Nehemiah 9:17

17 They refused to obey ¹and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, ²gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did 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 You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

16 "But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments.

17 They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.

18 Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, 'This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,'and had committed great blasphemies,

19 you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go.

Cross References

• 1. Ps. 78:11, 42, 43
• 2. ver. 31; Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:18; Psalms 86:5, 15; Joel 2:13