The term used here is literally my young men,
denoting youthfulness and energy. The pronoun my
indicates they were connected to Nehemiah in a way that the general population and the wall builders were not. We’re to recall that the king had assigned him a leadership position with the mandate to rebuild the walls. Such a position implies the need for a personal staff (see Nehemiah 4:23; Nehemiah 5:10; Nehemiah 5:16; Nehemiah 13:19 for other references to Nehemiah’s servants). The same term appears in Nehemiah 4:22; Nehemiah 5:15; Nehemiah 6:5 in relation to others’ personal servants.
16 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah,