Nehemiah 9:8

his heart faithful The word -faithful" is of the same root as that rendered -believed" in Genesis 15:6, -And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness;" and the phrase here used is derived from that passage, since the same chapter in Genesis also contains a list of the peoples of the land (Nehemiah 9:19), that were to be dispossessed by the seed of Abraham according to the Covenant. For the use of this adjective applied to Abraham, cf. Galatians 3:9, -they which be of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham."

the land of the Canaanites R.V. the land of the Canaanite, … Hittite, &c. The sixnations here referred to, are all Palestinian. From the list in Genesis 15:18-21, there are here omitted -the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, and the Rephaim." Perhaps only those nations are recorded of which the names were still in use.

to giveit, I say, to his seed R.V. even to give it unto his seed.

hast performed thy words Cf. Joshua 23:14, -Not one thing hath failed of all the good things, which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, not one thing hath failed thereof."

for thouart righteous The same epithet in the Hebrew is used in Nehemiah 9:33, -thou art just," where the Divinely ordered discipline of the Exile is alluded to. The root idea of -righteousness" is -straightness," that which will not swerve from truth and justice. Jehovah is called -righteous," because His rule of the world and of His people Israel is in agreement with the most perfect imaginable standard of justice and truth. Cf. Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalms 85:13; Psalms 145:17; Zephaniah 3:5.