Nehemiah 9:1

Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
twenty	עֶשְׂרִ֨ים 'es.Rim	H6242	twenty · cardinal number, masculine plural absolute
fourth	וְאַרְבָּעָ֜ה ve.'ar.ba.'Ah	H702	four · conjunction + cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
day	וּבְיוֹם֩ u.ve.yOm	H3117	a day (as the warm hours) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
month	לַחֹ֣דֶשׁ la.Cho.desh	H2320	the new moon · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
children	בְנֵֽי ve.nei-	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
assembled	נֶאֶסְפ֤וּ ne.'es.Fu	H622	to gather for any purpose · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person common plural
fasting	בְּצ֣וֹם be.Tzom	H6685	a fast · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
sackclothes	וּבְשַׂקִּ֔ים u.ve.sa.Kim	H8242	properly · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
earth	וַאֲדָמָ֖ה va.'a.da.Mah	H127	soil (from its general redness) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Joshua 7:6 And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel,…
Ezra 8:23 So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.
Nehemiah 8:2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the firs…
Acts 13:2-3 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
1 Samuel 4:12 And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head.
Leviticus 23:34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the…
Leviticus 23:39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven da…
Judges 20:26 Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and f…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 9:1-3

We have here a general account of a public fast which the children of Israel kept, probably by order from Nehemiah, by and with the advice and consent of the chief of the fathers. It was a fast that men appointed, but such a fast as God had chosen; for, 1. It was a day to afflict the soul, Isa 58:5. Probably they assembled in the courts of the temple, and they there appeared in sackcloth and in the posture of mourners, with earth on their heads, Neh 9:1. By these outward expressions of sorrow and humiliation they gave glory to God, took shame to themselves, and stirred up one another to repentance. They were restrained from weeping, Neh 8:9, but now they were directed to weep. The joy of our…

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Adam Clarke on Nehemiah 9:1

Now in the twenty and fourth day - The feast of trumpets was on the first day of this month; on the fourteenth began the feast of tabernacles, which, lasting seven days, finished on the twenty-second; on the twenty-third they separated themselves from their illegitimate wives and children; and, on the twenty-fourth, they held a solemn day of fasting and confession of sin, and reading the law, which they closed by renewing their covenants.

John Gill on Nehemiah 9:1

Now in the twenty fourth day of this month,.... The seventh month, the month Tisri or September, two days after the feast of tabernacles was ended: the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them; which were all outward tokens of mourning and humiliation, see Joel 1:8 which they could not show during the festival; but that being over, they return to it, see Nehemiah 8:9.

Keil & Delitzsch on Nehemiah 9:1-3

On the twenty-second of Tishri was the Hazereth of the feast of tabernacles; on the twenty-fourth the congregation re-assembled in the temple, "with fasting and with sackcloths (penitential garments made of hair; see rem. Joe 1:8) and earth upon them," i.e., spread upon their heads (Sa1 4:12; Sa2 1:2; Job 2:12), - the external marks of deep mourning and heaviness of heart. Neh 9:2 "And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed all their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers." This separation from strangers does not specially relate to the dissolution of the marriages contracted with heathen women, nor to any measures taken that only Israelites sh…

The Church Fathers

The children of Israel assembled in fasting and sackcloth, etc. The devotion of the people corrected after captivity is noteworthy, for once the solemnity mandated by the law of the Lord was duly completed, and after just one day of interval, they themselves willingly gathered in fasting and penance, diligently carrying out what they had heard during the days of holy readings and rejoicing, by separating themselves both in mind and body from the company of those who were proved to be estranged from the Lord and His worship, lest through the association and examples of the wicked they should again fall into the evils of captivity and distress; evils which they scarcely perceived themselves to have escaped even after long periods or centuries. And what might we mystically take from these things for ourselves, except that following such examples, whatever we have understood should be done in the public assembly or audience, we should again discuss mutually among ourselves, and diligently seek by thorough inquiry how we might be able to fulfill each of these with the correction of our hearts and bodies. The great diligence of their more correct life is evident as it is stated:
— Bede, Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Covenant — A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a…
Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old…
Synagogue — (Gr. sunagoge, i.e., “an assembly”), found only once in the Authorized Version of Ps. 74:8, where the margin of Revised Version has “places of assembly,” which is probably correct; for while the…
Fasting · Confession of sin — Confession of sin
Prayer, Public · Exemplified: Jeshua — Exemplified: Jeshua
Sabbath, The · Was worn: By persons in affliction — Was worn: By persons in affliction

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 9:1-3

Adam Clarke on Nehemiah 9:1

John Gill on Nehemiah 9:1

Keil & Delitzsch on Nehemiah 9:1-3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 9:1-3

Adam Clarke on Nehemiah 9:1

John Gill on Nehemiah 9:1

Keil & Delitzsch on Nehemiah 9:1-3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Rashi on Nehemiah 9:1