Nehemiah 3:20

Baruch the son of Zabbai R.V. marg. -Another reading is, Zaccai." Zabbai (so Ezra 10:28) is the reading of C'thib and LXX., Zaccai of K'ri and Vulg.

earnestly repaired The word rendered -earnestly" calls for remark. (a) In the original it appears as an unusual causative of a verb meaning -to be angry," which in this exact form is only elsewhere found in Job 19:11. -He hath also kindled his wrathagainst me. The word occurs also in Jeremiah 12:5 = -contend," Jeremiah 22:15 = -strivest to excel." (b) A causative verb in the past tense immediately preceding the finite verb -repaired," may be idiomatic Hebrew, but is not to be expected in narrative prose. (c) The word -repaired" is found nowhere else in this list with any qualification. If the reading is correct, the word will denote the ardour or the emulous spirit with which Baruch undertook his work.

The same word differently pointed is capable of meaning -towards the hill," being then the same as that rendered in Genesis 14:10 -to the mountain." This must have been the reading of the Vulgate -in monte ædificavit Baruch."

If this is the right reading, it refers to the summit of the Ophel, where the high-priest's house would have stood immediately S. of the Temple.

the other piece R.V. another portion. See note on Nehemiah 3:11. Here these words, as Baruch's name has not occurred before, suggest the incompleteness of the description.