Israel Confesses Their Sins
Now on the twenty-fourth day of athis month the sons of Israel gathered bwith fasting, in sackcloth and with cdirt upon them. 2 The aseed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and bconfessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And athey rose up in their place and read from the book of the law of Yahweh their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they were confessing and worshiping Yahweh their God. 4 aThen Jeshua rose up on the Levites’ platform, along with Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and they cried out with a loud voice to Yahweh their God.
5 And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Rise up, bless Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting!
O may Your glorious name be blessed
And exalted above all blessing and praise!
6 aYou alone are Yahweh.
bYou have made the heavens,
The heaven of heavens with all their host,
The earth and all that is on it,
The seas and all that is in them.
cYou give life to all of them
And the heavenly host bows down to You.
7 You are Yahweh God,
aWho chose Abram
And brought him out from bUr of the Chaldees,
And cgave him the name Abraham.
8 You found ahis heart faithful before You,
And cut 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 seed.
And You bhave established Your promise,
For You are righteous.
9 “aYou saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt,
And bheard their cry by the Red Sea.
10 Then You performed asigns and wonders against Pharaoh,
Against all his servants and all the people of his land;
For You knew that bthey acted presumptuously toward them,
And cmade a name for Yourself as it is this day.
11 aYou split the sea before them,
So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry land;
And btheir pursuers You cast into the depths,
Like a stone into mighty waters.
12 And with a pillar of cloud aYou 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 aYou came down on Mount Sinai,
And bspoke with them from heaven;
You gave them cupright judgments and true laws,
Good statutes and commandments.
14 So You made known to them aYour holy sabbath,
And commanded to them commandments, statutes and law,
By the hand of Your servant Moses.
15 You agave bread from heaven for them for their hunger,
You bbrought forth water from a rock for them for their thirst,
And You csaid to them to enter in order to possess
The land which You swore to give them.
16 “But they, our fathers, aacted presumptuously;
They bbecame stiff‑necked and would not listen to Your commandments.
17 They refused to listen,
And adid not remember Your wondrous deeds which You did among them;
So they became stiff‑necked and bgave themselves a chief to return to their slavery in Egypt.
But You are a God cof lavish forgiveness,
Gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness;
And You did not forsake them.
18 Even when they amade for themselves
A molten calf
And said, ‘This is your God
Who brought you up from Egypt,’
And committed great blasphemies,
19 aBut You, in Your abundant compassion,
Did not forsake them in the wilderness;
bThe pillar of cloud did not depart from them by day,
To lead them on their way,
Nor the pillar of fire by night,
To light for them the way in which they were to go.
20 aYou gave Your good Spirit to give them insight,
Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth,
And You gave them water for their thirst.
21 Indeed, aforty years You sustained them in the wilderness, and they did not lack;
Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell.
22 You also gave them kingdoms and peoples,
And apportioned them to them as a boundary.
aThey took possession of the land of Sihon the king of Heshbon
And the land of Og the king of Bashan.
23 You made their sons numerous as athe stars of heaven,
And You brought them into the land
Which You had said for their fathers to enter and possess.
24 aSo their sons entered and possessed the land.
And bYou subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites,
And You gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land,
To do with them according to their desire.
25 aThey captured fortified cities and a brich land.
They took possession of chouses full of every good thing,
Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,
Trees for food in abundance.
So they ate, were filled, and dgrew fat,
And ereveled in Your great goodness.
26 “aBut they became disobedient and rebelled against You,
And bcast Your law behind their backs
And ckilled Your prophets who had dtestified to them
So that they might return to You,
And ethey committed great blasphemies.
27 Therefore You agave them into the hand of the ones who distressed them, and they afflicted them with distress,
But bat the time of their distress they cried to You,
And You listened from heaven, and according to Your abundant compassion
You cgave them saviors and they saved them from the hand of the ones that distressed them.
28 But aas soon as they had rest, they returned to do evil before You;
Therefore You forsook them in the hand of their enemies, so they had dominion over them.
Then they returned and cried to You. And You listened from heaven,
And bmany times You delivered them according to Your compassion,
29 And atestified to them in order to turn them back to Your law.
Yet bthey acted presumptuously and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your judgments,
By cwhich if a man does them, he shall live.
And they dgave a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.
30 aHowever, You bore with them for many years,
And btestified to them by cYour Spirit by the hand of Your prophets,
Yet they would not give ear.
So You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
31 Nevertheless, in Your abundant compassion You adid not make a complete destruction of them or forsake them,
For You are ba gracious and compassionate God.
32 “So now, our God, athe great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness,
Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You,
Which has found us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all Your people,
bFrom the days of the kings of Assyria to this day.
33 However, aYou are righteous in all that has come upon us;
For You have dealt in truth, but we have acted wickedly.
34 Now our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers did not do Your law
Or pay attention to Your commandments and Your testimonies with which You testified against them.
35 But athey, in their own kingdom,
bWith Your abundant goodness which You gave them,
With the broad and rich land which You set before them,
Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds.
36 Behold, awe are slaves today,
And as to the land which You gave to our fathers to eat of its fruit and its goodness,
Behold, we are slaves in it.
37 aIts abundant produce is for the kings
Whom You have put over us because of our sins;
They also rule over our bodies
And over our cattle according to their desire,
So we are in great distress.
An Agreement Is Cut
38 “Now because of all this
aWe are cutting an agreement in writing;
And on the bsealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.”