A conflict between good ("tob") and evil ("ra’") underlies the action of this chapter which is not immediately obvious in the English translation: Nehemiah's face is "sad" (verses 1–3) is actually described using the word "evil", which is also used for the word "trouble" of Jerusalem (verse 17, or in 1:3), whereas the expression "it pleased the king" (verses 6 & 7) is literally "it was "good" to the king", as also in "the "good" hand of God is upon Nehemiah" (verses 8, 18), or "the good work" (verse 18), which is simply "the good" (or "the good thing”").