Nehemiah 9:26-31

26 "¹But they became disobedient and rebelled against You, And ²cast Your law behind their backs And ³killed Your prophets who had ⁴admonished them So that they might return to You, And ⁵they committed great blasphemies.

27 "Therefore You ⁶delivered them into the hand of their oppressors who oppressed them, But when they cried to You ⁷in the time of their distress, You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassion You ⁸gave them deliverers who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors.

28 "But ⁹as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before You; Therefore You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them. When they cried again to You, You heard from heaven, And ¹⁰many times You rescued them according to Your compassion,

29 And ¹¹admonished them in order to turn them back to Your law. Yet ¹²they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances, By ¹³which if a man observes them he shall live. And they ¹⁴turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.

30 "¹⁵However, You bore with them for many years, And ¹⁶admonished them by ¹⁷Your Spirit through Your prophets, Yet they would not give ear. Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

31 "Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You ¹⁸did not make an end of them or forsake them, For You are ¹⁹a gracious and compassionate God.

Nehemiah 9:26-31 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

• 1. Judges 2:11
• 2. 1 Kings 14:9
• 3. 2 Chronicles 36:16
• 4. Nehemiah 9:30
• 5. Nehemiah 9:18
• 6. Judges 2:14
• 7. Deuteronomy 4:29
• 8. Judges 2:16
• 9. Judges 3:11
• 10. Psalms 106:43
• 11. Nehemiah 9:26, 30
• 12. Nehemiah 9:10, 16
• 13. Leviticus 18:5
• 14. Zechariah 7:11
• 15. Psalms 95:10; Acts 13:18
• 16. 2 Kings 17:13-18; 2 Chronicles 36:15, 16; Nehemiah 9:26, 29
• 17. Nehemiah 9:20
• 18. Jeremiah 4:27
• 19. Nehemiah 9:17

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "acts of contempt"
• [b]. Lit "gave"