Nehemiah 9:16-31

The People of Israel Confess Their Sin

16 "But they and our fathers e acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17 They refused to obey f and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, g gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18 Even h when they had made for themselves a golden 1 calf and said, 'This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,' i and had committed great blasphemies, 19 you j in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. k The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, k nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. 20 l You gave your good Spirit to instruct them m and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 21 n Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

22 "And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. o So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon p and the land of Og king of Bashan. 23 You multiplied their children q as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. 24 r So the descendants went in and possessed the land, s and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. 25 And they captured t fortified cities and u a rich land, and took possession of v houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled w and became fat and delighted themselves in x your great goodness.

26 y "Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you z and cast your law behind their back a and killed your prophets, who b had warned them in order to turn them back to you, c and they committed great blasphemies. 27 d Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. e And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them f saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. 28 g But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, h and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. 29 b And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet i they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, j which if a person does them, he shall live by them, k and they turned a stubborn shoulder l and stiffened their neck and would not obey. 30 Many years m you bore with them n and warned them o by your Spirit through your prophets. p Yet they would not give ear. q Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31 Nevertheless, r in your great mercies s you did not make an end of them or forsake them, t for you are a gracious and merciful God.

  1. Cross References
    Exodus 18:11
    Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.
  2. Cross References
    Psalms 78:11
    They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.
    Psalms 78:42 - 43
    They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe.
  3. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:31
    Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not...
    Exodus 34:6
    The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The...
    Numbers 14:18
    'The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in ste...
    Psalms 86:5
    For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abound...
    Psalms 86:15
    But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and graciou...
    Joel 2:13
    And rend your hearts and not your garments." Re...
  4. Cross References
    Exodus 32:4
    And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!
    Psalms 106:19 - 20
    They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a metal image.
    Acts 7:41
    And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.
  5. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:26
    Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies.
    Psalms 78:41
    They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
    Psalms 78:58
    For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
    Hebrews 3:15
    As it is said, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.
  6. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:27
    Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies.
    Nehemiah 9:31
    Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.
    Psalms 106:45
    For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
  7. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:12
    By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go.
  8. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:12
    By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go.
  9. Cross References
    Isaiah 63:11
    Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit.
    Numbers 11:17
    And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.
  10. Cross References
    Exodus 16:35
    The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
    Nehemiah 9:15
    You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.
  11. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 2:7
    For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing."
  12. Cross References
    Numbers 21:21 - 31
    Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying.
  13. Cross References
    Numbers 21:33 - 35
    Then they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.
  14. Cross References
    Genesis 15:5
    And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be.
    Genesis 22:17
    I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies.
  15. Cross References
    Joshua 1:1 - 12:1
    After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant.
  16. Cross References
    Psalms 44:2 - 3
    You with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free.
  17. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 3:5
    All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides very many unwalled villages.
    Deuteronomy 9:1
    Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves, cities great and fortified up to heaven.
    Joshua 10:20
    When Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished striking them with a great blow until they were wiped out, and when the remnant that remained of them had entered into the fortified cities.
    Joshua 14:12
    So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.
  18. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:35
    Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works.
    Numbers 13:20
    And whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land." Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
    Numbers 13:27
    And they told him, "We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
    Deuteronomy 8:7 - 8
    For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills.
    Ezekiel 20:6
    On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands.
  19. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 6:11
    And houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant - and when you eat and are full.
  20. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 32:15
    But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
  21. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:35
    Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works.
    Hosea 3:5
    Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.
  22. Cross References
    Judges 2:11 - 12
    And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.
    Ezekiel 20:21
    But the children rebelled against me. They did not walk in my statutes and were not careful to obey my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; they profaned my Sabbaths. "Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness.
  23. Cross References
    Psalms 50:17
    For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
    1 Kings 14:9
    But you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back.
  24. Cross References
    1 Kings 18:4
    And when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.)
    1 Kings 19:10
    He said, "I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.
    2 Chronicles 24:20 - 21
    Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, "Thus says God, 'Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.'
    Matthew 23:37
    O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!
    Acts 7:52
    Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered.
  25. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:30
    Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
  26. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:18
    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.
  27. Cross References
    Judges 2:14
    So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.
    Psalms 106:41 - 42
    He gave them into the hand of the nations, so that those who hated them ruled over them.
  28. Cross References
    Psalms 106:44 - 45
    Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress, when he heard their cry.
  29. Cross References
    Judges 2:16
    Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
    Judges 3:9
    But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
  30. Cross References
    Judges 3:11 - 12
    So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
    Judges 3:30
    So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.
    Judges 4:1
    And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died.
    Judges 5:31
    So may all your enemies perish, O Lord! But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might." And the land had rest for forty years.
    Judges 6:1
    The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.
  31. Cross References
    Psalms 106:43
    Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes and were brought low through their iniquity.
  32. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:26
    Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies.
  33. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:10
    And performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day.
    Nehemiah 9:16
    But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments.
  34. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:5
    You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
  35. Cross References
    Zechariah 7:11
    But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.
  36. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:16
    But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments.
  37. Cross References
    Acts 13:18
    And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.
  38. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:26
    Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies.
    Nehemiah 9:29
    And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey.
    Nehemiah 9:34
    Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them.
    2 Kings 17:13
    Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
  39. Cross References
    1 Peter 1:10 - 11
    Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully.
    2 Peter 1:21
    For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
  40. Cross References
    Acts 7:51
    You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
  41. Cross References
    Ezra 9:7
    From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.
    Isaiah 42:24
    Who gave up Jacob to the looter, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?
  42. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:19
    You in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go.
    Nehemiah 9:27
    Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies.
  43. Cross References
    Jeremiah 4:27
    For thus says the Lord, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
    Jeremiah 5:10
    Go up through her vine rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the Lord 's.
    Jeremiah 5:18
    But even in those days, declares the Lord, I will not make a full end of you.
  44. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:17
    They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.