Neemias 9

The People of Israel Confess Their Sin

1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of *[ch. 8:2] this month the people of Israel were assembled *[1 Sam. 7:6] with fasting *See 2 Sam. 3:31and in sackcloth, *See Josh. 7:6and with earth on their heads. 2 *ch. 10:28;13:3,30;[Ezra 6:21;10:11]And the Israelites*9:2 Hebrew the offspring of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 *ch. 8:7,8And 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 *[ch. 8:7]Jeshua, 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. *[1 Chr. 29:13]Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

6 * 9:6 Septuagint adds And Ezra said *See 2 Kgs. 19:15"You are the Lord, you alone. *See Gen. 1:1You have made heaven, *See Deut. 10:14the heaven of heavens, *See Gen. 2:1with all their host, *See Gen. 1:1the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; *[Ps. 36:6]and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. 7 You are the Lord, the God *See Gen. 11:31who chose Abram and brought him out of *Gen. 11:31Ur of the Chaldeans *Gen. 17:5and gave him the name Abraham. 8 *Gen. 15:6You found his heart faithful before you, *Gen. 12:7;15:18;17:7-9and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring *See Ex. 13:5the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. *[Josh. 23:14]And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

9 *Ex. 3:7"And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard *Ex. 14:10their cry at the Red Sea, 10 *See Ex. 7–14and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that *Ex. 18:11they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And *Isa. 63:12,14;Jer. 32:20;Dan. 9:15;[Ex. 9:16]you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. 11 *Ex. 14:21,22,27,28;Ps. 78:13And 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, *Ex. 15:5,10as a stone into mighty waters. 12 By *ver. 19;Ex. 13:21,22;Num. 14:14;1 Cor. 10:1a 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 *Ex. 19:20You came down on Mount Sinai *See Ex. 20:1-17and spoke with them from heaven and gave them *Ps. 19:8,9;[Rom. 7:12]; See Ps. 119right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 *Ex. 16:23;20:8-11;[Gen. 2:2,3;Ezek. 20:12,20]and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. 15 *[Ex. 16:14,15;Ps. 78:25;105:40;1 Cor. 10:3]; Cited John 6:31You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and *Ex. 17:6;Num. 20:10;Ps. 78:15-17;105:41;1 Cor. 10:4brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you *Deut. 1:8told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

16 "But they and our fathers *Ex. 18:11acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17 They refused to obey *Ps. 78:11,42,43and 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.*9:17 Some Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts and in their rebellion appointed a leader to return to their slavery But you are a God ready to forgive, *ver. 31;Ex. 34:6;Num. 14:18;Ps. 86:5,15;Joel 2:13gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18 Even *Ex. 32:4;Ps. 106:19,20;Acts 7:41when they had made for themselves a golden*9:18 Hebrew metal calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ *ver. 26;Ps. 78:41,58;[Heb. 3:15]and had committed great blasphemies, 19 you *ver. 27, 31;Ps. 106:45in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. *See ver. 12The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, *See ver. 12nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. 20 *Isa. 63:11;[Num. 11:17] You gave your good Spirit to instruct them *[Ex. 16:35]; See ver. 15and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 21 *Deut. 2:7Forty 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. *See Num. 21:21-31So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon *See Num. 21:33-35and the land of Og king of Bashan. 23 You multiplied their children *Gen. 15:5;22:17as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. 24 *See Josh. 1–12So the descendants went in and possessed the land, *Ps. 44:2,3and 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 *Deut. 3:5;9:1;Josh. 10:20;14:12fortified cities and *ver. 35;[Num. 13:20,27;Deut. 8:7,8;Ezek. 20:6] a rich land, and took possession of *Deut. 6:11houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled *Deut. 32:15and became fat and delighted themselves in *ver. 35;Hos. 3:5your great goodness.

26 *Judg. 2:11,12;Ezek. 20:21"Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you *Ps. 50:17;[1 Kgs. 14:9] and cast your law behind their back *1 Kgs. 18:4;19:10;2 Chr. 24:20,21;Matt. 23:37;Acts 7:52and killed your prophets, who *See ver. 30had warned them in order to turn them back to you, *See ver. 18and they committed great blasphemies. 27 *Judg. 2:14;Ps. 106:41,42Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. *Ps. 106:44,45And 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 *Judg. 2:16;3:9saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. 28 *Judg. 3:11,12,30;4:1;5:31;6:1But 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, *Ps. 106:43and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. 29 *[See ver. 26above] And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet *ver. 10, 16they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, *See Lev. 18:5which if a person does them, he shall live by them, *Zech. 7:11and they turned a stubborn shoulder *See ver. 16and stiffened their neck and would not obey. 30 Many years *[Acts 13:18] you bore with them *ver. 26, 29, 34;2 Kgs. 17:13and warned them *1 Pet. 1:10,11;2 Pet. 1:21by your Spirit through your prophets. *Acts 7:51Yet they would not give ear. *Ezra 9:7;[Isa. 42:24]Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31 Nevertheless, *ver. 19, 27in your great mercies *Jer. 4:27;5:10,18you did not make an end of them or forsake them, *ver. 17for you are a gracious and merciful God.

32 "Now, therefore, our God, *ch. 1:5;Deut. 7:21the 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, *2 Kgs. 17:3since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. 33 *See Ezra 9:15Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully *Ps. 106:6;Dan. 9:5and 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, *ver. 25and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and *ver. 25rich land that you set before them, *Deut. 28:47they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. 36 Behold, *Ezra 9:9we 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 *Deut. 28:33,51And 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 * 9:38 Ch 10:1 in Hebrew "Because of all this *2 Kgs. 23:3;2 Chr. 29:10;34:31;Ezra 10:3;[ch. 10:29]; ch. 10:1we make a firm covenant in writing; on *[ch. 10:1]the sealed document are the names of*9:38 Hebrew lacks the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.