Nehemiah 9:16

Bible in Basic English (1941)

But they and our fathers, in their pride, made their necks stiff, and gave no attention to your orders,

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְהֵ֥ם וַאֲבֹתֵ֖ינוּ הֵזִ֑ידוּ וַיַּקְשׁוּ֙ אֶת־עָרְפָּ֔ם וְלֹ֥א שָׁמְע֖וּ אֶל־מִצְוֺתֶֽיךָ׃

Transliteration

*wə-hēm waʾăbōtênû hēzîdû wayyaqšû ʾet-ʿorpām wə-lōʾ šāməʿû ʾel-miṣwōteyḵā

Grammar Details

• *wə-hēm*: conjunction + 3mp pronoun - and they
• *waʾăbōtênû*: conjunction + noun, masculine plural + 1cp suffix - and our fathers
• *hēzîdû*: hiphil perfect, 3cp - they acted presumptuously/proudly
• *wayyaqšû*: conjunction + hiphil imperfect, 3mp - and they hardened
• *ʾet-ʿorpām*: direct object marker + noun, masculine singular + 3mp suffix - their neck
• *wə-lōʾ*: conjunction + negative particle - and not
• *šāməʿû*: qal perfect, 3cp - they listened/obeyed
• *ʾel-miṣwōteyḵā*: preposition + noun, feminine plural + 2ms suffix - to your commandments

Word Meanings

• *hēzîdû*: acted presumptuously/became proud/were insolent
• *wayyaqšû ʾet-ʿorpām*: hardened their necks/became stubborn/stiffened their necks
• *šāməʿû*: listened/obeyed/heeded

