Neh 9:4-38, Eze 20:5-26 | ESV | STEP | On the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua , Bani , Kadmiel , Shebaniah , Bunni , Sherebiah , Bani , and Chenani ; and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God .

4 On 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. 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. ^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. 7 You 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. 12 By ^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. 17 They 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. 18 Even ^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, 19 you ^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. 23 You 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. 25 And 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. 30 Many 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. 31 Nevertheless, ^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. 34 Our 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. 35 Even 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. 36 Behold, ^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.

Ezekiel 20:5-26

5 and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: ^clOn the day when I chose Israel, ^cmI swore ^{▼▼Hebrew I lifted my hand; twice in this verse; also verses 6, 15, 23, 28, 42} to the offspring of the house of Jacob, ^comaking myself known to them in the land of Egypt; ^cpI swore to them, saying, I am the Lord your God. 6 On that day I swore to them that ^cqI would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land ^crflowing with milk and honey, ^csthe most glorious of all lands. 7 And I said to them, ' ^ctCast away the detestable things ^cuyour eyes feast on, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with ^cvthe idols of Egypt; ^cwI am the Lord your God.' 8 ^cxBut they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me. ^cyNone of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.

“Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them ^czand spend my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 9 ^daBut I acted ^dbfor the sake of my name, ^dcthat it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, ^ddin whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt. 10 ^deSo I led them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. 11 ^dfI gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, ^dgby which, if a person does them, he shall live. 12 Moreover, I gave them ^dhmy Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, ^dithat they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. 13 ^djBut the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. ^dkThey did not walk in my statutes but rejected my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; ^dland my Sabbaths they greatly profaned.

^dm“Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to make a full end of them. 14 But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, ^dnin whose sight I had brought them out. 15 Moreover, ^doI swore to them in the wilderness ^dpthat I would not bring them into the land that I had given them, a land ^dqflowing with milk and honey, ^drthe most glorious of all lands, 16 because they rejected my rules and did not walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths; ^dsfor their heart went after their idols. 17 Nevertheless, ^dtmy eye spared them, and I did not destroy them or ^dumake a full end of them in the wilderness.

18 “And I said to ^dvtheir children in the wilderness, 'Do not walk ^dwin the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, ^dxnor defile yourselves with their idols. 19 ^dyI am the Lord your God; ^dzwalk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules, 20 and ^eakeep my Sabbaths holy that ^ebthey may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.' 21 ^ecBut the children ^edrebelled against me. ^eeThey did not walk in my statutes and were not careful to obey my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; they profaned my Sabbaths.

^ef“Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness. 22 ^egBut I withheld my hand ^ehand acted for the sake of my name, ^eithat it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out. 23 ^ejMoreover, ^ekI swore to them in the wilderness ^elthat I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries, 24 because they had not obeyed my rules, but had rejected my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, ^emand their eyes were set on their fathers’ idols. 25 ^enMoreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life, 26 and I defiled them through ^eotheir very gifts ^epin their offering up all their firstborn, that I might devastate them. I did it ^eqthat they might know that I am the Lord.