Nehemiah 9:21
19 You in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud never turned away from guiding them on their path; and by the night the pillar of fire illuminated the way they should go.
20 You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold Your manna from their mouths, and You gave them water for their thirst.
For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
22 You gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner of the land. So they took the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and of Og king of Bashan.
23 You multiplied their descendants like the stars of heaven and brought them to the land You had told their fathers to enter and possess.
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
- KJV
- Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
- WEB
- “Yes, forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing. Their clothes didn’t grow old, and their feet didn’t swell.
- ASV
- Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, [and] they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
- DARBY
- Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing; their clothes grew not old, and their feet swelled not.
- BLB
- And forty years You sustained them in the wilderness; they did not lack. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.
- ÅB
- I førti år forsørget du dem i ørkenen, de manglet intet; deres klær ble ikke utslitt, og deres føtter ble ikke hovne.
- OTB
- I førti år opprettholdt du dem i ørkenen; de manglet ingenting, deres klær ble ikke utslitt, og deres føtter hovnet ikke opp.
- B1930
- I firti år forsørget du dem i ørkenen, de manglet intet; deres klær blev ikke utslitt, og deres føtter blev ikke hovne.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Deuteronomy 2:7
Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these forty years, and you have lacked nothing.
Read in contextDeuteronomy 8:4
Your clothing did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
Read in contextDeuteronomy 29:5
For forty years I led you in the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out.
Read in contextPsalms 34:10
Young lions go lacking and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
Read in contextNumbers 14:33–34
Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.
Read in contextActs 13:18
He endured their conduct for about forty years in the wilderness.
Read in contextExodus 16:35
The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land where they could settle; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.
Read in contextDeuteronomy 8:2
Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.
Read in context