9:1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this
month the children of Israel assembled with fasting, and in sackcloths, and
with ashes on their head.
9:2 And the children of Israel separated themselves from every stranger, and
stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
9:3 And they stood in their place, and read in the book of the law of the
Lord their god: and they confessed [their sins] to Yehovah, and worshipped
Yehovah their Elohim.
9:4 [And] there stood upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jesus, and the sons
of Cadmiel, Sechenia the son of Sarabia, sons of Choneni; and they cried
with a loud voice to Yehovah their Elohim.
9:5 And the Levites, Jesus and Cadmiel, said, Rise up bless Yehovah our Elohim
forever and ever: and let them bless thy glorious name, and exalt it with
all blessing and praise.
9:6 And Esdras said, Thou art the only true Lord; thou madest the heaven,
and the heaven of heavens, and all their array, the earth, and all things
that are in it, the seas, and all things in them; and thou quickenest all
things, and the hosts of heaven worship thee.
9:7 Thou art Yehovah Elohim, thou didst choose Abram, and broughtest him out
of the land of the Chaldeans, and gavest him the name of Abraam:
9:8 and thou foundest his heart faithful before thee, and didst make a
covenant with him to give to him and to his seed the land of the Canaanites,
and the Chettites, and Amorites, and Pherezites, and Jebusites, and
Gergesites; and thou hast confirmed thy words, for thou [art] righteous.
9:9 And thou sawest the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and thou
heardest their cry at the Red Sea.
9:10 And thou shewedst signs and wonders in Egypt, onPharaoh and all his
servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knowest that they
behaved insolently against them: and thou madest thyself a name, as at this
day.
9:11 And thou didst cleave the sea before them, and they passed through the
midst of the sea on dry land; and thou didst cast into the deep them that
were about to pursue them, as a stone in the mighty water.
9:12 And thou guidedst them by day by a pillar of cloud, and by night by a
pillar of fire, to enlighten for them the way wherein they should walk.
9:13 Also thou camest down upon mount Sina, and thou spakest to them out of
heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and laws of truth, ordinances, and
good commandments.
9:14 And thou didst make known to them thy holy sabbath; thou didst enjoin
upon them commandments, and ordinances, and a law, by the hand of thy
servant Moses.
9:15 And thou gavest them bread from heaven for their food, and thou
broughtest them forth water from a rock for their thirst; and thou badest
them go in to inherit the land over which thou stretchedst out thy hand to
give [it] them.
9:16 But they and our fathers behaved proudly, and hardened their neck, and
did not hearken to thy commandments,
9:17 and refused to listen, and remembered not thy wonders which thou
wroughtest with them; and they hardened their neck, and appointed a leader
to return to their slavery in Egypt: but thou, O Elohim, [art] merciful and
compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and thou didst not
forsake them.
9:18 And still farther they even made to themselves a molten calf, and said,
These [are] the gods that brought us up out of Egypt: and they wrought great
provocations.
9:19 Yet thou in thy great compassions didst not forsake them in the
wilderness: thou didst not turn away from them the pillar of the cloud by
day, to guide them in the way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to enlighten
for them the way wherein they should walk.
9:20 And thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them, and thou didst not
withhold thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water in their thirst.
9:21 And thou didst sustain them forty years in the wilderness; thou didst
not allow anything to fail them: their garments did not wax old, and their
feet were not bruised.
9:22 Moreover, thou gavest them kingdoms, and didst divide nations to them:
and they inherited the land of Seon king of Esebon, and the land of Og king
of Basan.
9:23 And thou didst multiply their children as the stars of heaven, and
broughtest them into the land of which thou spokest to their fathers;
9:24 And they inherited it: and thou didst destroy from before them the
dwellers in the land of the Canaanites, and thou gavest into their hands
them and their kings, and the nations of the land, to do unto them as it
pleased them.
9:25 And they took lofty cities, and inherited houses full of all good
things, wells dug, vineyards, and oliveyards, and every fruit tree in
abundance: so they ate, and were filled, and grew fat, and rioted in thy
great goodness.
9:26 But they turned, and revolted from thee, and cast thy law behind their
backs; ad they slew thy prophets, who testified against them to turn them
back to thee, and they wrought great provocations.
9:27 Then thou gavest them into the hand of them that afflicted them, and
they did afflict them: and they cried to thee in the time of their
affliction, and thou didst hear them from thy heaven, and in thy great
compassions gavest them deliverers, and didst save them from the hand of
them that afflicted them.
