Nehemiah
9
- On the twenty-fourth day of the same month,
the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having
dust on their heads.
- Those of Israelite descent had separated
themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their
sins and the wickedness of their fathers.
- They stood where they were and read from
the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent
another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God.
- Standing on the stairs were the Levites
-- Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani --
who called with loud voices to the LORD their God.
- And the Levites -- Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani,
Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah -- said: "Stand
up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting."
"Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing
and praise.
- You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens,
even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that
is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and
the multitudes of heaven worship you.
- "You are the LORD God, who chose Abram
and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham.
- You found his heart faithful to you, and
you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites,
Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your
promise because you are righteous.
- "You saw the suffering of our forefathers
in Egypt; you heard their cry at the Red Sea.
- You sent miraculous signs and wonders against
Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you
knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name for yourself,
which remains to this day.
- You divided the sea before them, so that
they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the
depths, like a stone into mighty waters.
- By day you led them with a pillar of cloud,
and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were
to take.
- "You came down on Mount Sinai; you
spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just
and right, and decrees and commands that are good.
- You made known to them your holy Sabbath
and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses.
- In their hunger you gave them bread from
heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told
them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted
hand to give them.
- "But they, our forefathers, became
arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey your commands.
- They refused to listen and failed to remember
the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their
rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you
are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding
in love. Therefore you did not desert them,
- even when they cast for themselves an image
of a calf and said, 'This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,' or
when they committed awful blasphemies.
- "Because of your great compassion you
did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease
to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the
way they were to take.
- 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.
- For forty years you sustained them in the
desert; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their
feet become swollen.
- "You gave them kingdoms and nations,
allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country
of Sihon king of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan.
- You made their sons as numerous as the stars
in the sky, and you brought them into the land that you told their fathers
to enter and possess.
- Their sons went in and took possession of
the land. You subdued before them the Canaanites, who lived in the land; you
handed the Canaanites over to them, along with their kings and the peoples
of the land, to deal with them as they pleased.
- They captured fortified cities and fertile
land; they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things,
wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They
ate to the full and were well-nourished; they reveled in your great goodness.
- "But they were disobedient and rebelled
against you; they put your law behind their backs. They killed your prophets,
who had admonished them in order to turn them back to you; they committed
awful blasphemies.
- So you handed them over to their enemies,
who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From
heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers,
who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.
- "But as soon as they were at rest,
they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the
hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out
to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered
them time after time.
- "You warned them to return to your
law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against
your ordinances, by which a man will live if he obeys them. Stubbornly they
turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen.
- For many years you were patient with them.
By your Spirit you admonished them through your prophets. Yet they paid no
attention, so you handed them over to the neighboring peoples.
- But in your great mercy you did not put
an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.
- "Now therefore, O our God, the great,
mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love, do not let all this
hardship seem trifling in your eyes -- the hardship that has come upon us,
upon our kings and leaders, upon our priests and prophets, upon our fathers
and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.
- In all that has happened to us, you have
been just; you have acted faithfully, while we did wrong.
- Our kings, our leaders, our priests and
our fathers did not follow your law; they did not pay attention to your commands
or the warnings you gave them.
- Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying
your great goodness to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them,
they did not serve you or turn from their evil ways.
- "But see, we are slaves today, slaves
in the land you gave our forefathers so they could eat its fruit and the other
good things it produces.
- Because of our sins, its abundant harvest
goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our
cattle as they please. We are in great distress.
- "In view of all this, we are making
a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and
our priests are affixing their seals to it."
Back |
Home |
Next