You are just in all that has befallen us, because You have acted faithfully, while we have acted wickedly.
Parallel translations
- WEB However you are just in all that has come on us; for you have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly.
- KJV Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:
- NKJV However You are just in all that has befallen us; For You have dealt faithfully, But we have done wickedly.
- NASB “However, You are righteous in everything that has happened to us; For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly.
- NLT Every time you punished us you were being just. We have sinned greatly, and you gave us only what we deserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They confess that God is just in all that has befallen them, for he acted faithfully while they did wickedly. It matters because true repentance vindicates God and accepts blame.
Overview
The people declare God righteous in his judgments and themselves guilty, a key mark of genuine confession. They do not accuse God but justify him and condemn their own sin. This honest acknowledgment of guilt and God's justice is exactly the disposition the gospel meets with grace, as God justifies the ungodly through Christ (Romans 3:26).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Dan 9:5–14we have sinned and done wrong. We have acted wickedly and rebelled. We have turned away from Your commandments and ordinances.
- Gen 18:25Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
- Ps 106:6We have sinned like our fathers; we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
- Job 34:23For God need not examine a man further or have him approach for judgment.
- Ps 145:17The LORD is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds.
- Jer 12:1Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
- Lam 1:18The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens have gone into captivity.
- Job 33:27Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.
- Ps 119:137Righteous are You, O LORD, and upright are Your judgments.
- Lev 26:40–41But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The rebuilt walls and renewed covenant community foreshadow the greater builder who gathers and secures a people for God, the one who declares 'I will build my church.'
How Nehemiah 9:33 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.