Nehemiah 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.

Ex 15:6,11; De 28:58; 1Ki 8:14,22; 1Ki 8:27; 1Ch 29:11; 1Ch 29:13; 1Ch 29:20; 2Ch 20:13,19; Ezr 3:11; Ps 16:2; Ps 72:18,19; Ps 103:1,2; Ps 106:2; Ps 117:1,2; Ps 134:1-3; Ps 135:1-3; Ps 145:2; Ps 145:5,11,12; Ps 146:2; Jer 33:10,11; Mt 11:25; 2Co 4:6; Eph 3:20,21; 1Pe 1:3

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.

² tn Heb “the name of your glory.”