Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 1:5–end
We have here Nehemiah's prayer, a prayer that has reference to all the prayers which he had for some time before been putting up to God day and night, while he continued his sorrows for the desolations of Jerusalem, and withal to the petition he was now intending to present to the king his master for his favour to Jerusalem. We may observe in this prayer,
I. His humble and reverent address to God, in which he prostrates himself before him, and gives unto him the glory due unto his name, Neh 1:5. It is much the same with that of Daniel, Dan 9:4. It teaches us to draw near to God, 1. With a holy awe of his majesty and glory, remembering that he is the God of heaven, infinitely above us, and so…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Nehemiah 1:4
HIS PRAYER. (Neh 1:4-11)
when I heard these words, that I sat down . . . and mourned . . . and fasted, and prayed--The recital deeply affected the patriotic feelings of this good man, and no comfort could he find but in earnest and protracted prayer, that God would favor the purpose, which he seems to have secretly formed, of asking the royal permission to go to Jerusalem.
Adam Clarke on Nehemiah 1:6
Let thine ear - Hear what we say and confess.
Thine eyes open - see what we suffer.
John Gill on Nehemiah 1:6
Let thine ear be now attentive,.... To his prayer, as in Nehemiah 1:11,
and thine eyes open; to behold with pity and compassion the distressed case of Jerusalem, and the Jews in it:
I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants; this he had continued to do ever since he heard of their trouble and calamity:
and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned; he considered sin as the cause of all this evil that had befallen his people, and confesses it with sorrow and humiliation, and not their sins only, but his own personal and family sins.
