THE BOOK OF
NEHEMIAH
Nehemiah 9 ©
The people of God keep a solemn fast and prayer day, wherein the Levites spend one fourth part of the day in reading unto the people out of the book of the law of God, and another fourth part of the day in confessing their sins before the Lord, v. 1. etc. With a very excellent and holy prayer, wherein they praise God, declare His mercies shown to Abraham and his seed until this time, and confess the manifold unthankfulness of the people, and present in an humble manner unto God their present sad and distressed condition, whereby they bind and engage themselves anew, making withal and signing a covenant to obedience unto God, that they may turn away all deserved punishments for the future, 6, etc.
NOW in the twenty and fourth day 1of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with 2sackclothes, and 3earth upon them.
And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all 4strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
And they stood up in their place, and 5read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one 6fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.
¶Then stood up upon 7the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a 8loud voice unto the LORD their God.
Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and 9bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and 10blessed be thy 11glorious name, which is exalted above all 12blessing and praise.
Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thoua hast made heaven, the 13heaven of heavens, with 14all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou 15preservest them all; and the 16host of heaven 17worshippeth thee.
Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth outb of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the namec of Abraham;
Andd foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him toe 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 18righteous:
Andf didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;
Andg19shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, 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.
Andh 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.
Moreoveri 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.
Thouj camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from 20heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and 21true laws, good statutes and commandments:
And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the 22hand of Moses thy servant:
Andk gavest them bread from 23heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth waterl for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou 24hadst sworn to give them.
But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their 25necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,
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 captainm to return to their bondage: but thou art an God ready to 26pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great 27kindness, and forsookest them not.
Yea,o 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;
Yet thou in thy 28manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillarp 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 29the way wherein they should go.
Thouq gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thyr manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.
Yea,s forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into 30corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon,t and the land of the king of 31Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.
Their children also multipliedstu 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.
So the children went inv 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.
And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of 32all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and 33fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and 34delighted themselves in thy great goodness.
Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law 35behind their backs, and slew thy prophetsw which testified 36against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.
Thereforex 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.
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;
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, (whichy if a man do, he shall live in them;) and 37withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their 38neck, and would not hear.
Yet 39many years 40didst thou forbear them, and testifiedstz against them by thy spirit 41in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.
Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou 42didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.
Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the 43trouble seem little before thee, that hath 44come 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 45Assyria unto this day.
Howbeit thou art justaa in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done 46right, but we have done wickedly:
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.
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 47them, neither turned they from their wicked works.
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:
And 48it 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.
And 49because of all this we 50make a 51sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, 52seal unto it.