Nehemiah 9

New American Standard Bible

The People Confess Their Sin

9 Now on the twenty-fourth day of ^(A)this month the sons of Israel assembled ^(B)with fasting, in sackcloth and with ^(C)dirt upon them. ²The ^[a]^(D)descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and ^(E)confessed their sins and the wrongdoings of their fathers. ³While ^(F)they stood in their place, they read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God. ⁴^(G)Now on the Levites’ platform stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and they cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God.

⁵Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, “Arise, bless the Lord your God forever and ever!

May Your glorious name be blessed
And exalted above all blessing and praise!
⁶^(H)You alone are the Lord.
^(I)You have made the heavens,
The heaven of heavens with all their ^[b]lights,
The earth and everything that is on it,
The seas and everything that is in them.
^(J)You give life to all of them,
And the heavenly ^[c]lights bow down before You.
⁷You are the Lord God,
^(K)Who chose Abram
And brought him out from ^(L)Ur of the Chaldees,
And ^(M)gave him the name Abraham.
⁸You found ^(N)his heart faithful before You,
And made a covenant with him
To give him the land of the Canaanite,
Of the Hittite and the Amorite,
Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite—
To give it to his ^[d]descendants.
And You ^(O)have fulfilled Your ^[e]promise,
Because You are righteous.

⁹“^(P)You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt,
And ^(Q)heard their cry by the ^[f]Red Sea.
¹⁰Then You performed ^(R)signs and wonders against Pharaoh,
Against all his servants and all the people of his land;
For You knew that ^(S)they acted arrogantly toward them,
And You ^(T)made a name for Yourself as it is this day.
¹¹^(U)You divided the sea before them,
So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground;
And You hurled ^(V)their pursuers into the depths,
Like a stone into ^[g]raging waters.
¹²And with a pillar of cloud ^(W)You led them by day,
And with a pillar of fire by night
To light for them the way
In which they were to go.
¹³Then ^(X)You came down on Mount Sinai,
And ^(Y)spoke with them from heaven;
You gave them ^(Z)just ordinances and true laws,
Good statutes and commandments.
¹⁴So You made known to them ^(AA)Your holy Sabbath,
And gave them commandments, statutes, and law,
Through Your servant Moses.
¹⁵You ^(AB)provided bread from heaven for them for their hunger,
You ^(AC)brought out water from a rock for them for their thirst,
And You ^(AD)told them to enter in order to take possession of
The land which You ^[h]swore to give them.

¹⁶“But they, our fathers, ^(AE)acted arrogantly;
They ^[i]^(AF)became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments.
¹⁷They refused to listen,
And ^(AG)did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You performed among them;
So they became stubborn and ^(AH)appointed a leader to return to their slavery in ^[j]Egypt.
But You are a God ^(AI)of forgiveness,
Gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger and abounding in ^[k]mercy;
And You did not abandon them.
¹⁸Even when they ^(AJ)made for themselves
A calf of cast metal
And said, ‘This is your ^[l]god
Who brought you up from Egypt,’
And committed great blasphemies,
¹⁹^(AK)You, in Your great compassion,
Did not abandon them in the wilderness;
^(AL)The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day,
To guide them on their way,
Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go.
²⁰Instead, ^(AM)You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them,
You did not withhold Your manna from their mouth,
And You gave them water for their thirst.
²¹Indeed, for ^(AN)forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not lacking;
Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell up.
²²You also gave them kingdoms and peoples,
And allotted them to them as a ^[m]boundary.
^(AO)They took possession of the land of Sihon ^[n]the king of Heshbon
And the land of Og the king of Bashan.
²³You made their sons as numerous as ^(AP)the stars of heaven,
And You brought them into the land
Which You had told their fathers to enter and possess.
²⁴^(AQ)So their sons entered and took possession of the land.
And ^(AR)You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites,
And You handed them over to them, with their kings and the peoples of the land,
To do with them ^[o]as they desired.
²⁵^(AS)They captured fortified cities and a ^[p]^(AT)fertile land.
They took possession of ^(AU)houses full of every good thing,
Carved out cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,
Fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate, were filled and ^(AV)put on fat,
And ^(AW)lived luxuriously in Your great goodness.

