Nehemiah 9
New English Translation
The People Acknowledge Their Sin before God
9 On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust. 2 Those truly of Israelite descent[a] separated from all the foreigners,[b] standing and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.[c] 3 For one-fourth of the day they stood in their place and read from the book of the law of the Lord their God, and for another fourth they were confessing their sins[d] and worshiping the Lord their God. 4 Then the Levites—Jeshua, Binnui,[e] Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Kenani—stood on the steps and called out loudly[f] to the Lord their God. 5 The Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God!”
“May you be blessed, O Lord our God, from age to age.[g] May your glorious name[h] be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise. 6 You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens,[i] along with all their multitude of stars,[j] the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You impart life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
7 “You are the Lord God who chose Abram and brought him forth from Ur of the Chaldeans. You changed his name to Abraham. 8 When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a[k] covenant with him to give his descendants[l] the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise,[m] for you are righteous.
9 “You saw the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt, and you heard their cry at the Red Sea.[n] 10 You performed awesome signs[o] against Pharaoh, against his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that the Egyptians[p] had acted presumptuously[q] against them. You made for yourself a name that is celebrated to this day. 11 You split the sea before them, and they crossed through[r] the sea on dry ground. But you threw their pursuers[s] into the depths, like a stone into surging[t] waters. 12 You guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illumine for them the path they were to travel.
13 “You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You provided them with just judgments, true laws, and good statutes and commandments. 14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath; you issued commandments, statutes, and laws to them through[u] Moses your servant. 15 You provided bread from heaven for them in their time of hunger, and you brought forth water from the rock for them in their time of thirst. You told them to enter in order to possess the land that you had sworn[v] to give them.
16 “But they—our ancestors[w]—behaved presumptuously; they rebelled[x] and did not obey your commandments. 17 They refused to obey and did not recall your miracles that you had performed among them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to return to their bondage in Egypt.[y] But you are a God of forgiveness, merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and unfailing in your loyal love.[z] You did not abandon them, 18 even when they made a cast image of a calf for themselves and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up from Egypt,’ or when they committed atrocious[aa] blasphemies.
19 “Due to your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not stop guiding them in the path by day,[ab] nor did the pillar of fire stop illuminating for them by night the path on which they should travel. 20 You imparted your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths; you provided water for their thirst. 21 For forty years you sustained them. Even in the wilderness they never lacked anything. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
22 “You gave them kingdoms and peoples, and you allocated them to every corner of the land.[ac] They inherited the land of King Sihon of Heshbon[ad] and the land of King Og of Bashan. 23 You multiplied their descendants like the stars of the sky. You brought them to the land you had told their ancestors to enter in order to possess. 24 Their descendants[ae] entered and possessed the land. You subdued before them the Canaanites who were the inhabitants of the land. You delivered them into their hand, together with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with as they pleased. 25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land. They took possession of houses full of all sorts of good things—wells previously dug, vineyards, olive trees, and fruit trees in abundance. They ate until they were full[af] and grew fat. They enjoyed to the full your great goodness.
26 “Nonetheless they grew disobedient and rebelled against you; they disregarded your law.[ag] They killed your prophets who had solemnly admonished them in order to cause them to return to you. They committed atrocious blasphemies. 27 Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who oppressed them. But in the time of their distress they called to you, and you heard from heaven. In your abundant compassion you provided them with deliverers to rescue them from[ah] their adversaries.
28 “Then, when they were at rest again, they went back to doing evil before you. Then you abandoned them to[ai] their enemies, and they gained dominion over them. When they again cried out to you, in your compassion you heard from heaven and rescued them time and again. 29 And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances—those by which an individual, if he obeys them,[aj] will live. They boldly turned from you;[ak] they rebelled[al] and did not obey. 30 You prolonged your kindness[am] with them for many years, and you solemnly admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they paid no attention,[an] so you delivered them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.[ao] 31 However, due to your abundant mercy you did not do away with them altogether; you did not abandon them. For you are a merciful and compassionate God.
32 “So now, our God—the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity[ap]—do not regard as inconsequential[aq] all the hardship that has befallen us—our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people—from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day. 33 You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully.[ar] It is we who have been in the wrong! 34 Our kings, our leaders, our priests, and our ancestors have not kept your law. They have not paid attention to your commandments or your testimonies by which you have solemnly admonished them. 35 Even when they were in their kingdom and benefiting from your incredible[as] goodness that you had lavished[at] on them in the spacious and fertile land you had set[au] before them, they did not serve you, nor did they turn from their evil practices.
