Neh 9
1
Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled
with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth upon them.
2
And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed
their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
3
And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of YHWH their God
a fourth part of the day; and [another] fourth part they confessed, and worshiped
YHWH their God.
4
Then stood up upon the stairs of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah,
Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, [and] Chenani, and cried with a loud voice to YHWH their God.
5
Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah,
[and] Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless YHWH your God from everlasting to everlasting;
and blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
6
You are YHWH, even you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all
their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all that is in
them, and you preserve them all; and the host of heaven worships you.
7
You are YHWH the God, who did choose Abram, and brought him forth out of Ur of the
Chaldees, and gave him the name of Abraham,
8
and found his heart faithful before you, and made a covenant with him to give the
land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite,
and the Girgashite, to give it to his seed, and have performed your words; for you
are righteous.
9
And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red
Sea,
10
and showed signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the
people of his land; for you knew that they dealt proudly against them, and did get
you a name, as it is this day.
11
And you did divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the
sea on the dry land; and their pursuers you did cast into the depths, as a stone into
the mighty waters.
12
Moreover in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night,
to give them light in the way wherein they should go.
13
You came down also upon mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them
right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments,
14
and made known to them your holy sabbath, and commanded them commandments, and statutes,
and a law, by Moses your servant,
15
and gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought forth water for them
out of the rock for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess
the land which you had sworn to give them.
16
But they and our fathers dealt proudly and hardened their neck, and hearkened not
to your commandments,
17
and refused to obey, neither were 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 lovingkindness, and forsook them not.
18
Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is your God that brought
you up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;
19
yet you in your manifold mercies forsook them not in the wilderness: the pillar of
cloud departed not from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar
of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go.
20
You gave also your good Spirit to instruct them, and withheld not your manna from
their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.
21
Yea, forty years did you sustain them in the wilderness, [and] they lacked nothing;
their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
22
Moreover you gave them kingdoms and peoples, which you did allot after their portions:
so they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the
land of Og king of Bashan.
23
Their children also multiplied you as the stars of heaven, and brought them into the
land concerning which you did say to their fathers, that they should go in to possess
it.
24
So the children went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants
of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings, and
the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would.
25
And they took fortified cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all good
things, cisterns hewn out, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit-trees in abundance:
so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in your
great goodness.
26
Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, and cast your law behind
their back, and slew your prophets that testified against them to turn them again
to you, and they wrought great provocations.
27
Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them:
and in the time of their trouble, when they cried to you, you heard from heaven; and
according to your manifold mercies you gave them saviours who saved them out of the
hand of their adversaries.
28
But after they had rest, they did evil again before you; therefore leftest you them
in the hand 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 did you deliver
them according to your mercies,
29
and testified against them, that you might bring them again to your law. Yet they
dealt proudly, and hearkened not to your commandments, but sinned against your ordinances,
(which if a man do, he shall live in them,) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened
their neck, and would not hear.
30
Yet many years did you bear with them, and testified against them by your Spirit through
your prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gave you them into the hand
of the peoples of the lands.
31
Nevertheless in your manifold mercies you did not make a full end of them, nor forsake
them; for you are a gracious and merciful God.
32
Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keep covenant
and lovingkindness, let not all the travail seem little before you, that has come
upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and
on our fathers, and on all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria to
this day.
33
Nevertheless you are just in all that is come upon us; for you have dealt truly, but
we have done wickedly;
34
neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept your law,
nor hearkened to your commandments and your testimonies wherewith you did testify
against them.
35
For they have not served you in their kingdom, and in your great goodness that you
gave them, and in the large and fat land which you gave before them, neither turned
they from their wicked works.
36
Behold, we are servants this day, and as for the land that you gave to our fathers
to eat its fruit and its good, behold, we are servants in it.
37
And it yields much increase to the kings whom you have set over us because of our
sins: also they have power over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure,
and we are in great distress.
38
And yet for all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, our Levites,
[and] our priests, seal to it.