“Remember, I beg you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you trespass, I will scatter you among the peoples;
Parallel Translations
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“Remember, I beg you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you trespass, I will scatter you among the peoples;
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Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:
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Remember, I beseech Thee, the word that Thou didst command Thy servant Moses, saying: If ye deal treacherously, I will scatter you abroad among the peoples;
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Nehemiah 1:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 28:64 Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.
- Deuteronomy 4:25-27 When you shall father children and children’s children, and you shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a carved image in the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in Yahweh your God’s sight to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from off the land which you go over the Jordan to possess it. You will not prolong your days on it, but will utterly be destroyed. Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where Yahweh will lead you away.
- Leviticus 26:33-46 I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you. Your land will be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste. Then the land will enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land. Even then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, even the rest which it didn’t have in your Sabbaths when you lived on it. “ ‘As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf will put them to flight; and they shall flee, as one flees from the sword. They will fall when no one pursues. They will stumble over one another, as it were before the sword, when no one pursues. You will have no power to stand before your enemies. You will perish among the nations. The land of your enemies will eat you up. Those of you who are left will pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers they shall pine away with them. “ ‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me; and also that because they walked contrary to me, I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the land. The land also will be left by them, and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they will accept the punishment of their iniquity because they rejected my ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes. Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly and to break my covenant with them; for I am Yahweh their God. But I will for their sake remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am Yahweh.’ ” These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws, which Yahweh made between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by Moses.
- 1 Kings 9:6-7 But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them; then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made holy for my name, out of my sight; and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
- Deuteronomy 32:26-28 I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men; were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted, Yahweh has not done all this.’ ” For they are a nation void of counsel. There is no understanding in them.
- Luke 1:72 to show mercy toward our fathers, to remember his holy covenant,
- Psalms 119:49 Remember your word to your servant, because you gave me hope.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (7 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Neh 1:8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that…
Neh 1:8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, [If] ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:
Ver. 8. Remember, I beseech thee, the word] It befalleth not the Lord to forget or remember (to speak properly), for all things are present with him. Nevertheless metaphorically God is said to do both; as when, being provoked by the horrid sins of the Jews, he so punished them as if he had forgotten that they were his people, or that he had ever made them any promises. And in this case God gives his prophets and praying people leave to be his remembrancers, Isa 62:6-7. Ye that are the Lord’s remembrancers, keep not silence, and give him no rest till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. This Nehemiah doth here most vigorously, and sped accordingly; let us do likewise. Cast the labouring Church into God’s everlasting arms, and remind him of his promises burden him with them, as that martyr said; put them into suit, they are nigh the Lord day and night, 1Ki 8:59. Say, remember thy word unto thy servant, whereupon thou hast caused me to trust, Psa 119:49. And in the want of other rhetoric urge this, with repetition, Lord, thou hast promised, thou hast promised, &c. He loves to be urged with his word, to be used upon his bond, &c.
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The word that thou commandest, &c.] The threatening is also to be acknowledged God’s word, as well as the promise; and the uprightness of our hearts is, to be approving by believing the one as well as the other. Sour and sweet make the best sauce; promises and menaces mingled serve to keep the heart in the best temper, as Nehemiah’s was.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst…
Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses,.... To publish and declare to the children of Israel, Deu 28:64,
saying, if ye transgress; the law of God:
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I will scatter you abroad among the nations; as now they had been among the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Medes, and Persians.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. Thy servant Moses] See the parallel places…
Verse 8. Thy servant Moses] See the parallel places in the margin, and the notes there Le 26:33 (note), De 4:25-27 (note), De 28:64 (note). Though in an enemy's country, and far from the ordinances of God, Nehemiah did not forget the law: he read his Bible well, and quotes correctly.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. Remember … the word … saying] The reference…
8. Remember … the word … saying] The reference here made is in general terms. No passage in the Pentateuch exactly agrees with it (cf. Neh_10:34). This may be shown by the words used in the first sentence. The Hebrew word for ‘I will scatter’ is only found in Deuteronomy in the Pentateuch: the Hebrew word for ‘transgress’ only occurs once in Deuteronomy (Deu_32:51), but in quite a different context from the threat of dispersion.
The threat of dispersion is found in the Pentateuch in Lev_26:33; Deu_4:27; Deu_28:64; Deu_30:3. The promise of restoration is given in Deu_4:29 and in Deu_30:4-5 (Lev_26:40-42). The passage most resembling the words here given is Deu_30:1-5. On ‘transgress,’ see note on Ezr_9:4.
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scatter … abroad among the nations] Cf. Jer_9:16; Eze_11:16; Eze_12:15; Eze_20:23; Eze_22:15; Eze_36:19.
In the original the position of the personal pronouns is very emphatic, Ye transgress, I scatter.
For the appeal to the Lord to ‘remember,’ cf. Psa_106:4.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain If ye transgress, etc. This is not a quotation,…
If ye transgress, etc. This is not a quotation, but a reference to the general sense of various passages, as, for instance, Lev_26:27-45 Deu_30:1-5, etc. The sacred historians habitually refer to the older Scriptures in this way, quoting them in the spirit rather than in the letter.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Nehemiah continues praying to God.
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Please call to mind
To "call to mind" is an idiom that means to remember. AT: "Please remember" (See: Idiom)
the word you commanded your servant Moses
The pronouns "you" and "your" refer to God.
If you act unfaithfully ... scatter you ... if you return ... your people
The pronouns "you" and "your" are plural and refer to the Israelite people.
I will scatter you among the nations
Yahweh speaks of causing the Israelite people to live in other nations as if he scattered them like one would scatter seeds. AT: "I will cause you to live among the nations" (See: Metaphor)
though your people were scattered
This can be stated in active form. AT: "though I scattered your people" (See: Active or Passive)
under the farthest skies
Yahweh speaks of places on the earth that are very far away as being "under the farthest skies." AT: "to places very far away" (See: Idiom)
to that place where I have chosen ... remain
This phrase refers to Jerusalem, where the temple was located. AT: "to Jerusalem, where I have chosen ... remain" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
where I have chosen to make my name remain
Here the word "name" represents Yahweh himself. AT: "where I have chosen to dwell" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
call
mind
word
command
servant
Moses
faithful
nation
heaven
name
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:8-9 Nehemiah recalls God’s curse on sin and his…
1:8-9 Nehemiah recalls God’s curse on sin and his promise of restoration (Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-5). • The place . . . for my name to be honored was Jerusalem.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.