Ne 9:1Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, with earth on their heads.
Ne 9:2And the descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
Ne 9:3And they stood up in their place and read in the book of the law of Jehovah their God for a fourth part of the day, and for another fourth part they confessed and worshipped Jehovah their God.
Ne 9:4Then Jeshua and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood up on the Levites’ platform and cried out with a loud voice to Jehovah their God.
Ne 9:5Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless Jehovah your God from eternity to eternity:
And may Your glorious name be blessed, / Which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
Ne 9:6You are Jehovah, / You alone; / You have made heaven, / The heaven of heavens with all its host, / The earth and all that is on it, / The seas and all that is in them; / And You give life to all of them; / And the host of heaven worships You.
Ne 9:7You are Jehovah God, / Who chose Abram / And brought him forth from Ur of the Chaldees / And gave him the name Abraham.
Ne 9:8And You found his heart faithful before You / And made a covenant with him, / To give him the land of the Canaanites, / The Hittites, the Amorites, / And the Perizzites and the Jebusites and the Girgashites, / To give it to his seed. / And You have fulfilled Your promises, / For You are righteous.
Ne 9:9And You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt / And heard their cry by the Red Sea,
Ne 9:10And You performed signs and wonders on Pharaoh, / And on all his servants, and on all the people of his land; / For You knew that they acted arrogantly toward them; / And You made Yourself a name, as it is to this day.
Ne 9:11And You divided the sea before them, / So that they might pass through the midst of the sea on the dry land; / But their pursuers You threw into the depths, / Like a stone into mighty waters.
Ne 9:12Then in a pillar of cloud You led them by day, / And in a pillar of fire by night, / To light the way for them, / On which they should go.
Ne 9:13And You came down upon Mount Sinai / And spoke with them from heaven. / And You gave them just ordinances and true laws, / Good statutes and commandments.
Ne 9:14And You made known to them / Your holy Sabbath / And prescribed commandments and statutes and a law for them / Through Moses Your servant.
Ne 9:15And You gave them bread from heaven / For their hunger, / And You made water come forth from a rock for them / For their thirst. / And You told them to enter / In order to possess the land, / Which You swore / To give them.
Ne 9:16But they and our fathers acted arrogantly / And stiffened their neck and would not listen to Your commandments.
Ne 9:17And they refused to listen / And would not remember Your wondrous acts, / Which You had done among them. / And they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader / To return to their slavery in Egypt. / But You are a God of forgiveness, / Gracious and compassionate, / Long-suffering and abounding in lovingkindness; / So You did not forsake them.
Ne 9:18Indeed when they made for themselves / A molten calf, / And said, This is your God, / Who brought you up out of Egypt, / And showed great contempt;
Ne 9:19You, in Your great compassion, / Did not forsake them in the wilderness; / The pillar of cloud did not depart from over them by day, / To guide them on their way; / Nor the pillar of fire by night, / To light the way for them, on which they should go.
Ne 9:20And You gave Your good Spirit / To instruct them, / And did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, / And gave them water for their thirst.
Ne 9:21Indeed for forty years You sustained them in the wilderness; / They did not lack; / Their clothes did not wear out, / And their feet did not swell.
Ne 9:22And You gave them kingdoms and peoples, / And divided these to them as boundaries. / So they took possession of the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, / And the land of Og the king of Bashan.
Ne 9:23And their children You multiplied / Like the stars of heaven, / And You brought them into the land / That You told their fathers / To enter and possess.
Ne 9:24And the children entered / And possessed the land; / And You 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, / That they might do with them as they pleased.
Ne 9:25And they took their fortified cities / And a fertile land, / And took possession of their houses, / Full of every good thing, / Hewn cisterns, vineyards, and olive groves, / And fruit trees in abundance; / And they ate and were satisfied and grew fat, / And they delighted in Your great goodness.
Ne 9:26But they were disobedient and rebelled against You / And cast Your law behind their back. / And they slew Your prophets, / Who had testified against them / In order to turn them back to You; / And they showed great contempt.
Ne 9:27Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their oppressors, / And they oppressed them; / But when they cried out to You in the time of their oppression, / You heard from heaven, / And according to Your abundant compassions You gave them deliverers, / Who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors.
Ne 9:28Then after they had rest, / They again did evil before You; / And You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, / And they had dominion over them. / But when they cried out to You again, / You heard from heaven / And delivered them many times / According to Your compassions.
Ne 9:29And You testified against them in order to turn them back to Your law, / But they acted arrogantly and would not listen to Your commandments; / And they sinned against Your ordinances / (By which, if a man does them, he will live), / And they turned a stubborn shoulder / And stiffened their neck and would not listen.
Ne 9:30Yet You bore with them / For many years / And testified to them by Your Spirit / Through Your prophets, / But they would not give heed; / So You delivered them / Into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
Ne 9:31Nevertheless in Your abundant compassions / You did not make an end of them; / And You did not forsake them, / For You are a gracious and compassionate God.
Ne 9:32And now, our God, / The great, the mighty, and the awesome God, / Who keeps covenant and lovingkindness, / Do not let all the hardship seem small in Your sight / Which has come upon us, on our kings, on our rulers, / And on our priests and on our prophets / And on our fathers and on all Your people, / Since the days of the kings of Assyria / Until this day.
Ne 9:33But You are righteous / In all that has come upon us, / For You have acted faithfully / While we have acted wickedly;
Ne 9:34And our kings, our rulers, our priests, and our fathers / Have not performed Your law / Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies, / By which You testified against them.
Ne 9:35But they, in their kingdom and in Your great goodness, / Which You gave them, / And in the broad and fertile land / That You put before them, / Did not serve You, nor did they turn / From their evil works.
Ne 9:36Here we are, slaves today; / And as for the land that You gave to our fathers / To eat of its fruit and its goodness, / Here we are, slaves upon it.
Ne 9:37And its abundant produce is for the kings / Whom You have put over us because of our sins; / And they rule over our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure, / And we are in great distress.
Ne 9:38And because of all this we are making a firm covenant and setting it in writing, and upon the sealed document are the names of our rulers, our Levites, and our priests.
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