36 “So today we are slaves! In the very land you gave to our ancestors to eat its fruit and to enjoy[av] its good things—we are slaves. 37 Its abundant produce goes to the kings you have placed over us due to our sins. They rule over our bodies and our livestock as they see fit,[aw] and we are in great distress!
The People Pledge to be Faithful
38 (10:1)[ax] “Because of all this we are entering into[ay] a binding covenant in written form;[az] our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have affixed their names[ba] on the sealed document.”
Footnotes
- Nehemiah 9:2 tn Heb “the seed of Israel.”
- Nehemiah 9:2 tn Heb “sons of a foreigner.”
- Nehemiah 9:2 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 9, 16, 23, 32, 34, 36).
- Nehemiah 9:3 tn Heb “confessing.” The words “their sins” are not present in the Hebrew text of v. 3, but are clearly implied here because they are explicitly stated in v. 2.
- Nehemiah 9:4 tc Heb “Bani.” The translation reads “Binnui” (so also NAB) rather than the MT reading “Bani.” Otherwise there are two individuals with the same name in this verse. The name “Binnui” appears, for example, in Neh 10:10.
- Nehemiah 9:4 tn Heb “in a great voice.”
- Nehemiah 9:5 tc The MT reads here only “from age to age,” without the preceding words “May you be blessed, O Lord our God” which are included in the present translation. But apparently something has dropped out of the text. This phrase occurs elsewhere in the OT as a description of the Lord (see Pss 41:13; 106:48), and it seems best to understand it here in that light. The LXX adds “And Ezra said” at the beginning of v. 6 as a transition: “And Ezra said, ‘You alone are the Lord.” Without this addition (which is not included by most modern English translations) the speakers of vv. 9:5b-10:1 continue to be the Levites of v. 5a.
- Nehemiah 9:5 tn Heb “the name of your glory.”
- Nehemiah 9:6 tn Heb “the heavens of the heavens.”
- Nehemiah 9:6 tn Heb “all their host.”
- Nehemiah 9:8 tn Heb “the” (so NAB).
- Nehemiah 9:8 tn Heb “seed.”
- Nehemiah 9:8 tn Heb “your words.”
- Nehemiah 9:9 tn Heb “the Sea of Reeds.” Traditionally this is identified as the Red Sea, and the modern designation has been used in the translation for clarity.
- Nehemiah 9:10 tn Heb “signs and wonders.” This phrase is a hendiadys. The second noun functions adjectivally, while the first noun retains its full nominal sense: “awesome signs” or “miraculous signs.”
- Nehemiah 9:10 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Nehemiah 9:10 tn Or “arrogantly” (so NASB); NRSV “insolently.”
- Nehemiah 9:11 tn Heb “in the midst of.”
- Nehemiah 9:11 tn Heb “those who pursued them.”
- Nehemiah 9:11 tn Heb “mighty.”
- Nehemiah 9:14 tn Heb “by the hand of.”
- Nehemiah 9:15 tn Heb “had lifted your hand.”
- Nehemiah 9:16 tn Heb “and our fathers.” The ו (vav) is explicative.
- Nehemiah 9:16 tn Heb “they stiffened their neck” (so also in the following verse).
- Nehemiah 9:17 tc The present translation follows a few medieval Hebrew mss and the LXX in reading בְּמִצְרָיִם (bemitsrayim, “in Egypt”; so also NAB, NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT) rather than the MT reading בְּמִרְיָם (bemiryam, “in their rebellion”).
- Nehemiah 9:17 tc The translation follows the Qere reading חֶסֶד (khesed, “loyal love”) rather than the Kethib reading וְחֶסֶד (vekhesed, “and loyal love”) of the MT.
- Nehemiah 9:18 tn Heb “great.”
- Nehemiah 9:19 tn Heb “did not turn from them by day to guide them in the path.”
- Nehemiah 9:22 tn The words “of the land” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Nehemiah 9:22 tc Most Hebrew mss read “the land of Sihon and the land of the king of Heshbon.” The present translation (along with NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, CEV, NLT) follows the reading of one Hebrew ms, the LXX, and the Vulgate.
- Nehemiah 9:24 tn Heb “the sons.”
- Nehemiah 9:25 tn Heb “they ate and were sated.” This expression is a hendiadys. The first verb retains its full verbal sense, while the second functions adverbially: “they ate and were filled” = “they ate until they were full.”
