Bible verse
Then Nehemiah told them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send out portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
Nehemiah 8:10 · BSB
The line arrives in a strange moment. The Law has just been read aloud to people who had not heard it in generations, and they are weeping — the reasonable response to realising how far off you are.
Nehemiah's answer is not a sermon. It is: go eat rich food, drink something sweet, and send portions to anyone who has nothing prepared. The joy that is your strength shows up here as a shared meal and a deliberate act of including people who could not host one.
Worth sitting with if the verse has only ever reached you on a mug.
The verses around it, from Nehemiah 8.
6 Then Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and with their hands uplifted, all the people said, “Amen, Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
7 The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law as they stood in their places.
8 So they read from the Book of the Law of God, explaining it and giving insight, so that the people could understand what was being read.
9 Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them, “This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the Law.
10 Then Nehemiah told them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send out portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
11 And the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, since today is holy. Do not grieve.”
12 Then all the people began to eat and drink, to send out portions, and to rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that had been made known to them.
13 On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and Levites, gathered around Ezra the scribe to study the words of the Law.
14 And they found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month.
KJV
Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for [this] day [is] holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
ASV
Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye grieved; for the joy of Jehovah is your strength.
ERV
Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto him for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye grieved; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
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Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible, which is free of copyright restrictions for use on websites. Read the full Bible on Great Faith.