Also our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law, nor listened to your commandments and your testimonies with which you testified against them. For they have not served you in their kingdom, and in your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land which you gave before them. They didn’t turn from their wicked works.
“Behold, we are servants today, and as for the land that you gave to our fathers to eat its fruit and its good, behold, we are servants in it. It yields much increase to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. Also they have power over our bodies and over our livestock, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv34, 36 That thou wouldest destroy them, except they would return…
That thou wouldest destroy them, except they would return to thee, as verse 26.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv34–37 Neh 9:34 Neither have our kings, our princes, our…
Neh 9:34 Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them.
Ver. 34. Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, &c.] But as there hath been a general defection, so a well-deserved desolation, wherein we have all justly shared.
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Nor hearkened to thy commandments] And that because they testified against their contrary practices. This wicked men cannot away with, they hate him that reproveth in the gate, as Ahab did Micaiah. None but the gracious can say, Let the righteous smite me, be the reproof never so well tempered. No sugar can bereave a pill of its bitterness. Now the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meats, Job 12:11. And ungodly men (as they write of some creatures) have fel in aure, and must get their ears cured ere they can be in case to hear God’s commandments and his testimonies. It is said of Gerson, that he loved a friendly reprover; and of Queen Anne Bullen, that she not only was willing to be admonished, but also required her chaplains freely and plainly to tell her of whatsoever was amiss. Scilicet Christus voluit aliquando etiam reginam in coelum vehere, as Luther once said of Elizabeth, queen of Denmark. These kings and princes of Israel were nonsuch.
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 On vv35–37 Which thou gavest before them, i.e. which thou didst…
Which thou gavest before them, i.e. which thou didst lay open to their view and possession, removing their enemies and all impediments out of the way.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv34–37 Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor…
Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law,.... All ranks of men, from the highest to the lowest, had shown no regard, nor yielded obedience to the holy law of God:
nor hearkened unto thy commandments, and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them; moral and ceremonial, which were a testification of the will of God to them, and a testimony against them if they observed them not.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v37 Yieldeth much, &c. - We plow, and sow, and…
Yieldeth much, &c. - We plow, and sow, and labour, and thou givest thy blessing to our endeavours; and yet in a great measure this is not for ourselves, as formerly it was, but for our kings, to whom we pay heavy tributes. Dominion - Pressing or forcing both us and our beasts to go and to do what they please.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv34–37 Verse 34. Neither have our kings] In this verse…
Verse 34. Neither have our kings] In this verse he acknowledges that the kings, princes, priests, and fathers, had broken the law: but the prophets are left out; for they continued faithful to God, testifying by his Spirit against the crimes of all; and this even at the risk of their lives.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv35–37 Neh 9:35. For they served thee not in the…
Neh 9:35. For they served thee not in the land which thou gavest them — That is, which thou didst lay open to their view and possession; removing their enemies, and all impediments, out of the way. Neither turned they from their wicked works — They not only all acted wickedly, from the highest to the lowest, but would not be reclaimed. Thus they acknowledge the justice of God in all the punishments he had inflicted on them, though heavy and of long continuance.
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 On vv36–37 In it. Tributary to Persia, chap. v. 4., and…
In it. Tributary to Persia, chap. v. 4., and 1 Esdras vii. 24., and ix. 9. (Calmet)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv36–37 Behold, we are servants this day--Notwithstanding their happy restoration…
Behold, we are servants this day--Notwithstanding their happy restoration to their native land, they were still tributaries of a foreign prince whose officers ruled them. They were not, like their fathers, free tenants of the land which God gave them.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv34–37 34. neither have our kings] The construction is the…
34. neither have our kings] The construction is the same as in Neh_9:19; Neh_9:32, ‘As for our kings, … they have not.’
kept thy law] Literally ‘done thy law,’ i.e. carried into practice the Divine teaching. Cf. Neh_9:14; Neh_9:29.
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nor hearkened] Cf. Zec_1:4, ‘But they (your fathers) did not hear nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord.’
didst testify against them] Probably with special reference to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-30.
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 On vv34, 37 (34) Our kings.—Note that the prophets are omitted in…
(34) Our kings.—Note that the prophets are omitted in this enumeration.
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 On vv34–37 Thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them. i.e.…
Thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them. i.e. the testimony borne by the prophets (see ver. 30).
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 On vv35–36 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
In these verses, the Levites continue to praise Yahweh in the presence of the people of Israel.
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while they enjoyed your great goodness to them
"while they enjoyed the good things you gave them"
they did not serve you
"they were not obedient to your law or teaching"
translationWords
kingdom
good
servant
turn
evil
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.