Nehemiah 1:6

6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, to hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, ^[a] day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, confessing the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.

Nehemiah 1:6 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 1:6

Let thine ear be now attentive
To his prayer, as in ( Nehemiah 1:11 ) ,

and thine eyes open;
to behold with pity and compassion the distressed case of Jerusalem, and the Jews in it:

I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy
servants;
this he had continued to do ever since he heard of their trouble and calamity:

and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned
against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned;
he considered sin as the cause of all this evil that had befallen his people, and confesses it with sorrow and humiliation, and not their sins only, but his own personal and family sins.

Nehemiah 1:6 In-Context

4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat and wept, and mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of the heavens,

5 and said, I beseech thee, Jehovah, God of the heavens, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and keep his commandments.

6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, to hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, confessing the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.

7 We have acted very perversely against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances that thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the peoples;

Footnotes

• [a]. Or 'this day.'