Nehemiah 9
9
1 NOW ON the twenty-fourth day of this month, the Israelites were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth and with earth upon their heads.
2 And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
3 And they stood in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day, and for another fourth of it they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.
4 On the stairs of the Levites 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, Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be Your glorious name which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
6 [And Ezra said], You are the Lord, You alone; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and You preserve them all, and the hosts of heaven worship You.
7 You are the Lord, the God Who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees and gave him the name Abraham.
8 You found his heart faithful before You, and You made the covenant with him to give his descendants the land of the Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Jebusite, and Girgashite. And You have fulfilled Your promise, for You are just and righteous.
9 You saw our fathers' affliction in Egypt, and You heard their cry at the Red Sea.
10 You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for You knew that they dealt insolently against the Israelites. And You got for Yourself a name, as it is today.
11 You divided the sea before them, so that they went through its midst on dry land; their persecutors You threw into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters.
12 Moreover, by a pillar of cloud You led them by day, and by a pillar of fire by night to light the way they should go.
13 You came down also upon Mount Sinai and spoke with them from Heaven and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments.
14 And You made known to them Your holy Sabbath and gave them commandments, statutes, and a law through Moses Your servant.
15 You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst; and You told them to go in and possess the land You had sworn to give them. [John 6:31-34.]
16 But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their necks, and did not heed Your commandments.
17 They refused to obey, nor were they mindful of Your wonders and miracles which You did among them; but they stiffened their necks and in their rebellion appointed a captain, that they might return to their bondage [in Egypt]. But You are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great steadfast love; and You did not forsake them.
18 Even when they had made for themselves a molten calf and said, This is your god, who brought you out of Egypt, and had committed great and contemptible blasphemies,
19 You in Your great mercy forsook them not in the wilderness; the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day to lead them in the way, nor the pillar of fire by night to light the way they should go.
20 You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, and withheld not Your manna from them, and gave water for their thirst.
21 Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.
22 Also You gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they possessed the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan.
23 Their children You also multiplied as the stars of heaven and brought them into the land which You told their fathers they should go in and possess.
24 So the descendants went in and possessed the land; and You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would.
25 And they captured fortified cities and a rich land and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns hewn out, vineyards, olive orchards, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in Your great goodness.
26 Yet they were disobedient and rebelled against You and cast Your law behind their back and killed Your prophets who accused and warned them to turn to You again; and they committed great and contemptible blasphemies.
27 Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their enemies, who distressed them. In the time of their suffering when they cried to You, You heard them from heaven, and according to Your abundant mercy You gave them deliverers, who saved them from their enemies.
28 But after they had rest, they did evil again before You; therefore You left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to You, You heard them from heaven, and many times You delivered them according to Your mercies,
29 And reproved and warned them, that You might bring them again to Your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not heed Your commandments, but sinned against Your ordinances, which by keeping, a man shall live. And they turned a stubborn shoulder, stiffened their neck, and would not listen.
30 Yet You bore with them many years more and reproved and warned them by Your Spirit through Your prophets; still they would not listen. Therefore You gave them into the power of the peoples of the lands.
31 Yet in Your great mercies You did not utterly consume them or forsake them, for You are a gracious and merciful God.
32 Now therefore, our God, the great, mighty, and terrible God, Who keeps covenant and mercy and loving-kindness, let not all the trouble and hardship seem little to You–the hardship that has come upon us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and on all Your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria to this day.
33 However, You are just in all that has come upon us; for You have dealt faithfully, but we have done wickedly;
34 Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept Your law or hearkened to Your commandments and Your warnings and reproofs which You gave them.
35 They did not serve You in their kingdom, and in Your great goodness that You gave them and in the large and rich land You set before them, nor did they turn from their wicked works.
36 Behold, we are slaves this day, and as for the land that You gave to our fathers to eat the fruit and the good of it, behold, we are slaves in it.
37 And its rich yield goes to the kings whom You have set over us because of our sins; they have power also over our bodies and over our livestock at their pleasure. And we are in great distress.
38 Because of all this, we make a firm and sure written covenant, and our princes, Levites, and priests set their seal to it.
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Nehemiah 9: AMPC
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1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
2 Esdras (Nehemias) 9
9
1And in the four and twentieth day of the month the children of Israel came together with fasting and with sackcloth, and earth upon them.
2And the seed of the children of Israel separated themselves from every stranger: and they stood, and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
3And they rose up to stand: and they read in the book of the law of the Lord their God, four times in the day. And four times they confessed, and adored the Lord their God.
4And there stood up upon the step of the Levites, Josue, and Bani, and Cedmihel, Sabania, Bonni, Sarebias, Bani, and Chanani: and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God.
5And the Levites, Josue and Cedmihel, Bonni, Hasebnia, Serebia, Oduia, Sebnia, and Phathahia, said: Arise, bless the Lord your God from eternity to eternity: and blessed be the high name of thy glory with all blessing and praise.
