Neh 9 | ESV | STEP | Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth , and with earth on their heads.

1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of ^athis month the people of Israel were assembled ^bwith fasting ^cand in sackcloth, ^dand with earth on their heads. 2 ^eAnd the Israelites ^{▼▼Hebrew the offspring of Israel} separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 ^gAnd they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God. 4 On the stairs of the Levites stood ^hJeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. 5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. ⁱBlessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

6 ^{▼▼Septuagint adds And Ezra said} ^k“You are the Lord, you alone. ^lYou have made heaven, ^mthe heaven of heavens, ⁿwith all their host, ^othe earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; ^pand you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. 7 You are the Lord, the God ^qwho chose Abram and brought him out of ^rUr of the Chaldeans ^sand gave him the name Abraham. 8 ^tYou found his heart faithful before you, ^uand made with him the covenant to give to his offspring ^vthe land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. ^wAnd you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

9 ^x“And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard ^ytheir cry at the Red Sea, 10 ^zand performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that ^aathey acted arrogantly against our fathers. And ^abyou made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. 11 ^acAnd you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, ^adas a stone into mighty waters. 12 By ^aea pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go. 13 ^afYou came down on Mount Sinai ^agand spoke with them from heaven and gave them ^ahright rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 ^aiand you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. 15 ^ajYou gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and ^akbrought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you ^altold them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

16 “But they and our fathers ^amacted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17 They refused to obey ^anand were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, ^aogracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18 Even ^apwhen they had made for themselves a golden ^{▼▼Hebrew metal} calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ ^arand had committed great blasphemies, 19 you ^asin your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. ^atThe pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, ^aunor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. 20 ^avYou gave your good Spirit to instruct them ^awand did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 21 ^axForty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

22 “And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. ^aySo they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon ^azand the land of Og king of Bashan. 23 You multiplied their children ^baas the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. 24 ^bbSo the descendants went in and possessed the land, ^bcand you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. 25 And they captured ^bdfortified cities and ^bea rich land, and took possession of ^bfhouses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled ^bgand became fat and delighted themselves in ^bhyour great goodness.

26 ^bi“Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you ^bjand cast your law behind their back ^bkand killed your prophets, who ^blhad warned them in order to turn them back to you, ^bmand they committed great blasphemies. 27 ^bnTherefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. ^boAnd in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them ^bpsaviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. 28 ^bqBut after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, ^brand many times you delivered them according to your mercies. 29 ^bsAnd you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet ^btthey acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, ^buwhich if a person does them, he shall live by them, ^bvand they turned a stubborn shoulder ^bwand stiffened their neck and would not obey. 30 Many years ^bxyou bore with them ^byand warned them ^bzby your Spirit through your prophets. ^caYet they would not give ear. ^cbTherefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31 Nevertheless, ^ccin your great mercies ^cdyou did not make an end of them or forsake them, ^cefor you are a gracious and merciful God.

32 “Now, therefore, our God, ^cfthe great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, ^cgsince the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. 33 ^chYet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully ^ciand we have acted wickedly. 34 Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. 35 Even in their own kingdom, ^cjand amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and ^ckrich land that you set before them, ^clthey did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. 36 Behold, ^cmwe are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. 37 ^cnAnd its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.

38 ^{▼▼Ch 10:1 in Hebrew} “Because of all this ^cpwe make a firm covenant in writing; on ^cqthe sealed document are the names of ^{▼▼Hebrew lacks the names of} our princes, our Levites, and our priests.