Nehemiah 9:26

But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The prayer leader addresses the post-exilic assembly during a corporate confession, placing their historical rebellion between a recitation of past divine provision and an account of subsequent oppression.

The words — וַ/יַּשְׁלִ֤כוּ (va/i.yash.Li.khu) = and/ they threw, paired with תּוֹרָֽתְ/ךָ֙ (to.ra.te./Kha) = law/ your, forms the literal phrase "flung Your law behind their backs."

The thread — This pattern of covenant rejection recurs in Judges 2:11 and Nehemiah 9:18, while 1 Kings 14:9 records a similar indictment of escalating idolatry.

Why it lands — It demands a clear-eyed accounting of how repeated dismissal of instruction and persecution of correction directly precedes judicial consequences, requiring honest assessment of current covenant faithfulness.

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

וַיַּמְר֨וּva/i.yam.Ruand/ they were disobedient וַֽיִּמְרְד֜וּva/i.yim.re.Duand/ they rebelledבָּ֗ךְBa/khagainst/ youוַיַּשְׁלִ֤כוּva/i.yash.Li.khuand/ they threw אֶת־'et-<obj.>תּוֹרָֽתְךָ֙to.ra.te./Khalaw/ your אַחֲרֵ֣י'a.cha.Reibehind גַוָּ֔םga.Va/mback/ their וְאֶת־ve./'Etand/ <obj.>נְבִיאֶ֣יךָne.vi.'Ei./khaprophets/ your הָרָ֔גוּha.Ra.guthey killed אֲשֶׁר־'a.Sher-who הֵעִ֥ידוּhe.'I.duthey had warnedבָ֖םva/m<in>/ themלַהֲשִׁיבָ֣םla./ha.shi.Va/mto/ bring back/ them אֵלֶ֑יךָ'e.Lei./khato/ you וַֽיַּעֲשׂ֔וּva/i.ya.'a.Suand/ they did נֶאָצ֖וֹתne.'a.Tzotblasphemies גְּדוֹלֹֽת׃ge.do.Lotgreat

King James Version

Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.

Cross-references

1 Kings 14:9 You have done more evil than all who came before you. You have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me, and you have flung Me behind your back.
Judges 2:11 And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.
Nehemiah 9:18 Even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and when they committed terrible blasphemies,
1 Kings 18:4 for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)
1 Kings 19:10 “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”
Acts 7:52 Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—
2 Chronicles 24:20 Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood up before the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, He has forsaken you.’”
Psalms 50:17 For you hate My instruction and cast My words behind you.
Ezekiel 20:21 But the children rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes or carefully observe My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they profaned My Sabbaths. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the wilderness.
Matthew 21:35 But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.