Nehemiah 9 · a question people ask
Did God forsake them or not?
The prayer says both things with one Hebrew verb, azav (tap forsake). Three times it says God did not: he "didn’t forsake them" (9:17), "didn’t forsake them in the wilderness" (9:19), and "didn’t make a full end of them, nor forsake them" (9:31). Once it uses the same verb for what he did: "therefore you left them in the hands of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them" (9:28), where the WEB has left. The same verse goes on, "yet when they returned and cried to you, you heard from heaven; and many times you delivered them according to your mercies" (9:28). The prayer doesn't explain how the two fit together. It says God left them in their enemies' hands (9:28), and it says he never made a full end of them nor forsook them, "for you are a gracious and merciful God" (9:31).
The verses
“and refused to obey. They weren’t mindful of your wonders that you did among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and didn’t forsake them.”
“yet you in your manifold mercies didn’t forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud didn’t depart from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither did the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go.”
“But after they had rest, they did evil again before you; therefore you left them in the hands of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them; yet when they returned and cried to you, you heard from heaven; and many times you delivered them according to your mercies,”
““Nevertheless in your manifold mercies you didn’t make a full end of them, nor forsake them; for you are a gracious and merciful God.”