Nehemiah 9:1-38
9 And on the twenty-fourth day of this month+ the sons of Israel gathered themselves together with fasting+ and with sackcloth+ and dirt+ upon themselves.
2 And the seed of Israel proceeded to separate+ themselves from all the foreigners,*+ and to stand and make confession+ of their own sins+ and the errors of their fathers.+
3 Then they rose up at their place+ and they read aloud from the book of the law+ of Jehovah their God a fourth part of the day;+ and a fourth part they were making confession+ and bowing down to Jehovah their God.+
4 And Jeshʹu·a and Baʹni, Kadʹmi·el, Sheb·a·niʹah, Bunʹni, She·re·biʹah,+ Baʹni [and] Che·naʹni proceeded to rise on the platform+ of the Levites and cry out with a loud voice+ to Jehovah their God.
5 And the Levites Jeshʹu·a and Kadʹmi·el, Baʹni, Hash·ab·neiʹah, She·re·biʹah, Ho·diʹah, Sheb·a·niʹah [and] Peth·a·hiʹah went on to say: “Rise, bless+ Jehovah YOUR God from time indefinite to time indefinite.+ And let them bless your glorious name,+ which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
6 “You are Jehovah alone;+ you yourself have made the heavens,+ [even] the heaven of the heavens, and all their army,+ the earth+ and all that is upon it,+ the seas+ and all that is in them;+ and you are preserving all of them alive; and the army+ of the heavens are bowing down to you.
7 You are Jehovah the [true] God, who chose Aʹbram+ and brought him out of Ur of the Chal·deʹans+ and constituted his name Abraham.+
8 And you found his heart faithful before you;+ so there was a contracting* of the covenant+ with him to give [him] the land of the Caʹnaan·ites, the Hitʹtites, the Amʹor·ites and the Perʹiz·zites and the Jebʹu·sites and the Girʹga·shites, to give [it] to his seed;+ and you proceeded to carry out your words, because you are righteous.+
9 “So you saw+ the affliction of our forefathers in Egypt, and their outcry at the Red Sea you heard.+
10 Then you gave signs and miracles against Pharʹaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land,+ for you knew that they acted presumptuously+ against them; and you proceeded to make a name+ for yourself as at this day.
11 And the sea you split+ before them, so that they crossed over through the midst of the sea on the dry land;+ and their pursuers you hurled into the depths+ like a stone+ in the strong waters.+
12 And by a pillar of cloud you led them by day,+ and by a pillar of fire by night,+ to light+ up for them the way in which they should go.
13 And upon Mount Siʹnai you came down+ and spoke with them out of heaven+ and went on to give them upright judicial decisions+ and laws of truth,+ good regulations+ and commandments.+
14 And your holy sabbath+ you made known to them, and commandments and regulations and a law you commanded them by means of Moses your servant.+
15 And bread from heaven you gave them for their hunger,+ and waters out of the crag you brought forth to them for their thirst,+ and you went on to say to them to enter+ and possess the land that you had lifted your hand [in an oath] to give to them.+
16 “And they themselves, even our forefathers, acted presumptuously+ and proceeded to harden their neck,+ and they did not listen to your commandments.
17 So they refused to listen,+ and they did not remember+ your wonderful acts that you performed with them, but they hardened their neck+ and appointed a head+ to return to their servitude in Egypt.* But you are a God* of acts of forgiveness,+ gracious+ and merciful,+ slow to anger+ and abundant+ in loving-kindness, and you did not leave them.+
18 Yes, when they had made for themselves a molten statue of a calf+ and began to say, ‘This is your God* who led you up out of Egypt,’+ and they went on to commit great acts of disrespect,
19 you, even you, in your abundant mercy did not leave+ them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud itself did not depart from over them by day to lead them in the way,+ nor the pillar of fire by night to light up for them the way in which they should go.+
20 And your good spirit+ you gave to make them prudent, and your manna you did not hold back from their mouth,+ and water you gave them for their thirst.+
21 And for forty+ years you provided them with food in the wilderness. They lacked nothing.+ Their very garments did not wear out,+ and their feet themselves did not become swollen.+
22 “And you proceeded to give them kingdoms+ and peoples, and to apportion them piece by piece;+ so that they took possession of the land of Siʹhon,+ even the land of the king of Heshʹbon,+ and the land of Og+ the king of Baʹshan.+
23 And their sons you made as many as the stars of the heavens.+ Then you brought them into the land+ that you had promised to their forefathers+ that [they] should enter to take possession.
