I brought up …: At this point the narrative resumes in the first person. Nehemiah is recounting his own actions. The last time Nehemiah spoke in the first person was in Neh 7.5. If the translator’s language requires a grammatical difference between an account reported by a third person and an account of events that one has seen oneself, that difference will need to be indicated here.

I brought up means that Nehemiah “caused to go up.” This is an important verb that is thematically associated with leading the Jews out of Babylonian captivity back to Jerusalem (see Ezra 1.11), but here it means to go up onto the flat top surface of the wall. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “I had the officers of Judah go up onto the wall.”

Nehemiah took charge of the arrangements for the procession around the wall. He divided the princes, that is, the priestly and lay leaders (Neh 9.32), into two great companies. These were like two choirs that sang songs of thanks giving while they marched. Each company included a choir, a prominent lay leader, half of the other lay leaders, seven priests with trumpets, a director of music, and eight Levite musicians (see verses 32-36, 40-42). The two companies went separately, probably starting at the Valley Gate on the west side of the city, which was a point halfway around the wall from the entry into the Temple on the east side. This was the gate from which Nehemiah had begun his night inspection (Neh 2.13).

The two great companies were large choirs that were to give thanks. The Hebrew word rendered companies means “thanksgiving singing groups.” It has the basic meaning of confessing and of giving thanks (see Ezra 10.11, where Revised Standard Version has “confession”). Bible en français courant and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible only say “two big choirs,” while Revised English Bible and New International Version say “two large choirs to give thanks.” Translators should include both the idea of a singing group and of giving thanks.

Went in procession renders an unknown word in Hebrew, but it is given an A rating by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. It probably represents a scribal mistake for “One went in procession” at the beginning of the next sentence. Revised English Bible follows this reading by translating the whole verse as follows: “Then I assembled the leading men of Judah on the city wall, and appointed two large choirs to give thanks. One went in procession to the right, going along the wall to the Dung Gate.” The rendering, “One went in procession,” is recommended to translators.

One went to the right upon the wall to the Dung Gate: The company that went to the right upon the wall is described first. This means that this group of people went to the right side or to one’s right hand side as one faces the city, going to the south around the wall to the Dung Gate (see the comments at Neh 2.13). The top of the wall was flat and was about three meters (three yards) wide. Several people could walk on it side by side. They marched along in a line on top of the wall. Translators may add a footnote here as Good News Translation has done to describe briefly the two processions and how they marched around the city in opposite directions until they met in front of the Temple.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .