1 The people repent, & forſake their ſtrange wiues 5 The Leuites exhorte them to praiſe God. 6 Declaring his wonders, 26 And their ingratitude, 30 And Gods great mercies toward them.

1.IN the foure & twentieth day of this ^amoneth the children of Iſraél were aſſembled with ^*faſting, & with ſackecloth, and earth vpon them.

2.(And they that were of the ſede of Iſraél were ſeparated from all the ^"ſtrāgers) & thei ſtode and confeſſed their ſinnes and the iniquities of their fathers.

3.And they ſtode vp in their place and red in the boke of the Law of the Lord their God foure times on the day, and thei ^bcōfeſſed and worſhiped yͤ Lord their God foure times.

4.Then ſtode vp vpon the ſtaires of the Leuites Ieſhúa, and Baní, Kadmiél, Shebaniáh, Bunní, Sherebiáh, Baní & Chenáni, & cryed with a loude voice vnto the Lord their God.

5.And yͤ Leuites ſaid, euē Ieſhúa & Kadmiél, Baní, Haſhabniáh, Sherebiáh, Hodiiáh, Shebaniáh & Pethahiáh, Stād vp, & praiſe yͤ Lord your God for euer, & euer, & let them praiſe thy glorious Name, ô God, w̃ excelleth aboue all thãkſgiuing & praiſe.

6.Thou art Lord alone: thou haſt made heauen, and the heauen of all heauens, with all their hoſte, the earth, and all thīgs that are therein, the ſeas, & all that are in thẽ, and thou preſerueſt them all, and the hoſte of the heauen worſhipeth thee.

7.Thou art, ô Lord, the God, that haſt choſen Abrám, & broghteſt him out of ^*Vr in Caldea ^*and madeſt his name Abrahám,

8.And foundeſt his heart faithful before thee, ^*and madeſt a couenant with him, to giue vnto his ſede the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, & Perizzites, & Iebuſites, and Girgaſhites, and haſt performed thy wordes, becauſe thou art iuſt.

9.^*Thou haſt alſo conſidered the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their crye by the red Sea,

10.And ſhewed tokens and wonders vpon Pharaóh, and on all his ſeruants, & on all the people of his land: for thou kneweſt that thei dealt proudely agaīſt thẽ: therefore thou madeſt thee a Name, as appeareth this day.

11.^*For thou dideſt breake vp the Sea before them, and they went through the middes of the Sea on drye lãd: and thoſe that purſued them, haſt thou caſt into the bottomes as a ſtone, in the mightie waters:

12.And ^*leddeſt thẽ in the daye with a piller of a cloude, & in the night with a piller of fyre to giue them light in the way that thei went.

13.^*Thou cameſt downe alſo vpon mount Sinái, and ſpakeſt vnto them from heauen, & gaueſt them right iudgements, & true lawes, ordinãces & good commandemẽts,

14.And declaredſt vnto thẽ thine holy Sabbath, and commandedſt them precepts, & ordinances, and laws, by the hand of Moſés thy ſeruant:

15.^*And gaueſt them bread from heauen for their hungre, ^*& broghteſt forthe water for them out of the rocke for their thirſt: & ^*promiſedſt them that thei ſhulde go in, & take poſſeſsion of the land: for the which thou haddeſt lift vp thine hand for to giue them.

16.But thei and our fathers behaued them ſelues proudely and hardened their necke, ſo that they hearkened not vnto thy commandements,

17.But refuſed to obey, and wolde not remember thy maruelous workes that thou hadeſt done for them, but hardened their neckes and had in their heades to returne to their bondage by their rebellion: but thou, ô God of mercies, gracious and ful of compaſsion, of long ſuffring and of great mercie, yet forſokeſt them not.

18.Moreouer when they made them a moltẽ calfe(and ſaid, This is thy god y^t broght thee vp out of the land of Egypt)& committed great blaſphemies,

19.Yet thou for thy great mercies forſokeſt them not in the wildernes: ^*the piller of the cloude departed not from them by day to lead them the way, nether the piller of fyre by night, to ſhewe them light, & the way whereby they ſhulde go.