- Nehemiah 9:26 tn Heb “they cast your law behind their backs.”
- Nehemiah 9:27 tn Heb “from the hand of” (so NASB, NIV); NAB “from the power of.”
- Nehemiah 9:28 tn Heb “in the hand of” (so KJV, ASV); NAB “to the power of.”
- Nehemiah 9:29 tn Heb “if a man keep.” See note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.
- Nehemiah 9:29 tn Heb “they gave a stubborn shoulder.”
- Nehemiah 9:29 tn Heb “they stiffened their neck.”
- Nehemiah 9:30 tn The Hebrew expression here is elliptical. The words “your kindness” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Nehemiah 9:30 tn Heb “did not give ear to.”
- Nehemiah 9:30 tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”
- Nehemiah 9:32 tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys. The second noun retains its full nominal sense, while the first functions adjectivally: “the covenant and loyalty” = covenant fidelity.
- Nehemiah 9:32 tn Heb “do not let it seem small in your sight.”
- Nehemiah 9:33 tn Heb “you have done truth.”
- Nehemiah 9:35 tn Heb “great.”
- Nehemiah 9:35 tn Heb “given them.”
- Nehemiah 9:35 tn Heb “given.”
- Nehemiah 9:36 tn The expression “to enjoy” is not included in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Nehemiah 9:37 tn Heb “according to their desire.”
- Nehemiah 9:38 sn Beginning with 9:38, the verse numbers through 10:39 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:38 ET = 10:1 HT, 10:1 ET = 10:2 HT, 10:2 ET = 10:3 HT, etc., through 10:39 ET = 10:40 HT. Beginning with 11:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
- Nehemiah 9:38 tn Heb “we are cutting.”
- Nehemiah 9:38 tn Heb “and writing.”
- Nehemiah 9:38 tn Heb “our leaders, our Levites, and our priests on the sealed document.” The Hebrew text is elliptical here; the words “have affixed their names” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons. Cf. v. 2.
Nehemiah 9
The Voice
9 Later, on the 24th day of that same month, the Israelites came back together. Everyone fasted and wore sackcloth to show their repentance. They covered their heads with dust to show their mourning. 2 They also separated themselves from the foreigners who were living among them. Then the Israelites stood up and confessed their sins and the sins of their dead ancestors. 3 For three hours[a] they stood in their designated places and read from the book of the Eternal’s law. Following that they confessed and worshiped the Eternal One, their True God, for another three hours. 4 On the stairs above them stood the Levites: Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani. With loud cries they called out to the Eternal, their True God.
5 The same Levites (Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah) instructed the people.
Levites: Stand up! Worship the Eternal who is your God who exists from everlasting to everlasting.
May Your glorious name be praised—
even lifted up beyond all blessing and praise.
6 You are the Eternal, the only One.
The skies are Your work alone—
You made the heavens above those skies
and the stars that fill them.
You made the earth and everything upon it,
the seas and all that lives within their depths.
Your creation lives and is sustained by You,
and those who dwell in the heavens
Fall down before You and worship.
7 You are the Eternal God.
You chose Abram and drew him out from Ur of the Chaldees.
You changed his name to Abraham.
8 In him You found a true heart,
a heart devoted to You.
With him You made a covenant that
the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites,
The Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites
would belong to him and to his descendants.
And what You have promised, You have done
because You are righteous.
9 When our ancestors suffered in Egypt,
You saw their misery.
When they were trapped at the edge of the Red Sea,
You heard their cries for help.
10-11 Pharaoh and all who served him
and all his subjects were completely overwhelmed
by the signs and wonders You performed.
In their arrogance, they opposed Your people, our ancestors.
So You opened the sea, and Your people walked through the water on dry ground,
and no one has forgotten the name of the One who did it to this day.
But the Egyptians pursued our ancestors into the sea,
You threw those running after our ancestors into the depths of the sea,
like a heavy rock hurled into water.
12 During the day, You led them by a cloud shaped like a pillar.
During the night, a pillar of fire lit the way, showing them where to go.
13 You led them to Mount Sinai;
and when they arrived, You came down from heaven and spoke to them.
You gave them right decrees and good laws,
beneficial statutes and commands revealing Your will for them.
14 You revealed to Your people Your sacred Sabbath
and how to keep it holy.
Through Your servant Moses You taught them how to live,
giving commands and decrees.
15 When Your people were hungry,
You gave them food from heaven.
When they were thirsty, You made water flow out of a rock.
You told them to enter the land You promised them.
You told them to enter and take possession of it.
16-17 But our ancestors resisted following You.
They were arrogant. They were proud.
They refused to obey Your commands, plugging their ears.
Knowing what You had done for them in the past,
They willfully forgot it in the present. Stubborn. Rebellious.
Instead of following You,
They appointed their own leader
to take them back to the land of their oppression—to Egypt!
But You are not like us, God.
You are filled with love, compassion, and forgiveness.
You endure much with your anger and display Your loyal love;
You did not abandon them,
18 Even when they molded a cow out of gold for themselves, saying,
“This is the god who rescued us from Egypt.”
They committed horrible atrocities.
19 In Your incomprehensible compassion,
You did not abandon them in the wilderness.
The pillar of cloud didn’t evaporate;
day by day it guided them.
The pillar of fire was not extinguished;
night by night it led them along the right paths.
20 In Your generosity, You gave them Your good Spirit to teach them.
Not once did You hold back manna for their mouths
or drink for their thirst.
21 In 40 years of living in the wilderness,
You provided for every need they had:
Their clothing did not wear out,
nor did their feet swell from endless walking.
22 You gave them kingdoms and peoples
that they could divide up to the corners of their territory:
The country of Sihon (king of Hesbon)
and the territory of Og (king of Bashan).
23 The children of Israel multiplied
and rivaled the stars in the sky.
You brought them to the very land
You promised Abraham’s
His descendants would come into and possess.
24 Into the land they went, and it became theirs.
For our forefathers You made sure even the Canaanites there were powerless.
You subdued everything and everyone to their power—
land, kings, and people—to do with as they pleased.
25 They overwhelmed strong and secure cities.
They overtook fertile, productive land.
They claimed well-furnished houses, wells that were already dug,
vineyards, olive groves, and orchards filled with fruit.
They ate their fill. They grew fat.
They basked in Your generosity and goodness.
26 Even so, again they chose to defy You.
They rebelled.
They abandoned Your law.
They killed the prophets who spoke Your word,
who pleaded with them to return to You, God.
And again, atrocities multiplied on top of atrocities.
27 So You surrendered them to their enemies,
and Your people suffered at their hands.
And in pain, they cried out to You.
From heaven You listened,
And in keeping with Your changeless and compassionate character,
You sent them liberators,
Saviors who rescued them from their cruel adversaries.
28 As soon as they were at peace, they began to wander and abandoned You
and did evil things, so You abandoned them to their enemies.
Thus, once more, You allowed them to be conquered.
Somehow Your mercy is inexhaustible.
Once more You listened to them when they cried to You in heaven for help.
Over and over and over You intervened and saved Your people.
29 You also warned them to return to Your ways
and follow the laws You have given.
They arrogantly violated the very commands,
Which if they would obey them
then they would live by them.
Stubborn, they turned away from You,
tensed their necks, and stopped listening.
30 Year after year, Your patience endured.
Your Spirit animated prophets, and they spoke many warnings to them.
In not listening and turning away from the prophets,
they turned directly into their advancing enemies.
31 It was because of Your great mercy
that they were not completely annihilated or forsaken.
You are a grace-filled and mercy-laden God;
32 Our True God—You who are great, majestic, and awesome,
You who always keep Your covenant of loyal love—
do not overlook the trouble we are facing here today.
This trouble confronts us all:
our kings and our princes,
our priests and our prophets, our ancestors and all of Your people—
From the time of the Assyrian kings until today.
33 You are righteous in all that You have done to us.
You have faithfully upheld Your part of the covenant,
but we have acted with evil.
34 None of our kings, princes, priests, or ancestors followed Your law.
They actively rejected Your commands and ignored the many warnings You sent.
35 Even when they had everything—
when they ruled in their own land without worry according to Your great generosity,
When they relaxed into the spacious and fertile land
You set before them—
Even then they refused to serve You
or turn away from their wicked ways.
36 And we are once again slaves in the bountiful land
You gave to our ancestors for our pleasure and enjoyment—
we are slaves in our own land!
37 We have sown sin, and the labor we provide on this land feeds the kings You have placed over us.
Our bodies and our beasts do not belong to us,
But to them, and they do with us what they want.
Our distress is great.
38 In light of it, we are writing a covenantal agreement.
It is sealed with the names of our leaders, our Levites, and our priests.
Footnotes
- 9:3 Literally, one-fourth of the day (daylight hours)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.