Nehemiah 9 (New American Standard)

The People Confess Their Sin

1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of ¹this month the sons of Israel assembled ²with fasting, in sackcloth and with ³dirt upon them. 2 The ^a4descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners , and stood and ⁵confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 While ⁶they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the LORD their God for a fourth of the day ; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the LORD their God. 4 ⁷Now on the Levites' platform stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Chenani, and they cried with a loud voice to the LORD their God. 5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah, said, "Arise, bless the LORD your God forever and ever ! O may Your glorious name be blessed And exalted above all blessing and praise ! 6 "⁸You alone are the LORD. ⁹You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. ¹⁰You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You. 7 "You are the LORD God, ¹¹Who chose Abram And brought him out from ¹²Ur of the Chaldees, And ¹³gave him the name Abraham. 8 "You found ¹⁴his heart faithful before You, And made a covenant with him To give him the land of the Canaanite, Of the Hittite and the Amorite, Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite and the Girgashite - To give it to his ^bdescendants. And You ¹⁵have fulfilled Your promise, For You are righteous. 9 "¹⁶You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, And ¹⁷heard their cry by the ^cRed Sea. 10 "Then You performed ¹⁸signs and wonders against Pharaoh, Against all his servants and all the people of his land ; For You knew that ¹⁹they acted arrogantly toward them, And ²⁰made a name for Yourself as it is this day. 11 "²¹You divided the sea before them, So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground ; And ²²their pursuers You hurled into the depths, Like a stone into ^draging waters. 12 "And with a pillar of cloud ²³You led them by day, And with a pillar of fire by night To light for them the way In which they were to go. 13 "Then ²⁴You came down on Mount Sinai, And ²⁵spoke with them from heaven ; You gave them ²⁶just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments. 14 "So You made known to them ²⁷Your holy sabbath, And laid down for them commandments, statutes and law, Through Your servant Moses. 15 "You ²⁸provided bread from heaven for them for their hunger, You ²⁹brought forth water from a rock for them for their thirst, And You ³⁰told them to enter in order to possess The land which You ^eswore to give them. 16 "But they, our fathers, ³¹acted arrogantly ; They ^f32became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments. 17 "They refused to listen, And ³³did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them; So they became stubborn and ³⁴appointed a leader to return to their slavery ^gin Egypt. But You are a God ³⁵of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness ; And You did not forsake them. 18 "Even when they ³⁶made for themselves A calf of molten metal And said, 'This is your God Who brought you up from Egypt,' And committed great ^hblasphemies, 19 ³⁷You, in Your great compassion, Did not forsake them in the wilderness ; ³⁸The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, To guide them on their way, Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go. 20 "³⁹You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, And You gave them water for their thirst. 21 "Indeed, ⁴⁰forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not in want ; Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell. 22 "You also gave them kingdoms and peoples, And allotted them to them as a ⁱboundary. ⁴¹They took possession of the land of Sihon ^jthe king of Heshbon And the land of Og the king of Bashan. 23 "You made their sons numerous as ⁴²the stars of heaven, And You brought them into the land Which You had told their fathers to enter and possess. 24 "⁴³So their sons entered and possessed the land. And ⁴⁴You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, And You gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, To do with them ^kas they desired. 25 "⁴⁵They captured fortified cities and a ^l46fertile land. They took possession of ⁴⁷houses full of every good thing, Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves, Fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were filled and ⁴⁸grew fat, And ⁴⁹reveled in Your great goodness. 26 "⁵⁰But they became disobedient and rebelled against You, And ⁵¹cast Your law behind their backs And ⁵²killed Your prophets who had ⁵³admonished them So that they might return to You, And ⁵⁴they committed great ^mblasphemies. 27 "Therefore You ⁵⁵delivered them into the hand of their oppressors who oppressed them, But when they cried to You ⁵⁶in the time of their distress, You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassion You ⁵⁷gave them deliverers who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors. 28 "But ⁵⁸as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before You; Therefore You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them. When they cried again to You, You heard from heaven, And ⁵⁹many times You rescued them according to Your compassion, 29 And ⁶⁰admonished them in order to turn them back to Your law. Yet ⁶¹they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances, By ⁶²which if a man observes them he shall live. And they ⁿ⁶³turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen. 30 "⁶⁴However, You bore with them for many years, And ⁶⁵admonished them by ⁶⁶Your Spirit through Your prophets, Yet they would not give ear. Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31 "Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You ⁶⁷did not make an end of them or forsake them, For You are ⁶⁸a gracious and compassionate God. 32 "Now therefore, our God, ⁶⁹the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness, Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You, Which has come upon us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers and on all Your people, ⁷⁰From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day. 33 "However, ⁷¹You are just in all that has come upon us; For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly. 34 "For our kings, our leaders, our priests and our fathers have not kept Your law Or paid attention to Your commandments and Your ^oadmonitions with which You have ^padmonished them. 35 "But ⁷²they, in their own kingdom, ⁷³With Your great goodness which You gave them, With the broad and rich land which You set before them, Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds. 36 "Behold, ⁷⁴we are slaves today, And as to the land which You gave to our fathers to eat of its fruit and its bounty, Behold, we are slaves in it. 37 "⁷⁵Its abundant produce is for the kings Whom You have set over us because of our sins ; They also rule over our bodies And over our cattle as they please, So we are in great distress.

A Covenant Results

38 "^qNow because of all this ⁷⁶We are making an agreement in writing ; And on the ⁷⁷sealed document are the names of our leaders, our Levites and our priests."