Referenced Verses

• Deut 31:27 : 27 For I have knowledge of your hard and uncontrolled hearts: even now, while I am still living, you will not be ruled by the Lord; how much less after my death?
• Neh 9:10 : 10 And you did signs and wonders on Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land; for you saw how cruel they were to them. So you got yourself a name as it is today.
• Neh 9:29 : 29 And gave witness against them so that you might make them come back again to your law: but their hearts were lifted up, and they gave no attention to your orders and went against your decisions (which, if a man keeps them, will be life to him), and turning their backs on you, made their necks stiff and did not give ear.
• Ps 81:11-14 : 11 But my people did not give ear to my voice; Israel would have nothing to do with me. 12 So I gave them up to the desires of their hearts; that they might go after their evil purposes. 13 If only my people would give ear to me, walking in my ways! 14 I would quickly overcome their haters: my hand would be turned against those who make war on them.
• Ps 95:8-9 : 8 Let not your hearts be hard, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the waste land; 9 When your fathers put me to the test and saw my power and my work. 10 For forty years I was angry with this generation, and said, They are a people whose hearts are turned away from me, for they have no knowledge of my ways;
• Ps 106:6 : 6 We are sinners like our fathers, we have done wrong, our acts are evil.
• Prov 29:1 : 1 A man hating sharp words and making his heart hard, will suddenly be broken and will not be made well again.
• Isa 48:4 : 4 Because I saw that your heart was hard, and that your neck was an iron cord, and your brow brass;
• Isa 48:18 : 18 If only you had given ear to my orders, then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea:
• Isa 63:10 : 10 But they went against him, causing grief to his holy spirit: so he was turned against them, and made war on them.
• Jer 2:31 : 31 O generation, see the word of the Lord. Have I been a waste land to Israel? or a land of dark night? why do my people say, We have got loose, we will not come to you again?
• Jer 19:15 : 15 The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: See, I will send on this town and on all her towns all the evil which I have said; because they made their necks stiff, so that they might not give ear to my words.
• Acts 7:51 : 51 You whose hearts are hard and whose ears are shut to me; you are ever working against the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
• Rom 2:5 : 5 But by your hard and unchanged heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of the revelation of God's judging in righteousness;
• Heb 3:13 : 13 But give comfort to one another every day as long as it is still Today; so that no one among you may be made hard by the deceit of sin:
• Heb 3:15 : 15 As it is said, Today if you will let his voice come to your ears, be not hard of heart, as when you made him angry.
• Ps 78:8-9 : 8 And not be like their fathers, a stiff-necked and uncontrolled generation; a generation whose heart was hard, whose spirit was not true to God. 9 The children of Ephraim, armed with bows, were turned back on the day of the fight. 10 They were not ruled by God's word, and they would not go in the way of his law; 11 They let his works go out of their memory, and the wonders which he had made them see. 12 He did great works before the eyes of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan. 13 The sea was cut in two so that they might go through; the waters were massed together on this side and on that. 14 In the daytime he was guiding them in the cloud, and all through the night with a light of fire. 15 The rocks of the waste land were broken by his power, and he gave them drink as out of the deep waters. 16 He made streams come out of the rock; and waters came flowing down like rivers. 17 And they went on sinning against him even more, turning away from the Most High in the waste land; 18 Testing God in their hearts, requesting meat for their desire. 19 They said bitter words against God, saying, Is God able to make ready a table in the waste land? 20 See, the rock was cut open by his power, so that the water came rushing out, and overflowing streams; is he able to give us bread? is he able to get meat for his people? 21 So these things came to the Lord's ears, and he was angry; and a fire was lighted against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel; 22 Because they had no faith in God, and no hope in his salvation. 23 And he gave orders to the clouds on high, and the doors of heaven were open; 24 And he sent down manna like rain for their food, and gave them the grain of heaven. 25 Man took part in the food of strong ones; he sent them meat in full measure. 26 He sent an east wind from heaven, driving on the south wind by his power. 27 He sent down meat on them like dust, and feathered birds like the sand of the sea, 28 And he let it come down into their resting-place, round about their tents. 29 So they had food and were full; for he gave them their desire; 30 But they were not turned from their desires; and while the food was still in their mouths, 31 The wrath of God came on them, and put to death the fattest of them, and put an end to the young men of Israel. 32 For all this they went on sinning even more, and had no faith in his great wonders. 33 So their days were wasted like a breath, and their years in trouble. 34 When he sent death on them, then they made search for him; turning to him and looking for him with care; 35 In the memory that God was their Rock, and the Most High God their saviour. 36 But their lips were false to him, and their tongues were untrue to him; 37 And their hearts were not right with him, and they did not keep their agreement with him. 38 But he, being full of pity, has forgiveness for sin, and does not put an end to man: frequently turning back his wrath, and not being violently angry. 39 So he kept in mind that they were only flesh; a breath which is quickly gone, and will not come again. 40 How frequently did they go against him in the waste land, and give him cause for grief in the dry places! 41 Again they put God to the test, and gave pain to the Holy One of Israel. 