Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Nehemiah 9

Neh 9:1 Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.

this month

See Neh 8:14, 18.

Neh 9:2 And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.

separated

Separation. Neh 13:3. (Gen 12:1; 2 Cor 6:14-17.)

Neh 9:3 And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.

read in the book of the law

Neh 8:7, 8.

Neh 9:5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

Bible prayers (O.T.). Psa 51. [Psalm 145.] (Gen 15:2; Hab 3:1-16.)

Neh 9:7 Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;

who didst choose Abram

Gen 11:31; 12:1-3; 17:5.

Neh 9:8 And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:

faithful

Gen 22:1-3; Jas 2:21-23

covenant

Scofield Genesis 15:18, note.

performed thy words

Jos 23:14.

Neh 9:9 And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;

see the affliction of our fathers

Exo 2:25; 3:7.

Neh 9:10 And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day.

signs and wonders upon Pharaoh

Exo 7 - Exo 14.

Neh 9:11 And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters.

divide the sea

Exo 14:20-28.

Neh 9:12 Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go.

leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar

Exo 13:21.

Neh 9:13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:

camest down also upon mount Sinai

Exo 19 - Exo 24.

Neh 9:14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:

thy holy sabbath

This important passage fixes beyond all cavil the time when the sabbath, God's rest (Gen 2:1-3), was given to man. Cf. Exo 20:9-11. In Exo 31:13-17 the sabbath is invested with the character of a sign between Jehovah and Israel. See Scofield Matthew 12:1, note.

Sabbath. Neh 9:13, 14; Mat 12:1. (Gen 2:3; Mat 12:1.)

Neh 9:15 And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.

bread from heaven

Exo 16:14-17; Jhn 6:31, etc.

water for them out of the rock

Num 20:8; 1Co 10:4.

promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land

Deu 1:8.

Neh 9:18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;

when they had made them a molten calf

Exo 32:1-10

Neh 9:19 Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.

the pillar of the cloud

Exo 13:20-22; 1Co 10:1.

Neh 9:20 Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.

withheldest not thy manna

Exo 16:14-16; Jhn 6:22-60.

Neh 9:21 Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.

their clothes waxed not old

Deu 29:5.

Neh 9:24 So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would.

the children went in and possessed the land

Jos 1:2.

Neh 9:26 Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.

slew thy prophets

1Ki 18:4; 19:10; Mat 23:37; Act 7:52.

Neh 9:27 Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.

when they cried unto thee

Jdg 2:18.

Neh 9:30 Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.

spirit

Holy Spirit. Neh 9:20-30. Job 26:13. (Gen 1:2; Mal 2:15.)

gavest thou them into the hand of the people

2Ki 17:13-18; 2Ch 36:11-20.

Neh 9:36 Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it:

servants

Deu 28:48; Ezr 9:9.

Neh 9:38 And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.

seal

Neh 10:1.