Nehemiah 9:12-22

12 By 1a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go.
13 2You came down on Mount Sinai 3and spoke with them from heaven and gave them 4right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments,
14 5and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant.
15 6You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and 7brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you 8told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.
16 "But they and our fathers 9acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments.
17 They refused to obey 10and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, 11gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.
18 Even 12when they had made for themselves a golden[a] calf and said, 'This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,'13and had committed great blasphemies,
19 you 14in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. 15The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, 16nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go.
20 17You gave your good Spirit to instruct them 18and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst.
21 19Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
22 "And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. 20So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon 21and the land of Og king of Bashan.

Nehemiah 9:12-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NEHEMIAH 9

In this chapter we have an account of a fast kept by the Jews, which was observed, as by outward acts of humiliation, so by confession of sin, reading the law, and worshipping the Lord, Ne 9:1-3 and of a long prayer that the Levites made, in which they celebrate the divine perfections, take notice of various instances of the goodness of God to the people of Israel, acknowledge their manifold transgressions, observe the Lord's correction of them for them, in which they own he was righteous, Ne 9:4-38.

Cross References 21

  • 1. ver. 19; Exodus 13:21, 22; Numbers 14:14; 1 Corinthians 10:1
  • 2. Exodus 19:20
  • 3. See Exodus 20:1-17
  • 4. Psalms 19:8, 9; [Romans 7:12]; See Psalms 119
  • 5. Exodus 16:23; Exodus 20:8-11; [Genesis 2:2, 3; Ezekiel 20:12, 20]
  • 6. [Exodus 16:14, 15; Psalms 78:25; Psalms 105:40; 1 Corinthians 10:3]; Cited John 6:31
  • 7. Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:10; Psalms 78:15-17; Psalms 105:41; 1 Corinthians 10:4
  • 8. Deuteronomy 1:8
  • 9. Exodus 18:11
  • 10. Ps. 78:11, 42, 43
  • 11. ver. 31; Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:18; Psalms 86:5, 15; Joel 2:13
  • 12. Exodus 32:4; Psalms 106:19, 20; Acts 7:41
  • 13. ver. 26; Psalms 78:41, 58; [Hebrews 3:15]
  • 14. ver. 27, 31; Psalms 106:45
  • 15. See ver. 12
  • 16. See ver. 12
  • 17. Isaiah 63:11; [Numbers 11:17]
  • 18. [Exodus 16:35]; See ver. 15
  • 19. Deuteronomy 2:7
  • 20. See Numbers 21:21-31
  • 21. See Numbers 21:33-35

Footnotes 1

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.