Nehemiah 9:31

Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Nehemiah 9:31. Nevertheless, thou didst not utterly consume them — But didst leave a remnant of the poorer people in the land, and show favour to the captives in Babylon. For thou art a gracious and merciful God — To which alone they owed their preservation from utter destruction.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:4-38 The summary of their prayers we have here upon record. Much more, no doubt, was said. Whatever ability we have to do any thing in the way of duty, we are to serve and glorify God according to the utmost of it. When confessing our sins, it is good to notice the mercies of God, that we may be the more humbled and ashamed. The dealings of the Lord showed his goodness and long-suffering, and the hardness of their hearts. The testimony of the prophets was the testimony of the Spirit in the prophets, and it was the Spirit of Christ in them. They spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and what they said is to be received accordingly. The result was, wonder at the Lord's mercies, and the feeling that sin had brought them to their present state, from which nothing but unmerited love could rescue them. And is not their conduct a specimen of human nature? Let us study the history of our land, and our own history. Let us recollect our advantages from childhood, and ask what were our first returns? Let us frequently do so, that we may be kept humble, thankful, and watchful. Let all remember that pride and obstinacy are sins which ruin the soul. But it is often as hard to persuade the broken-hearted to hope, as formerly it was to bring them to fear. Is this thy case? Behold this sweet promise, A God ready to pardon! Instead of keeping away from God under a sense of unworthiness, let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. He is a God ready to pardon.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thou gavest them saviours - See Judges 3:15 etc.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

22. Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations—that is, put them in possession of a rich country, of an extensive territory, which had been once occupied by a variety of princes and people.

and didst divide them into corners—that is, into tribes. The propriety of the expression arose from the various districts touching at points or angles on each other.

the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon—Heshbon being the capital city, the passage should run thus: "the land of Sihon or the land of the king of Heshbon."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Nevertheless, for thy great mercies' sake, For the displaying of that, and the glorifying of it, which is so large and exceeding abundant:

thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; some were left in the land, and those that were carried captive found favour in the eyes of those that carried them away, and were suffered to live, and many of them now had returned to their own land:

for thou art a gracious and merciful God; of which they had abundant proof and evidence.

Geneva Study Bible

Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

31. for thy great mercies’ sake] R.V. in thy manifold mercies. The emphasis on the variety of the mercy even more than on its magnitude. Cf. Lamentations 3:22-23, ‘It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning.’

thou didst not utterly consume them] R.V. thou didst not make a full end of them (LXX. οὐκ ἐποίησας αὐτούς συντέλειαν. Vulg. ‘non fecisti eos in consumptionem.’ For the phrase see Jeremiah 4:17; Jeremiah 5:10; Jeremiah 5:18; Jeremiah 46:28; Ezekiel 20:17. The promise that though grievously humbled, Israel should not be utterly consumed, ever animated the courage of the prophets, cf. Leviticus 26:44, ‘And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them;’ Isaiah 6:13, ‘As a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remaineth, when they are felled.’

gracious and merciful] The same words in Heb. as Nehemiah 9:17 ‘gracious and full of compassion.’

Nehemiah 9:31

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

But in the midst of these judgments also, God, according to His promise, Jeremiah 4:27; Jeremiah 5:10, Jeremiah 5:18; Jeremiah 30:11, and elsewhere, did not utterly forsake His people, nor make a full end of them; for He did not suffer them to become extinct in exile, but preserved a remnant, and delivered it from captivity.