Nehemiah 9
1AND on the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the children of Israel were assembled, fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads;
2and having separated themselves from every stranger, they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
3When they had stood in their place and had the Book of the Law of the Lord their God read to them, and had made confession to the Lord and worshipped the Lord their God;
4then Jesu stood on the step of the Levites with the sons of Kadmiel, Sechenia son of Sarabia, the sons of Choneni; and when they had cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God,
5and the Levites, Jesu and Kadmiel said, Arise, bless ye the Lord our God; from everlasting to everlasting let them bless Thy glorious name, and exalt it with all blessing and praise, then Esdras said:
6Thou art Thyself the only Lord. Thou hast made the heaven and the heaven of heaven with all their host, the earth and all the things therein, the seas and all which are in them; and Thou quickenest them all; and the armies of heaven worship Thee.
7Thou art the Lord God. Having made choice of Abram, Thou didst lead him out from the country of the Chaldees and give him the name of Abraham.
8And finding his heart faithful before Thee, Thou madest a covenant with him, to give him the land of the Chananites and the Chettites and the Amorites and the Pherezites and the Jebusites and the Gergasites, even to his seed, and hast performed Thy words, for Thou art righteous.
9Thou didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and didst hear their cry at the Red Sea:
10and having shewn signs and wonders in Egypt on Pharao and on all his servants and on all his people, because Thou knewest that they had behaved proudly against them [our forefathers], and made Thyself a name as at this day,
11Thou didst cleave the sea before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground; but those who were pursuing, Thou didst cast into the deep like a stone in boisterous water.
12With a pillar of cloud Thou didst guide them by day; and by night with a pillar of fire, to illumine the way for them in which they should go.
13Thou camest down also on mount Sina and didst speak to them from heaven, and give them right judgments and laws of truth and statutes and good commandments.
14Thou madest known to them Thy holy sabbaths and dist prescribe for them commandments and statutes and a law by the ministry of Thy servant Moses.
15Thou gavest them also bread from heaven for their food, and didst bring water for them out of a rock for their thirst, ordering them to go in and take possession of the land which Thou hadst stretched forth Thy hand to give them.
16But they, even our fathers, behaved proudly and hardened their neck, and hearkened not to Thy commandments.
17Though they refused to go in, and were unmindful of Thy wonders which Thou hadst done among them—though they hardened their neck and set up a chief, to return to their bondage in Egypt, yet Thou Who art a God merciful and gracious, long-suffering and of great kindness, didst not forsake them utterly.
18Even before this, though they made themselves a molten calf and said, These are the gods which brought us up out of Egypt,—and committed great provocations;
19yet Thou through Thy manifold mercies didst not leave them in the wilderness. Thou didst not withdraw from them by day the pillar of a cloud which was to guide them in the way, nor the pillar of fire at night, which was to illumine the way for them in which they should go;
20but gavest Thy good Spirit to instruct them; and not withholding Thy manna from their mouth, Thou gavest them water when they were athirst.
21Thus didst Thou sustain them forty years in the wilderness, not suffering them to want anything. Their clothes did not wear out, nor were their feet bruised.
22Then Thou gavest them kingdoms, and didst divide peoples among them; so they took possession of the land of Seon king of Esebon, and of the land of Og king of Basan.
23And having multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, Thou broughtest them into the land which Thou hadst promised their fathers; and they took possession of it.
24But when Thou hadst subdued before them the inhabitants of the land of the Chananites, and delivered them into their hands-both the kings and the people of the land, to do with them as they thought fit;
25and they had taken lofty cities, and got possession of houses filled with all good things, of cisterns ready-hewn out of stone, of vineyards and olive yards, and all sorts of fruit trees in abundance, and had eaten and were filled, and became fat, they rioted on Thy great bounty,
26and turned and apostatised from Thee, and cast Thy law behind their backs: Nay, they slew Thy prophets who testified against them to turn them to Thee; and committed great provocations.
27Therefore Thou didst deliver them into the hand of their enemies, who afflicted them. But when, in the time of their distress they cried to Thee, Thou from heaven didst hear, and in Thy tender mercies which are great, Thou didst send them deliverers, and save them out of the hand of them who were afflicting them.
28Yet soon as they had rest, they returned to do evil in Thy sight, therefore Thou didst leave them in the hand of their enemies, who exercised dominion over them. But again when they cried to Thee, Thou from heaven didst hearken, and in the multitude of Thy tender mercies didst deliver them,
29and admonish them to return to Thy law. When they hearkened not, but transgressed Thy commandments and Thy judgments, (which if a man practise he shall live thereby) and turned back rebelliously, and hardened their neck, and would not hear,
30and Thou hadst borne with them many years, and testified against them by Thy Spirit—by the ministry of Thy prophets; and they did not give ear, though Thou didst deliver them into the hands of the people of the land,
31yet in the multitude of Thy tender mercies Thou didst not give them up to utter destruction, nor quite forsake them. Seeing Thou art mighty and merciful, and tenderly compassionate;
32now therefore, O our God, the Mighty, the Great, the Powerful and the Awful, Who keepest Thy covenant and Thy mercy, let not all the trouble be accounted light in Thy sight, which hath come upon us, and our kings, and our chiefs, and our priests, and our prophets, and our fathers, and on all Thy people from the days of the kings of Assur even to this day.
33Thou indeed art righteous in all that have come upon us. For Thou hast acted with truth; but we have sinned greatly.
34Our kings, and our chiefs, and our priests, and our fathers, have not kept Thy law, nor hearkened to Thy commandments and Thy testimonies which Thou hast testified against them.
35Even in Thine own kingdom, and during that abundant bounty of Thine which Thou didst bestow on them, and in this extensive and rich country which Thou gavest before them, they have not served Thee, nor turned away from their wicked devices.
36Behold we are now slaves, and as for this land which Thou gavest to our fathers to eat the fruits thereof, and the good things thereof, behold we are slaves in it;
37and its abundant fruits belong to those kings whom for our sins Thou hast set over us, and who have dominion over our bodies, and who can do with our cattle what they please, so that we are in great affliction.
38With a due sense, therefore, of all these things, we pledge our faith, we by writing, and our chiefs, our Levites, and our priests by sealing.