Nehemías 4:23

23 Ni yo ni mis parientes y ayudantes, ni los de mi guardia personal, nos desvestíamos para nada: cada uno de nosotros se mantenía listo para la defensa.^[a]

Nehemías 4:23 Meaning and Commentary

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 15:5-10 ) , &c. and the Vulgate Latin version expresses it by baptism, as the apostle calls such ceremonial ablutions in ( Hebrews 6:2 ) ( 9:10 ) . 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 renders the words, "everyone with his weapon (and) water"; both were at his bolster, ready, if wanted, see ( 1 Samuel 26:11 1 Samuel 26:12 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Ebr. Concord. Partic. p. 322.

Nehemías 4:23 In-Context

21 Así que, desde el amanecer hasta que aparecían las estrellas, mientras trabajábamos en la obra, la mitad de la gente montaba guardia lanza en mano.

22 En aquella ocasión también le dije a la gente: «Todos ustedes, incluso los ayudantes, quédense en Jerusalén para que en la noche sirvan de centinelas y de día trabajen en la obra».

23 Ni yo ni mis parientes y ayudantes, ni los de mi guardia personal, nos desvestíamos para nada: cada uno de nosotros se mantenía listo para la defensa.

Footnotes

• [a]. "cada uno " "… " "defensa" . Lit. "cada uno su arma el agua" . Texto de difícil traducción.