Nehemiah 9

1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads.

Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth upon them.

2 Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all the foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.

3 While they stood in their places, they read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and they spent another quarter of the day in confession and worship of the LORD their God.

And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of Jehovah their God a fourth part of the day, and another fourth part they confessed, and worshiped Jehovah their God.

4 And the Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani—stood on the raised platform and cried out in a loud voice to the LORD their God.

Then Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, stood up upon the stairs of the Levites, and cried with a loud voice to Jehovah 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, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.

Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless Jehovah your God from everlasting to everlasting. And blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

6 You alone are the LORD. You created the heavens, the highest heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all things, and the host of heaven worships You.

Thou are Jehovah, even thou alone, thou have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and thou preserve them all. And the host of heaven worships thee.

7 You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram, who brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.

Thou are Jehovah, the God who chose Abram, and brought him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name of Abraham,

8 You found his heart faithful before You, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites and Hittites, of the Amorites and Perizzites, of the Jebusites and Girgashites— to give it to his descendants. You have kept Your promise, because You are righteous.

and found his heart faithful before thee, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his seed, and have performed thy words, for thou are righteous.

9 You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt; You heard their cry at the Red Sea.

And thou saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea,

10 You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, all his officials, and all the people of his land, for You knew they had acted with arrogance against our fathers. You made a name for Yourself that endures to this day.

and showed signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land, for thou knew that they dealt proudly against them, and got thee a name, as it is this day.

11 You divided the sea before them, and they crossed through it on dry ground. You hurled their pursuers into the depths like a stone into raging waters.

And thou divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land. And thou cast their pursuers into the depths as a stone into the mighty waters.

12 You led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they should travel.

Moreover in a pillar of cloud thou led them by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go.

13 You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You gave them just ordinances, true laws, and good statutes and commandments.

Thou also came down upon mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments,

14 You revealed to them Your holy Sabbath and gave them commandments and statutes and laws through Your servant Moses.

and made known to them thy holy sabbath, and commanded them commandments, and statutes, and a law, by Moses thy servant.

15 In their hunger You gave them bread from heaven; in their thirst You brought them water from the rock. You told them to go in and possess the land which You had sworn to give them.

And thou gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which thou had sworn to give them.

16 But they and our fathers became arrogant and stiff-necked and did not obey Your commandments.

But they and our fathers dealt proudly and stiffened their neck, and did not hearken to thy commandments,

17 They refused to listen and failed to remember the wonders You performed among them. They stiffened their necks and appointed a leader to return them to their bondage in Egypt. But You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in loving devotion, and You did not forsake them.

and refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou did among them, but stiffened their neck. And in their rebellion they appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But thou are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and did not forsake them.

18 Even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and when they committed terrible blasphemies,

Yea, when they had made a molten calf for them, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations,

19 You in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud never turned away from guiding them on their path; and by the night the pillar of fire illuminated the way they should go.

yet thou in thy manifold mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not depart from over them by day to lead them in the way, neither the pillar of fire by night to show them light, and the way in which they should go.

20 You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold Your manna from their mouths, and You gave them water for their thirst.

Thou also gave thy good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold thy manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.

21 For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

Yea, forty years thou sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing; their clothes did not grow old, and their feet did not swell.

22 You gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner of the land. So they took the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and of Og king of Bashan.

Moreover thou gave them kingdoms and peoples, which thou allotted after their portions. So they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.

23 You multiplied their descendants like the stars of heaven and brought them to the land You had told their fathers to enter and possess.

Their sons thou also multiplied as the stars of heaven, and brought them into the land concerning which thou said to their fathers that they should go in to possess it.

24 So their descendants went in and possessed the land; You subdued before them the Canaanites dwelling in the land. You delivered into their hands the kings and peoples of the land, to do with them as they wished.

So the sons went in and possessed the land. And thou subdued the inhabitants of the land before them, 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 They captured fortified cities and fertile land and took houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled; they grew fat and delighted in Your great goodness.

And they took fortified cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all good things, cisterns hewn out, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.

26 But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.

Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their back, and killed thy prophets who testified against them to turn them again to thee, and they wrought great provocations.

27 So You delivered them into the hands of enemies who oppressed them, and in their time of distress they cried out to You. From heaven You heard them, and in Your great compassion You gave them deliverers who saved them from the hands of their enemies.

Therefore thou delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them. And in the time of their trouble, when they cried to thee, thou heard from heaven, and according to thy manifold mercies thou gave them saviors who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries.

28 But as soon as they had rest, they again did evil in Your sight. So You abandoned them to the hands of their enemies, who had dominion over them. When they cried out to You again, You heard from heaven, and You delivered them many times in Your compassion.

But after they had rest, they again did evil before thee. Therefore thou left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them. Yet when they returned, and cried to thee, thou heard from heaven, and many times thou delivered them according to thy mercies,

29 You admonished them to turn back to Your law, but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments. They sinned against Your ordinances, by which a man will live if he practices them. They stubbornly shrugged their shoulders; they stiffened their necks and would not obey.

and testified against them, that thou might bring them again to thy law. Yet they dealt proudly, and did not hearken to thy commandments, but sinned against thine ordinances (which if a man does, he shall live in them), and withdrew the shoulder, and stiffened their neck, and would not hear.

30 You were patient with them for many years, and Your Spirit admonished them through Your prophets. Yet they would not listen, so You gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.

Yet many years thou bore with them, and testified against them by thy Spirit through thy prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore thou gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

31 But in Your great compassion, You did not put an end to them; nor did You forsake them, for You are a gracious and compassionate God.

Nevertheless in thy manifold mercies thou did not make a full end of them, nor forsake them, for thou are a gracious and merciful God.

32 So now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God who keeps His gracious covenant, do not view lightly all the hardship that has come upon us, and upon our kings and leaders, our priests and prophets, our ancestors and all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.

Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness, let not all the travail seem little before thee, that 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 thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria to this day.

33 You are just in all that has befallen us, because You have acted faithfully, while we have acted wickedly.

However thou are just in all that has come upon us, for thou have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly,

34 Our kings and leaders and priests and fathers did not obey Your law or listen to Your commandments and warnings that You gave them.

neither have our kings, our rulers, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened to thy commandments and thy testimonies with which thou testified against them.

35 For even while they were in their kingdom, with the abundant goodness that You had given them, and in the spacious and fertile land that You had set before them, they would not serve You or turn from their wicked ways.

For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gave them, and in the large and fat land which thou gave before them, neither did they turn from their wicked works.

36 So here we are today as slaves in the land You gave our fathers to enjoy its fruit and goodness— here we are as slaves!

Behold, we are servants this day, and as for the land that thou gave to our fathers to eat the fruit of it and the good of it, behold, we are servants in it.

37 Its abundant harvest goes to the kings You have set over us because of our sins. And they rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please. We are in great distress.

And it yields much increase to the kings whom thou have set over us because of our sins. Also they have power over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

38 In view of all this, we make a binding agreement, putting it in writing and sealing it with the names of our leaders, Levites, and priests.”

And yet for all this we make a sure covenant, and write it, and our rulers, our Levites, and our priests, seal to it.