Nehemiah 9:20

20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst.

Nehemiah 9:20 in Other Translations

20 Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.

20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst.

20 You sent your good Spirit to instruct them, and you did not stop giving them manna from heaven or water for their thirst.

20 You gave them your good Spirit to teach them to live wisely. You never stinted with your manna, gave them plenty of water to drink.

20 You sent Your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold Your manna from their mouths, and You gave them water for their thirst.

Nehemiah 9:20 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 9:20

Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them
In the knowledge of the laws delivered to them; the spirit of prophecy, according to Ben Melech, and which Aben Ezra interprets of the spirit put upon the seventy elders, ( Numbers 11:17 Numbers 11:25 ) ,

and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth;
all the while they were in the wilderness, until they came to Canaan's land; called the Lord's manna, because prepared by him, and given by him to them; a part or portion and gift from the Lord, as Ben Melech, from whence it had its name, see ( Exodus 16:15 )

and gavest them water for their thirst;
which seems to have respect to the last rock stricken for them, after their many provocations in the wilderness, ( Numbers 20:11 ) .

Nehemiah 9:20 In-Context

18 even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.

19 “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take.

20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst.

21 For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.

22 “You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of Sihon king of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan.

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 9:17; Numbers 11:17; Isaiah 63:11,14; Haggai 2:5; Zechariah 4:6
• 2. Psalms 23:3; Psalms 143:10
• 3. S Exodus 16:15
• 4. Exodus 17:6