Here Nehemiah is praying to God. This can be stated clearly and written with quotation marks. AT: "Then I prayed, 'Hear, our God, ... for they have provoked the builders to anger.' So" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit]])
Here the word "we" refers to the Jews. This can be stated in active form. AT: "Hear, our God, for our enemies despise us" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-activepassive]])
The phrase "their taunts" refers to Sanballat's and Tobiah's insults. Here the word "heads" refers to the whole people. AT: "Turn their taunts onto themselves" or "Cause their insulting words to mock themselves" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-synecdoche]])
This speaks of a forgiving a person's sins as if they were a object that could be physically hidden. AT: "Do not forgive" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])
# all the wall was joined together to half its height
This can be stated in active form. AT: "we joined the wall together and it was half its total height" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-activepassive]])