Nehemiah 1:11
in Nehemiah 1O 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
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
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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This verse in Nehemiah 1
Commentary
13 notes on this verseMercy 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.
This site's exposition
You redeemed them by Your great power
on Nehemiah 1:10-11
Nehemiah asks for one day's success: "Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man" (1:11). The king of Persia is "this man," and the last line names Nehemiah's access: "I was the cupbearer to the king."
This site's exposition
Give Your servant success this day
Henry notes that Nehemiah names his post as cupbearer to the king only at the close. The cup put him in the king's sight every day. Clarke adds that Eastern kings were often poisoned by their wine, so the king trusted this servant with his life.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening5 voices
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.
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.
18 ) that he offered sacrifice, we must conclude him to have been a priest. Nehemiah's station at the court of Persia. We are here told that he was in Shushan the palace, or royal city, of the king of Persia, where the court was ordinarily kept (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number
): " They desire to fear thy name; they are not only called by thy name, but really have a reverence for thy name; they now worship thee, and thee only, according to thy will, and have an awe of all the discoveries thou art pleased to make of thyself; this they have a desire to do," which denotes, (1.) Their good will to it.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
To fear thy name - Those who truly desire to fear his name, shall be graciously accepted of God. This man - The king: who is but a man and therefore his heart is wholly at thy disposal. favour with men is then comfortable, when we see it springing from the mercy of God.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant,....
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2714: “Those Who Desire” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
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.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2714: “Those Who Desire” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
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. They were both noble men and greatly concerned for the highest welfare of their fellow countrymen, but, at one time at least, Elijah did not have a true or a fair estimate of things as they really were. He even presumed to say to God, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and slain Your Prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." Nehemiah, however, acted on another and a more hopeful principle. When he had presented his own personal supplication, he felt certain that there were others who were also praying to the Lord, so he said, "Be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants, who desire to fear Your name." You know, dear Friends, that Elijah was quite wrong in his calculation, for God said to him, "I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him." There were, hidden in caves, or in other parts of the country, thousands who feared God and bowed the knee to Him alone. Let not any of us fall into the mistake that Elijah made. Do not you, my Brother, claim to be the solitary Prophet of God, and say, "I only am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." There are quite as good men as you are elsewhere in the world and there are other people who are as earnest in prayer as you are.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
A Persian king had numerous cup-bearers, each of whom probably discharged the office in his turn.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
I beseech You, O Lord, may Your ear now be attentive At the beginning of his prayer he used this expression, and so after his prayer.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
29 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אָנָּ֣א | ʾana' | I beg you | H577 → | |
| אֲדֹנָ֗י | ʾadonai | O Lord | H136 → | |
| תְּהִ֣י | tehi | may it be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| נָ֣א | na' | please | H4994 → | 404 times |
| אָזְנְךָֽ־ | ʾazenekha- | ear your | H241 → | 187 times |
| קַ֠שֶּׁבֶת | kashevet | attentive | H7183 → | |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| תְּפִלַּ֨ת | tefilat | [the] prayer of | H8605 → | 72 times |
| עַבְדְּךָ֜ | ʾavdekha | servant your | H5650 → | 799 times |
| וְאֶל־ | veel- | and to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| תְּפִלַּ֣ת | tefilat | [the] prayer of | H8605 → | 72 times |
| עֲבָדֶ֗יךָ | ʾavadeikha | servants your | H5650 → | 799 times |
| הַֽחֲפֵצִים֙ | hachafetzim | <the> delighting | H2655 → | |
| לְיִרְאָ֣ה | leyirah | to fear | H3372 → | 315 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| שְׁמֶ֔ךָ | shemekha | name your | H8034 → | 864 times |
| וְהַצְלִֽיחָה־ | vehatzlichah- | and grant success ! | H6743 → | |
| נָּ֤א | na' | please | H4994 → | 404 times |
| לְעַבְדְּךָ֙ | leavdekha | to servant your | H5650 → | 799 times |
| הַיּ֔וֹם | haiyom | this day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| וּתְנֵ֣הוּ | utenehu | and give him | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לְרַחֲמִ֔ים | lerachamim | <to> compassion<s> | H7356 → | 45 times |
| לִפְנֵ֖י | lifnei | <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| הָאִ֣ישׁ | haish | the man | H376 → | 1663 times |
| הַזֶּ֑ה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| וַאֲנִ֛י | vaani | and I | H589 → | 874 times |
| הָיִ֥יתִי | hayiti | I was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| מַשְׁקֶ֖ה | mashkeh | cup bearer | H4945 → | |
| לַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ פ | lamelekh | of the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
אָנָּ֣אI beg you
ʾana'H577 →
אֲדֹנָ֗יO Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →
תְּהִ֣יmay it be
tehiH1961 →3559 times
נָ֣אplease
na'H4994 →404 times
אָזְנְךָֽ־ear your
ʾazenekha-H241 →187 times
קַ֠שֶּׁבֶתattentive
kashevetH7183 →
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
תְּפִלַּ֨ת[the] prayer of
tefilatH8605 →72 times
עַבְדְּךָ֜servant your
ʾavdekhaH5650 →799 times
וְאֶל־and to
veel-H413 →5510 times
תְּפִלַּ֣ת[the] prayer of
tefilatH8605 →72 times
עֲבָדֶ֗יךָservants your
ʾavadeikhaH5650 →799 times
הַֽחֲפֵצִים֙<the> delighting
hachafetzimH2655 →
לְיִרְאָ֣הto fear
leyirahH3372 →315 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
שְׁמֶ֔ךָname your
shemekhaH8034 →864 times
וְהַצְלִֽיחָה־and grant success !
vehatzlichah-H6743 →
נָּ֤אplease
na'H4994 →404 times
לְעַבְדְּךָ֙to servant your
leavdekhaH5650 →799 times
הַיּ֔וֹםthis day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
וּתְנֵ֣הוּand give him
utenehuH5414 →2011 times
לְרַחֲמִ֔ים<to> compassion<s>
lerachamimH7356 →45 times
לִפְנֵ֖י<to> before
lifneiH6440 →2123 times
הָאִ֣ישׁthe man
haishH376 →1663 times
הַזֶּ֑ה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
וַאֲנִ֛יand I
vaaniH589 →874 times
הָיִ֥יתִיI was
hayitiH1961 →3559 times
מַשְׁקֶ֖הcup bearer
mashkehH4945 →
לַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ פof the king
lamelekhH4428 →2525 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 21:1The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases.
it 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.
- Proverbs 16:9
Through
Nehemiah 1:6let 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…
it 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.
- Daniel 9:20
Where this verse is studied
By subject
Prayer34 verses
On this page
Studies3
About Nehemiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2714: "Those Who Desire"; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2714: “Those Who Desire” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.