Nehemiah 9:33-38

33 Howbeit thou art just in all that has come upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly;

34 neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, with which thou didst testify against them.

35 For they did not serve thee in their kingdom and in thy great goodness that thou didst give them and in the large and fat land which thou didst deliver before them; neither did they turn from their wicked works.

36 Behold, we are slaves this day, behold us here, slaves in the land which thou didst give unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof.

37 And it multiplies its fruit for the kings, whom thou hast set over us because of our sins, who have dominion over our bodies and over our cattle, according to their will, and we are in great distress.

38 And because of all this, we make a sure covenant and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests seal unto it.

Nehemiah 9:33-38 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.