²⁶“^(AX)But they became rebellious and revolted against You,
And ^(AY)threw Your Law behind their backs
And ^(AZ)killed Your prophets who had ^(BA)admonished them
In order to bring them back to You,
And ^(BB)they committed great blasphemies.
²⁷Therefore You ^(BC)handed them over to their enemies who oppressed them,
But when they cried out to You ^(BD)in the time of their distress,
You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassion
You ^(BE)gave them ^[q]people who saved them from the hand of their enemies.
²⁸But ^(BF)as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before You;
Therefore You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them.
When they cried out again to You, You heard from heaven,
And ^(BG)many times You rescued them according to Your compassion,
²⁹And ^(BH)admonished them in order to turn them back to Your Law.
Yet ^(BI)they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances,
^(BJ)Which, if a person ^[r]follows them, then he will live by them.
And they ^[s]^(BK)turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.
³⁰^(BL)However, You remained patient with them for many years,
And ^(BM)admonished them by ^(BN)Your Spirit through Your prophets,
Yet they would not listen.
Therefore You handed them over to the peoples of the lands.
³¹Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You ^(BO)did not make an end of them or abandon them,
For You are ^(BP)a gracious and compassionate God.

³²“Now then, our God, ^(BQ)the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps His covenant and faithfulness,
Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You,
Which has happened to us, our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and to all Your people,
^(BR)From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day.
³³However, ^(BS)You are righteous in everything that has happened to us;
For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly.
³⁴For our kings, our leaders, our priests, and our fathers have not kept Your Law
Or paid attention to Your commandments and Your ^[t]admonitions with which You have ^[u]admonished them.
³⁵But ^(BT)they, in their own kingdom,
^(BU)With Your great goodness which You gave them,
With the broad and rich land which You placed before them,
Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds.
³⁶Behold, ^(BV)we are slaves today,
And as for the land which You gave to our fathers to eat its fruit and its bounty,
Behold, we are slaves on it.
³⁷And ^(BW)its abundant produce is for the kings
Whom You have set over us because of our sins;
They also rule over our bodies
And over our cattle as they please,
So we are in great distress.

A Covenant Results

³⁸“^[v]Now because of all this
^(BX)We are making an agreement in writing;
And on the ^(BY)sealed document are the names of our leaders, our Levites, and our priests.”

Footnotes

Nehemiah 9:2 Lit seed
Nehemiah 9:6 Lit host; i.e., sun, stars, etc.
Nehemiah 9:6 Lit host; i.e., sun, stars, etc.
Nehemiah 9:8 Lit seed
Nehemiah 9:8 Lit words
Nehemiah 9:9 Lit Sea of Reeds
Nehemiah 9:11 Lit strong, mighty
Nehemiah 9:15 Lit lifted up Your hand
Nehemiah 9:16 Lit stiffened their neck; so also v 17
Nehemiah 9:17 As in LXX and some Heb mss; MT their rebellion
Nehemiah 9:17 Or faithfulness
Nehemiah 9:18 Or God; i.e., an idol intended to represent God
Nehemiah 9:22 Lit side, corner
Nehemiah 9:22 As in LXX and Lat; MT and the land of the king of Heshbon
Nehemiah 9:24 Lit according to their desire
Nehemiah 9:25 Lit fat
Nehemiah 9:27 Lit deliverers
Nehemiah 9:29 Lit does them
Nehemiah 9:29 Lit gave
Nehemiah 9:34 Lit testimonies
Nehemiah 9:34 Or testified to
Nehemiah 9:38 Ch 10:1 in Heb

Acts 19

New American Standard Bible

Paul in Ephesus

19 Now it happened that while ^(A)Apollos was in ^(B)Corinth, Paul passed through the ^(C)upper country and came to ^(D)Ephesus, and found some disciples. ²He said to them, “^(E)Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “On the contrary, ^(F)we have not even heard if there is a Holy Spirit.” ³And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “^(G)Into John’s baptism.” ⁴Paul said, “^(H)John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people ^(I)to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” ⁵When they heard this, they were ^(J)baptized ^[a]in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶And when Paul had ^(K)laid hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began ^(L)speaking with tongues and ^(M)prophesying. ⁷There were about twelve men in all.

