Nehemiah 1:9

9 But if you return to me and keep my commandments by really doing them, then, even though your outcasts live^[a] under distant skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place that I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.'

Nehemiah 1:9 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 1:9

But if ye return unto me, and keep my commandments, and do
them
Return by repentance, and, as a proof of the genuineness of it, yield obedience to the commands of God, and continue therein:

though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the
heaven;
that is, the uttermost parts of the earth, the most distant regions; so called, because at the extreme parts of the horizon, according to our apprehension, the heavens and earth touch each other; so that what is the uttermost part of the one is supposed to be of the other:

yet will I gather them from thence and will bring them unto the place
that I have chosen to set my name there;
that is to Jerusalem where the temple was built, and his name was called upon.

Nehemiah 1:9 In-Context

7 We have wronged you greatly. We haven't kept the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances that you commanded your servant Moses.

8 “Remember the word that you gave to your servant Moses when you said, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples.

9 But if you return to me and keep my commandments by really doing them, then, even though your outcasts live under distant skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place that I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.'

10 They are your servants and your people. They are the ones whom you have redeemed by your great power and your strong hand.

11 "LORD, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in honoring your name. Please give success to your servant today and grant him favor in the presence of this man!" At that time, I was a cupbearer to the king.

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb lacks live.