The People Confess Their Sins
On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads. Act 13:2-3Ezr 8:23Jos 7:6Neh 8:21Sa 4:122Ch 20:32Ch 7:102Sa 1:2 Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all the foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. Neh 13:3Dan 9:3-10Ezr 10:11Neh 13:30Dan 9:20Ezr 9:2Hos 5:71Jn 1:7-9
While they stood in their places, they read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and they spent another quarter of the day in confession and worship of the LORD their God. Neh 8:3-4Neh 8:7-8
And the Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani—stood on the raised platform and cried out in a loud voice to the LORD their God. Neh 8:72Ch 20:19Neh 10:9-13Neh 12:8Neh 9:5Act 7:60Jhn 11:43Lam 3:8 Then the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting: Psa 103:1-21Pe 1:32Co 4:61Ch 29:13Ezr 3:11Jer 33:10-11Mat 11:25Psa 106:2
Blessed be Your glorious name,
and may it be exalted
above all blessing and praise.
You alone are the LORD. Isa 37:16Gen 1:1Rev 4:11Deu 10:14Deu 6:42Ki 19:15Gen 2:1Isa 44:6
You created the heavens,
the highest heavens with all their host,
the earth and all that is on it,
the seas and all that is in them.
You give life to all things,
and the host of heaven worships You.
You are the LORD, Gen 11:31Gen 17:5Isa 51:2Act 7:2-4Deu 10:15Gen 12:1-2Gen 15:7Isa 41:8-9
the God who chose Abram,
who brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans
and gave him the name Abraham.
You found his heart faithful before You, Gen 15:18-21Gen 15:6Heb 6:18Jos 23:14Gen 12:7Gen 17:7-8Jos 21:43-45Tit 1:2
and made a covenant with him
to give the land of the Canaanites and Hittites,
of the Amorites and Perizzites,
of the Jebusites and Girgashites—
to give it to his descendants.
You have kept Your promise,
because You are righteous.
You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt; Exo 3:7-9Act 7:34Exo 14:10-14Exo 2:25Exo 3:16
You heard their cry at the Red Sea. 1
You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, Dan 9:15Jer 32:20Deu 4:34Exo 14:1-31Exo 18:11Exo 5:2Isa 63:12Isa 63:14
all his officials, and all the people of his land,
for You knew they had acted with arrogance
against our fathers.
You made a name for Yourself
that endures to this day.
You divided the sea before them, Psa 78:13Exo 14:21-22Exo 14:27-28Heb 11:29Isa 63:11-13Psa 106:9-11Psa 114:3-5Psa 136:13-15
and they crossed through it on dry ground.
You hurled their pursuers into the depths
like a stone into raging waters.
You led them with a pillar of cloud by day Exo 13:21-22Neh 9:19Exo 14:19-20Psa 105:39Psa 107:7Psa 143:8Psa 78:14
and a pillar of fire by night,
to light for them the way
in which they should travel.
You came down on Mount Sinai Exo 20:1Psa 119:160Exo 19:11Psa 119:127-128Deu 5:22-26Ezk 20:11-13Psa 19:7-11Rom 7:12-14
and spoke with them from heaven.
You gave them just ordinances, true laws,
and good statutes and commandments.
You revealed to them Your holy Sabbath Exo 20:8-11Ezk 20:12Gen 2:3Ezk 20:20Exo 16:23Exo 16:29Deu 4:45Deu 4:5
and gave them commandments and statutes and laws
through Your servant Moses.
In their hunger You gave them bread from heaven; 1Co 10:3-4Deu 1:8Exo 17:6Exo 16:14-15Exo 16:4Jhn 6:31-35Psa 105:40-41Deu 8:3
in their thirst You brought them water from the rock.
You told them to go in and possess the land
which You had sworn to give them.
But they and our fathers became arrogant and stiff-necked Neh 9:29Psa 81:11-14Deu 31:27Heb 3:15Neh 9:10Rom 2:52Ch 30:82Ch 36:13
and did not obey Your commandments.
They refused to listen and failed to remember Psa 86:5Jol 2:13Psa 145:8-9Psa 86:15Exo 34:6-7Mic 7:18-191Ki 6:13Isa 55:7-9
the wonders You performed among them.
They stiffened their necks and appointed a leader
to return them to their bondage in Egypt. 2
But You are a forgiving God,
gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in loving devotion,
and You did not forsake them.
Even when they cast for themselves Psa 106:19-23Exo 32:4-8Deu 9:12-16Exo 32:31-32Ezk 20:7-44
an image of a calf and said,
‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’
and when they committed terrible blasphemies,
You in Your great compassion Neh 9:27Psa 106:45Mal 3:6Neh 9:12Dan 9:18Dan 9:9Num 14:141Co 10:1-2
did not forsake them in the wilderness.
By day the pillar of cloud never turned away
from guiding them on their path;
and by the night the pillar of fire
illuminated the way they should go.
You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them. Psa 143:10Num 11:17Isa 63:11-142Pe 1:21Jhn 4:10Isa 41:17-18Isa 48:21Eph 5:9
You did not withhold Your manna from their mouths,
and You gave them water for their thirst.
