Nehemiah 9:36

36 `Lo, we -- to-day -- [are] servants, and the land that Thou hast given to our fathers, to eat its fruit and its good -- lo, we [are] servants on it,

Nehemiah 9:36 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 9:36

Behold, we are servants this day
For though they had leave to return to their land, and rebuild their city and temple, yet they were still in subjection to the kings of Persia:

and for the land thou gavest unto our fathers, to eat the fruit
thereof, and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it;
though the rightful owners and proprietors of it by the gift of God to their ancestors, to hold it and enjoy the good of it, and yet were obliged to pay tribute for it to the kings of Persia, all excepting priests and Levites; see ( Ezra 6:8 ) ( Ezra 7:20 Ezra 7:24 ) .

Nehemiah 9:36 In-Context

34 and our kings, our heads, our priests, and our fathers, have not done Thy law, nor attended unto Thy commands, and to Thy testimonies, that Thou hast testified against them;

35 and they, in their kingdom, and in Thine abundant goodness, that Thou hast given to them, and in the land, the large and the fat, that Thou hast set before them, have not served Thee, nor turned back from their evil doings.

36 `Lo, we -- to-day -- [are] servants, and the land that Thou hast given to our fathers, to eat its fruit and its good -- lo, we [are] servants on it,

37 and its increase it is multiplying to the kings whom Thou hast set over us in our sins; and over our bodies they are ruling, and over our cattle, according to their pleasure, and we [are] in great distress.

38 And for all this we are making a stedfast covenant, and are writing, and over him who is sealed [are] our heads, our Levites, our priests.'