Nehemiah 1:11 BSB — MannaFest

Nehemiah 1:11

O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” (At that time I was the cupbearer to the king.)

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name; and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was cupbearer to the king.

KJV

O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.

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Commentary

5 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

Mercy in the sight of this man - Favour before the king, Ahasuerus. He seems then to have been giving him the cup. For I was the king’s cup-bearer - The king’s butler, (the Persians call him saky), which gave him the opportunity of being frequently with the king; and to be in such a place of trust, he must be in the king’s confidence. No Eastern potentate would have a cup-bearer with whom he could not trust his life, poison being frequently administered in this way.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of a man? Mercy in the sight of this man is what he prays for, meaning not the king's mercy, but mercy from God in his address to the king. Favour with men is then comfortable when we can see it springing from the mercy of God.

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Observe, He is not forward to tell us what great preferment he had at court; it is not till the end of the chapter that he tells us he was the king's cup-bearer (a place of great trust, as well as of honour and profit), when he could not avoid the mentioning of it because of the following story; but at first he only said, I was in Shushan the palace.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2714: “Those Who Desire” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1901)

NEHEMIAH was earnest in his prayer for the good of his sorrow-stricken nation, but he did not make the mistake of thinking that he was the only praying man in the world. He said, "Be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants, who desire to fear Your name." In this one respect, I like Nehemiah better than Elijah.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

I was the king's cupbearer--This officer, in the ancient Oriental courts, was always a person of rank and importance; and, from the confidential nature of his duties and his frequent access to the royal presence, he possessed great influence.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

29 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
אָנָּ֣א	'a.Na'	I beg you	H577 →
אֲדֹנָ֗י	'a.do.Nai	O Lord	H136 →
תְּהִ֣י	te.Hi	may it be	H1961 →
נָ֣א	na'	please	H4994 →
אָזְנְךָֽ־	'a.ze.ne.kha-	ear your	H241 →
קַ֠שֶּׁבֶת	Ka.she.vet	attentive	H7183 →
אֶל־	'el-	to	H413 →
תְּפִלַּ֨ת	te.fi.Lat	[the] prayer of	H8605 →
עַבְדְּךָ֜	'av.de.Kha	servant your	H5650 →
וְאֶל־	ve.'el-	and to	H413 →
תְּפִלַּ֣ת	te.fi.Lat	[the] prayer of	H8605 →
עֲבָדֶ֗יךָ	'a.va.Dei.kha	servants your	H5650 →
הַֽחֲפֵצִים֙	ha.cha.fe.Tzim	<the> delighting	H2655 →
לְיִרְאָ֣ה	le.yir.'Ah	to fear	H3372 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
שְׁמֶ֔ךָ	she.Me.kha	name your	H8034 →
וְהַצְלִֽיחָה־	ve.hatz.li.chah-	and grant success !	H6743 →
נָּ֤א	na'	please	H4994 →
לְעַבְדְּךָ֙	le.'av.de.Kha	to servant your	H5650 →
הַיּ֔וֹם	hai.Yom	this day	H3117 →
וּתְנֵ֣הוּ	u.te.Ne.hu	and give him	H5414 →
לְרַחֲמִ֔ים	le.ra.cha.Mim	<to> compassion<s>	H7356 →
לִפְנֵ֖י	lif.Nei	<to> before	H6440 →
הָאִ֣ישׁ	ha.'Ish	the man	H376 →
הַזֶּ֑ה	ha.Zeh	<the> this	H2088 →
וַאֲנִ֛י	va.'a.Ni	and I	H589 →
הָיִ֥יתִי	ha.Yi.ti	I was	H1961 →
מַשְׁקֶ֖ה	mash.Keh	cup bearer	H4945 →
לַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ פ	la.Me.lekh	of the king	H4428 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Proverbs 21:1
The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases.
leads to
- Proverbs 16:9
  A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
- Ezra 6:22
  For seven days they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread with joy, because the LORD had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to strengthen their hands…
- Proverbs 20:24
  A man’s steps are from the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?
- Acts 7:10
  and rescued him from all his troubles. He granted Joseph favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household.
- Proverbs 16:1
  The plans of the heart belong to man, but the reply of the tongue is from the LORD.
Through
Nehemiah 1:6
let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to hear the prayer that I, Your servant, now pray before You day and night for Your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins that…
leads to
- Daniel 9:20
  While I was speaking, praying, confessing my sin and that of my people Israel, and presenting my petition before the LORD my God concerning His holy mountain—
- Daniel 9:4
  And I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed, “O, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of loving devotion to those who love Him and keep His commandments,
- Psalms 34:15
  The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry.

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About Nehemiah

Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Nehemiah: the study guide →Read chapter 1 →The featured study →

Prayer
Nehemiah's court prayer before Artaxerxes — prayer preceding and undergirding practical action

Continue: Nehemiah 1 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Nehemiah

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Nehemiah