Open in the app
Mid-century illustration of a calm sea at dawn

Nehemiah 9:5 · World English Bible

Nehemiah 9:5 Meaning Then the Levites

Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting! Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise!

Read it in the app

What does Nehemiah 9:5 mean?

To bless the source of all being is not to flatter it with words. It is to turn your attention, for a moment, away from your small preoccupations and toward the vast aliveness in which everything arises.

From the Ego v. Being reading below.

Nehemiah 9:5 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

EGO & BEING

Ego v. Being

To bless the source of all being is not to flatter it with words. It is to turn your attention, for a moment, away from your small preoccupations and toward the vast aliveness in which everything arises. What is named here stands above all praise because it cannot be captured in any phrase the mind can form.

This is why they are told to stand and honor it forever. The words fall short, and yet the turning of attention is real. When you give your full presence to that which is greater than thought, you are lifted out of yourself, and something in you recognizes what no language will ever contain.

Ego v. Being lensGo deeper in the app

Ego v. Being lens

Live Nehemiah 9:5 today

  1. Go outside tonight and look up for a full minute without photographing it. Let yourself feel small in a way that is a relief rather than a problem.
  2. The next time someone tells you something that moves them, do not match it with a story of your own. Just say, that is beautiful, and let the pause stand.
  3. In the middle of a packed day, stand still for thirty seconds and let your attention go wide, the sky, the sound of the street, the sheer fact that any of this is happening. Then go back to the next task.

When was the last time something left me with nothing to say?

The same truth in other traditions

Tao Te Ching 1

The way that can be spoken is not the enduring way. Naming is useful and never the thing itself.

Upanishads

Of that reality the teaching is, not this, not this. Every description falls away and something in you still knows what is being pointed at.

Sufism · Rumi

He said that whatever he tried to say about love, when he reached love itself he was ashamed of the words. The silence after speaking is part of the praise.

Mid-century illustration of Jesus teaching the crowd on a hillside above the sea

Free · No account needed

Read all of Nehemiah 9 through 17 lenses

Lensightful opens every verse of the Bible through the traditions you choose. Save readings, ask a follow-up question, and get one verse a day.

Get Lensightful on the App Store