Nehemiah 9: Fasting, confession, and the Levites' prayer

In plain English: On the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel gathered with fasting and in sackcloth, with earth on them.

In plain English: The offspring of Israel separated themselves from all the sons of foreignness (that is, foreigners). They stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

In plain English: They stood up in their place and read aloud from the book of the law of Yahweh their God for a fourth part of the day. For another fourth part they confessed and bowed down to Yahweh their God.

In plain English: Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Chenani, of the Levites, stood on the platform (or: stairs) and cried out with a loud voice to Yahweh their God.

The Hebrew word: "Stairs" is maaleh, which the dictionary gives as "an elevation" and, in particular, "platform". It is in 2 verses of Nehemiah, and the WEB says "stairs" in both (12:37 is the other).

What changes: A "platform" and "stairs" are two English ways of saying the one Hebrew word. The text does not say what it looked like.

In plain English: Then the Levites Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah said, "Stand up and bless Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting! Blessed be your glorious name, which is lifted high above all blessing and praise!

Good to know: The quotation marks of the WEB open here and close at the end of verse 38. So everything from "Stand up and bless Yahweh" to the end of the chapter is given as the Levites' words (in the printed text the marks open again at each new paragraph and stay open until the end).

In plain English: You are Yahweh, you alone. You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens, with all their army, the earth and everything on it, the seas and everything in them. You keep them all alive, and the army of heaven bows down to you.

The Hebrew word: "Army" is tsaba, which the dictionary gives as "a mass of persons (or figuratively, things), especially reg. organized forwar (an army); by implication, a campaign, literally or figuratively (specifically, hardship, worship)". The Hebrew uses it twice in this verse ("with all their army" and "the army of heaven"), and the verse is the only one in Nehemiah that has it. The WEB says "army" for both.

What changes: "Army" and "host" are the same Hebrew word. The verse says heaven has an army that bows down to Yahweh. The text does not say what the army is.

In plain English: You are Yahweh, the God who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and gave him the name Abraham.

Good to know: This verse tells how Abram became Abraham. Genesis 17:5 has Yahweh giving the name: "Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham". Genesis 15:7 has "I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees". Here the Levites say it of Yahweh in prayer.

In plain English: You found his heart faithful before you, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites and the Girgashites, to give it to his offspring. You have fulfilled your words, for you are righteous.

In plain English: You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry at the Red Sea (in the Hebrew, the sea of reeds).

The Hebrew words: "Red Sea" is yam suph. Yam is "sea", and suph is, in the dictionary, "a reed, especially the papyrus", so the Hebrew reads "sea of reeds". The word suph is in 28 verses of the Bible, and the WEB says "Red Sea" in 24 of them. In the other 4 the WEB has other words, such as "reeds" in Exodus 2:3 and "weeds" in Jonah 2:5.

What changes: "Red Sea" and "sea of reeds" are the same Hebrew. Exodus 15:4 and 15:22 use the same word.

In plain English: You gave signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his servants and against all the people of his land, for you knew that they had acted proudly against them. You made a name for yourself, as it is today.

In plain English: You split the sea before them, and they passed through the middle of the sea on dry ground. You threw their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters.

In plain English: By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire, to light up for them the way they were to go.

In plain English: You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You gave them right judgments and true laws, good statutes and commandments.

In plain English: You made known to them your holy Sabbath, and you commanded them commandments, statutes and a law by the hand of Moses your servant.

In plain English: You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought water out of a rock for their thirst. You told them to go in and take possession of the land you had lifted your hand (that is, sworn) to give them.

The Hebrew words: "Sworn" is the two Hebrew words nasa yad, "you lifted your hand". Nasa is, in the dictionary, "to lift, in a great variety of applications", and yad is "a hand". The verb is in 4 verses of Nehemiah, and the WEB says "sworn" in this one.

How it is translated: The WEB gives the meaning, "sworn", and not the lifting of the hand. The text does not say what the people watching saw.

In plain English: But they and our fathers acted proudly, stiffened their neck, and did not listen to your commandments.

In plain English: They refused to listen, and did not remember your wonders that you did with them. They stiffened their neck, and appointed a leader to return to their servitude in their rebellion. But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, long in anger and great in loving kindness, and you did not abandon them.

The Hebrew words: "In their rebellion" is bemeri, from meri, which the dictionary gives as "bitterness, i.e. (figuratively) rebellion". It is in this verse only in Nehemiah, and the WEB says "rebellion". "Ready to pardon" is eloah selichot: the dictionary gives eloah as "a deity or the Deity" and selichah as "pardon". The WEB says "pardon" in this verse, which is the only verse in Nehemiah with the word.

