Nehemiah 9:18

18 even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.

Nehemiah 9:18 in Other Translations

18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;

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,

18 even when they made an idol shaped like a calf and said, ‘This is your god who brought you out of Egypt!’ They committed terrible blasphemies.

18 Yes, even when they cast a sculpted calf and said, "This is your god Who brought you out of Egypt," and continued from bad to worse,

18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;

18 even when they made a metal statue of a calf for themselves and said, 'This is your god who took you out of Egypt.' They committed outrageous sins.

18 Even after they had cast an image of a calf for themselves and said, "This is your God who brought you out of Egypt," and they had committed terrible blasphemies,

18 "They made for themselves a metal statue of a god that looked like a calf. They said, 'Here is your god. He brought you up out of Egypt.' And they did evil things that dishonored you. But you still didn't desert them.

Nehemiah 9:18 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 9:18

Yea, when they had made them a molten calf
In imitation of the Apis, or ox of the Egyptians:

and said, this is thy god that brought thee out of Egypt;
or the image of thy god, as the Arabic version, see ( Exodus 32:4 ) ,

and had wrought great provocations;
of all which nothing was greater than idolatry.

Nehemiah 9:18 In-Context

16 “But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and they did not obey your commands.

17 They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them,

18 even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.

19 “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take.

20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst.

Cross References

• 1. S Exodus 32:4
• 2. S Exodus 20:23