1Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting , and with sackcloth , and earth upon them . 2And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners , and stood and confessed their sins , and the iniquities of their fathers. 3And they stood up in their place , and read in the book of the law of Jehovah their God a fourth part of the day ; and another fourth part they confessed , and worshipped Jehovah their God . 4Then 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 Jehovah their God . 5Then the Levites , Jeshua , and Kadmiel , Bani , Hashabneiah , Sherebiah , Hodiah , Shebaniah , and Pethahiah , said, Stand up and bless Jehovah your God from everlasting to everlasting ; and blessed be thy glorious name , which is exalted above all blessing and praise .
The Recitation of God's Faithfulness
6Thou art Jehovah , even thou alone ; thou hast made heaven , the heaven of heavens , with all their host , the earth and all things that are thereon , the seas and all that is in them , and thou preservest them all ; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee . 7Thou art Jehovah the God , who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees , and gavest him the name of Abraham, 8and foundest his heart faithful before thee , and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite , the Hittite , the Amorite, and the Perizzite , and the Jebusite , and the Girgashite , to give it unto his seed , and hast performed thy words ; for thou art righteous . 9And thou sawest the affliction of our fathers in Egypt , and heardest their cry by the Red Sea , 10and showedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh , and on all his servants , and on all the people of his land; for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them , and didst get thee a name , as it is this day . 11And thou didst divide the sea before them , so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land ; and their pursuers thou didst cast into the depths , as a stone into the mighty waters . 12Moreover in a pillar of cloud thou leddest them by day ; and in a pillar of fire by night , to give them light in the way wherein they should go . 13Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai , and spakest with them from heaven , and gavest them right ordinances and true laws , good statutes and commandments , 14and madest known unto them thy holy sabbath , and commandedst them commandments , and statutes , and a law , by Moses thy servant , 15and gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger , and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst , and commandedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them .
The Cycle of Rebellion and Restoration
16But they and our fathers dealt proudly , and hardened their neck , and hearkened not to thy commandments , 17and refused to obey , neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them , but hardened their neck , and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage . But thou art a God ready to pardon , gracious and merciful , slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness , and forsookest them not . 18Yea , when they had made them a molten calf , and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt , and had wrought great provocations ; 19yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness : the pillar of cloud departed not from over them by day , to lead them in the way ; neither the pillar of fire by night , to show them light, and the way wherein they should go . 20Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them , and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth , and gavest them water for their thirst . 21Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness , and they lacked nothing ; their clothes waxed not old , and their feet swelled not . 22Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and peoples , which thou didst allot after their portions: so they possessed the land of Sihon , even the land of the king of Heshbon , and the land of Og king of Bashan . 23Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven , and broughtest them into the land concerning which thou didst say to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it . 24So 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 peoples of the land , that they might do with them as they would . 25And they took fortified cities , and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all good things , cisterns hewn out , 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 . 26Nevertheless they were disobedient , and rebelled against thee , and cast thy law behind their back , and slew thy prophets that testified against them to turn them again unto thee , and they wrought great provocations . 27Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their adversaries , who distressed them : and in the time of their trouble , when they cried unto thee , thou heardest from heaven ; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries . 28But after they had rest , they did evil again before thee ; therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies , so that they had the dominion over them : yet when they returned , and cried unto thee , thou heardest from heaven ; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies , 29and 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 thine ordinances ( which if a man do , he shall live in them ), and withdrew the shoulder , and hardened their neck , and would not hear . 30Yet many years didst thou bear with them , and testifiedst against them by thy Spirit through thy prophets : yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31Nevertheless in thy manifold mercies thou didst not make a full end of them , nor forsake them ; for thou art a gracious and merciful God .
The Current State of Israel
32Now therefore , our God, the great , the mighty , and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and lovingkindness , let not all the travail 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 . 33Howbeit thou art just in all that is come upon us ; for thou hast dealt truly , but we have done wickedly ; 34neither 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 . 35For 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 . 36Behold , we are servants this day , and as for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof , behold , we are servants in it . 37And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins : also they have power over our bodies , and over our cattle, at their pleasure , and we are in great distress . 38And yet for all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, our Levites, and our priests, seal unto it.