Nehemiah 9

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.

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel assembled with fasting, and in sackcloths, and with ashes on their head.

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

And the children of Israel separated themselves from every stranger, 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.

And they stood in their place, and read in the book of the law of the Lord their god: and they confessed [their sins] to the Lord, 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.

[And] there stood upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jesus, and the sons of Cadmiel, Sechenia the son of Sarabia, sons of Choneni; and they cried with a loud voice to 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.

And the Levites, Jesus and Cadmiel, said, Rise up, bless the Lord our God forever and ever: and let them bless thy glorious name, and exalt it with 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.

And Esdras said, Thou art the only true Lord; thou madest the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, and all their array, the earth, and all things that are in it, the seas, and all things in them; and thou quickenest all things, and the hosts of heaven worship 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;

Thou art the Lord God, thou didst choose Abram, and broughtest him out of the land of the Chaldeans, and gavest him the name of Abraam:

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:

and thou foundest his heart faithful before thee, and didst make a covenant with him to give to him and to his seed the land of the Chananites, and the Chettites, and Amorites, and Pherezites, and Jebusites, and Gergesites; and thou hast confirmed 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;

And thou sawest the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and thou heardest their cry at 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.

And thou shewedst signs and wonders in Egypt, on Pharao and all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knowest that they behaved insolently against them: and thou madest thyself a name, as at 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.

And thou didst cleave the sea before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea on dry land; and thou didst cast into the deep them that were about to pursue them, as a stone in the mighty water.

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.

And thou guidedst them by day by a pillar of cloud, and by night by a pillar of fire, to enlighten for them the way wherein they should walk.

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:

Also thou camest down upon mount Sina, and thou spakest to them out of heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and laws of truth, ordinances, and good commandments.

14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:

And thou didst make known to them thy holy sabbath; thou didst enjoin upon them commandments, and ordinances, and a law, by the hand of thy servant Moses.

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.

And thou gavest them bread from heaven for their food, and thou broughtest them forth water from a rock for their thirst; and thou badest them go in to inherit the land over which thou stretchedst out thy hand to give [it] them.

16 But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,

But they and our fathers behaved proudly, and hardened their neck, and did not hearken 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.

and refused to listen, and remembered not thy wonders which thou wroughtest with them; and they hardened their neck, and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt: but thou, O God, [art] merciful and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and thou didst not forsake them.

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;

And still farther they even made to themselves a molten calf, and said, These [are] the gods that brought us up out of Egypt: and they 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.

Yet thou in thy great compassions didst not forsake them in the wilderness: thou didst not turn away from them the pillar of the cloud by day, to guide them in the way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to enlighten for them the way wherein they should walk.

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.

And thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them, and thou didst not withhold thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water in 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.

And thou didst sustain them forty years in the wilderness; thou didst not allow anything to fail them: their garments did not wax old, and their feet were not bruised.

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.

Moreover, thou gavest them kingdoms, and didst divide nations to them: and they inherited the land of Seon king of Esebon, and the land of Og king of Basan.

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.

And thou didst multiply their children as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land of which thou spokest to their fathers;

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.

And they inherited it: and thou didst destroy from before them the dwellers in the land of the Chananites, and thou gavest into their hands them and their kings, and the nations of the land, to do unto them as it pleased them.

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.

And they took lofty cities, and inherited houses full of all good things, wells dug, vineyards, and oliveyards, and every fruit tree in abundance: so they ate, and were filled, and grew fat, and rioted 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.

But they turned, and revolted from thee, and cast thy law behind their backs; and they slew thy prophets, who testified against them to turn them back 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.

Then thou gavest them into the hand of them that afflicted them, and they did afflict them: and they cried to thee in the time of their affliction, and thou didst hear them from thy heaven, and in thy great compassions gavest them deliverers, and didst save them from the hand of them that afflicted them.

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;

But when they rested, they did evil again before thee: so thou leftest them in the hands of their enemies, and they ruled over them: and they cried again to thee, and thou heardest [them] from heaven, and didst deliver them in thy great compassions.

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.

And thou didst testify against them, to bring them back to thy law: but they hearkened not, but sinned against thy commandments and thy judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them; and they turned their back, and hardened their neck, and heard not.

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.

Yet thou didst bear long with them many years, and didst testify to them by thy Spirit by the hand of thy prophets: but they hearkened not; so thou gavest them into the hand of the nations of the land.

31 Nevertheless for thy great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.

But thou in thy many mercies didst not appoint them to destruction, and didst not forsake them; for thou art strong, and merciful, and pitiful.

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.

And now, O our God, the powerful, the great, the mighty, and the terrible, keeping thy covenant and thy mercy, let not all the trouble seem little in thy sight which has come upon us, and our kings, and our princes, and our priests, and our prophets, and our fathers, and upon all thy people, from the days of the kings of Assur even to this day.

33 Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:

But thou [art] righteous in all the things that come upon us; for thou hast wrought faithfully, but we have greatly sinned.

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.

And our kings, and our princes, and our priests, and our fathers, have not performed thy law, and have not given heed to thy commandments, and [have not kept] thy testimonies which thou didst testify to 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.

And they did not serve thee in thy kingdom, and in thy great goodness which thou gavest to them, and in the large and fat land which thou didst furnish before them, and they turned not from their evil devices.

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:

Behold, we are servants this day, and [as for] the land which thou gavest to our fathers to eat the fruit of it and the good things of it, behold, we are servants upon 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.

and its produce [is] abundant for the kings whom thou didst appoint over us because of our sins; and they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, as it pleases them, and we are in great affliction.

38 And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.

And in regard to all these circumstances we make a covenant, and write [it], and our princes, our Levites, [and] our priests, set their seal to [it].