What changes: The Hebrew puts "in their rebellion" last, after "to return to their servitude", so the words can go with either part. With the WEB, they appointed a leader in their rebellion. With the other reading, they appointed a leader to return, in their rebellion, to their servitude. The text does not say who the leader was or when. Numbers 14:4 has the people saying, "Let's choose a leader, and let's return into Egypt". The prayer does not name that verse.

In plain English: Even when they made themselves a calf of molten metal and said, 'This is your God who brought you up from Egypt,' and did great blasphemies,

Good to know: The calf is told in Exodus 32:4, where the people say, "These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt". Here the verse has "This is your God who brought you up from Egypt". These are the people's words, as the Levites recall them. The Hebrew word for "God" and "gods" is the same, elohim. In this verse the words "this is" and "brought you up" speak of one God, where Exodus has "These are" and "which brought you up" for the gods.

In plain English: you, in your great compassion, did not abandon them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, to lead them in the way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to light up for them the way they were to go.

In plain English: You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouth, and you gave them water for their thirst.

The Hebrew word: "Spirit" is ruach, which the dictionary gives as "wind; by resemblance breath, i.e. a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively, life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extension, a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions)". It is in 2 verses of Nehemiah, this one and 9:30, and the WEB says "Spirit" in both.

What changes: Each verse speaks of "your Spirit" or "your good Spirit", belonging to Yahweh. The Hebrew word also means wind and breath. The text does not say more about what the gift was.

In plain English: Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.

In plain English: You gave them kingdoms and peoples, and you divided them out by portions. They took possession of the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.

In plain English: You made their children as many as the stars of the heavens, and brought them into the land you had told their fathers to go in and take possession of.

In plain English: So the children went in and took possession of the land. You subdued before them the people living in the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, to do with them as they wished.

In plain English: They captured fortified cities and rich land, and took possession of houses full of every good thing, cisterns dug out, vineyards, olive trees and fruit trees in abundance. They ate and were satisfied and grew fat, and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

In plain English: But they were disobedient and rebelled against you. They threw your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them to bring them back to you, and they did great blasphemies.

In plain English: So you gave them into the hand of their opponents, who caused them distress. In the time of their distress they cried out to you, and you heard from heaven. According to your great compassion you gave them deliverers, who delivered them from the hand of their opponents.

In plain English: But when they had rest, they went back to doing evil before you. So you left them in the hand of their enemies, who ruled over them. Then they returned and cried out to you, and you heard from heaven and rescued them many times, according to your compassion.

In plain English: You warned them to bring them back to your law, but they acted proudly and did not listen to your commandments. They sinned against your judgments, which a person lives by if he does them. They gave a stubborn shoulder, stiffened their neck and would not listen.

Good to know: The words "which a person lives by if he does them" match Leviticus 18:5: "You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them". The Levites say it in the prayer.

In plain English: You were patient with them for many years, and warned them by your Spirit through the hand of your prophets. But they would not give ear, so you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

In plain English: But in your great compassion you did not make a complete end of them, and you did not abandon them, for you are a gracious and compassionate God.

In plain English: So now, our God, the great, mighty and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness, do not let all the hardship that has come on us seem small before you: on our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our fathers and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.

In plain English: You are righteous in all that has come on us, for you have acted faithfully, and we have acted wickedly.

In plain English: Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our fathers did not keep your law, and did not pay attention to your commandments and the testimonies with which you warned them.

In plain English: In their own kingdom, in the great goodness you gave them, and in the broad and fertile land you set before them, they did not serve you, and they did not turn back from their evil deeds.

In plain English: Here we are today, slaves (or: servants). In the land you gave to our fathers, to eat its fruit and its good things, here we are, slaves on it.

The Hebrew word: "Servants" is ebed, which the dictionary gives as "a servant". It is in 18 verses of Nehemiah, and the WEB says "servant" or "servants" in all 18.

What changes: The word is the same one used of Moses "your servant" in verse 14. Here the Levites say "we are servants" under the kings over them, and they say it twice. The word can also be "slaves", and the text does not use a different word for it.

In plain English: Its produce increases for the kings you have appointed over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please, and we are in great distress.

In plain English: Because of all this we are making a trustworthy arrangement (or: a firm covenant) and writing it down. Our leaders, our Levites and our priests are on the sealed document."

The Hebrew word: "Sure covenant" is amanah, which the dictionary gives as "something fixed, i.e. a covenant. an allowance". It is in 2 verses of Nehemiah, this one and 11:23, and the WEB says "sure" in this one (the other is "a settled provision"). The Hebrew word for covenant (berith) is not in the verse.

What changes: The verse says "a sure covenant", and the Hebrew can also be read "a trustworthy arrangement" or "a firm agreement". They write it and put their seals on it. The names on the document come in the next chapter.