And the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah—said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God,(A) who is from everlasting to everlasting.[a]

“Blessed be your glorious name,(B) and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the Lord.(C) You made the heavens,(D) even the highest heavens, and all their starry host,(E) the earth(F) and all that is on it, the seas(G) and all that is in them.(H) You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven(I) worship you.

“You are the Lord God, who chose Abram(J) and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans(K) and named him Abraham.(L) 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.(M) You have kept your promise(N) because you are righteous.(O)

“You saw the suffering of our ancestors in Egypt;(P) you heard their cry at the Red Sea.[b](Q) 10 You sent signs(R) and wonders(S) 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(T) for yourself,(U) which remains to this day. 11 You divided the sea before them,(V) so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths,(W) like a stone into mighty waters.(X) 12 By day(Y) you led(Z) them with a pillar of cloud,(AA) and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take.

13 “You came down on Mount Sinai;(AB) you spoke(AC) to them from heaven.(AD) You gave them regulations and laws that are just(AE) and right, and decrees and commands that are good.(AF) 14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath(AG) and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses. 15 In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven(AH) and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock;(AI) you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand(AJ) to give them.(AK)

16 “But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked,(AL) and they did not obey your commands.(AM) 17 They refused to listen and failed to remember(AN) the miracles(AO) you performed among them. They became stiff-necked(AP) and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery.(AQ) But you are a forgiving God,(AR) gracious and compassionate,(AS) slow to anger(AT) and abounding in love.(AU) Therefore you did not desert them,(AV) 18 even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf(AW) and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.(AX)

19 “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon(AY) them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud(AZ) did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. 20 You gave your good Spirit(BA) to instruct(BB) them. You did not withhold your manna(BC) from their mouths, and you gave them water(BD) for their thirst. 21 For forty years(BE) you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing,(BF) their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.(BG)

22 “You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of Sihon[c](BH) king of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan.(BI) 23 You made their children as numerous as the stars in the sky,(BJ) and you brought them into the land that you told their parents to enter and possess. 24 Their children went in and took possession of the land.(BK) You subdued(BL) before them the Canaanites, who lived in the land; you gave the Canaanites into their hands, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with them as they pleased. 25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land;(BM) they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things,(BN) wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished;(BO) they reveled in your great goodness.(BP)

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Footnotes

  1. Nehemiah 9:5 Or God for ever and ever
  2. Nehemiah 9:9 Or the Sea of Reeds
  3. Nehemiah 9:22 One Hebrew manuscript and Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts Sihon, that is, the country of the

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.

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.

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;

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:

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 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.

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.

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