Nehemiah 9:33-38

33 But you were fair about everything that has happened to us. You have been faithful, but we have been wicked.

34 Our kings, leaders, priests, and ancestors didn't obey your teachings. They didn't pay attention to your commandments or the warnings that you gave them.

35 When they lived in their own kingdom and enjoyed the many good things that you gave them in a vast, fertile land which was set in front of them, they didn't serve you or turn away from their wicked lives.

36 Look [at us] now. We're slaves! In the land you gave our ancestors, they could eat its produce and [enjoy] its good things. But now we're slaves!

37 The many products [from our land] go to the kings you put over us. This is because of our sins. These kings have control over our bodies, and they do as they please with our livestock. We are in agony.

38 "We are making a binding agreement [and putting it] in writing because of all this. Our leaders, Levites, and priests are putting their seals on the document."

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.