9:28 But when they rested, they did evil again before thee: so thou leftest
them in the hands of their enemies, and they ruled over them: and they cried
again to thee, and thou heardest [them] from heaven, and didst deliver them
in thy great compassions.
9:29 And thou didst testify against them, to bring them back to thy law: but
they hearkened not, but sinned against thy commandments and thy judgments,
which if a man do, he shall live in them; and they turned their back, and
hardened their neck, and heard not.
9:30 Yet thou didst bear long with them many years, and didst testify to
them by thy Spirit by the hand of thy prophets: but they hearkened not; so
thou gavest them into the hand of the nations of the land.
9:31 But thou in thy many mercies didst not appoint them to destruction, and
didst not forsake them; for thou art strong, and merciful, and pitiful.
9:32 And now, O our Elohim, the powerful, the great, the mighty, and the
terrible, keeping thy covenant and thy mercy, let not all the trouble seem
little in thy sight which has come upon us, and our kings, and our princes,
and our priests, and our prophets, and our fathers, and upon all thy people,
from the days of the kings of Assur even to this day.
9:33 But thou [art] righteous in all the things that come upon us; for thou
hast wrought faithfully, but we have greatly sinned.
9:34 And our kings, and our princes, and our priests, and our fathers, have
not performed thy law, and have not given heed to thy commandments, and
[have not kept] thy testimonies which thou didst testify to them.
9:35 And they did not serve thee in thy kingdom, and in thy great goodness
which thou gavest to them, and in the large and fat land which thou didst
furnish before them, and they turned not from their evil devices.
9:36 Behold, we are servants this day, and [as for] the land which thou
gavest to our fathers to eat the fruit of it and the good things of it,
behold, we are servants upon it:
9:37 and its produce [is] abundant for the kings whom thou didst appoint
over us because of our sins; and they have dominion over our bodies, and
over our cattle, as it pleases them, and we are in great affliction.
9:38 And in regard to all these circumstances we make a covenant, and write
[it], and our princes, our Levites, [and] our priests, set their seal to
[it]. |
9:1 Now in the twenty and fourth day of this
month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with
sackclothes, and earth upon them.
9:2 And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and
stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
9:3 And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the
Yehovah their Elohim one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they
confessed, and worshipped Yehovah their Elohim.
9:4 Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel,
Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice
unto Yehovah their Elohim.
9:5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah,
Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless Yehovah your
Elohim for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted
above all blessing and praise.
9:6 Thou, even thou, art Yehovah alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of
heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein,
the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the
host of heaven worshippeth thee.
9:7 Thou art Yehovah the Elohim, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him
forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;
9:8 And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with
him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the
Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to
his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:
9:9 And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their
cry by the Red sea;
9:10 And shewedst signs and wonders uponPharaohh, and on all his servants,
and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly
against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day.
9:11 And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through
the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest
into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters.
9:12 Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the
night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should
go.
9:13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from
heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and
commandments:
9:14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them
precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:
9:15 And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest
forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them
that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give
them.
9:16 But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and
hearkened not to thy commandments,
9:17 And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou
didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed
a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a Elohim ready to pardon,
gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest
them not.
9:18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy Elohim
that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;
9:19 Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness:
the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the
way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way
wherein they should go.
9:20 Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not
thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.
9:21 Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that
they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled
not.
9:22 Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them
into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king
of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.
9:23 Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and
broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their
fathers, that they should go in to possess it.
9:24 So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst
before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them
into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they
might do with them as they would.
9:25 And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full
of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in
abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted
themselves in thy great goodness.
9:26 Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast
thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against
them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.
9:27 Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who
vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee,
thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou
gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
9:28 But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore
leftest thou them in the land of their enemies, so that they had the
dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou
heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according
to thy mercies;
9:29 And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto
thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments,
but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in
them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not
hear.
9:30 Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by
thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest
thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.
9:31 Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume
them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful Elohim.
9:32 Now therefore, our Elohim, the great, the mighty, and the terrible Elohim,
who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before
thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our
priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people,
since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.
9:33 Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast
done right, but we have done wickedly:
9:34 Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept
thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith
thou didst testify against them.
9:35 For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great
goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou
gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.
9:36 Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest
unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we
are servants in it:
9:37 And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us
because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our
cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.
9:38 And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our
princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it. |