9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads.
9:2 Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers.
9:3 They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God.
9:4 Standing on the stairs were the Levites–Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani–who called with loud voices to the LORD their God.
9:5 And the Levites–Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah–said: “Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.” “Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.
9:6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
9:7 “You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham.
9:8 You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you are righteous.
9:9 “You saw the suffering of our forefathers in Egypt; you heard their cry at the Red Sea.
9:10 You sent miraculous signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day.
9:11 You divided the sea before them, so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters.
9:12 By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take.
9:13 “You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just and right, and decrees and commands that are good.
9:14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses.
9:15 In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them.
9:16 “But they, our forefathers, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey your commands.
9:17 They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them,
9:18 even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.
9:19 “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take.
9:20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst.
9:21 For forty years you sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.
9:22 “You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of Sihon king of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan.
9:23 You made their sons as numerous as the stars in the sky, and you brought them into the land that you told their fathers to enter and possess.
9:24 Their sons went in and took possession of the land. You subdued before them the Canaanites, who lived in the land; you handed the Canaanites over to them, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with them as they pleased.
9:25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land; they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished; they reveled in your great goodness.
9:26 “But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they put your law behind their backs. They killed your prophets, who had admonished them in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies.
9:27 So you handed them over to their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.
9:28 “But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.
9:29 “You warned them to return to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, by which a man will live if he obeys them. Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen.
9:30 For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you admonished them through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you handed them over to the neighboring peoples.
9:31 But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.
9:32 “Now therefore, O our God, the great, mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes–the hardship that has come upon us, upon our kings and leaders, upon our priests and prophets, upon our fathers and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.
9:33 In all that has happened to us, you have been just; you have acted faithfully, while we did wrong.
9:34 Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our fathers did not follow your law; they did not pay attention to your commands or the warnings you gave them.
9:35 Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying your great goodness to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you or turn from their evil ways.
9:36 “But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you gave our forefathers so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces.
9:37 Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress.
9:38 “In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.”
9:1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, with earth on their heads.
9:2 And the descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
9:3 And they stood up in their place and read in the book of the law of Jehovah their God for a fourth part of the day, and for another fourth part they confessed and worshipped Jehovah their God.
9:4 Then Jeshua and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood up on the Levites platform and cried out with a loud voice to Jehovah their God.
9:5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless Jehovah your God from eternity to eternity: And may Your glorious name be blessed, / Which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
9:6 You are Jehovah, / You alone; / You have made heaven, / The heaven of heavens with all its host, / The earth and all that is on it, / The seas and all that is in them; / And You give life to all of them; / And the host of heaven worships You.
9:7 You are Jehovah God, / Who chose Abram / And brought him forth from Ur of the Chaldees / And gave him the name Abraham.
9:8 And You found his heart faithful before You / And made a covenant with him, / To give him the land of the Canaanites, / The Hittites, the Amorites, / And the Perizzites and the Jebusites and the Girgashites, / To give it to his seed. / And You have fulfilled Your promises, / For You are righteous.
9:9 And You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt / And heard their cry by the Red Sea,
9:10 And You performed signs and wonders on Pharaoh, / And on all his servants, and on all the people of his land; / For You knew that they acted arrogantly toward them; / And You made Yourself a name, as it is to this day.
9:11 And You divided the sea before them, / So that they might pass through the midst of the sea on the dry land; / But their pursuers You threw into the depths, / Like a stone into mighty waters.
9:12 Then in a pillar of cloud You led them by day, / And in a pillar of fire by night, / To light the way for them, / On which they should go.
9:13 And You came down upon Mount Sinai / And spoke with them from heaven. / And You gave them just ordinances and true laws, / Good statutes and commandments.
9:14 And You made known to them / Your holy Sabbath / And prescribed commandments and statutes and a law for them / Through Moses Your servant.
9:15 And You gave them bread from heaven / For their hunger, / And You made water come forth from a rock for them / For their thirst. / And You told them to enter / In order to possess the land, / Which You swore / To give them.
