Nehemiah 1:8

Remember … the word … saying The reference here made is in general terms. No passage in the Pentateuch exactly agrees with it (cf. Nehemiah 10:34). This may be shown by the words used in the first sentence. The Hebrew word for -I will scatter" is only found in Deuteronomy in the Pentateuch: the Hebrew word for -transgress" only occurs once in Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 32:51), but in quite a different context from the threat of dispersion.

The threat of dispersion is found in the Pentateuch in Leviticus 26:33; Deuteronomy 4:27; Deuteronomy 28:64; Deuteronomy 30:3. The promise of restoration is given in Deuteronomy 4:29 and in Deuteronomy 30:4-5 (Leviticus 26:40-42). The passage most resembling the words here given is Deuteronomy 30:1-5. On -transgress," see note on Ezra 9:4.

scatter … abroad among the nations Cf. Jeremiah 9:16; Ezekiel 11:16; Ezekiel 12:15; Ezekiel 20:23; Ezekiel 22:15; Ezekiel 36:19.

In the original the position of the personal pronouns is very emphatic, Yetransgress, Iscatter.

For the appeal to the Lord to -remember," cf. Psalms 106:4.