Neh 9:1-23 | ESV | STEP | Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth , and with earth on their heads.

Nehemiah 9:1-23

The People of Israel Confess Their Sin

1 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 ^eAnd the Israelites ^{▼▼Hebrew the offspring of Israel} separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 ^gAnd 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 ^hJeshua, 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. ⁱBlessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

6 ^{▼▼Septuagint adds And Ezra said} ^k“You are the Lord, you alone. ^lYou have made heaven, ^mthe heaven of heavens, ⁿwith all their host, ^othe earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; ^pand you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. 7 You are the Lord, the God ^qwho chose Abram and brought him out of ^rUr of the Chaldeans ^sand gave him the name Abraham. 8 ^tYou found his heart faithful before you, ^uand made with him the covenant to give to his offspring ^vthe land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. ^wAnd you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

9 ^x“And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard ^ytheir cry at the Red Sea, 10 ^zand performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that ^aathey acted arrogantly against our fathers. And ^abyou made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. 11 ^acAnd 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, ^adas a stone into mighty waters. 12 By ^aea 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 ^afYou came down on Mount Sinai ^agand spoke with them from heaven and gave them ^ahright rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 ^aiand you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. 15 ^ajYou gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and ^akbrought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you ^altold them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

16 “But they and our fathers ^amacted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17 They refused to obey ^anand 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, ^aogracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18 Even ^apwhen they had made for themselves a golden ^{▼▼Hebrew metal} calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ ^arand had committed great blasphemies, 19 you ^asin your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. ^atThe pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, ^aunor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. 20 ^avYou gave your good Spirit to instruct them ^awand did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 21 ^axForty 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. ^aySo they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon ^azand the land of Og king of Bashan. 23 You multiplied their children ^baas the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess.