I took you from the ends of the earth,(A)
    from its farthest corners I called(B) you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;(C)
    I have chosen(D) you and have not rejected you.

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22 For the sake(A) of his great name(B) the Lord will not reject(C) his people, because the Lord was pleased to make(D) you his own.

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14 For the Lord will not reject his people;(A)
    he will never forsake his inheritance.

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For you are a people holy(A) to the Lord your God.(B) The Lord your God has chosen(C) you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.(D)

The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous(E) than other peoples, for you were the fewest(F) of all peoples.(G)

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Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor,(A) lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.(B) But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan(C) and gave him many descendants.(D) I gave him Isaac,(E) and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau.(F) I assigned the hill country of Seir(G) to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.(H)

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And they sang a new song, saying:(A)

“You are worthy(B) to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
    and with your blood(C) you purchased(D) for God
    persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.(E)

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Listen, my dear brothers and sisters:(A) Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world(B) to be rich in faith(C) and to inherit the kingdom(D) he promised those who love him?(E)

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26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called.(A) Not many of you were wise(B) by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose(C) the foolish(D) things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not(E)—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.(F)

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The Remnant of Israel

11 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means!(A) I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham,(B) from the tribe of Benjamin.(C) God did not reject his people,(D) whom he foreknew.(E) Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:

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29 People will come from east and west(A) and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.

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Do not be afraid,(A) for I am with you;(B)
    I will bring your children(C) from the east
    and gather(D) you from the west.(E)
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
    and to the south,(F) ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
    and my daughters(G) from the ends of the earth(H)

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“But you, Israel, my servant,(A)
    Jacob, whom I have chosen,(B)
    you descendants of Abraham(C) my friend,(D)

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“Who has stirred(A) up one from the east,(B)
    calling him in righteousness(C) to his service[a]?(D)
He hands nations over to him
    and subdues kings before him.
He turns them to dust(E) with his sword,
    to windblown chaff(F) with his bow.(G)

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 41:2 Or east, / whom victory meets at every step

25 This is what the Lord says: ‘If I have not made my covenant with day and night(A) and established the laws(B) of heaven and earth,(C) 26 then I will reject(D) the descendants of Jacob(E) and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes[a](F) and have compassion(G) on them.’”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 33:26 Or will bring them back from captivity

Let the redeemed(A) of the Lord tell their story—
    those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
those he gathered(B) from the lands,
    from east and west, from north and south.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 107:3 Hebrew north and the sea

“You are the Lord God, who chose Abram(A) and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans(B) and named him Abraham.(C) 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.(D) You have kept your promise(E) because you are righteous.(F)

“You saw the suffering of our ancestors in Egypt;(G) you heard their cry at the Red Sea.[a](H) 10 You sent signs(I) and wonders(J) 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(K) for yourself,(L) which remains to this day. 11 You divided the sea before them,(M) so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths,(N) like a stone into mighty waters.(O) 12 By day(P) you led(Q) them with a pillar of cloud,(R) 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;(S) you spoke(T) to them from heaven.(U) You gave them regulations and laws that are just(V) and right, and decrees and commands that are good.(W) 14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath(X) and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses. 15 In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven(Y) and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock;(Z) you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand(AA) to give them.(AB)

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

19 “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon(AP) them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud(AQ) 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(AR) to instruct(AS) them. You did not withhold your manna(AT) from their mouths, and you gave them water(AU) for their thirst. 21 For forty years(AV) you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing,(AW) their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.(AX)

22 “You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of Sihon[b](AY) king of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan.(AZ) 23 You made their children as numerous as the stars in the sky,(BA) 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.(BB) You subdued(BC) 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;(BD) they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things,(BE) wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished;(BF) they reveled in your great goodness.(BG)

26 “But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they turned their backs on your law.(BH) They killed(BI) your prophets,(BJ) who had warned them in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies.(BK) 27 So you delivered them into the hands of their enemies,(BL) who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion(BM) you gave them deliverers,(BN) who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.

28 “But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight.(BO) 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(BP) you delivered them(BQ) time after time.

29 “You warned(BR) them in order to turn them back to your law, but they became arrogant(BS) and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, of which you said, ‘The person who obeys them will live by them.’(BT) Stubbornly they turned their backs(BU) on you, became stiff-necked(BV) and refused to listen.(BW) 30 For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you warned them through your prophets.(BX) Yet they paid no attention, so you gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.(BY) 31 But in your great mercy you did not put an end(BZ) to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful(CA) God.

32 “Now therefore, our God, the great God, mighty(CB) and awesome,(CC) who keeps his covenant of love,(CD) do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes—the hardship(CE) that has come on us, on our kings and leaders, on our priests and prophets, on our ancestors and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today. 33 In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous;(CF) you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly.(CG) 34 Our kings,(CH) our leaders, our priests and our ancestors(CI) did not follow your law; they did not pay attention to your commands or the statutes you warned them to keep. 35 Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying your great goodness(CJ) to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you(CK) or turn from their evil ways.

36 “But see, we are slaves(CL) today, slaves in the land you gave our ancestors so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces. 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.(CM)

The Agreement of the People

38 “In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement,(CN) putting it in writing,(CO) and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.”[c]

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Footnotes

  1. Nehemiah 9:9 Or the Sea of Reeds
  2. Nehemiah 9:22 One Hebrew manuscript and Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts Sihon, that is, the country of the
  3. Nehemiah 9:38 In Hebrew texts this verse (9:38) is numbered 10:1.

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