Nehemia 9:5-15

9:5 The Levites – Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah – said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God!”

“May you be blessed, O LORD our God, from age to age. ¹  May your glorious name ²  be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise. 9:6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, ³  along with all their multitude of stars, ⁴  the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You impart life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

9:7 “You are the LORD God who chose Abram and brought him forth from Ur of the Chaldeans. You changed his name to Abraham. 9:8 When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a ⁵  covenant with him to give his descendants ⁶  the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise, ⁷  for you are righteous.

9:9 “You saw the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt, and you heard their cry at the Red Sea. ⁸  9:10 You performed awesome signs ⁹  against Pharaoh, against his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that the Egyptians ¹⁰  had acted presumptuously ¹¹  against them. You made for yourself a name that is celebrated to this day. 9:11 You split the sea before them, and they crossed through ¹²  the sea on dry ground! But you threw their pursuers ¹³  into the depths, like a stone into surging ¹⁴  waters. 9:12 You guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illumine for them the path they were to travel.

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 ¹⁵  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 ¹⁶  to give them.

[9:5]  ¹ tc The MT reads here only “from age to age,” without the preceding words “May you be blessed, O LORD our God” which are included in the present translation. But apparently something has dropped out of the text. This phrase occurs elsewhere in the OT as a description of the Lord (see Ps 41:13; 106:48), and it seems best to understand it here in that light. The LXX adds “And Ezra said” at the beginning of v. 6 as a transition: “And Ezra said, ‘You alone are the LORD.” Without this addition (which is not included by most modern English translations) the speakers of vv. 9:5b-10:1 continue to be the Levites of v. 5a.

[9:5]  ² tn Heb “the name of your glory.”

[9:6]  ³ tn Heb “the heavens of the heavens.”

[9:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “all their host.”

[9:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “the” (so NAB).

[9:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “seed.”

[9:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “your words.”

[9:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “the Sea of Reeds.” Traditionally this is identified as the Red Sea, and the modern designation has been used in the translation for clarity.

[9:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “signs and wonders.” This phrase is a hendiadys. The second noun functions adjectivally, while the first noun retains its full nominal sense: “awesome signs” or “miraculous signs.”

[9:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:10]  ¹¹ tn Or “arrogantly” (so NASB); NRSV “insolently.”

[9:11]  ¹² tn Heb “in the midst of.”

[9:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “those who pursued them.”

[9:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “mighty.”

[9:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[9:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “had lifted your hand.”