The People Confess Their Sins

9 Now on the twenty-fourth day of athis month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, band with 1dust on their heads. 2 Then cthose of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and dconfessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And they stood up in their place and eread from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.

4 Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the 2stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God. 5 And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said:

“Stand up and bless the Lord your God

Forever and ever!

“Blessed be fYour glorious name,

Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!

6 gYou alone are the Lord;

hYou have made heaven,

iThe heaven of heavens, with jall their host,

The earth and everything on it,

The seas and all that is in them,

And You kpreserve them all.

The host of heaven worships You.

7 “You are the Lord God,

Who chose lAbram,

And brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans,

And gave him the name mAbraham;

8 You found his heart nfaithful before You,

And made a ocovenant with him

To give the land of the Canaanites,

The Hittites, the Amorites,

The Perizzites, the Jebusites,

And the Girgashites—

To give it to his descendants.

You phave performed Your words,

For You are righteous.

9 “You qsaw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt,

And rheard their cry by the Red Sea.

10 You sshowed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,

Against all his servants,

And against all the people of his land.

For You knew that they tacted 3proudly against them.

So You umade a name for Yourself, as it is this day.

11 vAnd You divided the sea before them,

So that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land;

And their persecutors You threw into the deep,

wAs a stone into the mighty waters.

12 Moreover You xled them by day with a cloudy pillar,

And by night with a pillar of fire,

To give them light on the road

Which they should travel.

13 “You ycame down also on Mount Sinai,

And spoke with them from heaven,

And gave them zjust ordinances and true laws,

Good statutes and commandments.

14 You made known to them Your aholy Sabbath,

And commanded them precepts, statutes and laws,

By the hand of Moses Your servant.

15 You bgave them bread from heaven for their hunger,

And cbrought them water out of the rock for their thirst,

And told them to dgo in to possess the land

Which You had 4sworn to give them.

16 “But ethey and our fathers acted 5proudly,

fHardened 6their necks,

And did not heed Your commandments.

17 They refused to obey,

And gthey were not mindful of Your wonders

That You did among them.

But they hardened their necks,

And 7in their rebellion

They appointed ha leader

To return to their bondage.

But You are God,

Ready to pardon,

iGracious and merciful,

Slow to anger,

Abundant in kindness,

And did not forsake them.

18 “Even jwhen they made a molded calf for themselves,

And said, ‘This is your god

That brought you up out of Egypt,’

And worked great provocations,

19 Yet in Your kmanifold mercies

You did not forsake them in the wilderness.

The lpillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day,

To lead them on the road;

Nor the pillar of fire by night,

To show them light,

And the way they should go.

20 You also gave Your mgood Spirit to instruct them,

And did not withhold Your nmanna from their mouth,

And gave them owater for their thirst.

21 pForty years You sustained them in the wilderness;

They lacked nothing;

Their qclothes did not wear out

And their feet did not swell.

22 “Moreover You gave them kingdoms and nations,

And divided them into 8districts.

So they took possession of the land of rSihon,

9The land of the king of Heshbon,

And the land of Og king of Bashan.

23 You also multiplied stheir children as the stars of heaven,

And brought them into the land

Which You had told their fathers

To go in and possess.

24 So tthe 1people went in

And possessed the land;

uYou subdued before them the inhabitants of the land,

The Canaanites,

And gave them into their hands,

With their kings

And the people of the land,

That they might do with them as they wished.

25 And they took strong cities and a vrich land,

And possessed whouses full of all goods,

Cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves,

And 2fruit trees in abundance.

So they ate and were filled and xgrew fat,

And delighted themselves in Your great ygoodness.

26 “Nevertheless they zwere disobedient

And rebelled against You,

aCast Your law behind their backs

And killed Your bprophets, who 3testified against them

To turn them to Yourself;

And they worked great provocations.

27 cTherefore You delivered them into the hand of their enemies,

Who oppressed them;

And in the time of their trouble,

When they cried to You,

You dheard from heaven;

And according to Your abundant mercies

eYou gave them deliverers who saved them

From the hand of their enemies.

28 “But after they had rest,

fThey again did evil before You.

Therefore You left them in the hand of their enemies,

So that they had dominion over them;

Yet when they returned and cried out to You,

You heard from heaven;

And gmany times You delivered them according to Your mercies,

29 And 4testified against them,

That You might bring them back to Your law.

Yet they acted 5proudly,

And did not heed Your commandments,

But sinned against Your judgments,

h‘Which if a man does, he shall live by them.’

And they shrugged their shoulders,

6Stiffened their necks,

And would not hear.

30 Yet for many years You had patience with them,

And 7testified iagainst them by Your Spirit jin Your prophets.

Yet they would not listen;

kTherefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

31 Nevertheless in Your great mercy

lYou did not utterly consume them nor forsake them;

For You are God, gracious and merciful.

32 “Now therefore, our God,

The great, the mmighty, and awesome God,

Who keeps covenant and mercy:

Do not let all the 8trouble seem small before You

That has come upon us,

Our kings and our princes,

Our priests and our prophets,

Our fathers and on all Your people,

nFrom the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.

33 However oYou are just in all that has befallen us;

For You have dealt faithfully,

But pwe have done wickedly.

34 Neither our kings nor our princes,

Our priests nor our fathers,

Have kept Your law,

Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies,

With which You testified against them.

35 For they have qnot served You in their kingdom,

Or in the many good things that You gave them,

Or in the large and rich land which You set before them;

Nor did they turn from their wicked works.

36 “Here rwe are, servants today!

And the land that You gave to our fathers,

To eat its fruit and its bounty,

Here we are, servants in it!

37 And sit yields much increase to the kings

You have set over us,

Because of our sins;

Also they have tdominion over our bodies and our cattle

At their pleasure;

And we are in great distress.

38 “And because of all this,

We umake a sure covenant and write it;

Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests vseal it.”