Nehemiah 9

Confession and Worship

1On the twenty-fourth day of this month, the Israelites gathered with fasting, sackcloth, and earth upon them. 2The offspring of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors. 3They stood in their place and read from the book of the Torah of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and for another quarter they confessed and worshiped the LORD their God. 4Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the Levites’ platform and cried with a loud voice to the LORD their God. 5Then 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, exalted above all blessing and praise.”

The LORD the Creator and Covenant God

6“You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, the highest heavens and all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to them all, and the host of heaven worships you. 7You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and gave him the name Abraham. 8You found his heart faithful before you and made a covenant with him to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Girgashites. You have fulfilled your words, for you are righteous.

Deliverance from Egypt and Guidance in the Wilderness

9You saw the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry at the Sea of Reeds. 10You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our ancestors. You made a name for yourself, as it is this day. 11You divided the sea before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground; but you threw their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters. 12By a pillar of cloud you led them by day, and by a pillar of fire at night, to give them light on the way in which they should go.

Torah, Sabbath, Bread, and Water

13You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You gave them right judgments, true teachings, good statutes and commandments. 14You made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments, statutes, and Torah through Moses your servant. 15You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water from the rock for their thirst. You told them to go in and possess the land that you had raised your hand to give them.

Rebellion and Mercy

16But they and our ancestors acted arrogantly, stiffened their necks, and did not listen to your commandments. 17They refused to listen and did not remember your wonders that you had done among them. They stiffened their necks and, in their rebellion, appointed a leader to return to their slavery. But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abundant in steadfast love, and you did not abandon them. 18Even when they made for themselves a cast calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up from Egypt,’ and committed great acts of contempt, 19you, in your great mercies, did not abandon them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not depart from above them by day to lead them on the way, nor the pillar of fire by night to give them light on the way they should go. 20You gave your good Spirit to instruct them, did not withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst. 21Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.

The Land Given and Possessed

22You gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted them boundary by boundary. They possessed the land of Sihon, the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. 23You multiplied their children like the stars of heaven and brought them into the land that you had told their ancestors to enter and possess. 24So their children entered and possessed the land. You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to do with them according to their will. 25They captured fortified cities and a rich land and possessed houses filled with every good thing, cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. They ate, were satisfied, grew fat, and delighted in your great goodness.

Repeated Rebellion and Repeated Deliverance

26Yet they rebelled and acted defiantly against you. They threw your Torah behind their backs and killed your prophets who warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great acts of contempt. 27So you gave them into the hand of their adversaries, who oppressed them. In the time of their distress they cried to you, and you heard from heaven. According to your great mercies, you gave them deliverers who delivered them from the hand of their adversaries. 28But when they had rest, they again did evil before you. So you abandoned them into the hand of their enemies, who ruled over them. Yet when they returned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and according to your mercies you delivered them many times. 29You warned them in order to turn them back to your Torah, but they acted arrogantly and did not listen to your commandments. They sinned against your judgments, by which a person who does them shall live. They turned a stubborn shoulder, stiffened their necks, and would not listen. 30You were patient with them for many years and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets, but they would not give ear. So you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31Yet in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and compassionate God.

We Are Servants in the Land

32Now therefore, our God—the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love—do not let all the hardship seem small before you that has come upon us, our kings, our officials, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until this day. 33You are righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have acted faithfully, but we have acted wickedly. 34Our kings, officials, priests, and ancestors did not keep your Torah or pay attention to your commandments and your warnings by which you warned them. 35Even in their kingdom, and in your great goodness that you gave them, and in the broad and rich land you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their evil deeds. 36Look, we are servants today. As for the land you gave to our ancestors to eat its fruit and its good things—look, we are servants in it. 37Its abundant produce goes to the kings you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and our livestock according to their pleasure, and we are in great distress. 38Because of all this, we make a firm agreement in writing, and our officials, Levites, and priests put their seals upon it.”