Then I went up in the night by the brook, and inspected the wall; and I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, and so returned.
Parallel Translations
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Then I went up in the night by the brook, and inspected the wall; and I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, and so returned.
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Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.
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Then went I up in the night in the valley, and viewed the wall; and I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, and so returned.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Nehemiah 2:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Samuel 15:23 All the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over. The king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.
- Jeremiah 31:38-40 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that the city will be built to Yahweh from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner. The measuring line will go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and will turn toward Goah. The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, will be holy to Yahweh. It will not be plucked up or thrown down any more forever.”
- John 18:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Neh 2:15 Then went I up in the night…
Neh 2:15 Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and [so] returned.
Ver. 15. Then went I up in the night] sc. By moonlight; for the moon is mistress of the night, Psa 136:9, by the brightness she borroweth from the body of the sun, which the moon receiveth and reflecteth, like a lookingglass.
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And viewed the wall] That which was left of it, τα λειψανα, as Scaliger’s epitaph is, Scaligeri quod reliquum est, Scaliger’s relics.
And entered by the gate of the valley] Where he first went out; so he walked the round, not caring to observe that rule of Pythagoras, Eadem via qua progressus fueris ne regrediare, Go not back the same way you came out.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain By the brook of Kidron; of which See Poole…
By the brook of Kidron; of which See Poole "2Sa 15:23". And so returned; having gone round about the city.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the rulers knew not whither I went, or…
And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did..... The rulers of the city of Jerusalem, who seem to be officers of the king of Persia, since they are distinguished from Jewish rulers in the next clause:
neither had I as yet told it to the Jews; what he came about and designed to do:
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nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers; the principal men among the Jews, both ecclesiastical and civil:
nor to the rest that did the work; of building and repairing; neither those that were employed in it, nor those that overlooked it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 15. By the brook] Kidron.
Verse 15. By the brook] Kidron.
By the gate of the Valley] The valley through which the brook Kidron flowed. It was by this gate he went out; so he went all round the city, and entered by the same gate from which he had gone out.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The brook - The Kidron watercourse, which skirted the…
The brook - The Kidron watercourse, which skirted the city on the east.
Turned back - i. e. he turned westward, and having made the circuit of the city, re-entered by the valley-gate.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Torrent of Cedron, having gone round the city. (Calmet)
Torrent of Cedron, having gone round the city. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Then went I up . . . by the…
Then went I up . . . by the brook--that is, Kedron.
and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned--the gate leading to the valley of Jehoshaphat, east of the city. He went out by this gate, and having made the circuit of the city, went in by it again [BARCLAY, City of the Great King].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 15. Then went I up… by the brook —…
15. Then went I up… by the brook — He probably left his beast by the king’s pool, and went on foot up the brook, or valley of the Kedron, and viewed the wall on the east side of the city; then he turned back, walking down the brook Kedron again to the place where he left his beast, and then rode back around the southern and western walls, and again entered the city by the same gate of the valley through which he had gone out.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 15. Then went I up] The tense in the…
15. Then went I up] The tense in the original denotes the gradual progress.
by the brook] i.e. the ‘nakhal’ or ‘brook’ (χείμαρρος) of Kedron. Leaving the ruined line of wall, he goes down to the hollow of the Kedron valley, and proceeds northward ‘up’ the stream, surveying the remains of the walls that crowned the steep declivity on his left.
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and turned back] R.V. and I turned back. This word has been taken to mean not a retracing of his steps, but the turn westward in his route, which would lead eventually in the direction from which he had started. After leaving the Kedron valley the journey would not be so difficult, being probably on the more level ground where the ruins had been cleared; or where less destruction had been wrought. The absence of mention of any spot on the N. or N.W. wall has caused others to suppose that Nehemiah ‘turned back,’ having seen enough, without completing his circuit of the walls. More probably we have here an instance of condensation on the part of the compiler who at this point passes at once to the return journey, without giving us sufficient material to judge whether the complete circuit of the walls was made.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (15) By the gate of the valley, and so…
(15) By the gate of the valley, and so returned.—The itineration seems to have completed the circuit of the walls.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain By the brook. "The brook Kidron," which skirted the…
By the brook. "The brook Kidron," which skirted the city on the east. From this he would be able to "look up at the eastern wall" along its whole length, and see its condition. Following the brook, he was brought to the north-eastern angle of the city; on reaching which he seems to have "turned back" towards the point from which he had started, and skirting the northern wall, to have re-entered by the gate of the valley.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 So I went up ... and I turned back
So I went up ... and I turned back
The other men with Nehemiah also followed him. AT: "So we went up ... and we turned back" (See: Synecdoche)
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by the Valley Gate
"through the Valley Gate"
the rest who did the work
This refers to the men who would later rebuild the walls. AT: "the others who would later do the work of rebuilding the walls" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
gate
rule
Jew
priest
noble
works
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.