42 They did not keep in mind the work of his hand, or the day when he took them from the power of their haters; 43 How he had done his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan; 44 So that their rivers were turned to blood, and they were not able to get drink from their streams. 45 He sent different sorts of flies among them, poisoning their flesh; and frogs for their destruction. 46 He gave the increase of their fields to worms, the fruits of their industry to the locusts. 47 He sent ice for the destruction of their vines; their trees were damaged by the bitter cold. 48 Ice was rained down on their cattle; thunderstorms sent destruction among the flocks. 49 He sent on them the heat of his wrath, his bitter disgust, letting loose evil angels among them. 50 He let his wrath have its way; he did not keep back their soul from death, but gave their life to disease. 51 He gave to destruction all the first sons of Egypt; the first-fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham; 52 But he took his people out like sheep, guiding them in the waste land like a flock. 53 He took them on safely so that they had no fear; but their haters were covered by the sea. 54 And he was their guide to his holy land, even to the mountain, which his right hand had made his; 55 Driving out nations before them, marking out the line of their heritage, and giving the people of Israel their tents for a resting-place. 56 But they were bitter against the Most High God, testing him, and not keeping his laws; 57 Their hearts were turned back and untrue like their fathers; they were turned to one side like a twisted bow. 58 They made him angry with their high places; moving him to wrath with their images. 59 When this came to God's ears he was very angry, and gave up Israel completely; 60 So that he went away from the holy place in Shiloh, the tent which he had put among men; 61 And he let his strength be taken prisoner, and gave his glory into the hands of his hater. 62 He gave his people up to the sword, and was angry with his heritage. 63 Their young men were burned in the fire; and their virgins were not praised in the bride-song. 64 Their priests were put to death by the sword, and their widows made no weeping for them. 65 Then was the Lord like one awaking from sleep, and like a strong man crying out because of wine. 66 His haters were turned back by his blows and shamed for ever. 67 And he put the tent of Joseph on one side, and took not the tribe of Ephraim; 68 But he took the tribe of Judah for himself, and the mountain of Zion, in which he had pleasure. 69 And he made his holy place like the high heaven, like the earth which is fixed by him for ever. 70 He took David to be his servant, taking him from the place of the flocks; 71 From looking after the sheep which were giving milk, he took him to give food to Jacob his people, and to Israel his heritage. 72 So he gave them food with an upright heart, guiding them by the wisdom of his hands.
• Ps 81:8 : 8 Give ear, O my people, and I will give you my word, O Israel, if you will only do as I say!
• Deut 32:15 : 15 But Jeshurun became fat and would not be controlled: you have become fat, you are thick and full of food: then he was untrue to the God who made him, giving no honour to the Rock of his salvation.
• 2 Kgs 17:14 : 14 And they did not give ear, but became stiff-necked, like their fathers who had no faith in the Lord their God.
• 2 Chr 30:8 : 8 Now do not be hard-hearted, as your fathers were; but give yourselves to the Lord, and come into his holy place, which he has made his for ever, and be the servants of the Lord your God, so that the heat of his wrath may be turned away from you.
• 2 Chr 36:13 : 13 And he took up arms against King Nebuchadnezzar, though he had made him take an oath by God; but he made his neck stiff and his heart hard, turning away from the Lord, the God of Israel.
• Exod 15:26 : 26 And he said, If with all your heart you will give attention to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his eyes, giving ear to his orders and keeping his laws, I will not put on you any of the diseases which I put on the Egyptians: for I am the Lord your life-giver.
• Exod 32:9 : 9 And the Lord said to Moses, I have been watching this people, and I see that they are a stiff-necked people.
• Deut 1:26-33 : 26 But going against the order of the Lord your God, you would not go up: 27 And you made an angry outcry in your tents, and said, In his hate for us the Lord has taken us out of the land of Egypt, to give us up into the hands of the Amorites for our destruction. 28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts feeble with fear by saying, The people are greater and taller than we are, and the towns are great and walled up to heaven; and more than this, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there. 29 Then I said to you, Have no fear of them. 30 The Lord your God who goes before you will be fighting for you, and will do such wonders as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; 31 And in the waste land, where you have seen how the Lord was supporting you, as a man does his son, in all your journeying till you came to this place. 32 But for all this, you had no faith in the Lord your God, 33 Who goes before you on your way, looking for a place where you may put up your tents, in fire by night, lighting up the way you are to go, and in a cloud by day.
• Deut 5:29 : 29 If only they had such a heart in them at all times, so that they might go in fear of me and keep my orders and that it might be well for them and for their children for ever!
• Deut 9:6 : 6 Be certain then that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land as a reward for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.
• Deut 9:13 : 13 And then the Lord said to me, I have seen that this people is stiff-necked:
• Deut 9:23-24 : 23 And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and take the land which I have given you; you went against the orders of the Lord your God, and had no faith in him, and would not give ear to his voice. 24 From the day when I first had knowledge of you, you have gone against the word of the Lord.
• Deut 9:27 : 27 Keep in mind your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not looking at the hard heart of this people, or their evil-doing and their sin: