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, Neh.

Now in the twenty fourth day of this month The seventh month, the month Tisri or September, two days after the feast of tabernacles was ended: the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them; which were all outward tokens of mourning and humiliation,…

And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, &c.] Such as were genuine Israelites, of the seed of Abraham, who had married wives of the Gentiles, strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, either before the reformation by Ezra, not being then discovered, or had fallen into this…

And they stood up in their place In the outward court of the temple, where men used to stand when they prayed and confessed their sins: and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God; that they might the better know the mind and will of God, and do their duty: this they did one fourth part…

Then stood up upon the stairs of the Levites On an ascent; an elevated place where the Levites used to stand when they sang at the time of sacrifice, and where they might be seen and heard by the people: Jeshua and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; who seem to be all…

Then the Levites, Jeshua Or, then the Levites, even Jeshua: and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah; the same as before, with a little variation of their names, and perhaps some of them might have two names: and said; to the men that stood and confessed their…

Thou, even thou art Lord alone Whose name alone is Jehovah, the one only true and living God: thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host; the airy and starry heavens, and the sun, moon, and stars in them, and the third heaven, the seat of God, angels, and saints: the earth,…

Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram From among the Chaldeans, and out of his father’s family: and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees; by calling him from thence, of which see (Gen. 11:28, Gen.

And foundest his heart faithful before thee A true believer in his word and promises, and closely attached to the fear of him, and observance of his commands, as abundantly appeared in the trial of him, in offering up his son, (Gen. 22:1, Gen. 22:2, Gen.

And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt The hard bondage in which their lives were made bitter; and was not a mere spectator of it, but looked upon them in it with pity and compassion, and sent them a deliverer, and heardest their cry by the Red sea; which was before them, and the…

And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land By inflicting the ten plagues upon them: for thou knowest that they dealt proudly against them; behaved haughtily to them, and despised them, see so didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day;…

And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land That is, the Israelites, see , and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps; with great ease, and with indignation, meaning the Egyptians, that pursued hotly after them, and were thrown into…

Moreover, thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar, &c.] The Israelites, to shelter them from the heat of the sun in a dry and barren wilderness: and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go; through a trackless desert, see (Ex. 13:21, Ex.

Thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai By some visible tokens of his presence, as a cloud, fire, smoke which must be understood consistent with his omniscience, see , and spakest with them from heaven; the decalogue or ten commandments, , and gavest them right judgments and true laws, good statutes…

And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath Which was not made known to others, and was peculiar to the Jewish nation, and a privilege granted to them, to have rest corporeal and spiritual, typical of the rest in Christ: and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy…

And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger To satisfy that, meaning the manna, (Ex. 16:3, Ex. 16:4) and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock, for their thirst; to quench it; this was done both quickly after they came out of the land of Egypt, and a little before their entrance…

But they and our fathers dealt proudly Behaved in a haughty manner towards God, their kind benefactor: and hardened their necks; refused to take the yoke of his law, as refractory oxen, that withdraw their necks from the yoke: and hearkened not to thy commandments; to do them, though they promised…

And refused to obey Though exhorted, admonished, and threatened, such was their obstinacy: neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; in delivering them at the Red sea, in raining manna about them, and giving them water out of the rock: but hardened their necks; see the…

Yea, when they had made them a molten calf In imitation of the Apis, or ox of the Egyptians: and said, this is thy god that brought thee out of Egypt; or the image of thy god, as the Arabic version, see , and had wrought great provocations; of all which nothing was greater than idolatry.

Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness Where no supply could be had, if he had cast them off, see , the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; which, if it had, they would have been scorched by the heat of the sun: neither the…

Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them In the knowledge of the laws delivered to them; the spirit of prophecy, according to Ben Melech, and which Aben Ezra interprets of the spirit put upon the seventy elders, (Num. 11:17, Num.

Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing As not for food, so neither for raiment, as follows: their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not; of which see .

Moreover, thou gavest them kingdoms and nations The two kingdoms of Sihon and Og, and the seven nations of Canaan: and didst divide them into corners; or “corner”; into every corner of the land of Canaan, so that they possessed the whole of it, a few cities excepted; Jarchi interprets it of one…

Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, &c.] Fulfilling the promise made to Abraham, their number when they came out of Egypt, and just before they entered into the land of Canaan, being upwards of 600,000 men, besides women and children, and broughtest them into the land,…

So the children went in and possessed the land Not the fathers of the Israelites that came out of Egypt, they died in the wilderness, all excepting two, but their children, which seems to be the reason of this manner of expression, see and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the…

And they took strong cities Such as, in an hyperbolical way, are said to be walled up to heaven, and a fat land; of a good and fruitful soil, abounding with all good things, (Deut. 8:7, Deut.

Nevertheless, they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee Notwithstanding all these favours and mercies bestowed upon them, which was great ingratitude: and cast thy law behind their backs; as of no account, and unworthy of their regard; that which they should have had continually before their…

Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them As the kings of Mesopotamia, Moab, Canaan, and others: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee; as they usually did, (Judg. 3:9, Judg. 3:15) (Judg. 6:6, Judg.

But after they had rest From their enemies, enjoyed their liberty, and were in prosperity: they did evil again before thee; relapsed into idolatry: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them; as the Philistines had for the space of forty years,…

And testifiedst against them By sending prophets to them, to admonish them of their sins, and remind them of their duty: that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law; to regard it, and walk according it: yet they dealt proudly; with an haughty air rejected the counsel of God: and hearkened not…

Yet many years didst thou forbear them Throughout the reigns of several kings, such was God’s longsuffering towards them: or, “thou didst draw upon them”; that is, his mercy, as Jarchi interprets it; he drew it out of his heart, and prolonged it towards them: and testifiedst against them by thy…

Nevertheless, for thy great mercies’ sake, For the displaying of that, and the glorifying of it, which is so large and exceeding abundant: thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; some were left in the land, and those that were carried captive found favour in the eyes of those that…

Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy The same titles Nehemiah gives to the Lord, and it may be reasonably thought the whole prayer is his composure, which was delivered by him to the Levites: let not all the trouble seem little before…

Howbeit, thou art just in all that is brought upon us They own the justice of God, could not complain of any wrong done them; and had he shown them no mercy at all, it was but what they deserved: for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly; he had done according to the truth of his word of…

Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law All ranks of men, from the highest to the lowest, had shown no regard, nor yielded obedience to the holy law of God: nor hearkened unto thy commandments, and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them;…

For they have not served thee in their kingdom When in it, whether of Israel or of Judah, and when in the most flourishing circumstances: and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them; amidst all the prosperity and affluence of good things they enjoyed, which was an obligation upon them to serve…

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…

And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us, because of our sins Though a very fruitful land, and brought forth much, yet not for them, but for foreign kings, that had the sovereignty over them, and enacted much toll, tribute, and custom from them, which greatly lessened…

And because of all this Of all this distress, and that it might be removed, and be clear of it; or “in all this distress and evil”, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra, in the midst of it all: we make a sure covenant; or faithfully promise to observe the law of God, and particularly put away strange wives, and…