“1 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 And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers,
and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
3 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 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 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 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
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
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 And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and
heardest their cry by the Red sea; 10 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 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 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 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 And madest
known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts,
statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant: 15 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 fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and
hearkened not to thy commandments, 17 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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
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 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 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 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, 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 Howbeit thou [art] just in all that is brought upon us; for thou
hast done right, but we have done wickedly: 34 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 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 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 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 And because of all this we
make a sure [covenant], and write [it]; and our princes, Levites, [and]
priests, seal [unto it].” (Nehemiah 9:1-38 AV)
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