(A)You alone are the Lord.
(B)You have made the heavens,
The heaven of heavens with all their [a]lights,
The earth and everything that is on it,
The seas and everything that is in them.
(C)You give life to all of them,
And the heavenly [b]lights bow down before You.
You are the Lord God,
(D)Who chose Abram
And brought him out from (E)Ur of the Chaldees,
And (F)gave him the name Abraham.
You found (G)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 [c]descendants.
And You (H)have fulfilled Your [d]promise,
Because You are righteous.

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

16 “But they, our fathers, (X)acted arrogantly;
They [h](Y)became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments.
17 They refused to listen,
And (Z)did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You performed among them;
So they became stubborn and (AA)appointed a leader to return to their slavery in [i]Egypt.
But You are a God (AB)of forgiveness,
Gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger and abounding in [j]mercy;
And You did not abandon them.
18 Even when they (AC)made for themselves
A calf of cast metal
And said, ‘This is your [k]god
Who brought you up from Egypt,’
And committed great blasphemies,
19 (AD)You, in Your great compassion,
Did not abandon them in the wilderness;
(AE)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.
20 Instead, (AF)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.
21 Indeed, for (AG)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.
22 You also gave them kingdoms and peoples,
And allotted them to them as a [l]boundary.
(AH)They took possession of the land of Sihon [m]the king of Heshbon
And the land of Og the king of Bashan.
23 You made their sons as numerous as (AI)the stars of heaven,
And You brought them into the land
Which You had told their fathers to enter and possess.
24 (AJ)So their sons entered and took possession of the land.
And (AK)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 [n]as they desired.
25 (AL)They captured fortified cities and a [o](AM)fertile land.
They took possession of (AN)houses full of every good thing,
Carved out cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,
Fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate, were filled and (AO)put on fat,
And (AP)lived luxuriously in Your great goodness.

26 (AQ)But they became rebellious and revolted against You,
And (AR)threw Your Law behind their backs
And (AS)killed Your prophets who had (AT)admonished them
In order to bring them back to You,
And (AU)they committed great blasphemies.
27 Therefore You (AV)handed them over to their enemies who oppressed them,
But when they cried out to You (AW)in the time of their distress,
You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassion
You (AX)gave them [p]people who saved them from the hand of their enemies.
28 But (AY)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 (AZ)many times You rescued them according to Your compassion,
29 And (BA)admonished them in order to turn them back to Your Law.
Yet (BB)they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances,
(BC)Which, if a person [q]follows them, then he will live by them.
And they [r](BD)turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.
30 (BE)However, You remained patient with them for many years,
And (BF)admonished them by (BG)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 compassion You (BH)did not make an end of them or abandon them,
For You are (BI)a gracious and compassionate God.

32 “Now then, our God, (BJ)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,
(BK)From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day.
33 However, (BL)You are righteous in everything that has happened to us;
For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly.
34 For our kings, our leaders, our priests, and our fathers have not kept Your Law
Or paid attention to Your commandments and Your [s]admonitions with which You have [t]admonished them.
35 But (BM)they, in their own kingdom,
(BN)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.
36 Behold, (BO)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.
37 And (BP)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.

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Footnotes

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

Thou art Jehovah, even thou alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all that is in them, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. Thou art [a]Jehovah the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham, and foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it unto his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous.

And thou sawest the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red Sea, 10 and showedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land; for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them, and didst get thee a name, as it is this day. 11 And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their pursuers thou didst cast into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters. 12 Moreover in a pillar of cloud thou leddest them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way wherein they should go. 13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 and madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them commandments, and statutes, and a law, by Moses thy servant, 15 and gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and commandedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst [b]sworn to give them.

16 But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their neck, and hearkened not to thy commandments, 17 and refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But thou art [c]a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and forsookest them not. 18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; 19 yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of cloud departed not from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go. 20 Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. 21 Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. 22 Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and peoples, [d]which thou didst allot after their portions: so they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. 23 Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land concerning which thou didst say to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it. 24 So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. 25 And they took fortified cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all good things, cisterns hewn out, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit-trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.

26 Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their back, and slew thy prophets that testified against them to turn them again unto thee, and they wrought great provocations. 27 Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries. 28 But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee; therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies, 29 and testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law. Yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thine ordinances (which if a man do, he shall live in them), and [e]withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear. 30 Yet many years didst thou bear with them, and testifiedst against them by thy Spirit through thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31 Nevertheless in thy manifold mercies thou didst not make a full end of them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.

32 Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and lovingkindness, let not all the travail seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day. 33 Howbeit thou art just in all that is come upon us; for thou hast dealt truly, but we have done wickedly; 34 neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies wherewith thou didst testify against them. 35 For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works. 36 Behold, we are servants this day, and as for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it. 37 And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have power over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

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Footnotes

  1. Nehemiah 9:7 Or, O Jehovah
  2. Nehemiah 9:15 Hebrew lifted up thy hand.
  3. Nehemiah 9:17 Hebrew a God of forgivenesses.
  4. Nehemiah 9:22 Or, and didst distribute them into every corner
  5. Nehemiah 9:29 Hebrew they gave a stubborn shoulder.