1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and earth upon them.

2 Then the seed of Israel separated themselves from the children of the foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

3 And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of Jehovah their God for a fourth part of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and prostrated themselves before Jehovah their God.

4 Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to Jehovah their God.

5 And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said: Stand up and bless Jehovah your God forever and ever! Blessed is Your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise!

6 You alone are Jehovah; You have made the heavens, the Heaven of the heavens, with all their host, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all alive. The host of the Heavens bow down before You.

7 You are Jehovah God, who chose Abram, and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and placed upon him the name Abraham;

8 You found his heart faithful before You, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites; to give it to his seed. You have performed Your words, for You are just.

9 You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea.

10 You gave signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, upon all his servants, and upon all the people of his land. For You knew that they had acted proudly against them. So You made a name for Yourself, as it is this day.

11 And You divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and those pursuing them You threw into the deep, as a stone into the mighty waters.

12 Moreover You led them by day with a cloudy pillar, and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light on the way which they should travel.

13 You came down also on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from the heavens, and gave them just ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments.

14 You made known to them Your holy Sabbath, and commanded them precepts, statutes and Laws, by the hand of Your servant Moses.

15 You gave them bread from the heavens for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and intended for them to go in to possess the land which You had raised Your hand and sworn to give them.

16 But they and our fathers acted presumptuously, hardened their necks, and did not heed Your commandments,

17 and refused to obey, and they were not mindful of Your wonders that You did among them. But they hardened their necks, and in their rebellion they appointed a leader to return to their bondage. But You are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness; and did not forsake them.

18 Even when they made a molten calf for themselves, and said, This is your god that brought you up out of Egypt, and worked great blasphemies;

19 yet in Your manifold mercies You did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day, to lead them on the road; nor the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way they should go.

20 You also gave Your good Spirit to teach them, and did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.

21 Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing; their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

22 Moreover You gave them kingdoms and nations, and divided them into districts. So they took possession of the land of Sihon, 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 heavens, and brought them into the land which You had commanded their fathers to go in and possess it.

24 So the people went in and possessed the land; You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they pleased.

25 And they captured strong cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and grew fat, and lived luxuriously in Your great goodness.

26 Nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against You, cast Your Law behind their backs and killed Your prophets, who testified against them to turn them to Yourself; and they worked great blasphemies.

27 Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their enemies, who distressed them; and in the time of their trouble, when they cried out to You, You heard from Heaven; and according to Your abundant mercies You gave them deliverers who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.

28 But after they had rest, they returned to doing evil before You. Therefore You left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them; yet when they returned and cried out 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 back to Your Law. Yet they acted presumptuously, and did not heed Your commandments, but sinned against Your judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. And they shrugged their shoulders, stiffened their necks, and would not obey.

30 Yet for many years You had patience with them, and testified against them by Your Spirit by the hand of Your prophets. Yet they would not listen; therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

31 Nevertheless in Your great mercy You did not annihilate them nor forsake them; for You are the Mighty God, gracious and merciful.

32 Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and awesome Mighty God, who keeps covenant and mercy: Do not let all the trouble seem small before You that has found us, our kings and our rulers, our priests and our prophets, our fathers and all Your people, since the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.

33 However You are just in all that has come upon us; for You have dealt faithfully, but we have done wickedly.

34 Neither our kings nor our princes, our priests nor our fathers, have kept Your Law, nor paid attention to Your commandments and Your testimonies, with which You testified against them.

35 For they have not served You in their kingdom, nor in the great goodness that You gave them, nor in the large and rich land which You set before them; nor did they turn from their evil works.

36 Here we are, servants this day! And the land that You gave to our fathers, to eat its fruit and its bounty; behold, we are servants in it.

37 And it yields much increase to the kings You have set over us, because of our sins; also they have dominion over our bodies and our cattle at their pleasure; and we are in great distress.

38 And because of all this, we are making a covenant in good faith, and writing it; sealed by our rulers, our Levites, and our priests.