Nehemiah 9
Common English Bible
Remembering the Lord’s mighty deeds
9 On the twenty-fourth day of this month, the people of Israel were assembled. They fasted, wore funeral clothing,[a] and had dirt on their heads.[b] 2 After the Israelites separated themselves from all of the foreigners, they stood to confess their sins and the terrible behavior of their ancestors. 3 They stood in their place and read the Instruction scroll from the Lord their God for a quarter of the day. For another quarter of the day, they confessed and worshipped the Lord their God.
4 On the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani. They cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God. 5 Then the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said:
Stand up and bless the Lord your God.
From everlasting to everlasting bless your glorious name,
which is high above all blessing and praise.
6 You alone are the Lord.
You alone made heaven, even the heaven of heavens, with all their forces.
You made the earth and all that is on it, and the seas and all that is in them.
You preserve them all, and the heavenly forces worship you.
7 Lord God, you are the one who chose Abram.
You brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.
8 You found him to be faithful before you,
and you made a covenant with him.
You promised to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites,
the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites.
And you have kept your promise because you are righteous.
9 You saw the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt
and heard their cry at the Reed Sea.[c]
10 You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,
all his servants, and the people of his land.
You knew that they had acted arrogantly against our ancestors.
You made a name for yourself, a name that is famous even today.
11 You divided the sea before them so that they went through it on dry land.
But you cast their pursuers into the depths,
as a stone into the mighty waters.
12 With a pillar of cloud you led them by day
and with a column of lightning by night;
they lit the way in which the people should go.
13 You came down upon Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven.
You gave them proper judgments and true Instruction,
good statutes and commandments.
14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath,
and gave them commandments, statutes, and Instruction through your servant Moses.
15 When they were hungry, you gave them bread from heaven;
when they were thirsty, you brought water out of the rock for them.
You told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.
16 But our ancestors acted arrogantly.
They were stubborn and wouldn’t obey your commandments.
17 They refused to obey,
and didn’t remember the wonders that you accomplished in their midst.
They acted arrogantly and decided to return to their slavery in Egypt.
But you are a God ready to forgive, merciful and compassionate,
very patient, and truly faithful.
You didn’t forsake them.
18 Even when they had cast an image of a calf for themselves,
saying, “This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,”
and holding you in great contempt,
19 you, in your great mercy, didn’t abandon them in the wilderness.
The column of cloud continued to guide them on their journey during the day,
and the column of lightning lit their path during the night.
20 You gave your good spirit to teach them.
You didn’t withhold your manna from them,
and you gave them water for their thirst.
21 You kept them alive for forty years—
they lacked nothing in the wilderness!
Their clothes didn’t wear out,
and their feet didn’t swell.
22 You gave them kingdoms and peoples,
and assigned to them every side.[d]
They took possession of the land of King Sihon of Heshbon
and the land of King Og of Bashan.
23 You multiplied their descendants as the stars of heaven.
You brought them into the land that you had told their ancestors to enter and possess.
24 So the descendants went in and possessed the land.
Before them, you subdued the Canaanites who inhabited the land.
You also handed over to them their kings and the neighboring peoples,
to do with as they wished.
25 They captured fortified cities and productive land,
and took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things,
excavated cisterns, vineyards, olive orchards, and a great many fruit trees.
They ate until they were satisfied and grew fat,
and delighted themselves in your great goodness.
26 But they were disobedient, rebelled against you,
and turned their back on your Instruction.
They killed your prophets who had warned them so that they might return to you.
They held you in great contempt.
27 Therefore, you handed them over to the power of their enemies who made them suffer.
But when they cried out to you in their suffering,
you heard them from heaven.
Because you are merciful,
you gave them saviors who saved them from the power of their enemies.
28 But after they had rest from this, they again started doing evil against you.
So you gave them over to the power of their enemies who ruled over them.
Yet when they turned and cried to you,
you heard from heaven and rescued them many times because of your great mercy.
29 You also warned them to return to your Instruction,
but they acted arrogantly and didn’t obey your commands.
They sinned against your judgments,
even though life comes by keeping them.[e]
They turned a stubborn shoulder, became headstrong, and wouldn’t obey.
30 You were patient with them for many years
and warned them by your spirit through the prophets.
But they wouldn’t listen,
so you handed them over to the neighboring peoples.
31 In your great mercy, however, you didn’t make an end of them.
Neither did you forsake them, because you are a merciful and compassionate God.
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.
Commitment to follow the Instruction
38 [f] Because of all this,[g] we are making a firm agreement in writing, with the names of our officials, our Levites, and our priests on the seal.
Footnotes
- Nehemiah 9:1 Or sackcloth
- Nehemiah 9:1 Or on them
- Nehemiah 9:9 Or Red Sea
- Nehemiah 9:22 Heb uncertain
- Nehemiah 9:29 Them refers to judgments.
- Nehemiah 9:38 10:1 in Heb
- Nehemiah 9:38 This refers to great distress in 9:37.
Nehemiah 9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
National Confession
9 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth and with earth on their heads.[a](A) 2 Then those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.(B) 3 They stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth part of the day, and for another fourth they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God.(C) 4 Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God.(D) 5 Then the Levites Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.”(E)
6 And Ezra said,[b] “You are the Lord, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. To all of them you give life, and the host of heaven worships you.(F) 7 You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham;(G) 8 and you found his heart faithful before you and made with him a covenant to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, and you have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous.(H)
9 “And you saw the distress of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea.[c](I) 10 You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted insolently against our ancestors. You made a name for yourself that remains to this day.(J) 11 And you divided the sea before them, so that they passed through the sea on dry land, but you threw their pursuers into the depths like a stone into mighty waters.(K) 12 Moreover, you led them by day with a pillar of cloud and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light on the way in which they should go.(L) 13 You came down also upon Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments,(M) 14 and you made known your holy Sabbath to them and gave them commandments and statutes and a law through Moses your servant.(N) 15 For their hunger you gave them bread from heaven, and for their thirst you brought water for them out of the rock, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you swore to give them.(O)
16 “But they, our ancestors, acted presumptuously and stiffened their necks and did not obey your commandments;(P) 17 they refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their necks and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them.(Q) 18 Even when they had cast an image of a calf for themselves and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies,(R) 19 you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud that led them in the way did not leave them by day nor the pillar of fire by night that gave them light on the way by which they should go.(S) 20 You gave your good spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouths and gave them water for their thirst.(T) 21 Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness so that they lacked nothing; their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.(U) 22 And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner,[d] so they took possession of the land of King Sihon of Heshbon and the land of King Og of Bashan.(V) 23 You multiplied their descendants like the stars of heaven and brought them into the land that you had told their ancestors to enter and possess.(W) 24 So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the peoples of the land, to do with them as they pleased.(X) 25 And they captured fortress cities and a rich land and took possession of houses filled with all sorts of goods, hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive orchards, and fruit trees in abundance; so they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.(Y)
26 “Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their backs and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies.(Z) 27 Therefore you gave them into the hands of their enemies, who made them suffer. Then in the time of their suffering they cried out to you, and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hands of their enemies. 28 But after they had rest, they again did evil before you, and you abandoned them to the hands of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them, yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you rescued them according to your mercies. 29 And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law, yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments but sinned against your ordinances, by the observance of which a person shall live. They turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. 30 Many years you were patient with them and warned them by your spirit through your prophets, yet they would not listen. Therefore you handed them over to the peoples of the lands. 31 Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.
32 “Now therefore, our God—the great and mighty and awesome God, keeping covenant and steadfast love—do not treat lightly all the hardship that has come upon us, upon our kings, our officials, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until today. 33 You have been just in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly; 34 our kings, our officials, our priests, and our ancestors have not kept your law or heeded the commandments and the warnings that you gave them. 35 Even in their own kingdom, and in the great goodness you bestowed on them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you and did not turn from their wicked works. 36 Here we are, slaves to this day, slaves in the land that you gave to our ancestors to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts.(AA) 37 Its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins; they have power also over our bodies and over our livestock at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.”(AB)
Those Who Signed the Covenant
38 [e]Because of all this we make a firm agreement in writing, and on that sealed document are inscribed the names of our officials, our Levites, and our priests.(AC)
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.