Nehemiah 9:4-38

4On 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. 5Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. ^bBlessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

6 ▼

▼Septuagint adds And Ezra said

^d“You are the Lord, you alone. ^eYou have made heaven, ^fthe heaven of heavens, ^gwith all their host, ^hthe earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; ⁱand you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. 7You are the Lord, the God ^jwho chose Abram and brought him out of ^kUr of the Chaldeans ^land gave him the name Abraham. 8 ^mYou found his heart faithful before you, ⁿand made with him the covenant to give to his offspring ^othe land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. ^pAnd you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

9 ^q“And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard ^rtheir cry at the Red Sea, 10 ^sand performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that ^tthey acted arrogantly against our fathers. And ^uyou made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. 11 ^vAnd 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, ^was a stone into mighty waters. 12By ^xa 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 ^yYou came down on Mount Sinai ^zand spoke with them from heaven and gave them ^aaright rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 ^aband you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. 15 ^acYou gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and ^adbrought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you ^aetold them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

16“But they and our fathers ^afacted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17They refused to obey ^agand 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, ^ahgracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18Even ^aiwhen they had made for themselves a golden ▼

▼Hebrew metal

calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ ^akand had committed great blasphemies, 19you ^alin your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. ^amThe pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, ^annor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. 20 ^aoYou gave your good Spirit to instruct them ^apand did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 21 ^aqForty 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. ^arSo they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon ^asand the land of Og king of Bashan. 23You multiplied their children ^atas the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. 24 ^auSo the descendants went in and possessed the land, ^avand 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. 25And they captured ^awfortified cities and ^axa rich land, and took possession of ^ayhouses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled ^azand became fat and delighted themselves in ^bayour great goodness.

26 ^bb“Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you ^bcand cast your law behind their back ^bdand killed your prophets, who ^behad warned them in order to turn them back to you, ^bfand they committed great blasphemies. 27 ^bgTherefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. ^bhAnd 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 ^bisaviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. 28 ^bjBut 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, ^bkand many times you delivered them according to your mercies. 29 ^blAnd you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet ^bmthey acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, ^bnwhich if a person does them, he shall live by them, ^boand they turned a stubborn shoulder ^bpand stiffened their neck and would not obey. 30Many years ^bqyou bore with them ^brand warned them ^bsby your Spirit through your prophets. ^btYet they would not give ear. ^buTherefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31Nevertheless, ^bvin your great mercies ^bwyou did not make an end of them or forsake them, ^bxfor you are a gracious and merciful God.

32“Now, therefore, our God, ^bythe 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, ^bzsince the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. 33 ^caYet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully ^cband we have acted wickedly. 34Our 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. 35Even in their own kingdom, ^ccand amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and ^cdrich land that you set before them, ^cethey did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. 36Behold, ^cfwe 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 ^cgAnd 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 ▼

▼Ch 10:1 in Hebrew

“Because of all this ^ciwe make a firm covenant in writing; on ^cjthe sealed document are the names of ▼

▼Hebrew lacks  the names of

our princes, our Levites, and our priests.