The cycle of events described in these verses is the same as that which is repeated throughout the book of Judges. That is, after a time of peace and success, the Israelites would forget God. They would be punished, then turn to God again, and be rescued, only to repeat the same cycle again.

But after they had rest: This verse begins with the Hebrew connective conjunction, which is a strong adversative But here. The temporal clause after But refers to the times of peace the Israelites enjoyed after deliverance by the judges. Bible en français courant renders it “But when they had been delivered from oppression.” New Jerusalem Bible translates “But once at peace again.” Another possible rendering is “But when peace returned” (similarly Good News Translation).

Did evil … before thee is to do what is displeasing to God and against God’s commands.

Thou didst abandon them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them: To punish the Israelites, God left them and allowed them to fall into the power of their enemies who then had power over them. Had dominion over them means that their enemies “ruled over them” (New International Version) and “oppressed them” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).

For when they … cried to thee thou didst hear from heaven, see the previous verse.

Many times: This cycle of events occurred repeatedly or “time after time” (Good News Translation).

According to thy mercies: See verse 19 above. This is the third of the four times that this expression is used in this prayer. This is the one time that it occurs without the adjective “great,” but some translations add the adjective here to harmonize with the other occurrences (so Good News Translation, Nouvelle Bible Segond, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). It is preferable to translate only what is in the Hebrew text.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .