Nehemiah 8:10

Then Nehemiah told them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send out portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites address the assembled people who have been weeping after hearing the Law read, on a day declared holy to the LORD.

The words — מָנוֹת (manot, "portions") carries the sense of a fixed, allotted share, the same word used for inheritance; to send them out is to give away one's own portion.

The thread — "The joy of the LORD is your strength" echoes Psalm 28:7 ("The LORD is my strength"), and Proverbs 17:22 links a joyful heart to physical wholeness against a broken spirit.

Why it lands — The verse does not ask the reader to suppress grief but to convert it into a specific, communal act: eat, drink, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared. The "strength" named is not an internal feeling but a shared meal extended outward.

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

Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Cross-references

Psalms 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices, and I give thanks to Him with my song.
Proverbs 17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
2 Corinthians 12:8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
Ecclesiastes 9:7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works:
Isaiah 12:1 In that day you will say: “O LORD, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.
Isaiah 61:10 I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Psalms 149:2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
Esther 9:19 This is why the rural Jews, who live in the villages, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting. It is a holiday for sending gifts to one another.
2 Corinthians 8:2 In the terrible ordeal they suffered, their abundant joy and deep poverty overflowed into rich generosity.
Esther 9:22 as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.