Nehemiah 9:26-31

26 1"Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you 2and cast your law behind their back 3and killed your prophets, who 4had warned them in order to turn them back to you, 5and they committed great blasphemies.
27 6Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. 7And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them 8saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies.
28 9But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, 10and many times you delivered them according to your mercies.
29 11And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet 12they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, 13which if a person does them, he shall live by them, 14and they turned a stubborn shoulder 15and stiffened their neck and would not obey.
30 Many years 16you bore with them 17and warned them 18by your Spirit through your prophets. 19Yet they would not give ear. 20Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
31 Nevertheless, 21in your great mercies 22you did not make an end of them or forsake them, 23for you are a gracious and merciful 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 23

  • 1. Judges 2:11, 12; Ezekiel 20:21
  • 2. Psalms 50:17; [1 Kings 14:9]
  • 3. 1 Kings 18:4; 1 Kings 19:10; 2 Chronicles 24:20, 21; Matthew 23:37; Acts 7:52
  • 4. See ver. 30
  • 5. See ver. 18
  • 6. Judges 2:14; Psalms 106:41, 42
  • 7. Psalms 106:44, 45
  • 8. Judges 2:16; Judges 3:9
  • 9. Judg. 3:11, 12, 30; Judges 4:1; Judges 5:31; Judges 6:1
  • 10. Psalms 106:43
  • 11. [See ver. 26 above]
  • 12. ver. 10, 16
  • 13. See Leviticus 18:5
  • 14. Zechariah 7:11
  • 15. See ver. 16
  • 16. [Acts 13:18]
  • 17. ver. 26, 29, 34; 2 Kings 17:13
  • 18. 1 Peter 1:10, 11; 2 Peter 1:21
  • 19. Acts 7:51
  • 20. Ezra 9:7; [Isaiah 42:24]
  • 21. ver. 19, 27
  • 22. Jeremiah 4:27; Jeremiah 5:10, 18
  • 23. ver. 17
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.