Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth upon them.
And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
And 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.
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 Jehovah their God.
Then 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 {Or, let them bless}blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
Thou 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.
Thou art {Or, O Jehovah}Jehovah the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham,
and 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.
And thou sawest the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red Sea,
and 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.
And 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.
Moreover 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.
Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments,
and madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them commandments, and statutes, and a law, by Moses thy servant,
and 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 {Hebrew: lifted up thy hand.}sworn to give them.
But they and our fathers dealt proudly and hardened their neck, and hearkened not to thy commandments,
and 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 {Hebrew: a God of forgivenesses.}a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and forsookest them not.
Yea, 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;
yet 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.
Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.
Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and peoples, {Or, and didst distribute them into every corner}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.
Their 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.
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 peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would.
And 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.
Nevertheless 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.
Therefore 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.
But 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,
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 thine ordinances, (which if a man do, he shall live in them,) and {Hebrew: they gave a stubborn shoulder.}withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.
Yet 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.
Nevertheless in thy manifold mercies thou didst not make a full end of them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.
Now 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.
Howbeit thou art just in all that is come upon us; for thou hast dealt truly, but we have done wickedly;
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.
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.
Behold, 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.
And 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. {[Chapter 10:1 in Hebrew]}
And {Or, because of}yet for all this we make a {Or, faithful}sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, our Levites, and our priests, {Hebrew: are at the sealing.}seal unto it.
Querverweise zu Nehemia 9,16 Neh 9,16
and 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.
For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against Jehovah; and how much more after my death?
and he said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his eyes, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians: for I am Jehovah that healeth thee.
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 thine ordinances, (which if a man do, he shall live in them,) and {Hebrew: they gave a stubborn shoulder.}withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.
Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their neck, like to the neck of their fathers, who believed not in Jehovah their God.
{Or, Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me, and keep all my commandments, that &c.}Oh that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
And Jehovah said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were; but {Hebrew: give the hand.}yield yourselves unto Jehovah, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever, and serve Jehovah your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.
Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee:O Israel, if thou wouldest hearken unto me!
Know therefore, that Jehovah thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.
And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and {Hebrew: strengthened.}hardened his heart against turning unto Jehovah, the God of Israel.
But my people hearkened not to my voice;And Israel would none of me.
So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart,That they might walk in their own counsels.
Oh that my people would hearken unto me,That Israel would walk in my ways!
I would soon subdue their enemies,And turn my hand against their adversaries.
Furthermore Jehovah spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Harden not your heart, as at {That is, strife.}Meribah,As in the day of {That is, temptation.}Massah in the wilderness;
When your fathers tempted me,Proved me, and saw my work.
Forty years long was I grieved with that generation,And said, It is a people that do err in their heart,And they have not known my ways:
{Or, Oh that thou wouldest hearken…then would thy peace be &c.}Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
And when Jehovah sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.
He that being often reproved hardeneth his neckShall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy
Ye have been rebellious against Jehovah from the day that I knew you.
Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin,
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked:Thou art waxed fat, thou art grown thick, thou art become sleek;Then he forsook God who made him,And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
And might not be as their fathers,A stubborn and rebellious generation,A generation {Or, that prepared not their hearts}that set not their heart aright,And whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,Turned back in the day of battle.
They kept not the covenant of God,And refused to walk in his law;
And they forgat his doings,And his wondrous works that he had showed them.
Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers,In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through;And he made the waters to stand as a heap.
In the day-time also he led them with a cloud,And all the night with a light of fire.
He clave rocks in the wilderness,And gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
He brought streams also out of the rock,And caused waters to run down like rivers.
Yet went they on still to sin against him,To rebel against the Most High in {Or, a dry land}the desert.
And they tempted God in their heartBy asking food {Or, for themselves}according to their desire.
Yea, they spake against God;They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
Behold, he smote the rock, so that waters gushed out,And streams overflowed;Can he give bread also?Will he provide flesh for his people?
Therefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth;And a fire was kindled against Jacob,And anger also went up against Israel;
Because they believed not in God,And trusted not in his salvation.
Yet he commanded the skies above,And opened the doors of heaven;
And he rained down manna upon them to eat,And gave them {Hebrew: grain.}food from heaven.
{Or, Every one}Man did eat the bread of the mighty:He sent them food to the full.
He {Hebrew: led forth the east wind.}caused the east wind to blow in the heavens;And by his power he guided the south wind.
He rained flesh also upon them as the dust,And winged birds as the sand of the seas:
And he let it fall in the midst of their camp,Round about their habitations.
So they did eat, and were well filled;And he gave them their own desire.
They were not estranged from that which they desired,Their food was yet in their mouths,
When the anger of God went up against them,And slew of the fattest of them,And smote down the young men of Israel.
For all this they sinned still,And believed not in his wondrous works.
Therefore their days did he consume in vanity,And their years in terror.
When he slew them, then they inquired after him;And they returned and sought God earnestly.
And they remembered that God was their rock,And the Most High God their redeemer.
But they flattered him with their mouth,And lied unto him with their tongue.
For their heart was not {Or, stedfast}right with him,Neither were they faithful in his covenant.
But he, being merciful, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not:Yea, many a time turned he his anger away,And did not stir up all his wrath.
And he remembered that they were but flesh,A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
How oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness,And grieve him in the desert!
And they turned again and tempted God,And {Or, limited}provoked the Holy One of Israel.
They remembered not his hand,Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
How he set his signs in Egypt,And his wonders in the field of Zoan,
And turned their rivers into blood,And their streams, so that they could not drink.
He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them;And frogs, which destroyed them.
He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar,And their labor unto the locust.
He {Hebrew: killed.}destroyed their vines with hail,And their sycomore-trees with {Or, great hailstones}frost.
He gave over their cattle also to the hail,And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger,Wrath, and indignation, and trouble, {Hebrew: A sending.}A band of angels of evil.
He {Hebrew: levelled.}made a path for his anger;He spared not their soul from death,But gave {Or, their beasts to the murrain}their life over to the pestilence,
And smote all the first-born in Egypt,The {Hebrew: beginning. See Deuteronomy 21:17.}chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.
But he led forth his own people like sheep,And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
And he led them safely, so that they feared not;But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
And he brought them to {Or, his holy border}the border of his sanctuary,To this {Or, mountain land}mountain, which his right hand had gotten.
He drove out the nations also before them,And allotted them for an inheritance by line,And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God,And kept not his testimonies;
But turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers:They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
For they provoked him to anger with their high places,And moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
When God heard this, he was wroth,And greatly abhorred Israel;
So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,The tent which he placed among men;
And delivered his strength into captivity,And his glory into the adversary's hand.
He gave his people over also unto the sword,And was wroth with his inheritance.
Fire devoured their young men;And their virgins had no marriage-song.
Their priests fell by the sword;And their widows made no lamentation.
Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep,Like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
And he smote his adversaries backward:He put them to a perpetual reproach.
Moreover he refused the tent of Joseph,And chose not the tribe of Ephraim,
But chose the tribe of Judah,The mount Zion which he loved.
And he built his sanctuary like the heights,Like the earth which he hath established for ever.
He chose David also his servant,And took him from the sheepfolds:
From following the ewes that have their young he brought him,To be the shepherd of Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart,And guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.
but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called To-day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin:
We have sinned with our fathers,We have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
while it is said, {Psalm 95:7 f.}To-day if ye shall hear his voice,Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.
O generation, see ye the word of Jehovah. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? or a land of {Or, darkness of Jah}thick darkness? wherefore say my people, We are broken loose; we will come no more unto thee?
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye.