Nehemiah 4:23

So neither I, nor my brethren ,.... The nobles and rulers:

nor my servants ; his domestic servants that waited upon him:

nor the men of the guard which followed me ; his bodyguard, which attended him as a commissioner of the king of Persia for state and grandeur:

none of us put off our clothes ; at night when they laid themselves down to sleep, but laid in, them, that they might be ready upon an alarm made:

saving that everyone put them off for washing ; not for common washing, because dirty, but for washing on account of ceremonial uncleanness, which required washing both of bodies and garments, see Leviticus 15:5 , &c.; and the Vulgate Latin version expresses it by baptism, as the apostle calls such ceremonial ablutions in Hebrews 6:2 . It is in the margin of our Bibles, "everyone went with his weapon for water"; when he went to Siloam, or any other place, for water, he took a weapon with him to defend himself upon occasion; which is no bad sense of the words. Noldius F7 Ebr. Concord. Partic. p. 322. renders the words, "everyone with his weapon (and) water"; both were at his bolster, ready, if wanted, see 1 Samuel 26:11 .