9:16 But they and our fathers acted arrogantly / And stiffened their neck and would not listen to Your commandments.
9:17 And they refused to listen / And would not remember Your wondrous acts, / Which You had done among them. / And they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader / To return to their slavery in Egypt. / But You are a God of forgiveness, / Gracious and compassionate, / Long-suffering and abounding in lovingkindness; / So You did not forsake them.
9:18 Indeed when they made for themselves / A molten calf, / And said, This is your God, / Who brought you up out of Egypt, / And showed great contempt;
9:19 You, in Your great compassion, / Did not forsake them in the wilderness; / The pillar of cloud did not depart from over them by day, / To guide them on their way; / Nor the pillar of fire by night, / To light the way for them, on which they should go.
9:20 And You gave Your good Spirit / To instruct them, / And did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, / And gave them water for their thirst.
9:21 Indeed for forty years You sustained them in the wilderness; / They did not lack; / Their clothes did not wear out, / And their feet did not swell.
9:22 And You gave them kingdoms and peoples, / And divided these to them as boundaries. / So they took possession of the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, / And the land of Og the king of Bashan.
9:23 And their children You multiplied / Like the stars of heaven, / And You brought them into the land / That You told their fathers / To enter and possess.
9:24 And the children entered / And possessed the land; / And You subdued before them / The inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites; / And You gave them into their hand, / With their kings and the peoples of the land, / That they might do with them as they pleased.
9:25 And they took their fortified cities / And a fertile land, / And took possession of their houses, / Full of every good thing, / Hewn cisterns, vineyards, and olive groves, / And fruit trees in abundance; / And they ate and were satisfied and grew fat, / And they delighted in Your great goodness.
9:26 But they were disobedient and rebelled against You / And cast Your law behind their back. / And they slew Your prophets, / Who had testified against them / In order to turn them back to You; / And they showed great contempt.
9:27 Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their oppressors, / And they oppressed them; / But when they cried out to You in the time of their oppression, / You heard from heaven, / And according to Your great compassions You gave them deliverers, / Who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors.
9:28 Then after they had rest, / They again did evil before You; / And You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, / And they had dominion over them. / But when they cried out to You again, / You heard from heaven / And delivered them many times / According to Your compassions.
9:29 And You testified against them in order to turn them back to Your law, / But they acted arrogantly and would not listen to Your commandments; / And they sinned against Your ordinances / (By which, if a man does them, he will live), / And they turned a stubborn shoulder / And stiffened their neck and would not listen.
9:30 Yet You bore with them / For many years / And testified to them by Your Spirit / Through Your prophets, / But they would not give heed; / So You delivered them / Into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
9:31 Nevertheless in Your abundant compassions / You did not make an end of them; / And You did not forsake them, / For You are a gracious and compassionate God.
9:32 And now, our God, / The great, the mighty, and the awesome God, / Who keeps covenant and lovingkindness, / Do not let all the hardship seem small in Your sight / Which has come upon us, on our kings, on our rulers, / And on our priests and on our prophets / And on our fathers and on all Your people, / Since the days of the kings of Assyria / Until this day.
9:33 But You are righteous / In all that has come upon us, / For You have acted faithfully / While we have acted wickedly;
9:34 And our kings, our rulers, our priests, and our fathers / Have not performed Your law / Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies, / By which You testified against them.
9:35 But they, in their kingdom and in Your great goodness, / Which You gave them, / And in the broad and fat land / That You put before them, / Did not serve You, nor did they turn / From their evil works.
9:36 Here we are, slaves today; / And as for the land that You gave to our fathers / To eat of its fruit and its goodness, / Here we are, slaves upon it.
9:37 And its abundant produce is for the kings / Whom You have put over us because of our sins; / And they rule over our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure, / And we are in great distress.
9:38 And because of all this we are making a firm covenant and setting it in writing, and upon the sealed document are the names of our rulers, our Levites, and our priests.