Nehemiah 1:10
What does Nehemiah 1:10 mean?
A plain-English look at Nehemiah 1:10 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Nehemiah 1:10 means
Nehemiah identifies Israel as God’s own: “thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.” He appeals to God’s past redemption—especially the Exodus—as proof that the Lord is both willing and able to save. If God once acted with a mighty hand to make them His, He can act again to restore them. This is not nostalgia but theology: God’s unchanging character binds past and present. By naming the people as God’s servants, Nehemiah underlines their purpose and accountability. Restoration is for God’s possession and glory, not merely for their comfort. The prayer leans on God’s history of deliverance as a pledge of future grace.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Now these are your servants and your people, whom you have made yours by your great power and by your strong hand.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And they <FI>are<Fi> Thy servants, and Thy people, whom Thou hast ransomed by Thy great power, and by Thy strong hand.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And these are thy servants, and thy people: whom thou hast redeemed by thy great strength, and by thy mighty hand.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And they are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand.
Context
With covenant promises in view, verse 10 adds the argument from redemption history. Israel’s identity as a redeemed people strengthens the plea for restoration. The next and final verse will bring the prayer to a concrete request: favor with the king. Thus, the prayer progresses from who God is, to confessed sin, to remembered promises, to past redemption, and finally to a specific door that must open. The reader senses that the stage is set for action aligned with God’s purposes.
v.9but if ye return unto me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen, to cause my name to dwell there.
v.10This passage
v.11O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name; and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was cupbearer to the king.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Isaiah 63:16
For thou art our Father, though Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us: thou, O Jehovah, art our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is thy name.
- Psalms 74:2
Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old, Which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance; Andmount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
- Exodus 6:1
And Jehovah said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for by a strong hand shall he let them go, and by a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.
- Daniel 9:15
And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
- Exodus 15:13
Thou in thy lovingkindness hast led the people that thou hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in thy strength to thy holy habitation.
- Exodus 32:11
And Moses besought Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, that thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
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