Nehemiah 9:16-21

9:16 “But they – our ancestors ¹  – behaved presumptuously; they rebelled ²  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. ³  But you are a God of forgiveness, merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and unfailing in your loyal love. ⁴  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 ⁵  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, ⁶  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.

[9:16]  ¹ tn Heb “and our fathers.” The vav is explicative.

[9:16]  ² tn Heb “they stiffened their neck” (so also in the following verse).

[9:17]  ³ tc The present translation follows a few medieval Hebrew MSS and the LXX in reading בְּמִצְרָיִם (bÿmitsrayim, “in Egypt”; so also NAB, NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT) rather than the MT reading בְּמִרְיָם (bÿmiryam, “in their rebellion”).

[9:17]  ⁴ tc The translation follows the Qere reading חֶסֶד (khesed, “loyal love”) rather than the Kethib reading וְחֶסֶד (vÿkhesed, “and loyal love”) of the MT.

[9:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “great.”

[9:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “did not turn from them by day to guide them in the path.”