Remember me, my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.
Parallel Translations
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Remember me, my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.
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Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.
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Remember unto me, O my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to Nehemiah 5:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Nehemiah 13:31 and for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the first fruits. Remember me, my God, for good.
- Nehemiah 13:14 Remember me, my God, concerning this, and don’t wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its observances.
- Nehemiah 13:22 I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember to me, my God, this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your loving kindness.
- Psalms 106:4 Remember me, Yahweh, with the favor that you show to your people. Visit me with your salvation,
- Psalms 25:6-7 Yahweh, remember your tender mercies and your loving kindness, for they are from old times. Don’t remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. Remember me according to your loving kindness, for your goodness’ sake, Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.
- Psalms 18:23-25 I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect.
- Psalms 40:17 But I am poor and needy. May the Lord think about me. You are my help and my deliverer. Don’t delay, my God.
- Matthew 10:42 Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, most certainly I tell you he will in no way lose his reward.”
- Mark 9:41 For whoever will give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you are Christ’s, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward.
- Matthew 25:34-40 Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ “The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
- Genesis 40:14 But remember me when it is well with you. Please show kindness to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Neh 5:19 Think upon me, my God, for good,…
Neh 5:19 Think upon me, my God, for good, [according] to all that I have done for this people.
Ver. 19. Think upon me, my God, for good] i.e. Both of grace and glory, saith Lyra; a confluence of all comforts and contentments, especially spiritual blessings in heavenly things, Eph 1:3. He that first called riches goods was surely a better husband than divine, saith one. Ostendam tibi omne bonum, I will show thee all good, said God to Moses, when he gave him a glimpse of himself. Nil bonum absque summo Bone, saith Austin, There is no good without the chief Good. Say, therefore, with the Church, Hos 14:2, Take away all iniquity, and do good; and as here, Remember me, O my God, for good.
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According to all that I have done for this people] Here is nothing for merit mongers. It is mercy in God to set his love on them that keep his commandments, Exo 20:6, to reward every man according to his works, Psa 62:12. A poor gardener, presenting a ripe root, being the best gift he had at hand, to the duke of Burgundy, was by him bountifully rewarded. His steward, observing this, and hoping for the like recompense, presented him with a very fair horse. The duke ( ut perspicaci erat ingenio, saith mine author, being a witty man) perceived the craft; and, therefore, thought good to receive the horse, and to give him nothing again. Let those that dream of merit expect the like disappointment; and let them learn from Nehemiah, Neh 13:22 (the best gloss upon this text), to urge, not their merits, with the Pharisee, but their miseries, with the publican, for obtaining mercy. So Psa 25:11.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain As I have done thy people good for thy…
As I have done thy people good for thy sake, so do me good for thine own sake; for thou art pleased, and hast promised graciously to reward us according to our works, and to mete to men the same measure which they mete to others.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain According - As I have done thy people good…
According - As I have done thy people good for thy sake, so do me good for thine own sake; for thou art pleased, and hast promised graciously to reward us according to our works, and to mete to men the same measure which they meet to others.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 19. Think upon me, my God, for good]…
Verse 19. Think upon me, my God, for good] Nehemiah wishes for no reward from man; and he only asks mercy at the hand of his God for what his providence enabled him to do; and which, according to the good hand of his God upon him, he had done faithfully. He does not offer his good deeds to God in extenuation of his sins, or as a compensation for the heaven he expected. Nothing of the kind: he simply says, what any good man might say, My God, as I have done good to them, so do good to me; or as the poet has sung: -
"Teach me to feel another's wo,
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To hide the fault I see:
The mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me!" POPE.
This is according to the precept of Christ: "Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; give, and it shall be given unto you."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Neh 5:19. Think upon me, my God, for good…
Neh 5:19. Think upon me, my God, for good — As I have done thy people good for thy sake, so do me good for thine own sake, for thou art pleased, and hast promised, graciously to reward us according to our works, and to mete to men the same measure which they mete to others. Thus he shows that he expected his reward only from God, who, he hoped, would show him kindness, similar to that which he had shown for his people. There is no reason to think he here speaks too much of himself, and his own worthy acts; for it was no more than was necessary in such a state of things, that posterity might be furnished with an example of extraordinary virtue; and no more than St. Paul was constrained to speak of himself in his second epistle to the Corinthians, of whom he would take nothing, that he might stop the mouths of false apostles, and covetous people.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Good. A good conscience confidently hopeth for a reward.…
Good. A good conscience confidently hopeth for a reward. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 19. Think upon me, my God, for good —…
19. Think upon me, my God, for good — The prayer of conscious innocence and self-sacrifice, such as any pure and lofty soul might naturally write down in his diary, if he were beset with the difficulties that surrounded Nehemiah.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 19. Think upon me, my God, for good, according…
19. Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all, &c.] R.V. Remember unto me, O my God, for good, all, &c. ‘Remember’ is the natural translation here and in the similar passages, Neh_6:14, Neh_13:22; Neh_13:29; Neh_13:31. The A.V. unfortunately introduced the rendering ‘think upon’ as a variation. For the use of ‘remember’ in its application to the Deity, cf. 2Ch_6:42; Jdg_16:28; Psa_106:4; Jer_15:15. Nehemiah’s prayer differs in a measure from the appeal for ‘remembrance’ in the last three of these passages. In these the prayer is that the speaker may not be forgotten and so left in his present distress. Nehemiah prays with frank simplicity that God will recognize and reward his services to the people of Israel. In our ears the self-complacency of the petitions strikes a jarring note. But the words must not be judged by our modern standard. Their quaint candour quite disarms the charge of vanity. It is the ejaculation of a practical man, keenly alive to the responsibility of his position, very conscious of his loneliness, and sensible of the moral effort which it costs him at every fresh endeavour to please Jehovah in the service of the people.
