Nehemiah 9:17–31

17 They refused to listen and failed to rememberv the miraclesw you performed among them. They became stiff-neckedx 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 angerb and abounding in love.c Therefore you did not desert them,d 18 even when they cast for themselves an image of a calfe 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 abandong them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloudh 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. 20 You gave your good Spiriti to instructj them. You did not withhold your mannak from their mouths, and you gave them waterl for their thirst. 21 For forty yearsm you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing,n their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.o

22 “You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of Sihonc p king of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan.q 23 You made their children as numerous as the stars in the sky,r and you brought them into the land that you told their parents to enter and possess. 24 Their children went in and took possession of the land.s You subduedt before them the Canaanites, who lived in the land; you gave the Canaanites into their hands, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with them as they pleased. 25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land;u they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things,v wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished;w they reveled in your great goodness.x

26 “But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they turned their backs on your law.y They killedz your prophets,a who had warned them in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies.b 27 So you delivered them into the hands of their enemies,c who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassiond you gave them deliverers,e who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.

28 “But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight.f Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassiong you delivered themh time after time.

29 “You warnedi them in order to turn them back to your law, but they became arrogantj and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, of which you said, ‘The person who obeys them will live by them.’k Stubbornly they turned their backsl on you, became stiff-neckedm and refused to listen.n 30 For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you warned them through your prophets.o Yet they paid no attention, so you gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.p 31 But in your great mercy you did not put an endq to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and mercifulr God.