Nehemiah 9

1 In the foure and twentieth day of this moneth the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackecloth, and earth vpon them.

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

2 (And they that were of the seede of Israel were separated from all the strangers) and they stoode and confessed their sinnes and the iniquities of their fathers.

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

3 And they stood vp in their place and read in the booke of the Lawe of the Lord their GOD foure times on the day, and they confessed and worshipped the Lord their God foure times.

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.

4 Then stoode vp vpon the staires of the Leuites Ieshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cryed with a loud voyce vnto the Lord their God.

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.

5 And the Leuites said, euen Ieshua and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodiiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah, Stande vp, and praise the Lord your God for euer, and euer, and let them praise thy glorious Name, O God, which excelleth aboue all thankesgiuing and praise.

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.

6 Thou art Lord alone: thou hast made heauen, and the heauen of all heauens, with all their hoste, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and al that are in them, and thou preseruest them all, and the host of the heauen worshippeth thee.

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.

7 Thou art, O Lord, the God, that hast chosen Abram, and broughtest him out of Vr in Caldea, and madest his name Abraham,

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

8 And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a couenant with him, to giue vnto his seede the lande of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, and Perizzites, and Iebusites, and Girgashites, and hast performed thy wordes, because thou art iust.

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.

9 Thou hast also considered the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the red Sea,

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

10 And shewed tokens and wonders vpon Pharaoh, and on all his seruants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudely against them: therefore thou madest thee a Name, as appeareth this day.

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.

11 For thou didest breake vp the Sea before them, and they went through the middes of the Sea on dry lande: and those that pursued them, hast thou cast into the bottomes as a stone, in the mightie waters:

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.

12 And leddest them in the day with a pillar of a cloude, and in the night with a pillar of fire to giue them light in the way that they went.

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.

13 Thou camest downe also vpon mount Sinai, and spakest vnto them from heauen, and gauest them right iudgements, and true lawes, ordinances and good commandements,

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

14 And declaredst vnto them thine holy Sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, and ordinances, and lawes, by the hande of Moses thy seruant:

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

15 And gauest them bread from heauen for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rocke for their thirst: and promisedst them that they shoulde goe in, and take possession of the land: for the which thou haddest lift vp thine hand for to giue them.

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.

16 But they and our fathers behaued them selues proudely, and hardened their neck, so that they hearkened not vnto thy commandements,

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

17 But refused to obey, and would not remember thy marueilous works that thou haddest done for them, but hardened their neckes, and had in their heads to returne to their bondage by their rebellion: but thou, O God of mercies, gratious and full of compassion, of long suffring and of great mercie, yet forsookest them not.

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.

18 Moreouer, when they made them a molten calfe (and said, This is thy God that brought thee vp out of the land of Egypt) and committed great blasphemies,

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,

19 Yet thou for thy great mercies forsookest them not in the wildernesse: the pillar of the cloude departed not from them by day to leade them the way, neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way whereby they should goe.

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.

20 Thou gauest also thy good Spirite to instruct them, and withheldest not thy MAN from their mouth, and gauest them water for their thirst.

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.

21 Thou didest also feede them fourtie yeres in ye wildernes: they lacked nothing: their clothes waxed not old, and their feete swelled not.

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.

22 And thou gauest them kingdomes and people, and scatteredst them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon and the land of ye King of Heshbon, and the land of Og King of Bashan.

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.

23 And thou diddest multiplie their children, like the starres of the heauen, and broughtest them into the lande, whereof thou haddest spoken vnto their fathers, that they should goe, and possesse it.

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

24 So the children went in, and possessed the lande, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the lande, euen the Canaanites, and gauest them into their handes, with their Kings and the people of the lande, that they might do with them what they would.

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.

25 And they tooke their strong cities and the fat lande, and possessed houses, full of all goods, cisternes digged out, vineyardes, and oliues, and trees for foode in abundance, and they did eate, and were filled, and became fat, and liued in pleasure through thy great goodnesse.

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.

26 Yet they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy Lawe behinde their backes, and slewe thy Prophets (which protested among them to turne them vnto thee) and committed great blasphemies.

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.

27 Therefore thou deliueredst them into the hande of their enemies that vexed them: yet in the time of their affliction, when they cryed vnto thee, thou heardest them from the heauen, and through thy great mercies thou gauest them sauiours, who saued them out of the hande of their aduersaries.

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.

28 But when they had rest, they returned to doe euill before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hande of their enemies, so that they had the dominion ouer them, yet when they conuerted and cryed vnto thee, thou heardest them from heauen, and deliueredst them according to thy great mercies many times,

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.

29 And protestedst among them that thou mightest bring them againe vnto thy Lawe: but they behaued them selues proudely, and hearkened not vnto thy commandements, but sinned against thy iudgements (which a man should doe and liue in them) and pulled away the shoulder, and were stiffenecked, and woulde not heare.

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.

30 Yet thou diddest forbeare them many yeeres, and protestedst among them by thy Spirite, euen by the hande of thy Prophets, but they woulde not heare: therefore gauest thou them into the hande of the people of the lands.

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.

31 Yet for thy great mercies thou hast not consumed them, neither forsaken them: for thou art a gracious and mercifull God.

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.

32 Nowe therefore our God, thou great God, mightie and terrible, that keepest couenant and mercie, let not all the affliction that hath come vnto vs, seeme a litle before thee, that is, to our Kings, to our princes, and to our Priests, and to our Prophets, and to our fathers, and to all thy people since the time of the Kings of Asshur vnto this day.

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.

33 Surely thou art iust in all that is come vpon vs: for thou hast dealt truely, but we haue done wickedly.

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

34 And our kings and our princes, our Priests and our fathers haue not done thy Lawe, nor regarded thy commandements nor thy protestations, wherewith thou hast protested among them.

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

35 And they haue not serued thee in their kingdome, and in thy great goodnesse that thou shewedst vnto them, and in the large and fat lande which thou diddest set before them, and haue not conuerted from their euill workes.

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.

36 Beholde, we are seruants this day, and the lande that thou gauest vnto our fathers, to eate the fruite thereof, and the goodnesse thereof, beholde, we are seruants therein.

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!

37 And it yeeldeth much fruit vnto the kings whom thou hast set ouer vs, because of our sinnes: and they haue dominion ouer our bodyes and ouer our cattell at their pleasure, and we are in great affliction.

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.

38 Now because of all this we make a sure couenant, and write it, and our princes, our Leuites and our Priestes seale vnto it.

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.”