Verse Lens · Context pointer
Nehemiah 2:9 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 9. 9Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
This verse shows Nehemiah delivering letters with royal officers and cavalry, making imperial backing materially visible.
Read It With
- Nehemiah 2:9–2:10
Read Nehemiah 2:9–2:10 together. This verse shows Nehemiah delivering letters with royal officers and cavalry, making imperial backing materially visible. Read Nehemiah 2:9–2:10 as one complete scene: Nehemiah arrives with royal officers and cavalry; two regional figures are grieved that someone has come to seek Israel's welfare.
Why It Needs Context
This line performs one particular step inside Nehemiah 2:9–2:10; read it with the unit's movement. Titles and names fit a Persian-period setting, but external parallels do not establish that every similarly named figure is identical to later attested persons. Specifically, this verse shows Nehemiah delivering letters with royal officers and cavalry, making imperial backing materially visible.
Read Nehemiah 2:9–10 together
Why these verses belong together: The delivery of letters and military escort is immediately followed by Sanballat's and Tobiah's displeasure, forming the first political reaction.
Verse 9. 9 Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
Verse 10. 10 When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Nehemiah 2:9–2:10 — Imperial authorization meets regional displeasureSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Nehemiah 2:9–2:10, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Nehemiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, repeated roots, Persian titles, names, and translation controls.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Neh.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 2:9–2:10
Open source ↗