24 So their sons+ came in and took the land in possession,+ and you proceeded to subdue+ before them the inhabitants of the land, the Caʹnaan·ites,+ and to give them into their hand, even their kings+ and the peoples of the land,+ to do with them according to their liking.+
25 And they went capturing fortified cities+ and a fat soil+ and taking in possession houses full of all good things,+ cisterns hewn out,+ vineyards and olive groves+ and trees for food in abundance, and they began to eat and to be satisfied+ and to grow fat+ and to luxuriate in your great goodness.+
26 “However, they became disobedient+ and rebelled against you+ and kept casting your law behind their back,+ and your own prophets they killed,+ who bore witness against them to bring them back to you;+ and they went on committing acts of great disrespect.+
27 For this you gave them into the hand of their adversaries,+ who kept causing them distress;+ but in the time of their distress they would cry out to you,+ and you yourself would hear from the very heavens;+ and in accord with your abundant mercy+ you would give them saviors+ who would save them out of the hand of their adversaries.+
28 “But as soon as they were at rest, they would again do what is bad before you,+ and you would leave them to the hand of their enemies, who would tread them down.+ Then they would return and call to you for aid,+ and you yourself would hear from the very heavens+ and deliver them in accord with your abundant mercy, time and again.+
29 Although you would bear witness+ against them to bring them back to your law,+ they themselves even acted presumptuously+ and did not listen to your commandments; and against your own judicial decisions+ they sinned,+ which, if a man* will do, he must also live by means of them.*+ And they kept giving a stubborn shoulder,+ and their neck they hardened,+ and they did not listen.+
30 But you were indulgent with them for many years+ and kept bearing witness+ against them by your spirit by means of your prophets, and they did not give ear.+ Finally you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.+
31 And in your abundant mercy you did not make an extermination of them+ or leave+ them; for you are a God* gracious+ and merciful.+
32 “And now, O our God, the God* great,+ mighty+ and fear-inspiring,*+ keeping the covenant+ and loving-kindness,*+ do not let all the hardship that has found us,+ our kings,+ our princes+ and our priests+ and our prophets+ and our forefathers+ and all your people from the days of the kings of As·syrʹi·a down to this day,+ seem little before you.+
33 And you are righteous+ as regards all that has come upon us, for faithfully+ is how you have acted, but we are the ones that have done wickedly.+
34 As for our kings, our princes, our priests and our forefathers,+ they have not performed your law,+ nor paid attention to your commandments+ or to your testimonies* with which you bore witness+ against them.
35 And they themselves—during their* kingdom+ and amid your abundant good things+ that you gave to them and in the broad and fat land+ that you made available for them, they did not serve you+ and did not turn back from their bad practices.+
36 Look! We are today slaves;+ and as for the land that you gave to our forefathers to eat its fruitage and its good things, look! we are slaves upon it,+
37 and its produce is abounding+ for the kings+ that you have put over us because of our sins,+ and over our bodies they are ruling and over our domestic animals, according to their liking, and we are in great distress.*+
38 “So in view of all this we are contracting* a trustworthy arrangement,+ both in writing and attested by the seal+ of our princes,* our Levites [and] our priests.”+
Footnotes
^ Lit., “sons of a foreign (country).”
^ “There was a contracting.” In Heb. this is a verb in the infinitive absolute, indefinite as to time and impersonal.
^ “In Egypt,” LXX and some Heb. mss; M, “in their rebellion.”
^ “A God.” Heb., ʼElohʹah, sing. of ʼElo·himʹ.
^ “Your God.” Heb., ʼelo·heyʹkha, pl. to denote excellence, because the demonstrative pronoun zeh, “this,” and the verb he·ʽel·khaʹ, “led you,” are sing., showing that “God” is sing.; Gr., hoi the·oiʹ, “gods”; Lat., Deʹus tuʹus, “your God.” Compare Ex 32:4 ftn, “God.”
^ Or, “an earthling man.” Heb., ʼa·dhamʹ.
^ Or, “live in them.”
^ “God.” Heb., ʼEl.
^ Or, “the [true] God.” The title ʼEl preceded by the Heb. definite article ha, “the,” but followed by the qualifications “great, mighty and fear-inspiring.” See App 1G.
^ “And fear-inspiring (reverend).” Heb., wehan·noh·raʼʹ.
^ Or, “loyal love.”
^ Or, “reminders; exhortations.”
^ “Their,” MVg; LXXSy and two Heb. mss, “your.”
^ MLXX end chapter 9 here.
^ Lit., “cutting.”
^ Lit., “and upon what was sealed of our princes.”
