The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
King James Version KJV
1 On the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Isra'el, wearing sackcloth and with dirt on them, assembled for a fast.
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Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
2 Those descended from Isra'el separated themselves from all foreigners; then they stood up and confessed their own sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.
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And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
3 Standing where they were, they read in the scroll of the Torah of ADONAI their God for one-quarter of the day. For another quarter they confessed and prostrated themselves before ADONAI their God.
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And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.
4 On the platform of the L'vi'im stood Yeshua, Bani, Kadmi'el, Sh'vanyah, Buni, Sherevyah, Bani and K'nani; they cried out loudly to ADONAI their God.
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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 unto the LORD their God.
5 Then the L'vi'im Yeshua, Kadmi'el, Bani, Hashavn'yah, Sherevyah, Hodiyah, Sh'vanyah and P'tachyah said, "Stand up, and bless ADONAI your God from everlasting to everlasting; let them say: "'Blessed be your glorious name, exalted above all blessing and praise!
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Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
6 "'You are ADONAI, you alone. You made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their array, the earth and all the things that are in it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you.
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Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.
7 "'You are ADONAI, the God who chose Avram, brought him out of Ur-Kasdim and gave him the name of Avraham.
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Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;
8 Finding that he was faithful to you, you made a covenant with him to give the land of the Kena'ani, the Hitti, Emori and P'rizi, the Y'vusi and the Girgashi, to give it to his descendants; and you have done what you promised, because you are just.
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And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:
9 "'You saw the distress of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry by the Sea of Suf.
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And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;
10 You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his servants and the people of the land; for you knew how arrogantly they treated them; and you won yourself a name which is yours to this day.
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And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day.
11 You divided the sea ahead of them, so that they could pass through the sea on dry land; then you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into turbulent waters.
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And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters.
12 "'In a column of cloud you led them by day, and by night in a column of fire, so that they would have light ahead of them on the way that they were to go.
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Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go.
13 "'You descended on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You gave them right rulings and true teachings, good laws and mitzvot.
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Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:
14 You revealed to them your holy Shabbat and gave them mitzvot, laws and the Torah through Moshe your servant.
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And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:
15 "'For their hunger you gave them bread from heaven; for their thirst you brought forth for them water from the rock. You ordered them to enter and possess the land you had sworn with your hand to give them.
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And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.
16 "'But they and our ancestors were arrogant; they stiffened their necks and ignored your mitzvot;
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But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,
17 they refused to listen and paid no attention to the wonders you had done among them. No, they stiffened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a leader to return them to their slavery. But because you are a God of forgiveness, merciful, full of compassion, slow to grow angry and full of grace, you did not abandon them.
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And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.
18 Even when they cast themselves a metal calf, saying of it, "This is your god that brought you up from Egypt,"and committing other gross provocations;
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Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;
19 still, you, in your great compassion, did not abandon them in the desert. The column of cloud did not leave them by day; it kept leading them along the way. By night the column of fire kept showing them light and the path to take.
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Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.
20 You also gave your good Spirit to teach them, did not withhold man from their mouths and provided them water to quench their thirst. 1142
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Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.
21 Yes, forty years you sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing -their clothes did not wear out; their feet did not swell up.
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Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
22 "'You gave them kingdoms and peoples; you even gave them extra land, so that they took possession of the land of Sichon, also the land of the king of Heshbon and the land of 'Og king of Bashan.
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Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.
23 You made their children as numerous as the countless stars in the sky. "'Then you brought them into the land about which you had said to their fathers that they should go in and take possession of it.
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Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.
24 So the children went in and possessed the land, as you subdued ahead of them the Kena'ani living in the land, and handed them over to them, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, for them to do with as they wished.
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So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would.
25 They took fortified cities and fertile land, possessed houses full of all kinds of good things, dug-out cisterns, vineyards, olive groves, fruit trees in plenty; so they ate their fill and grew robust, luxuriating in your great goodness.
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And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.
26 "'Yet they disobeyed and rebelled against you, throwing your Torah behind their backs. They killed your prophets for warning them that they should return to you and committed other gross provocations.
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Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.
27 So you handed them over to the power of their adversaries, who oppressed them. Yet in the time of their trouble, when they cried out to you, you heard from heaven, and in keeping with your great compassion, you gave them saviors to save them from the power of their adversaries.
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Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
28 But as soon as they had gotten some relief, they went back to do evil before you. So you left them in the power of their enemies, who came down hard on them. Yet when they returned and cried out to you, you heard from heaven many times and saved them, according to your compassion.
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But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;
29 You warned them, in order to bring them back to your Torah; yet they were arrogant. They paid no attention to your mitzvot, but sinned against your rulings, which, if a person does them, he will have life through them. However, they stubbornly turned their shoulders, stiffened their necks and refused to hear.
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And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.
30 Many years you extended them mercy and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets; yet they would not listen. Therefore you handed them over to the peoples of the lands.
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Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.
31 Even so, in your great compassion, you didn't completely destroy them; nor did you abandon them, for you are a compassionate and merciful God.
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Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.
32 "'Now therefore, our God, great, mighty, fearsome God, who keeps both covenant and grace: let not all this suffering seem little to you that has come on us, our kings, our leaders, our cohanim, our prophets, our ancestors, and on all your people, from the times of the kings of Ashur until this very day.
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Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.
33 There is no question that you are just in all that has come upon us; for you have treated us fairly. It is we who have acted wickedly.
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Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:
34 Our kings, our leaders, our cohanim and ancestors did not keep your Torah, pay attention to your mitzvot or heed the warnings you gave them.
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Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them.
35 Even when they ruled their own kingdom, even when you prospered them greatly, in the great, rich land you gave them, they did not serve you; nor did they turn from their wicked deeds.
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For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.
36 "'So here we are today, slaves. Yes, in the land you gave our ancestors, so that they could eat what it produces and enjoy its good 1144 here we are in it, slaves!
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Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it:
37 Its rich yield now goes to the kings you have set over us because of our sins; they have power over our bodies, they can do what they please to our livestock, and we are in great distress!
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And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.
38 "'In view of all this, we are making a binding covenant, putting it in writing and having it sealed by our leaders, our L'vi'im and our cohanim.'"
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And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The King James Version is in the public domain.