In verses 15-21 the gracious acts of God alternate with the rebellious acts of his people. In this verse God’s provisions of manna and water in the wilderness are remembered (Exo 16; 17).

Thou didst give them bread from heaven … and bring forth water for them from the rock: The Hebrew word rendered bread is a normal word for bread made from wheat flour, but here it is used in the generic sense of food, and refers to the manna that God miraculously provided for the Israelites in the desert. He also brought forth water, that is, he caused water to flow out of a rock for them to drink. The parallel between bread from heaven and water … from the rock indicates that heaven here refers to the sky but has the implication of being from God.

For their hunger … for their thirst: Good News Translation makes the meaning clearer by saying “When they were hungry” and “when they were thirsty,” and many translators will do the same. God provided food to satisfy their hunger and water to quench their thirst.

Thou didst tell them to go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them: Thou didst tell them means “you commanded them” (Contemporary Chinese Bible) or “you ordered them.” The promise of God that they would possess the land is then mentioned. Possess or occupy is used here instead of “conquer” since it is God who overthrew the kings of the land and gave it to the people to live in. God had sworn this, that is, he had bound himself by oath. This oath is the basis for their hope that they will one day be truly independent of foreign rule.

In Hebrew thou hadst sworn is literally “you had lifted your hand.” This was a gesture that was made when giving an oath. Here it is used of God as though he had the physical characteristics of a human being. It refers to making a very solemn promise and not to swearing in the sense of cursing. New English Bible translates “thou hadst solemnly sworn.” New International Version retains the gesture while making explicit its meaning: “you had sworn with uplifted hand.”

There are many poetic features in this prayer. This verse is in two parts, with parallelism in the first part. The first line is about food for their hunger and the second is about water for their thirst. The second part of the verse is about land according to God’s promise. The first two lines are similar and they balance the second part, which is a concluding statement. As observed by Williamson (1985, page 314), the keywords in the second part, which are “take possession,” “the land” and “to give,” are repeated frequently in the prayer. They are important in the theme of returning to the promised land. This theme is more fully developed in verses 22-25 below.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .