Nehemiah 4:23

23. Nor my brethren Men of his own tribe and near kinsmen.

Nor my servants See note on Nehemiah 4:16.

Nor the men of the guard which followed me This may refer to the persons mentioned in the preceding verse, who were retained in Jerusalem as a guard; or to a special bodyguard of Nehemiah, composed of the captains and horsemen who came up with him from Persia, (Nehemiah 2:9,) and still followed him, or were behind him, to do his bidding.

None of us put off our clothes Such was their constant wakefulness and watchfulness.

Saving that every one put them off for washing Such is the meaning which the Vulgate and a number of expositors put upon the Hebrew, אישׁ שׁלחו המים . But these words contain in themselves no such meaning, and there is reason to suspect a corruption in the text. Literally, they read, a man, his weapons, the waters, and there is no connective to decide the meaning. The following are the principal conjectures: 1. That waters here are to be taken as a euphemism for a call of nature, and the sense is, that every man kept his weapons by him even when attending to a call of nature. 2. The marginal reading, that every one who went for water to the springs or wells carried his weapon along. 3. Instead of המים , the waters, we should read בידו , in his hand. Then it would smoothly read, every one (having) his weapon in his hand. 4. Instead of המים , read המינו , his right, when the sense would be, every one with his weapon on his right; that is, ready for immediate action in case of attack. This variety of conjectures sufficiently indicates that some connectives must have fallen out of the text.