Nehemiah Chapter 9
The People Confess Their Sin
1 On the twenty-fourth of that month, the Israelites gathered with fasting in burlap and doused with dust. 2 They separated from foreigners and confessed their and their ancestors’ sins. 3 While they stood in their place, they read from the Law for a fourth of the day. For another fourth they confessed and worshiped Yahveh their God. 4 On the Levites’ platform stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and appealed to Yahveh their God.
Neh 9:1-4
5 Then the Levites Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said,
“Bless Yahveh your God forevermore!
“May your glorious name be blessed
and regarded above all blessing and praise!
6 You alone are Yahveh.
You made earth and sky,
the highest heavens with all their host,
the earth and everything on it,
the oceans and what’s in them.
The heavenly host bows to you.
7 You’re Yahveh God
who chose Abram
and brought him from Ur of the Chaldees,
and named him Abraham.
8 You found him faithful
and made a covenant with him
to give his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites,
Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Girgashites.
You fulfilled your promise
because you’re good.
Neh 9:5-8
9“You saw our ancestors’ suffering in Egypt
and heard their outcry by the Red Sea.
10You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,
his officials, and his people.
You knew they acted arrogantly toward them
and made a name for yourself till now.
11You separated the sea
so they went through it on dry seabed;
but you threw their pursuers into the depths
like stones into raging water.
12You led them during the day with a pillar of cloud
and at night with a pillar of fire to light the way.
Neh 9:9-12
13Then you came down on Mount Sinai
and spoke to them from heaven;
you gave them just ordinances and true laws,
good statutes and commandments.
14You told them about your holy Sabbath
and laid down commandments, statutes, and law
through your servant Moses.
15You gave them bread from the sky for their hunger
and brought water out of rock for their thirst.
You told them to go in and take possession of
the land you swore to give them. Neh 9:13-15
16“But our ancestors acted arrogantly;
they became stubborn
and ignored your commandments.
17They didn’t remember the awesome deeds
you did among them.
They became stubborn and appointed a leader
to take them back to slavery in Egypt.
But you’re a forgiving God,
gracious and merciful,
slow to get angry and full of enduring love:
you didn’t abandon them.
18Even when they made a calf out of molten metal
and said, ‘This is your God
that brought you up from Egypt,’
and committed extreme blasphemies,
19in your great mercy
you didn’t abandon them in the desert.
The pillar of cloud didn’t leave them during the day
to guide them on their way;
the pillar of fire didn’t leave them at night
to light the way.
Neh 9:16-19
20You gave them your good Spirit to teach them;
you didn’t withhold your manna from them;
you gave them water for their thirst.
21For 40 years you provided for them in the desert,
and they had what they needed.
Their clothes didn’t wear out,
and their feet didn’t swell.
22You delivered kingdoms and nations to them
and allotted every corner to them.
They took the land of Sihon, king of Heshbon,
and the land of Og, king of Bashan.
23You made their descendants as numerous as the stars
and took them into the land
you told their ancestors to possess.
24So their descendants went in and took possession of it;
you subdued its people, the Canaanites;
you delivered them to your people along with their kings
to do with them whatever they wanted.
25They captured fortified towns and a fertile land;
they took possession of houses full of every good thing:
hewn cisterns, vineyards,
olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance.
They ate their fill, got fat,
and reveled in your great goodness. Neh 9:20-25
26“But they became disobedient,
rebelled against you,
tossed your Law aside,
and killed the prophets that admonished them
to come back to you;
they committed great blasphemies.
27So you delivered them to their oppressors;
but when they appealed to you in their distress,
you heard them from heaven, and with your great mercy,
gave them deliverers to rescue them.
Neh 9:26-27
28But as soon as they got comfortable,
they sinned again;
so you abandoned them to their enemies,
and they ruled over them.
When they appealed to you again, you heard from heaven,
and rescued them many times in your great mercy;
29and admonished them to return to your Law.
But they acted arrogantly,
ignored your commandments,
sinned against your ordinances
that if people observe, they’ll live.
They turned a stubborn shoulder,
and stiffened their neck,
and wouldn’t listen.
30But you bore with them for many years
and admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets;
yet they wouldn’t listen.
So you delivered them to the nations that lived in the lands.
31But in your great mercy
you didn’t make an end to them or abandon them,
because you’re a gracious and merciful God.
Neh 9:28-31
32“Now, great, powerful, awesome God
that keeps covenant and enduring love,
don’t consider the hardship insignificant
that has come on us, our kings, officials, and priests,
our prophets, ancestors, and all your people
from the time of the kings of Assyria till now.
33You’re justified in everything that’s happened to us,
because you’ve dealt faithfully;
but we’ve acted sinfully.
34Our kings, leaders, priests, and ancestors
haven’t kept your Law
or paid attention to your commandments and admonitions.
35But they, in their own kingdom,
with your great goodness that you gave them,
with the wide, rich land you set in front of them,
did not serve you or turn from their sins.
Neh 9:32-35
36We’re slaves today
in the land you gave our ancestors to eat its fruit and bounty.
37Its abundant produce is for the kings
that you set over us because of our sins.
They rule our bodies and our livestock as they please;
we’re in great distress.
38Because of that, we’re signing a covenant;
and our officials, Levites, and priests have set their seal to it.”
Neh 9:36-38