To illustrate the thought cf. Sir_17:22, ‘The alms of a man are as a signet with him, and he will keep the good deeds of man as the apple of the eye.’ Heb_6:10, ‘For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love which ye showed toward his name, in that ye ministered unto the saints, and still do minister.’
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (19) Think upon me, my God.—Inserting the present prayer…
(19) Think upon me, my God.—Inserting the present prayer far from this people, Nehemiah humbly asks his recompense not from them, but from God. Nothing was more distant from his thoughts than the fame of his good deeds.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Think upon me, my God. Compare Neh_13:14, Neh_13:22, Neh_13:31.…
Think upon me, my God. Compare Neh_13:14, Neh_13:22, Neh_13:31. This is no "prayer for posthumous fame" (Stanley, "Lectures on the Jewish Church," Third Series, p. 135), but simply an appeal to God, beseeching him to bear in mind the petitioner"s good deeds, and reward them at his own good time and in his own way. As Butler observes ("Analogy," Part 1Ch 3), the sense of good and ill desert is inseparably connected with an expectation of reward or punishment, and so with the notion of a future life, since neither are the righteous adequately rewarded nor the wicked adequately punished in this life.
Prayer for Divine remembrance.
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"Think upon me, O my God," etc. This and other similar prayers of good Nehemiah strike us at first as unseemly; and certainly they are more consonant with the spirit of the Old Testament than that of the New. Our Lord teaches us to say after our best works, "We are unprofitable servants, we have done that which was our duty to do." Besides which, the sense of sin on the one hand, and of entire indebtedness to Divine grace for all the good we have and do on the other, foster a humility which prevents the complacent thought of our good deeds, especially before God. Still the doctrine of reward according to works belongs to the Christian equally with the Mosaic religion. We are taught to hope for future recompense of the good we have done; and there can, therefore, be no essential impropriety in at times praying for it. It is a probable supposition (Ewald) that Nehemiah Wrote these prayers after he had learned by painful experience how little of appreciation, gratitude, or reward he could expect from men. "They forget or neglect me, or requite me evil, but do not thou be unmindful.
I WHO MAY OFFER SUCH A PRAYER. Those who have served God"s people, and therefore God himself
1. With sincere regard for God. His will, approval, recompense. They whose good works are done" to be seen of men" "have their reward," but may not look to God for it.
2. Disinterestedly. Not from selfishness or ambition.
3. Devotedly. With great zeal.
4. Abundantly. Rendering great service.
5. Self-denyingly. At considerable sacrifice of ease, time, strength, substance, etc.
6. Un-weariedly.
II WHEN SUCH A PRAYER IS SUITABLE.
1. When reward cannot be expected from men. Either on account of their want of appreciation of what is done for them, or inability from poverty or otherwise to requite it suitably.
2. When men show positive ingratitude, or return evil for good.
3. Even when men remember and reward. For the godly man feels that without the Divine favour all that man can give will be vain and unsatisfying.
III WHY A FAVOURABLE ANSWER MAY BE EXPECTED. Because of
1. The relation of God to his praying servant. "My God.
2. The Divine character. Righteous, and loving righteousness; good, and approving the good. (see Heb_6:10)
3. The union which exists between God and his people. So that he regards what is done to "this people" as done to himself.
4. The Divine promises. Such as Mat_10:42 Mat_25:34-40.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Think upon me, my God.
Neh_5:19
Think upon me, my God.
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The saints support
I. The person petitioned.
1. General title: God.
2. Special relation: My.
II. The point prayed for. Lessons:
1. God the support of His saints.
2. Peculiar God to believer: My.
3. God hath remembrancers.
4. God is soonest drawn to His own.
5. Prayer proper for ones own good.
6. Works may be pleaded before God.
7. Mans works are the rule of Gods reward.
8. Everything well done shall be rewarded.
9. Good done to Gods people is most acceptable. (Wm. Gouge.)
The remembrance of good deeds a pillow of rest for a good man
I. Lifes review will be a review of the whole of life.
II. Lifes reward will be rendered according to its deeds. (Homiletic Commentary.)
.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 5:19 Nehemiah’s prayer for God to remember and bless…
5:19 Nehemiah’s prayer for God to remember and bless him was a sign of his dependence on God.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.