Nehemiah 1:7 (DBY)

Passage

We have acted very perversely against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances that thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

Nearby Context

Nehemiah 1:5 and said, I beseech thee, Jehovah, God of the heavens, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and keep his commandments.

Nehemiah 1:6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, to hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, confessing the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.

Nehemiah 1:7 We have acted very perversely against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances that thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

Nehemiah 1:8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the peoples;

Nehemiah 1:9 but if ye return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "acted", "very", "perversely", "against", "thee", "kept", "commandments", and "statutes". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "acted" and "very", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "Let thine ear now be attentive and..." into verse 8's "Remember I beseech thee the word that...", so "acted" and "very" belong inside that flow. In Nehemiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "acted" and "very" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.