Nehemiah 9:17

17 And they would not hear, and they remembered not thy wonders which thou hadst done for them. And they hardened their necks, and gave the head to return to their bondage, as it were by contention. But thou, a forgiving God, gracious, and merciful, longsuffering, and full of compassion, didst not forsake them.

Nehemiah 9:17 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 9:17

And refused to obey
Though exhorted, admonished, and threatened, such was their obstinacy:

neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them;
in delivering them at the Red sea, in raining manna about them, and giving them water out of the rock:

but hardened their necks;
see the preceding verse:

and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage;
they not only proposed it, but determined upon it, which is reckoned the same as if they had done it, see ( Numbers 14:4 ) ,

but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to
anger, and of great kindness;
as he had proclaimed his name before Moses, and as the whole of his conduct towards the people of Israel abundantly shewed, see ( Exodus 34:6 Exodus 34:7 )

and forsookest them not;
when in the wilderness, where otherwise they must have perished, but still fed and protected them, notwithstanding their provocations.

Nehemiah 9:17 In-Context

15 And thou gavest them bread from heaven in their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock in their thirst, and thou saidst to them that they should go in, and possess the land, upon which thou hadst lifted up thy hand to give it them.

16 But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks and hearkened not to thy commandments.

17 And they would not hear, and they remembered not thy wonders which thou hadst done for them. And they hardened their necks, and gave the head to return to their bondage, as it were by contention. But thou, a forgiving God, gracious, and merciful, longsuffering, and full of compassion, didst not forsake them.

18 Yea when they had made also to themselves a molten calf, and had said: This is thy God, that brought thee out of Egypt: and had committed great blasphemies:

19 Yet thou, in thy many mercies, didst not leave them in the desert: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day to lead them in the way, and the pillar of fire by night to shew them the way by which they should go.