6Thou thyself, O Lord alone, thou hast made heaven, and the heaven of heavens, and all the host thereof: the earth and all things that are in it: the seas and all that are therein. And thou givest life to all these things, and the host of heaven adoreth thee.
7Thou, O Lord God, art he who chosest Abram, and broughtest him forth out of the fire of the Chaldeans, and gavest him the name of Abraham.
8And thou didst find his heart faithful before thee. And thou madest a covenant with him, to give him the land of the Chanaanite, of the Hethite, and of the Amorrhite, and of the Pherezite, and of the Jebusite, and of the Gergezite, to give it to his seed. And thou hast fulfilled thy words, because thou art just.
9And thou sawest the affliction of our fathers in Egypt: and thou didst hear their cry by the Red Sea.
10And thou shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharao, and upon all his servants, and upon the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. And thou madest thyself a name, as it is at this day.
11And thou didst divide the sea before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea on dry land: but their persecutors thou threwest into the depth, as a stone into mighty waters.
12And in a pillar of a cloud thou wast their leader by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, that they might see the way by which they went.
13Thou camest down also to mount Sinai, and didst speak with them from heaven: and thou gavest them right judgments, and the law of truth, ceremonies, and good precepts.
14Thou madest known to them thy holy sabbath, and didst prescribe to them commandments, and ceremonies, and the law, by the hand of Moses thy servant.
15And thou gavest them bread from heaven in their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock in their thirst. And thou saidst to them that they should go in, and possess the land, upon which thou hadst lifted up thy hand to give it them.
16But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments.
17And they would not hear, and they remembered not thy wonders which thou hadst done for them. And they hardened their necks, and gave the head to return to their bondage, as it were by contention. But thou, a forgiving God, gracious, and merciful, long-suffering, and full of compassion, didst not forsake them.
18Yea, when they had made also to themselves a molten calf, and had said: This is thy God, that brought thee out of Egypt; and had committed great blasphemies.
19Yet thou, in thy many mercies, didst not leave them in the desert. The pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day to lead them in the way, and the pillar of fire by night to shew them the way by which they should go.
20And thou gavest them thy good Spirit to teach them; and thy manna thou didst not withhold from their mouth; and thou gavest them water for their thirst.
21Forty years didst thou feed them in the desert, and nothing was wanting to them: their garments did not grow old, and their feet were not worn.
22And thou gavest them kingdoms, and nations, and didst divide lots for them. And they possessed the land of Sehon, and the land of the king of Hesebon, and the land of Og king of Basan.
23And thou didst multiply their children as the stars of heaven: and broughtest them to the land concerning which thou hadst said to their fathers, that they should go in and possess it.
24And the children came and possessed the land: and thou didst humble before them the inhabitants of the land, the Chanaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as it pleased them.
25And they took strong cities and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods: cisterns made by others, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance. And they ate, and were filled, and became fat, and abounded with delight in thy great goodness.
26But they provoked thee to wrath, and departed from thee, and threw thy law behind their backs. And they killed thy prophets, who admonished them earnestly to return to thee. And they were guilty of great blasphemies.
27And thou gavest them into the hands of their enemies, and they afflicted them. And in the time of their tribulation they cried to thee; and thou heardest from heaven. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies thou gavest them saviours, to save them from the hands of their enemies.
28But after they had rest, they returned to do evil in thy sight: and thou leftest them in the hand of their enemies, and they had dominion over them. Then they returned, and cried to thee: and thou heardest from heaven, and deliveredst them many times in thy mercies.
29And thou didst admonish them to return to thy law. But they dealt proudly, and hearkened not to thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them. And they withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.
30And thou didst forbear with them for many years, and didst testify against them by thy spirit, by the hand of thy prophets. And they heard not, and thou didst deliver them into the hand of the people of the lands.
31Yet in thy very many mercies thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them: because thou art a merciful and gracious God.
32Now therefore our God, great, strong and terrible, who keepest covenant and mercy, turn not away from thy face all the labour which hath come upon us: upon our kings, and our princes, and our priests, and our prophets, and our fathers, and all the people from the days of the king of Assur, until this day.
33And thou art just in all things that have come upon us: because thou hast done truth, but we have done wickedly.
34Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept thy law, and have not minded thy commandments, and thy testimonies which thou hast testified among them.
35And they have not served thee in their kingdoms, and in thy manifold goodness, which thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land, which thou deliveredst before them: nor did they return from their most wicked devices.
36Behold, we ourselves this day are bondmen: and the land, which thou gavest our fathers, to eat the bread thereof, and the good things thereof; and we ourselves are servants in it.
37And the fruits thereof grow up for the kings, whom thou hast set over us for our sins; and they have dominion over our bodies, and over our beasts, according to their will; and we are in great tribulation.
38And because of all this we ourselves make a covenant, and write it: and our princes, our Levites, and our priests sign it.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.