Nehemiah 4 · Verse 9

Nehemiah 4:9

Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.
Nehemiah 4:9, King James Version

Nehemiah 4:9 in other translations

BSBSo we prayed to our God and posted a guard against them day and night.
WEBBut we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night because of them.
ASVBut we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.
YLTAnd we pray unto our God, and appoint a watch against them, by day and by night, because of them.
DARBYThen we prayed to our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.
BBEBut we made our prayer to God, and had men on watch against them day and night because of them.
WebsterNevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.

What does Nehemiah 4:9 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Nehemiah 4:7-21

Ne 4:7-23. He Sets a Watch. 7-21. But ... when Sanballat ... heard that the walls ... were made up, and ... the breaches ... stopped--The rapid progress of the fortifications, despite all their predictions to the contrary, goaded the Samaritans to frenzy. So they, dreading danger from the growing greatness of the Jews, formed a conspiracy to surprise them, demolish their works, and disperse or intimidate the…

Read the full comment on Nehemiah 4:7-21 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 9 We made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch - The strongest confidence in the protection and favor of God does not preclude the use of all or any of the means of self-preservation and defense which his providence has put in our power. While God works in us to will and to do, we should proceed to willing, through the power he has given us to will; and we should proceed to action, through the power he has given us to act. We cannot will, but through God's power; we cannot act, but through God's strength. The power, and the use of it, are two distinct things. We may have the power to will, and not will; and we may have the power to do, and not act: therefore, says the apostle, seeing God has wrought in you these powers, see that You Work Out Your Own salvation, with fear and trembling.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Nehemiah 4:7-15

The hindering good work is what bad men aim at, and promise themselves success in; but good work is God's work, and it shall prosper. God has many ways of bringing to light, and so of bringing to nought, the devices and designs of his church's enemies. If our enemies cannot frighten us from duty, or deceive us into sin, they cannot hurt us. Nehemiah put himself and his cause under the Divine protection. It was the…

Read the full comment on Nehemiah 4:7-15 →

Nehemiah 4:9 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַנִּתְפַּלֵּ֖לva.nit.pa.Leland we prayedH6419
אֶל\־'el-toH413
אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ'e.lo.Hei.nuGod ourH430
וַנַּעֲמִ֨ידva.na.'a.Midand we stationedH5975
מִשְׁמָ֧רmish.Mara guardH4929
עֲלֵיהֶ֛ם'a.lei.Hemon themH5921
יוֹמָ֥םyo.Mamby dayH3119
וָלַ֖יְלָהva.Lay.lahand nightH3915
מִפְּנֵיהֶֽם\׃mi.pe.nei.Hem<from> because of themH6440

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Nehemiah 4:9

  • 1 Peter 5:8

    Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

  • Psalms 50:15

    And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

  • Acts 4:24-30

    And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, …

  • Matthew 26:41

    Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

  • Luke 6:11-12

    And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus. And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

  • Luke 21:36

    Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

  • 2 Kings 19:14-19

    And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, …

  • Genesis 32:28

    And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

  • Nehemiah 4:11

    And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.

  • Psalms 55:16-22

    As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice. He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me. God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. …

  • Genesis 32:9-12

    And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Nevertheless.
11; Ge 32:9-12,28; 2Ki 19:14-19; Ps 50:15; 55:16-22; Lu 6:11,12
Ac 4:24-30
set a watch.
Mt 26:41; Lu 21:36; 1Pe 5:8

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Nehemiah 4:8

    And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.

  • Nehemiah 4:9

    Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.

  • Nehemiah 4:10

    And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.

Read all of Nehemiah 4

Nehemiah 4:9 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Entonces oramos á nuestro Dios, y por causa de ellos pusimos guarda contra ellos de día y de noche.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et quand nos ennemis apprirent que nous étions informés, et que Dieu avait dissipé leur conseil, il arriva que nous sommes tous retournés à la muraille, chacun à son travail.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Da beteten wir zu unserem Gott und stellten aus Furcht vor ihnen Tag und Nacht Wachen gegen sie auf.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Et oravimus Deum nostrum, et posuimus custodes super murum die ac nocte contra eos.