Discovery BoxNehemiah 9:10-25 
Context9:10 You performed awesome signs 1 against Pharaoh, against his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that the Egyptians 2 had acted presumptuously 3 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 4 the sea on dry ground! But you threw their pursuers 5 into the depths, like a stone into surging 6 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 7 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 8 to give them.
9:16 “But they – our ancestors 9 – behaved presumptuously; they rebelled 10 and did not obey your commandments. 9:17 They refused to obey and did not recall your miracles that you had performed among them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to return to their bondage in Egypt. 11 But you are a God of forgiveness, merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and unfailing in your loyal love. 12 You did not abandon them, 9:18 even when they made a cast image of a calf for themselves and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up from Egypt,’ or when they committed atrocious 13 blasphemies.
9:19 “Due to your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. The pillar of cloud did not stop guiding them in the path by day, 14 nor did the pillar of fire stop illuminating for them by night the path on which they should travel. 9:20 You imparted your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths; you provided water for their thirst. 9:21 For forty years you sustained them. Even in the desert they never lacked anything. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
9:22 “You gave them kingdoms and peoples, and you allocated them to every corner of the land. 15 They inherited the land of King Sihon of Heshbon 16 and the land of King Og of Bashan. 9:23 You multiplied their descendants like the stars of the sky. You brought them to the land you had told their ancestors to enter in order to possess. 9:24 Their descendants 17 entered and possessed the land. You subdued before them the Canaanites who were the inhabitants of the land. You delivered them into their hand, together with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with as they pleased. 9:25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land. They took possession of houses full of all sorts of good things – wells previously dug, vineyards, olive trees, and fruit trees in abundance. They ate until they were full 18 and grew fat. They enjoyed to the full your great goodness.
1 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.”
2 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Or “arrogantly” (so NASB); NRSV “insolently.”
4 tn Heb “in the midst of.”
5 tn Heb “those who pursued them.”
6 tn Heb “mighty.”
7 tn Heb “by the hand of.”
8 tn Heb “had lifted your hand.”
9 tn Heb “and our fathers.” The vav is explicative.
10 tn Heb “they stiffened their neck” (so also in the following verse).
11 tc The present translation follows a few medieval Hebrew
12 tc The translation follows the Qere reading חֶסֶד (khesed, “loyal love”) rather than the Kethib reading וְחֶסֶד (vÿkhesed, “and loyal love”) of the MT.
13 tn Heb “great.”
14 tn Heb “did not turn from them by day to guide them in the path.”
15 tn The words “of the land” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
16 tc Most Hebrew
17 tn Heb “the sons.”
18 tn Heb “they ate and were sated.” This expression is a hendiadys. The first verb retains its full verbal sense, while the second functions adverbially: “they ate and were filled” = “they ate until they were full.”
