Nehemiah 9:9–21

⁹“You saw the suffering of our ancestors in Egypt;^x you heard their cry at the Red Sea.^{by 10}You sent signs^z and wonders^a against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name^b for yourself,^c which remains to this day. ¹¹You divided the sea before them,^d so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths,^e like a stone into mighty waters.^{f 12}By day^g you led^h them with a pillar of cloud,ⁱ and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take.

¹³“You came down on Mount Sinai;^j you spoke^k to them from heaven.^l You gave them regulations and laws that are just^m and right, and decrees and commands that are good.^{n 14}You made known to them your holy Sabbath^o and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses. ¹⁵In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven^p and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock;^q you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand^r to give them.^s

¹⁶“But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked,^t and they did not obey your commands.^{u 17}They refused to listen and failed to remember^v the miracles^w you performed among them. They became stiff-necked^x and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery.^y But you are a forgiving God,^z gracious and compassionate,^a slow to anger^b and abounding in love.^c Therefore you did not desert them,^{d 18}even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf^e and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.^f

¹⁹“Because of your great compassion you did not abandon^g them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud^h did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. ²⁰You gave your good Spiritⁱ to instruct^j them. You did not withhold your manna^k from their mouths, and you gave them water^l for their thirst. ²¹For forty years^m you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing,ⁿ their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.^o