What Does Nehemiah 9:32 Mean in the King James?
Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
This prayer’s sharpest claim is that no accumulation of suffering is small before the One who guards covenant and faithful love.
THE MEANING
The verse gives you language for suffering that accumulates across families, leaders, and generations: none of it is made small before God. God is addressed as great, mighty, awe-inspiring, and as one who guards covenant and faithful love. The burden and the enduring bond stand together in the same sentence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that suffering is too small to matter to God dissolves here: the prayer asks that the whole burden not be counted as little before him.
THE ROOT
יִמְעַט
yim'at
GROWS FROM
מ־ע־ט
To be or become little or few; to diminish.
“seem little” in this verse is yim'at. The clause uses yim’at, the language of becoming small, and asks that the whole burden not be little before God. The prayer refuses to have suffering reduced in God’s sight.
ALSO GROWS
me'at: A little; few; a small amount.
מְעַט
This is the same vocabulary of smallness the prayer refuses to assign to the accumulated trouble.
him'it: To reduce or make fewer.
הִמְעִיט
This form shows how the root can describe active reduction, sharpening the plea against making the burden negligible.
שֹׁמֵר
shomer
GROWS FROM
ש־מ־ר
To guard, keep, or watch over.
“keepest” in this verse is shomer. The word for keeping covenant is the language of guarding and watching over. The covenant is held as a living trust, which makes the appeal to this God a plea to one who remains its keeper.
ALSO GROWS
mishmar: A watch, guard, or guard post.
מִשְׁמָר
A mishmar makes the watchful quality in shamar visible: keeping involves attention and protection.
mishmeret: A charge, watch, or guard duty.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch can name something entrusted to someone’s care, echoing the covenant held under watch.
חֶסֶד
chesed
GROWS FROM
ח־ס־ד
Faithful kindness and loyal love.
“mercy” in this verse is chesed. Here, chesed names faithful love joined to covenant and guarded by God. It shows that the one addressed is described by an enduring bond, not only by power or awe.
ALSO GROWS
chasad: To act with kindness or loyal love.
חָסַד
The verb form makes chesed an enacted quality, fitting its place beside the keeping of covenant.
chasid: A faithful or devoted person.
חָסִיד
This related word describes someone marked by loyal devotion, showing how the root can name both faithful action and the one who embodies it.
THE PATTERN
Scripture gives suffering its full weight by portraying God as seeing and caring for the distress brought before him.
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.THE THREAD
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;The Hebrew repeats the keeping of covenant and chesed, faithful love, that Nehemiah names. The shared keeping root shamar makes the connection lexical as well as thematic: the plea asks God to see the burden while affirming the nature of the one who guards the bond.
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