Neh 9 | EngLXX | STEP | Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel assembled with fasting,and in sackcloths, and with ashes on their head.

Nehemiah 9

1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel assembled with fasting,and in sackcloths, and with ashes on their head. 2 And the children of Israel separated themselves from every stranger, and stood and confessedtheir sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And they stood in their place, and read in the book of the law of the Lord their god:and they confessedtheir sins to the Lord, and worshipped the Lord their God. 4 And there stood upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jesus, and the sons of Cadmiel, Sechenia theson of Sarabia, sons of Choneni; and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. 5 And the Levites, Jesus and Cadmiel, said, Rise up, bless the Lord our God forever andever: and let them bless your glorious name, and exalt it with all blessing and praise. 6 And Esdras said, You are the only true Lord; you made the heaven, and the heaven of heavens,and all their array, the earth, and all things that are in it, the seas, and all things in them; and youquicken all things, and the hosts of heaven worship you. 7 You are the Lord God, you did choose Abram, and brought him out of the land of the Chaldeans,and gave him the name of Abraam: 8 and you found his heart faithful before you, and did make a covenant with him to giveto him and to his seed the land of the Chananites, and the Chettites, and Amorites, and Pherezites, andJebusites, and Gergesites; and you have confirmed your words, for youare righteous. 9 And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and you heard their cry at the RedSea. 10 And you showed signs and wonders in Egypt, on Pharao and all his servants, and on allthe people of his land: for you know that they behaved insolently against them: and you made yourselfa name, as at this day. 11 And you did cleave the sea before them, and they passed through the midst of the seaon dry land; and you did cast into the deep them that were about to pursue them, as a stone in the mightywater. 12 And you guided them by day by a pillar of cloud, and by night by a pillar of fire, toenlighten for them the way wherein they should walk. 13 Also you came down upon mount Sina, and you spoke to them out of heaven, and gave themright judgments, and laws of truth, ordinances, and good commandments. 14 And you did make known to them your holy sabbath; you did enjoin upon them commandments,and ordinances, and a law, by the hand of your servant Moses. 15 And you gave them bread from heaven for their food, and you brought them forth waterfrom a rock for their thirst; and you bade them go in to inherit the land over which you stretched outyour hand to giveit them. 16 But they and our fathers behaved proudly, and hardened their neck, and did not hearkento your commandments, 17 and refused to listen, and remembered not your wonders which you wrought with them; andthey hardened their neck, and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt: but you, O God,are merciful and compassionate, longsuffering, and abundant in mercy, and you did not forsakethem. 18 And still farther they even made to themselves a molten calf, and said, Theseare the gods that brought us up out of Egypt: and they wrought great provocations. 19 Yet you in your great compassions did not forsake them in the wilderness: you did notturn away from them the pillar of the cloud by day, to guide them in the way, nor the pillar of fire bynight, to enlighten for them the way wherein they should walk. 20 And you gave your good Spirit to instruct them, and you did not withhold your manna fromtheir mouth, and gave them water in their thirst. 21 And you did sustain them forty years in the wilderness; you did not allow anything tofail them: their garments did not wax old, and their feet were not bruised. 22 Moreover, you gave them kingdoms, and did divide nations to them: and they inheritedthe land of Seon king of Esebon, and the land of Og king of Basan. 23 And you did multiply their children as the stars of heaven, and brought them into theland of which you spoke to their fathers; 24 And they inherited it: and you did destroy from before them the dwellers in the landof the Chananites, and you gave into their hands them and their kings, and the nations of the land, todo to them as it pleased them. 25 And they took lofty cities, and inherited houses full of all good things, wells dug,vineyards, and olive yards, and every fruit tree in abundance: so they ate, and were filled, and grewfat, and rioted in your great goodness. 26 But they turned, and revolted from you, and cast your law behind their backs; and theykilled your prophets, who testified against them to turn them back to you, and they wrought great provocations. 27 Then you gave them into the hand of them that afflicted them, and they did afflict them:and they cried to you in the time of their affliction, and you did hear them from your heaven, and inyour great compassions gave them deliverers, and did save them from the hand of them that afflicted them. 28 But when they rested, they did evil again before you: so you left them in the hands oftheir enemies, and they ruled over them: and they cried again to you, and you heardthem from heaven, and did deliver them in your great compassions. 29 And you did testify against them, to bring them back to your law: but they hearkenednot, but sinned against your commandments and your judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them;and they turned their back, and hardened their neck, and heard not. 30 Yet you did bear long with them many years, and did testify to them by your Spirit bythe hand of your prophets: but they hearkened not; so you gave them into the hand of the nations of theland. 31 But you in your many mercies did not appoint them to destruction, and did not forsakethem; for you are strong, and merciful, and pitiful. 32 And now, O our God, the powerful, the great, the mighty, and the terrible, keeping yourcovenant and your mercy, let not all the trouble seem little in your sight which has come upon us, andour kings, and our princes, and our priests, and our prophets, and our fathers, and upon all your people,from the days of the kings of Assur even to this day. 33 But youare righteous in all the things that come upon us; for you have wrought faithfully, but wehave greatly sinned. 34 And our kings, and our princes, and our priests, and our fathers, have not performedyour law, and have not given heed to your commandments, andhave not kept your testimonies which you did testify to them. 35 And they did not serve you in your kingdom, and in your great goodness which you gaveto them, and in the large and fat land which you did furnish before them, and they turned not from theirevil devices. 36 Behold, we are servants this day, andas for the land which you gave to our fathers to eat the fruit of it and the good things ofit, behold, we are servants upon it: 37 and its produceis abundant for the kings whom you did appoint over us because of our sins; and they have dominionover our bodies, and over our cattle, as it pleases them, and we are in great affliction. 38 And in regard to all these circumstances we make a covenant, and writeit, and our princes, our Levites,and our priests, set their seal toit.