Nehemiah 9 · נחמיה

Now on the twenty fourth day of this month the children of Yisra᾽el were assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth, and with earth upon them.

And the seed of Yisra᾽el separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.

And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the Tora of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and prostrated themselves before the Lord their God.

Then upon the stairs of the Levites stood Yeshua, and Bani, Qadmi᾽el, Shevanya, Bunni, Sherevya, Bani, and Kenani; and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God.

Then the Levites, Yeshua, and Qadmi᾽el, Bani, Ḥashavneya, Sherevya, Hodiyya, Shevanya, and Petaĥya said, Rise up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting, and let them bless Thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

Thou are Lord alone; Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are in it, the seas, and all that is therein, and Thou dost preserve them all; and the host of heaven worships Thee.

Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Avram, and didst bring him out of Ur of the Kasdim, and didst give him the name of Avraham;

and didst find his heart faithful before Thee, and didst make a covenant with him to give the land of the Kena῾ani, the Ḥitti, the Emori, and the Perizzi, and the Yevusi, and the Girgashi, to give it to his seed, and Thou hast performed Thy words; for Thou art righteous:

and Thou didst see the affliction of our fathers in Miżrayim, and didst hear their cry by the sea of Suf;

and didst show signs and wonders upon Par῾o, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for Thou didst know that they dealt arrogantly against them. So didst Thou make for Thyself a name, as it is this day.

And Thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and Thou didst throw their pursuers into the deeps, like a stone into the mighty waters.

And Thou didst lead them with a pillar of cloud by day; and with a column of fire by night, to give them light on the way wherein they should go.

And Thou didst come down upon mount Sinay, and didst speak with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true Torot, good statutes and commandments:

and Thou didst make known to them Thy holy sabbath, and didst command them precepts, statutes, and Tora, by the hand of Moshe Thy servant:

and Thou didst give them bread from heaven for their hunger, and didst bring forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and didst promise them that they should go in to possess the land which Thou hadst sworn to give them.

But they and our fathers dealt arrogantly, and hardened their necks, and did not hearken to Thy commandments.

And they refused to obey; nor were they mindful of Thy wonders that Thou didst do among them; but they hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and great in love; so Thou didst not forsake them.

Even when they had made for themselves a molten calf, and had said, This is thy God who brought thee up out of Miżrayim, and had committed great blasphemies;

yet Thou in Thy manifold mercies didst not forsake them in the wilderness: the pillar of cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; nor did the column of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go.

And Thou didst give Thy good spirit to instruct them, and didst not withhold Thy manna from their mouth, and didst give them water for their thirst.

For forty years Thou didst sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes did not grow old, and their feet did not swell.

And Thou didst give them kingdoms and nations, and didst allot it to them piecemeal: so that they possessed the land of Siĥon, and the land of the king of Ḥeshbon, and the land of ῾Og king of Bashan.

Their children also Thou didst multiply like the stars of heaven, and didst bring them into the land, concerning which Thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.

So the children went in and possessed the land, and Thou didst subdue before them the inhabitants of the land, the Kena῾anim, and didst give them into their hands, with their kings, and the peoples of the land, so that they might do with them as they pleased.

And they took fortified cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells already hewn, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were sated, and became fat, and delighted themselves in Thy great bounty.

Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against Thee, and cast Thy Tora behind their backs, and slew Thy prophets who forewarned them to turn them to Thee, and they committed great blasphemies.

Therefore Thou didst deliver them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried to Thee, Thou didst hear them from heaven; and according to Thy manifold mercies Thou didst give them rescuers, who rescued them out of the hand of their enemies.

But after they had rest, they did evil again before Thee: therefore Thou didst leave them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried to Thee, Thou didst hear them from heaven; and many times didst Thou deliver them according to thy mercies;

and didst forewarn them, that Thou mightest bring them back to Thy Tora: yet they acted presumptuously, and hearkened not to Thy commandments, but sinned against Thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live by them;) and they turned a stubborn shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.

Yet many years didst Thou bear with them, and didst forewarn them by Thy spirit in Thy prophets: yet they would not give ear: therefore Thou didst give them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

Yet for Thy great mercies’ sake Thou didst not utterly consume them, or forsake them; for Thou art a gracious and merciful God.

Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and troth, let not all the trouble seem little before Thee, that has 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 Ashshur to this day.

Yet Thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for Thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:

nor have our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers, kept Thy Tora, or hearkened to Thy commandments and Thy testimonies, with which Thou didst testify against them.

For they have not served Thee in their kingdom, and in Thy great bounty that Thou didst give them, and in the large and fat land which Thou didst give before them, nor did they turn from their wicked works.

Behold, we are servants this day, and as for the land that Thou didst give to our fathers to eat its fruit and its bounty, behold, we are servants in it;

and its rich yield goes to 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.