Nehemiah 9:12-21

English Standard Version

¹² By ^(A)a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go. ^13 (B)You came down on Mount Sinai ^(C)and spoke with them from heaven and gave them ^(D)right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, ^14 (E)and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. ^15 (F)You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and ^(G)brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you ^(H)told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

¹⁶ “But they and our fathers ^(I)acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. ¹⁷ They refused to obey ^(J)and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.^[a] But you are a God ready to forgive, ^(K)gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. ¹⁸ Even ^(L)when they had made for themselves a golden^[b] calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ ^(M)and had committed great blasphemies, ¹⁹ you ^(N)in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. ^(O)The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, ^(P)nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. ^20 (Q)You gave your good Spirit to instruct them ^(R)and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. ^21 (S)Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.