Bible, King James Version
Nehemiah
Neh.9
[1] Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the
children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with
sackclothes, and earth upon them.
[2] And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all
strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities
of their fathers.
[3] And they stood up in their place, and read in the book
of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and
another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their
God.
[4] Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua,
and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and
Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God.
[5] Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani,
Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said,
Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and
blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing
and praise.
[6] Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made
heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth,
and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is
therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven
worshippeth thee.
[7] Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and
broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him
the name of Abraham;
[8] And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and
madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites,
the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the
Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed,
and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:
[9] And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt,
and heardest their cry by the Red sea;
[10] And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharoah, and on
all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou
knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get
thee a name, as it is this day.
[11] And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that
they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their
persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the
mighty waters.
[12] Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy
pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light
in the way wherein they should go.
[13] Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest
with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true
laws, good statutes and commandments:
[14] And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and
commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of
Moses thy servant:
[15] And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger,
and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their
thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the
land which thou hadst sworn to give them.
[16] But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened
their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,
[17] And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy
wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and
in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their
bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and
merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest
them not.
[18] Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said,
This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had
wrought great provocations;
[19] Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not
in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them
by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by
night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should
go.
[20] Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them,
and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them
water for their thirst.
[21] Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the
wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not
old, and their feet swelled not.
[22] Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and
didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of
Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og
king of Bashan.
[23] Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of
heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou
hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to
possess it.
[24] So the children went in and possessed the land, and
thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the
Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings,
and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they
would.
[25] And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and
possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and
oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and
were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy
great goodness.
[26] Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled
against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy
prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and
they wrought great provocations.
[27] Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of
their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble,
when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and
according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who
saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
[28] But after they had rest, they did evil again before
thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies,
so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned,
and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many
times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;
[29] And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest
bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and
hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy
judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and
withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not
hear.
[30] Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and
testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would
they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of
the people of the lands.
[31] Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst
not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a
gracious and merciful God.
[32] Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and
the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the
trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our
kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets,
and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the
kings of Assyria unto this day.
[33] Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us;
for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:
[34] Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor
our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments
and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against
them.
[35] For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and
in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and
fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from
their wicked works.
[36] Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land
that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and
the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it:
[37] And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom
thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have
dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure,
and we are in great distress.
[38] And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and
write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto
it.
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