Nehemiah

¹ Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel gathered with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them.

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

³ And they rose up in their place and read from the book of the law of Yahweh their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they were confessing and worshiping Yahweh their God.

⁴ Then Jeshua rose up on the Levites’ platform, along with Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and they cried out with a loud voice to Yahweh their God.

⁵ And exalted above all blessing and praise!

⁶ You have made the heavens, The heaven of 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 of them And the heavenly host bows down to You.

⁷ Who chose Abram And brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees, And gave him the name Abraham.

⁸ And cut a covenant with him To give him the land of the Canaanite, Of the Hittite and the Amorite, Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite— To give it to his seed. And You have established Your promise, For You are righteous.

⁹ And heard their cry by the Red Sea.

¹⁰ Against all his servants and all the people of his land; For You knew that they acted presumptuously toward them, And made a name for Yourself as it is this day.

¹¹ So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry land; And their pursuers You cast into the depths, Like a stone into mighty waters.

¹² And with a pillar of fire by night To light for them the way In which they were to go.

¹³ And spoke with them from heaven; You gave them upright judgments and true laws, Good statutes and commandments.

¹⁴ And commanded to them commandments, statutes and law, By the hand of Your servant Moses.

¹⁵ You brought forth water from a rock for them for their thirst, And You said to them to enter in order to possess The land which You swore to give them.

¹⁶ They became stiff‑necked and would not listen to Your commandments.

¹⁷ And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You did among them; So they became stiff‑necked and gave themselves a chief to return to their slavery in Egypt. But You are a God of lavish forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; And You did not forsake them.

¹⁸ A molten calf And said, ‘This is your God Who brought you up from Egypt,’ And committed great blasphemies,

¹⁹ Did not forsake them in the wilderness; The pillar of cloud did not depart from them by day, To lead them on their way, Nor the pillar of fire by night, To light for them the way in which they were to go.

²⁰ Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, And You gave them water for their thirst.

²¹ Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell.

²² And apportioned them to them as a boundary. They took possession of the land of Sihon the king of Heshbon And the land of Og the king of Bashan.

²³ And You brought them into the land Which You had said for their fathers to enter and possess.

²⁴ And You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, And You gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, To do with them according to their desire.

²⁵ They took possession of houses full of every good thing, Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves, Trees for food in abundance. So they ate, were filled, and grew fat, And reveled in Your great goodness.

²⁶ And cast Your law behind their backs And killed Your prophets who had testified to them So that they might return to You, And they committed great blasphemies.

²⁷ But at the time of their distress they cried to You, And You listened from heaven, and according to Your abundant compassion You gave them saviors and they saved them from the hand of the ones that distressed them.

²⁸ Therefore You forsook them in the hand of their enemies, so they had dominion over them. Then they returned and cried to You. And You listened from heaven, And many times You delivered them according to Your compassion,

²⁹ Yet they acted presumptuously and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your judgments, By which if a man does them, he shall live. And they gave a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.

³⁰ And testified to them by Your Spirit by the hand of Your prophets, Yet they would not give ear. So You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

³¹ For You are a gracious and compassionate God.

³² Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You, Which has found us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all Your people, From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day.

³³ For You have dealt in truth, but we have acted wickedly.

³⁴ Or pay attention to Your commandments and Your testimonies with which You testified against them.

³⁵ With Your abundant goodness which You gave them, With the broad and rich land which You set before them, Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds.

³⁶ And as to the land which You gave to our fathers to eat of its fruit and its goodness, Behold, we are slaves in it.

³⁷ Whom You have put over us because of our sins; They also rule over our bodies And over our cattle according to their desire, So we are in great distress.

³⁸ “Now because of all this We are cutting an agreement in writing; And on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.”