I was very angry: Nehemiah reacted to the suffering of the people at the hands of their own leaders. He became very angry (see Neh 4.7) because of what they told him.

When I heard their outcry and these words: Nehemiah repeats the idea of outcry from verse 1, though he uses a different word in Hebrew. Here the emphasis is on a cry of desperation (also Neh 9.9). In the pattern of near synonyms, he makes reference to the words of their cry. Good News Translation telescopes outcry and words into the single word “complaints.” Contemporary English Version retains two ideas but avoids the uncommon word outcry by saying “their complaints and their charges” (also Bible en français courant).

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 .