Nehemia 9:13-16

9:13 “You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You provided them with just judgments, true laws, and good statutes and commandments. 9:14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath; you issued commandments, statutes, and law to them through ¹  Moses your servant. 9:15 You provided bread from heaven for them in their time of hunger, and you brought forth water from the rock for them in their time of thirst. You told them to enter in order to possess the land that you had sworn ²  to give them.

9:16 “But they – our ancestors ³  – behaved presumptuously; they rebelled ⁴  and did not obey your commandments.

Nehemia 9:26-27

9:26 “Nonetheless they grew disobedient and rebelled against you; they disregarded your law. ⁵  They killed your prophets who had solemnly admonished them in order to cause them to return to you. They committed atrocious blasphemies. 9:27 Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who oppressed them. But in the time of their distress they called to you, and you heard from heaven. In your abundant compassion you provided them with deliverers to rescue them from ⁶  their adversaries.

[9:14]  ¹ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[9:15]  ² tn Heb “had lifted your hand.”

[9:16]  ³ tn Heb “and our fathers.” The vav is explicative.

[9:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “they stiffened their neck” (so also in the following verse).

[9:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “they cast your law behind their backs.”

[9:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the hand of” (so NASB, NIV); NAB “from the power of.”