The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Nehemiah 09
1 Now in the twenty-fourth day of this
month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting,
with sackcloth, and dirt on them.
2 The offspring of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and
confessed their sins and the iniquities of
their fathers.
3 They stood up in their place, and read
in the book of the law of Yahweh their
God a fourth part of the day; and a fourth
part they confessed and worshiped Yahweh their God.
4 Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani
of the Levites stood up on the stairs, and
cried with a loud voice to Yahweh their
God.
5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel,
Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah,
Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand
up and bless Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting! Blessed be your
glorious name, which is exalted above all
blessing and praise!
6 You are Yahweh, even you alone. You
have made heaven, the heaven of heavens,
with all their army, the earth and all things
that are on it, the seas and all that is in
them, and you preserve them all. The
army of heaven worships you.
7 You are Yahweh, the God who chose
Abram, brought him out of Ur of the
Chaldees, gave him the name of Abraham,
8 found his heart faithful before you,
and made a covenant with him to give
the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the
Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and
the Girgashite, to give it to his offspring,
and have performed your words, for you
are righteous.
9 “You saw the affliction of our fathers in
Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea,
10 and showed signs and wonders
against Pharaoh, against all his servants,
and against all the people of his land, for
you knew that they dealt proudly against
them, and made a name for yourself, as it
is today.
11 You divided the sea before them, so
that they went through the middle of the
sea on the dry land; and you cast their
pursuers into the depths, as a stone into
the mighty waters.
12 Moreover, in a pillar of cloud you led
them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night,
to give them light in the way in which they
should go.
13 “You also came down on Mount Sinai,
and spoke with them from heaven, and
gave them right ordinances and true laws,
good statutes and commandments,
14 and made known to them your
holy Sabbath, and commanded them
commandments, statutes, and a law, by
Moses your servant,
15 and gave them bread from the sky
for their hunger, and brought water out
of the rock for them for their thirst, and
commanded them that they should go in to
possess the land which you had sworn to
give them.
16 “But they and our fathers behaved
proudly, hardened their neck, didn’t listen
to your commandments,
17 and refused to obey. They weren’t
mindful of your wonders that you did
among them, but hardened their neck, and
in their rebellion appointed a captain to
return to their bondage. But you are a
God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to
anger, and abundant in loving
kindness, and didn’t forsake them.
18 Yes, when they had made themselves
a molded calf, and said, ‘This is your God
who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had
committed awful blasphemies,
19 yet you in your manifold mercies
didn’t forsake them in the wilderness. The
pillar of cloud didn’t depart from over
them by day, to lead them in the way;
neither did the pillar of fire by night, to
show them light, and the way in which
they should go.
20 You gave also your good Spirit to
instruct them, and didn’t withhold your
manna from their mouth, and gave them
water for their thirst.
21 “Yes, forty years you sustained them
in the wilderness. They lacked nothing.
Their clothesdidn’t grow old, andtheir feet
didn’t swell.
22 Moreover you gave them kingdoms
and peoples, which you allotted according
to their portions. So they possessed the
land of Sihon, even the land of the king
of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of
Bashan.
23 You also multiplied their children as
the stars of the sky, and brought them
into the land concerning which you said
to their fathers that they should go in to
possess it.
24 “So the children wentinand possessed
the land; and you subdued before them
the inhabitants ofthe land, the Canaanites,
and gave them into their hands, with their
kings and the peoples of the land, that they
might do with them as they pleased.
25 They took fortified cities and a rich
land, and possessed houses full of all good
things, cisterns dug out, vineyards, olive
groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So
they ate, were filled, became fat, and delighted
themselves in your great goodness.
26 “Nevertheless they were disobedient
and rebelled against you, cast your law
behind their back, killed your prophets
that testified against them to turn them
again to you, and they committed awful
blasphemies.
27 Therefore you delivered them into the
hand of their adversaries, who distressed
them. In the time of their trouble, when
they cried to you, you heard from heaven;
and according to your manifold mercies you gave them saviors who saved them out
of the hands of their adversaries.
28 But after they had rest, they did evil
again before you; therefore you left them
in the hands of their enemies, so that they
had the dominion over them; yet when
they returned and cried to you, you heard
from heaven; and many times you delivered them according to your mercies,
29 and testified against them, that you
might bring them again to your law. Yet
they were arrogant, and didn’t listen to
your commandments, but sinned against
your ordinances (which if a man does, he
shall live in them),turned their backs, stiffened their neck, and would not hear.
30 Yet many years you put up with them,
and testified against them by your Spirit
through your prophets. Yet they would not
listen. Therefore you gave them into the
hand of the peoples of the lands.
31 “Nevertheless in your manifold mercies you didn’t make a full end ofthem, nor
forsake them; for you are a gracious and
merciful God.
32 Now therefore, our God, the great, the
mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps
covenant and loving kindness, don’t let all
the travail seem little before you that has
come on us, on our kings, on our princes,
on our priests, on our prophets, on our
fathers, and on all your people, since the
time of the kings of Assyria to this day.
33 However you are just in all that has
come on us; for you have dealt truly, but
we have done wickedly.
34 Also our kings, our princes, our
priests, and our fathers have not kept your
law, nor listened to your commandments
and your testimonies with which you
testified against them.
35 For they have not served you in their
kingdom, and in your great goodness that
you gave them, and in the large and rich
land which you gave before them. They
didn’t turn from their wicked works.
36 “Behold, we are servants today, and as
for the land that you gave to our fathers
to eat its fruit and its good, behold, we are
servants in it.
37 It yields much increase to the kings
whom you have set over us because of our
sins. Also they have power over our bodies
and over our livestock, at their pleasure,
and we are in great distress.
38 Yet for all this, we make a sure
covenant, and write it; and our princes,
our Levites, and our priests, seal it.”