Nehemiah 3:8

The goldsmiths. The skilled craftsmen, such as goldsmiths and pharmacists, may not have belonged to recognized family or city units, like the other builders, and so were listed separately.

Fortified. Heb. ‘azab, perhaps “to prepare.” The LXX renders ‘azab, “they left,” an alternative reading also given in the KJV margin. But such a translation of the word in this context would be meaningless, even though ‘azab has some such meaning in all other passages where it is found. Most translators have surmised that it was a technical term used in building. In the recently discovered texts of Ras Shamrah a word ‘adab is frequently used, with the meaning “to make,” “to prepare,” “to set.” Since in a related Semitic language the letter d can replace the Hebrew z as it also does in Aramaic, there is little doubt that the ‘adab of the Ras Shamrah texts is the equivalent of the ‘azab of Neh. 3:8, and that the KJV translation is at least approximately correct.

The broad wall. An unknown topographical detail at Jerusalem.