⁸And he entered ^(N)the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, having discussions and persuading them ^(O)about the kingdom of God. ⁹But when ^(P)some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of ^[b]^(Q)the Way before the ^[c]people, he withdrew from them and took ^(R)the disciples away with him, and had discussions daily in the school of Tyrannus. ¹⁰This took place for ^(S)two years, so that all who lived in ^[d]^(T)Asia heard ^(U)the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

Miracles at Ephesus

¹¹God was performing ^(V)extraordinary ^[e]miracles by the hands of Paul, ¹²^(W)so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and ^(X)the evil spirits went out. ¹³But also some of the Jewish ^(Y)exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to ^[f]use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had the evil spirits, saying, “I order you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches!” ¹⁴Now there were seven sons of ^[g]Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, doing this. ¹⁵But the evil spirit responded and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know of Paul, but who are you?” ¹⁶And the man in whom was the evil spirit, pounced on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷This became known to all who lived in ^(Z)Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. ¹⁸Also many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. ¹⁹And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they added up the prices of ^[h]the books and found it to be fifty thousand ^[i]^(AA)pieces of silver. ²⁰So ^[j]^(AB)the word of the Lord ^(AC)was growing and prevailing mightily.

²¹Now after these things were finished, Paul resolved in ^[k]the Spirit to ^(AD)go to Jerusalem ^(AE)after he had passed through ^(AF)Macedonia and ^(AG)Achaia, saying, “After I have been there, ^(AH)I must also see Rome.” ²²And after he sent into ^(AI)Macedonia two of ^(AJ)those who assisted him, ^(AK)Timothy and ^(AL)Erastus, he himself stayed in ^[l]^(AM)Asia for a while.

²³About that time ^[m]a major disturbance occurred in regard to ^[n]^(AN)the Way. ²⁴For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of ^[o]Artemis, ^(AO)was bringing ^[p]considerable ^[q]business to the craftsmen; ²⁵he gathered these men together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity ^[r]depends upon this business. ²⁶You see and hear that not only in ^(AP)Ephesus, but in almost all of ^[s]^(AQ)Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that ^[t]^(AR)gods made by hands are not gods at all. ²⁷Not only is there danger that this trade of ours will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess ^[u]Artemis will be regarded as worthless, and that she whom all of ^[v]^(AS)Asia and ^(AT)the ^[w]world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence.”

²⁸When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began shouting, saying, “Great is ^[x]Artemis of the ^(AU)Ephesians!” ²⁹The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging along ^(AV)Gaius and ^(AW)Aristarchus, Paul’s ^(AX)Macedonian traveling ^(AY)companions. ³⁰And when Paul wanted to go into the assembly, ^(AZ)the disciples would not let him. ³¹Also some of the ^[y]Asiarchs who were friends of his sent word to him and repeatedly urged him not to ^[z]venture into the theater. ³²^(BA)So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the ^[aa]assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know ^[ab]for what reason they had come together. ³³Some of the crowd ^[ac]concluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward; and having ^(BB)motioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the assembly. ³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single outcry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, “Great is ^[ad]Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵After quieting the crowd, the town clerk *said, “Men of ^(BC)Ephesus, what person is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great ^[ae]Artemis and of the image which fell down from ^[af]the sky? ³⁶So, since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash. ³⁷For you have brought these men here who are neither ^(BD)temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess. ³⁸So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are in session and ^[ag]^(BE)proconsuls are available; have them bring charges against one another. ³⁹But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the ^[ah]lawful ^[ai]assembly. ⁴⁰For indeed, we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today’s events, since there is no real reason for it, and in this connection we will be unable to account for this disorderly gathering.” ⁴¹After saying this he dismissed the ^[aj]assembly.