Nehemiah 9:33-38

33 You have been fair in everything that has happened to us; you have been loyal, but we have been wicked.

34 Our kings, leaders, priests, and ancestors did not obey your teachings; they did not pay attention to the commands and warnings you gave them.

35 Even when our ancestors were living in their kingdom, enjoying all the good things you had given them, enjoying the land that was fertile and full of room, they did not stop their evil ways.

36 "Look, we are slaves today in the land you gave our ancestors. They were to enjoy its fruit and its good things, but look, we are slaves here.

37 The land's great harvest belongs to the kings you have put over us because of our sins. Those kings rule over us and our cattle as they please, so we are in much trouble.

38 "Because of all this, we are making an agreement in writing, and our leaders, Levites, and priests are putting their seals on 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.