Nehemiah 9
The People of Israel Confess Their Sin
Now on the twenty-fourth day of athis month the people of Israel were assembled bwith fasting cand in sackcloth, dand with earth on their heads. 2 aAnd the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 aAnd they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God. 4 On the stairs of the Levites stood aJeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; and they cried 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. aBlessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
6 a“You are the Lord, you alone. bYou have made heaven, cthe heaven of heavens, dwith all their host, bthe earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; eand you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. 7 You are the Lord, the God awho chose Abram and brought him out of bUr of the Chaldeans cand gave him the name Abraham. 8 aYou found his heart faithful before you, band made with him the covenant to give to his offspring cthe land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. dAnd you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.
9 a“And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard btheir cry at the Red Sea, 10 aand performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that bthey acted arrogantly against our fathers. And cyou made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. 11 aAnd you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, bas a stone into mighty waters. 12 By aa 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 aYou came down on Mount Sinai band spoke with them from heaven and gave them cright rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 aand you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. 15 aYou gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and bbrought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you ctold them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.
16 “But they and our fathers aacted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17 They refused to obey aand 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. But you are a God ready to forgive, bgracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18 Even awhen they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ band had committed great blasphemies, 19 you ain your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. bThe pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, bnor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. 20 aYou gave your good Spirit to instruct them band did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 21 aForty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
22 “And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. aSo they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon band the land of Og king of Bashan. 23 You multiplied their children aas the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. 24 aSo the descendants went in and possessed the land, band you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. 25 And they captured afortified cities and ba rich land, and took possession of chouses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled dand became fat and delighted themselves in eyour great goodness.
26 a“Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you band cast your law behind their back cand killed your prophets, who dhad warned them in order to turn them back to you, eand they committed great blasphemies. 27 aTherefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. bAnd 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 csaviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. 28 aBut after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, band many times you delivered them according to your mercies. 29 aAnd you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet bthey acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, cwhich if a person does them, he shall live by them, dand they turned a stubborn shoulder eand stiffened their neck and would not obey. 30 Many years ayou bore with them band warned them cby your Spirit through your prophets. dYet they would not give ear. eTherefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31 Nevertheless, ain your great mercies byou did not make an end of them or forsake them, cfor you are a gracious and merciful God.
32 “Now, therefore, our God, athe great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, bsince the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. 33 aYet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully band we have acted wickedly. 34 Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. 35 Even in their own kingdom, aand amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and arich land that you set before them, bthey did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. 36 Behold, awe are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. 37 aAnd its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.
38 “Because of all this awe make a firm covenant in writing; on bthe sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.