20.Thou gaueſt alſo thy good Spirit to inſtruct them, & withheldeſt not thy M A N from their mouth, and gaueſt them water for their thirſt.

21.Thou dideſt alſo fede thẽ fourtie yeres in y^e wildernes: thei lacked nothīg: ^*their clothes waxed not olde, and their fete ^cſwelled not.

22.And thou gaueſt them kingdomes and people, and ^dſcatteredſt them into corners: ſo they poſſeſſed ^*the land of Sihón and the land of the King of Heſhbón, & the land of Og King of Baſhán.

23.And thou dideſt multiplie their childrẽ, like the ſtarres of the heauen, & broghteſt them into the lãd, whereof thou hadeſt ſpoken vnto their fathers, that they ſhulde go, and poſſeſſe it.

24.So the children went in, and poſſeſſed the land, and thou ſubduedſt before them the inhabitants of the land, euen the Canaanites, and gaueſt them into their hãds, with their Kings and the people of the land, that they might do with them what they wolde.

25.And they toke their ſtrõg cities and the fat land, and poſſeſſed houſes, full of all goods, ciſternes digged out, vineyardes, & oliues, and trees for fode in abundance, and they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, & liued in pleaſure through thy great goodnes.

26.Yet they were diſobedient, and rebelled againſt thee, & caſt thy Law behinde their backes & ſlewe thy Prophetes(which ^eproteſted among them to turne them vnto thee ) and committed great blaſphemies.

27.Therefore thou deliueredſt them into the hand of their enemies that vexed thẽ: yet in the time of their affliction, when they cryed vnto thee, thou heardeſt them from the heauen, and through thy great mercies thou gaueſt them ſauiours, who ſaued them out of the hand of their aduerſaries.

28.But when they had ^freſt, they returned to do euil before thee: therefore lefteſt thou them in the hand of their enemies, ſo that thei had the dominion ouer them, yet when they conuerted and cryed vnto thee, thou heardeſt them from heauen, and deliueredſt them according to thy great mercies many times,

29.And proteſtedſt among them that thou mighteſt bring thē againe vnto thy Law: but they behaued them ſelues proudely, and hearkened not vnto thy commandements, but ſinned againſt thy iudgements ( ^*which a man ſhulde do and liue in them) and ^gpulled away the ſhuldre, and were ſtifnecked, and wolde not ^hheare.

30.Yet thou ^"dideſt forbeare them many yeres, and proteſtedſt among them by thy Spirit, euen by the hand of thy Prophetes, but they wolde not heare: therefore gaueſt thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.

31.Yet for thy great mercies, thou haſt not conſumed them, nether forſaken them: for thou art a gracious and merciful God.

32.Now therefore our God, ^*thou great God, mightie and terrible, that kepeſt couenant and ^*mercie, let not all the affliction that hathe come vnto vs, ſeme a litle before thee, that is, to our Kings, to our princes, & to our Prieſts, and to our Prophetes and to our fathers, & to all thy people ſince the time of the Kings of ⁱAſſhúr vnto this day.

33.Surely thou art iuſt in all that is come vpon vs: for thou ^khaſt delt truely, but we haue done wickedly.

34.And our Kings and our princes, our Prieſts and our fathers haue not done thy Law, nor regarded thy commandements nor thy proteſtatiōs, wherewith thou haſt ^lproteſted among them.

35.And they haue not ſerued thee in their kingdome, and in thy great goodnes that thou ſhewedſt vnto them, and in the large and fat land which thou ſetteſt before them, and haue not conuerted from their euil workes.

36.Beholde, we are ſeruants this day, & the lād that thou gaueſt vnto our fathers, to eate the ^mfrute thereof, and the goodnes thereof, beholde, we are ſeruants therein.

37.And it yeldeth muche frute vnto y^e Kings whome thou haſt ſet ouer vs, becauſe of our ſinnes: and they haue dominion ouer our bodies and ouer our cattel at their pleaſure, and we are in great affliction.

38.Now becauſe of all this we make ⁿa ſure couenāt, and write it, and our princes, our Leuites and our Prieſts ſeale vnto it.

Nehemiah 9

Notes