Nehemiah 9:32-37

Common English Bible

³² Now, our God, great and mighty and awesome God,
        you are the one who faithfully keeps the covenant.
Don’t treat lightly all of the hardship that has come upon us,
        upon our kings, our officials, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people,
        from the time of the kings of Assyria until today.
³³ You have been just in all that has happened to us;
        you have acted faithfully, and we have done wrong.
³⁴ Our kings, our officials, our priests, and our ancestors haven’t kept your Instruction.
        They haven’t heeded your commandments and the warnings that you gave them.
³⁵ Even in their own kingdom, surrounded by the great goodness that you gave to them,
        even in the wide and rich land that you gave them,
        they didn’t serve you or turn from their wicked works.
³⁶ So now today we are slaves,
        slaves in the land that you gave to our ancestors
            to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts.
³⁷ Its produce profits the kings whom you have placed over us because of our sins.
        They have power over our bodies and do as they please with our livestock.
        We are in great distress.