19. Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of half the district of Beth-zur (see rem. on Ch2 11:7), repaired the wall as far as "opposite the sepulchres of David, and unto the pool that was made, and to the house of the heroes." The sepulchres of David are the sepulchres of the house of David in the city of David (comp. Ch2 32:33). "Opposite the sepulchres of David" is the length of wall on the eastern side of Zion, where was probably, as Thenius endeavours to show in the Zeit…
The Church Fathers
After him, their brothers, the Levites, built, etc. Up to this point, the first wall of the city is constructed, from here the measure of the second, that is, the inner wall, which we mentioned above, begins. Hence, in this description, it is said that many of the builders built opposite their own house; for many houses of the city were either adjacent to or joined to the inner wall. Therefore, after the construction of the outer wall, the measure of the second wall follows also in our city, when, after the perfection of works and speech—which can appear to men—we strive more to please God in the inner parts of our mind, so that we may not presume to conceive anything in secret that would offend the eyes of the internal judge. And it is rightly said that the second measure is built against the ascent of the most solid corner; the most solid corner indeed is the Lord, who brought together the people of the Jews and the Gentiles in His faith and love; hence in the Psalm (Psalm 117) or Isaiah (Isaiah 28), He is called the cornerstone. Against the ascent of which corner the second measure is built, when through the purity of pious thought we strive to reach the vision of our Creator; even when held in this life, we frequently sigh with longing for His vision. From here follow many orders of builders who are said to have built the second measure, because the greatest structure of the holy Church is in the fortification of inner virtue, when we, of course, guard our heart with all vigilance, for from it springs life. To discuss these individually and to draw everything to spiritual understanding would be too lengthy.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Bani — Built. (1.) 1 Chr. 6:46. (2.) One of David’s thirty-seven warriors, a Gadite (2 Sam. 23:36). (3.) Ezra 2:10; 10:29, 34, 38. (4.) A Levite who was prominent in the reforms on the return from Babylon…
Hashabiah — Regarded by Jehovah. (1.) Merarite Levite (1 Chr. 6:45; 9:14). (2.) A son of Jeduthun (25:3, 19). (3.) Son of Kemuel (26:30). (4.) One of the chief Levites (2 Chr. 35:9). (5.) A Levite (Neh. 11:22).…
Rehum — Merciful. (1.) One of “the children of the province” who returned from the Captivity (Ezra 2:2); the same as “Nehum” (Neh. 7:7). (2.) The “chancellor” of Artaxerxes, who sought to stir him up against…
Bani · 5. A Levite of the returned exiles — 5. A Levite of the returned exiles
Cities · Government of, by rulers — Government of, by rulers
Hashabiah · 9. A chief of the Levites — 9. A chief of the Levites
Keilah · .Rulers of, aid in restoring the wall of — .Rulers of, aid in restoring the wall of
Persia · Municipal governments in, provi — Municipal governments in, provi
Rehum · 3. A Levite who repaired part of the wall of — 3. A Levite who repaired part of the wall of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
These verses describe the building of the new eastern wall.
3:16 The district of Beth-zur was located just north of Hebron. • The tombs of David’s family might refer to where King David was buried (1 Kgs 2:10; 11:43; 2 Chr 21:20; Acts 2:29), and the House of the Warriors might have been a tomb for David’s mighty men (2 Sam 23:8-39).
Rashi on Nehemiah 3:17
half the district From that bailiwick, the half district, he built this structure. In the word לְפִּלְכּוֹ, the “kaff” has a “dagesh,” as one says from מֶלֶךְ, מַלְכּוֹ, from עֶבֶד, עַבְדוֹ, so does one say from פֶּלֶךְ, פִּלְכּוֹ, for [if] the last letter of the noun is one of the letters “beth,” “gimmel,” “daleth,” “kaff,” “pey,” or “tav,” it is punctuated with a “dagesh.”
