Nehemiah 1:9

but if you return to Me and keep and practice My commandments, then even if your exiles have been banished to the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for My Name.’

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Nehemiah speaks this conditional promise to God during a prayer of intercession for the exiled Israelites. The statement follows his recitation of Moses’ warning about scattering for covenant unfaithfulness (Nehemiah 1:8) and precedes his appeal to God’s past redemption of His people (Nehemiah 1:10).

The words — וְשַׁבְתֶּם (ve-shavtem) translates literally as “you will turn back,” immediately paired with וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם (u-shmartem), “you will keep,” both verbs directed at the covenant community.

The thread — The same conditional structure appears in Deuteronomy 30:2 and Deuteronomy 4:29, where return and obedience trigger gathering, while Jeremiah 29:11 reinforces the broader promise of future restoration following covenant breach.

Why it lands — The text requires a tangible return to obedience before promising restoration, making human response the condition while anchoring the outcome in God’s prior selection of a dwelling place for His Name.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְשַׁבְתֶּ֣םve./shav.Temand/ you will turn back אֵלַ֔י'e.La/ito/ me וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם֙u./she.mar.Temand/ you will keep מִצְוֹתַ֔יmitz.vo.Ta/icommandments/ my וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֖םva./'a.si.Temand/ you will observe אֹתָ֑ם'o.Ta/m<obj.>/ them אִם־'im-if יִהְיֶ֨הyih.Yehit will be נִֽדַּחֲכֶ֜םni.da.cha./Khembanished [one]/ your בִּקְצֵ֤הbi/k.Tzehat/ [the] end of הַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ha./sha.Ma.yimthe/ heavens מִשָּׁ֣םmi./Shamfrom/ there אֲקַבְּצֵ֔ם'a.ka.be.Tze/mI will gather/ them וַהֲבִֽיאוֹתִים֙va./ha.vo.'o.ti/mand/ I will bring/ them אֶל־'el-to הַמָּק֔וֹםha./ma.Komthe/ place אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.Sherwhere בָּחַ֔רְתִּיba.Char.tiI have chosen לְשַׁכֵּ֥ןle./sha.Kento/ cause to dwell אֶת־'et-<obj.>שְׁמִ֖יshe.M/iname/ my שָֽׁם׃Shamthere

King James Version

But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

Cross-references

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.
Deuteronomy 30:2 and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey His voice with all your heart and all your soul according to everything I am giving you today,
Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Jeremiah 32:37 I will surely gather My people from all the lands to which I have banished them in My furious anger and great wrath, and I will return them to this place and make them dwell in safety.
Leviticus 26:39 Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.
Deuteronomy 12:5 Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
Ezra 6:12 May God, who has caused His Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to alter this decree or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree. Let it be carried out with diligence.
Psalms 147:2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel.
Isaiah 56:8 Thus declares the Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered.”
Jeremiah 12:15 But after I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.