Nehemiah 9 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

On the twenty-fourth day of this month, the people of Israel gathered together, fasting and wearing rough clothing, with dirt on their heads.

Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood and confessed their failures and the wrongdoing of their ancestors.

They stood in their places and read from the Book of the Law of Yahweh their God for a quarter of the day. For another quarter they confessed and worshiped Yahweh their God.

On the Levites' platform stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani. They cried out with a loud voice to Yahweh their God.

Then the Levites — Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah — said: "Stand up and praise Yahweh your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting! Let them praise your glorious name, which is exalted beyond all praise and beyond all words."

"You alone are Yahweh. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and everything on it, the seas and everything in them. You give life to everything, and the armies of heaven worship you.

You are Yahweh the God who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and renamed him Abraham.

You found his heart faithful before you, and you made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Girgashites — to give it to his descendants. And you kept your promise, because you are just.

You saw the suffering of our ancestors in Egypt. You heard their cry at the Red Sea.

You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his officials, and against all the people of his land, because you knew how arrogantly they treated our ancestors. You made a name for yourself that endures to this day.

You split the sea before them so they passed through on dry ground. You hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into raging waters.

By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire, giving them light on the path they should take.

You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke to them from heaven. You gave them fair rulings and reliable laws, good decrees and commands.

You made known to them your set-apart Sabbath, and gave them commands, decrees, and laws through your servant Moses.

You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought them water from the rock for their thirst. You told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn to give them.

But they — our ancestors — became arrogant and stubborn. They refused to obey your commands.

They refused to listen and failed to remember the wonders you had done among them. They became stubborn and in their rebellion appointed a leader to take them back to their slavery. But you are a God of forgiveness, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger and overflowing with loyal love, and you did not abandon them.

Even when they made themselves a metal calf and said, 'This is your god who brought you up out of Egypt,' and committed terrible acts of disrespect,

you in your great compassion did not abandon them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not stop guiding them on their path by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light the way they should go.

You gave your good Breath to instruct them. 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. They lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out. Their feet did not swell.

You gave them kingdoms and peoples, and assigned them to every corner. They took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan.

You made their children as numerous as the stars of heaven and brought them into the land you had told their fathers to enter and possess.

Their children went in and took possession of the land. You subdued the Canaanites who lived there before them and handed them over—their kings and the peoples of the land—to do with as they wished.

They captured fortified cities and rich land. They took over houses full of good things, cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. They ate until they were full and grew fat and luxuriated in your great goodness.

But they became defiant and rebelled against you. They threw your Law behind their backs. They killed your prophets who had warned them to turn back to you. They committed terrible acts of disrespect.

So you handed them over to their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they cried out to you in their distress, you heard from heaven. In your great compassion you gave them rescuers who saved them from their enemies.

But as soon as they had rest, they went right back to doing what was wrong in your eyes. So you abandoned them to their enemies, who ruled over them. Yet when they turned back and cried out to you, you heard from heaven and rescued them again and again in your compassion.

You warned them to turn back to your Law, but they became arrogant and refused to obey your commands. They failed to follow your rulings, which give life to anyone who lives by them. They stubbornly turned their backs, stiffened their necks, and refused to listen.

For many years you were patient with them. You warned them by your Breath through your prophets, but they wouldn't listen. So you handed them over to the peoples of the surrounding lands.

Yet in your great compassion you didn't completely destroy them or abandon them, because you are a compassionate and merciful God.

Now then, our God — the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God who keeps his covenant and shows loyal love — don't let all this hardship seem small in your eyes: the hardship that has come on us, on our kings, on our leaders, on our priests, on our prophets, on our ancestors, and on all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.

In everything that has happened to us, you have acted justly. You have been faithful, even when we have been wrong.

Our kings, our leaders, our priests, and our ancestors did not follow your Law. They did not pay attention to your commands or the warnings you gave them.

Even while they enjoyed their own kingdom, with all the great goodness you gave them—in the spacious and rich land you set before them—they did not serve you or turn from their wrongdoing.

Look at us today—we are slaves! In the very land you gave our ancestors to enjoy its fruit and its goodness, here we are—slaves in it!

Its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us because of our failures. They rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please. We are in deep distress.

Because of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing. And our leaders, our Levites, and our priests are sealing it.