Nehemiah 9:33-38

33 1Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully 2and we have acted wickedly.
34 Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them.
35 Even in their own kingdom, 3and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and 4rich land that you set before them, 5they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works.
36 Behold, 6we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves.
37 7And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.
38 [a]"Because of all this 8we make a firm covenant in writing; on 9the sealed document are the names of[b] our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

Nehemiah 9:33-38 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 9

  • 1. See Ezra 9:15
  • 2. Psalms 106:6; Daniel 9:5
  • 3. ver. 25
  • 4. ver. 25
  • 5. Deuteronomy 28:47
  • 6. Ezra 9:9
  • 7. Deuteronomy 28:33, 51
  • 8. 2 Kings 23:3; 2 Chronicles 29:10; 2 Chronicles 34:31; Ezra 10:3; [Nehemiah 10:29]; Nehemiah 10:1
  • 9. [Nehemiah 10:1]

Footnotes 2

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