Nehemiah 9

1On the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloths, and with earth upon them.

2The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, stood, and confessed their sins and their fathers' iniquities.

3They stood up in their places and read from the book of the law of Yahweh their God for a fourth of the day, and for another fourth confessed and worshiped Yahweh their God.

4The Levites Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood up on the stairs and cried out with a loud voice to Yahweh their God.

5The Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Arise and bless Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting; blessed be your glorious name, exalted above all blessing and praise!”

6You alone are Yahweh. You made heaven, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all upon it, the seas and all within them, and you sustain them all; the host of heaven worships you.

7You are Yahweh God, who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and named him Abraham.

8You found his heart faithful before you, made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Girgashites to his offspring, and fulfilled your words, for you are righteous.

9You saw our fathers' affliction in Egypt and heard their cry by the Red Sea.

10You displayed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his servants, and against all the people of his land, because you knew that they had acted presumptuously against them, and you made a name for yourself, as it is today.

11You split the sea before them, so they crossed through its midst on dry ground, and you hurled their pursuers into the depths like a stone into mighty waters.

12You led them by a pillar of cloud by day and by a pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way they should go in it.

13You came down also on Mount Sinai, spoke with them from heaven, and gave them upright judgments, true laws, good statutes, and commandments.

14You made your holy Sabbath known to them and commanded them commandments, statutes, and law by the hand of Moses your servant.

15You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought water for them from the rock for their thirst, and commanded them to enter and possess the land that you raised your hand to give them.

16Yet they and our fathers acted presumptuously, stiffened their necks, and refused to heed your commandments.

17They refused to listen and did not recall your wonders that you performed among them, but stiffened their necks and in their rebellion appointed a leader to return to their slavery; yet you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and did not abandon them.

18Even when they made a molten calf for themselves and said, "This is your God, who brought you up out of Egypt," they committed great blasphemies.

19But you, in your abundant compassion, did not abandon them in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud did not depart from above them by day to guide them on the path, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way they should go.

20You gave your good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and gave them water for their thirst.

21Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.

22You gave them kingdoms and peoples and divided them into portions, and they possessed the land of Sihon, the land of Heshbon's king, and the land of Og king of Bashan.

23You multiplied their children like the stars of heaven and brought them to the land that you told their fathers to enter and possess.

24The children entered and inherited the land, and you brought its inhabitants—the Canaanites—into subjection before them and delivered them into their power, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with them as they desired.

25They captured fortified cities and fertile land, possessed houses full of every good thing—cisterns hewn out, vineyards, olive trees, and fruit trees in abundance. They ate, were satisfied, grew fat, and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

26They defied you and rebelled against you, hurled your law behind their backs, murdered your prophets who warned them to return to you, and committed great blasphemies.

27You handed them over to their adversaries, who afflicted them, and in the time of their distress they cried out to you; from heaven you heard, and according to your abundant mercies you gave them deliverers who rescued them from the hand of their adversaries.

28When they rested, they turned back to doing evil before you, so you forsook them into the hand of their enemies, who ruled over them; but when they turned back and cried to you, you heard from heaven and many times rescued them according to your mercies.

29You warned them solemnly to bring them back to your law, but they acted presumptuously and refused to heed your commandments, sinning against your judgments—which if a person does, he will live by them—and offered a rebellious shoulder, stiffened their neck, and would not listen.

30You dealt patiently with them for many years and admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets, but they did not listen, and you handed them over to the peoples of the lands.

31In your abundant mercies you did not destroy them utterly nor abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.

32And now, our God—the great, mighty, and fearsome God who guards covenant and steadfast love—do not treat all the hardship that has befallen us, our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our forefathers, and all your people, from the days of Assyria's kings to this day, as insignificant before you.

33Yet you are righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have acted truly, but we have done wickedly.

34Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers did not keep your law, nor did they give heed to your commandments and your testimonies, with which you testified against them.

35They, in their kingdom and in your abundant goodness that you gave them, and in the spacious and fertile land you set before them, did not serve you nor turn from their evil deeds.

36See, we are slaves today, and the land that you gave our fathers to eat its fruit and its goodness—see, we are slaves in it.

37Its yield grows abundant for the kings whom you appointed over us because of our sins, and they rule our bodies and our livestock according to their desire, while we endure great distress.

38Because of all this we enter a firm covenant and put it in writing, and our princes, our Levites, and our priests seal it.