Ezra 9:9

9:9 Although we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our servitude. He has extended kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, in that he has revived us ¹  to restore the temple of our God and to raise ²  up its ruins and to give us a protective wall in Judah and Jerusalem. ³ 

Nehemiah 1:11

1:11 Please, ⁴  O Lord, listen attentively ⁵  to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who take pleasure in showing respect ⁶  to your name. Grant your servant success today and show compassion to me ⁷  in the presence of this man.”

Now ⁸  I was cupbearer for the king.

Nehemiah 9:31

9:31 However, due to your abundant mercy you did not do away with them altogether; you did not abandon them. For you are a merciful and compassionate God.

Habakkuk 3:2

3:2 Lord, I have heard the report of what you did; ⁹ 

I am awed, ¹⁰  Lord, by what you accomplished. ¹¹ 

In our time ¹²  repeat those deeds; ¹³ 

in our time reveal them again. ¹⁴ 

But when you cause turmoil, remember to show us mercy! ¹⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “has granted us reviving.”

² tn Heb “to cause to stand.”

³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁴ tn The interjection אָנָּא (’anna’) is an emphatic term of entreaty: “please!” (BDB 58 s.v.; HALOT 69-70 s.v.). This term is normally reserved for pleas for mercy from God in life-and-death situations (2 Kgs 20:3 = Isa 38:3; Pss 116:4; 118:25; Jonah 1:14; 4:2) and for forgiveness of heinous sins that would result or have resulted in severe judgment from God (Exod 32:31; Dan 9:4; Neh 1:5, 11).

⁵ tn Heb “let your ear be attentive.”

⁶ tn Heb “fear.”

⁷ tn Heb “grant compassion.” The words “to me” are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style in English.

⁸ tn The vav (ו) on וַאֲנִי (va’ani, “Now, I”) introduces a disjunctive parenthetical clause that provides background information to the reader.

⁹ tn Heb “your report,” that is, “the report concerning you.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “I fear.” Some prefer to read, “I saw, Lord, what you accomplished” (cf. NEB).

¹¹ tn Heb “your work.”

¹² tn Heb “in the midst of years.” The meaning of the phrase, which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain (cf. NIV “in our day”; NEB, NASB “in the midst of the years”).

¹³ tn Heb “revive it” (i.e., “your work”).

¹⁴ tn Heb “make known.” The implied object is “your deeds”; the pronoun “them,” referring to “deeds” in the previous line, was employed in the translation to avoid redundancy. The suffix on the form חַיֵּיהוּ (khayyehu, “revive it”) does double duty in the parallelism.

¹⁵ tn Heb “in turmoil remember [to show] compassion.”