Nehemiah 9:6-37

61You alone are the Lord. 2You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. 3You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You.7You are the Lord God, 4Who chose Abram And brought him out from 5Ur of the Chaldees, And 6gave him the name Abraham.8You found 7his heart faithful before You, And made a covenant with him To give him the land of the Canaanite, Of the Hittite and the Amorite, Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite and the Girgashite-- To give it to his 8descendants. And You 9have fulfilled Your promise, For You are righteous.

9“10You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, And 11heard their cry by the 12Red Sea.10Then You performed 13signs and wonders against Pharaoh, Against all his servants and all the people of his land; For You knew that 14they acted arrogantly toward them, And 15made a name for Yourself as it is this day.1116You divided the sea before them, So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground; And 17their pursuers You hurled into the depths, Like a stone into 18raging waters.12And with a pillar of cloud 19You led them by day, And with a pillar of fire by night To light for them the way In which they were to go.13Then 20You came down on Mount Sinai, And 21spoke with them from heaven; You gave them 22just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments.14So You made known to them 23Your holy sabbath, And laid down for them commandments, statutes and law, Through Your servant Moses.15You 24provided bread from heaven for them for their hunger, You 25brought forth water from a rock for them for their thirst, And You 26told them to enter in order to possess The land which You 27swore to give them.

16“But they, our fathers, 28acted arrogantly; They 2930became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments.17They refused to listen, And 31did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them; So they became stubborn and 32appointed a leader to return to their slavery 33in Egypt. But You are a God 34of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; And You did not forsake them.18Even when they 35made for themselves A calf of molten metal And said, ‘This is your God Who brought you up from Egypt,’ And committed great 36blasphemies,1937You, in Your great compassion, Did not forsake them in the wilderness; 38The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, To guide them on their way, Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go.2039You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, And You gave them water for their thirst.21Indeed, 40forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not in want; Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell.22You also gave them kingdoms and peoples, And allotted them to them as a 41boundary. 42They took possession of the land of Sihon 43the king of Heshbon And the land of Og the king of Bashan.23You made their sons numerous as 44the stars of heaven, And You brought them into the land Which You had told their fathers to enter and possess.2445So their sons entered and possessed the land. And 46You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, And You gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, To do with them 47as they desired.2548They captured fortified cities and a 4950fertile land. They took possession of 51houses full of every good thing, Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves, Fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were filled and 52grew fat, And 53reveled in Your great goodness.

26“54But they became disobedient and rebelled against You, And 55cast Your law behind their backs And 56killed Your prophets who had 57admonished them So that they might return to You, And 58they committed great 59blasphemies.27Therefore You 60delivered them into the hand of their oppressors who oppressed them, But when they cried to You 61in the time of their distress, You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassion You 62gave them deliverers who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors.28But 63as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before You; Therefore You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them. When they cried again to You, You heard from heaven, And 64many times You rescued them according to Your compassion,29And 65admonished them in order to turn them back to Your law. Yet 66they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances, By 67which if a man observes them he shall live. And they 6869turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.3070However, You bore with them for many years, And 71admonished them by 72Your Spirit through Your prophets, Yet they would not give ear. Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.31Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You 73did not make an end of them or forsake them, For You are 74a gracious and compassionate God.

32“Now therefore, our God, 75the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness, Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You, Which has come upon us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers and on all Your people, 76From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day.33However, 77You are just in all that has come upon us; For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly.34For our kings, our leaders, our priests and our fathers have not kept Your law Or paid attention to Your commandments and Your 78admonitions with which You have 79admonished them.35But 80they, in their own kingdom, 81With Your great goodness which You gave them, With the broad and rich land which You set before them, Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds.36Behold, 82we are slaves today, And as to the land which You gave to our fathers to eat of its fruit and its bounty, Behold, we are slaves in it.3783Its abundant produce is for the kings Whom You have set over us because of our sins; They also rule over our bodies And over our cattle as they please, So we are in great distress.