Nehemiah 9:17

17 and refused to listen, and remembered not thy wonders which thou wroughtest with them; and they hardened their neck, and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt: but thou, O God, merciful and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and thou didst not forsake them.

Nehemiah 9:17 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 9:17

And refused to obey
Though exhorted, admonished, and threatened, such was their obstinacy:

neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them;
in delivering them at the Red sea, in raining manna about them, and giving them water out of the rock:

but hardened their necks;
see the preceding verse:

and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage;
they not only proposed it, but determined upon it, which is reckoned the same as if they had done it, see ( Numbers 14:4 ) ,

but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to
anger, and of great kindness;
as he had proclaimed his name before Moses, and as the whole of his conduct towards the people of Israel abundantly shewed, see ( Exodus 34:6 Exodus 34:7 )

and forsookest them not;
when in the wilderness, where otherwise they must have perished, but still fed and protected them, notwithstanding their provocations.

Nehemiah 9:17 In-Context

15 And thou gavest them bread from heaven for their food, and thou broughtest them forth water from a rock for their thirst; and thou badest them go in to inherit the land over which thou stretchedst out thy hand to give them.

16 But they and our fathers behaved proudly, and hardened their neck, and did not hearken to thy commandments,

17 and refused to listen, and remembered not thy wonders which thou wroughtest with them; and they hardened their neck, and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt: but thou, O God, merciful and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and thou didst not forsake them.

18 And still farther they even made to themselves a molten calf, and said, These the gods that brought us up out of Egypt: and they wrought great provocations.

19 Yet thou in thy great compassions didst not forsake them in the wilderness: thou didst not turn away from them the pillar of the cloud by day, to guide them in the way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to enlighten for them the way wherein they should walk.