What Does Nehemiah 5:19 Mean?
Remember me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.THE KEY
“Think upon me” is a request for the work done for others to remain in God’s active regard.
THE MEANING
The reader can bring the work done for others into God’s remembrance and name it as good. The prayer speaks plainly about that work, asking that it be held in regard.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that work for others matters only when people notice or praise it: the prayer asks God to remember.
THE ROOT
זָכְרָה
zāḵrāh
GROWS FROM
זכר
z-k-r
Remember, call to mind, or mention.
“Remember me” in this verse is zāḵrāh. This word’s family holds both remembering and keeping something present as a memorial or mention. The prayer asks for more than a passing thought: it asks that the work for this people remain in God’s regard, remembered for good.
ALSO GROWS
zikkārôn: Memorial, remembrance
זִכָּרוֹן
A memorial keeps something present in view; the prayer asks that the work remain present in God’s remembrance.
hizkîr: Mention, call to remembrance
הִזְכִּיר
The same root links remembering with mentioning, giving the prayer’s appeal the sense of bringing the work into regard.
THE PATTERN
Work given for the good of others remains present before God as something that can be remembered and honored.
Remember me, O LORD, with the favor you bear toward your people. Visit me with your deliverance.For God is not out of alignment to forget your work and the toil of love, which you have shown toward his nature, in that you have served the set-apart ones, and still serve.Remembering without a gap your work of trust, your toil of love, and your remaining under of hope in our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, before the face of God and our Father.THE THREAD
Remember me, O LORD, with the favor you bear toward your people. Visit me with your deliverance.Both prayers ask to be remembered in relation to God’s good toward the people. Psalm 106:4 makes that shared root connection vivid: remembrance is joined to favor and the good sought for the community.
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