For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, Deu 2:7Deu 8:4Deu 29:5Psa 34:10Act 13:18Amo 5:25Deu 8:2Exo 16:35
so that they lacked nothing.
Their clothes did not wear out
and their feet did not swell.
You gave them kingdoms and peoples Num 21:21-35Deu 2:26-36Deu 3:1-17Deu 32:26Jos 10:11Jos 11:23Psa 105:44Psa 135:10-12
and allotted to them every corner of the land.
So they took the land of Sihon 3king of Heshbon
and of Og king of Bashan.
You multiplied their descendants Gen 22:17Gen 15:51Ch 27:23Gen 12:7Gen 13:15-17Gen 15:18Gen 17:8Gen 26:3
like the stars of heaven
and brought them to the land
You had told their fathers to enter and possess.
So their descendants went in and possessed the land; Jos 21:43Jos 11:23Jos 18:1Psa 44:2-31Ch 22:182Ti 2:26Jos 21:45Num 14:31
You subdued before them the Canaanites dwelling in the land.
You delivered into their hands the kings and peoples of the land,
to do with them as they wished.
They captured fortified cities and fertile land Deu 32:15Deu 3:5Neh 9:351Ki 8:66Deu 32:13Deu 6:10-12Ezk 20:6Hos 3:5
and took houses full of all goods,
wells already dug,
vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate and were filled;
they grew fat and delighted in Your great goodness.
But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; 1Ki 14:9Jdg 2:11-12Neh 9:181Ki 18:41Ki 19:10Act 7:522Ch 24:20-21Ezk 20:21
they flung Your law behind their backs.
They killed Your prophets,
who had admonished them to return to You.
They committed terrible blasphemies.
So You delivered them into the hands Psa 106:41-452Ki 13:52Ki 14:27Dan 9:10-141Sa 12:10-112Ch 36:17Deu 31:16-18Deu 4:29-31
of enemies who oppressed them,
and in their time of distress they cried out to You.
From heaven You heard them,
and in Your great compassion You gave them deliverers
who saved them from the hands of their enemies.
But as soon as they had rest, Jdg 5:311Ki 8:33-341Ki 8:39Jdg 3:11-12Jdg 3:30Jdg 4:1Isa 63:15Psa 106:43-45
they again did evil in Your sight.
So You abandoned them to the hands of their enemies,
who had dominion over them.
When they cried out to You again,
You heard from heaven,
and You delivered them many times
in Your compassion.
You admonished them to turn back to Your law, Lev 18:5Neh 9:16Neh 9:10Neh 9:26Hos 6:5Jas 4:6-10Jer 43:2Zec 7:11-12
but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments.
They sinned against Your ordinances,
by which a man will live if he practices them.
They stubbornly shrugged their shoulders;
they stiffened their necks and would not obey.
You were patient with them for many years, Rom 2:42Ch 36:15-162Ki 17:13-18Act 7:51Isa 42:24Isa 63:101Pe 1:112Pe 1:21
and Your Spirit admonished them through Your prophets.
Yet they would not listen,
so You gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. 4
But in Your great compassion, Lam 3:22Exo 34:6-7Jer 4:27Neh 9:17Psa 103:8-9Jer 5:18Jer 5:10Psa 145:8-9
You did not put an end to them;
nor did You forsake them,
for You are a gracious and compassionate God.
So now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God Deu 7:9Neh 1:5Dan 9:4Dan 9:8Mic 7:18-20Dan 9:6Psa 66:3Psa 66:5
who keeps His gracious covenant,
do not view lightly all the hardship
that has come upon us,
and upon our kings and leaders,
our priests and prophets,
our ancestors and all Your people,
from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.
You are just in all that has befallen us, Dan 9:5-14Gen 18:25Psa 106:6Job 34:23Jer 12:1Job 33:27Lam 1:18Lev 26:40-41
because You have acted faithfully,
while we have acted wickedly.
Our kings and leaders and priests and fathers 2Ki 17:13Jer 29:19Deu 31:212Ki 17:15Neh 9:30
did not obey Your law
or listen to Your commandments
and warnings that You gave them.
For even while they were in their kingdom, Deu 28:47Deu 32:12-15Jer 5:19Deu 31:21Deu 8:7-10Neh 9:25Rom 3:4-5
with the abundant goodness
that You had given them,
and in the spacious and fertile land
that You had set before them,
they would not serve You
or turn from their wicked ways.
So here we are today as slaves Ezr 9:9Deu 28:482Ch 12:8
in the land You gave our fathers to enjoy its fruit and goodness—
here we are as slaves!
Its abundant harvest goes to the kings Deu 28:33Deu 28:48Ezr 7:24Deu 28:39Deu 28:51Ezr 4:13Ezr 6:8Jhn 8:33
You have set over us because of our sins.
And they rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please.
We are in great distress.
In view of all this, we make a binding agreement, putting it in writing and sealing it with the names of 5our leaders, Levites, and priests.” Neh 10:12Ch 34:31Ezr 10:3Neh 10:292Ch 23:162Ch 29:102Ki 23:32Ch 15:12-13