Bible Strands
Nehemiah 11:2
And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Nehemiah 11:2 follows the casting of lots to select one in ten households to resettle Jerusalem after the leaders moved there first. The text records the broader community’s formal response to this newly organized group of settlers.
The words — The Hebrew מִתְנַדְּבִים (mit.na.de.Vim) literally means those who willingly offer themselves, while בָּרַךְ (ba.ra.Khu) means to bless or confer favor. The verse states the people blessed these men for choosing to dwell in Jerusalem.
The thread — This blessing of volunteers corresponds to Judges 5:9, which honors those who willingly offer themselves among the people. The motif of willing devotion reappears in 2 Corinthians 8:16 regarding Titus’s granted devotion.
Why it lands — The text reports a concrete communal acknowledgment of voluntary resettlement rather than a divine command. It requires readers to recognize that organized restoration begins with willing participation that the community formally validates.
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
King James Version
And the people blessed all the men, that willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem.
Cross-references
- Judges 5:9 My heart is with the princes of Israel, with the volunteers among the people. Bless the LORD!
- 2 Corinthians 8:16 But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you.
- Deuteronomy 24:13 be sure to return it to him by sunset, so that he may sleep in his own cloak and bless you, and this will be credited to you as righteousness before the LORD your God.
- Job 29:13 The dying man blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.
- Job 31:20 if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,