Bible Strands
Nehemiah 9:37
Its abundant harvest goes to the kings You have set over us because of our sins. And they rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please. We are in great distress.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Nehemiah and the assembled Israelites speak this confession to God during a corporate covenant renewal following the exile. The speaker addresses the congregation directly while recounting their current status as subjugated residents in the land God originally gave them.
The words — תְבוּאָתָהּ (tevu'atah) means "its produce" and מַרְבָּה (marbah) translates to "abundant" or "increasing." These terms specify that the land's fertility now flows to foreign rulers rather than to the people who cultivate it.
The thread — The diversion of agricultural yield to foreign powers echoes Deuteronomy 28:33 and 28:48, which warn that enemies will consume the harvest and the people will serve them. Ezra 7:24 also addresses royal taxation, contrasting the current reality of forced tribute with the earlier prohibition on taxing temple workers.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that national subjugation is the direct result of covenant disobedience. It requires the reader to accept divine sovereignty over political structures and to respond with unvarnished confession rather than political justification.
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 it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 28:33 A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and of all your toil. All your days you will be oppressed and crushed.
- Deuteronomy 28:48 you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
- Ezra 7:24 And be advised that you have no authority to impose tribute, duty, or toll on any of the priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers, temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.
- Leviticus 26:17 And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.
- Deuteronomy 28:39 You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.
- Deuteronomy 28:51 They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain or new wine or oil, no calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until they have caused you to perish.
- Ezra 4:13 Let it now be known to the king that if that city is rebuilt and its walls are restored, they will not pay tribute, duty, or toll, and the royal treasury will suffer.
- Ezra 6:8 I hereby decree what you must do for these elders of the Jews who are rebuilding this house of God: The cost is to be paid in full to these men from the royal treasury out of the taxes of the provinces west of the Euphrates, so that the work will not be hindered.
- Nehemiah 5:8 and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!” But they remained silent, for they could find nothing to say.
- John 8:33 “We are Abraham’s descendants,” they answered. “We have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say we will be set free?”