Israel Confesses Their Sins

1Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel gathered with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them. 2The seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3And they rose up in their place and read from the book of the law of Yahweh their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they were confessing and worshipping Yahweh their God. 4Then Jeshua rose up on the Levites’ platform, along with Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and they cried out with a loud voice to Yahweh their God.

5And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Rise up, bless Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting!

O may Your glorious name be blessed

And exalted above all blessing and praise!

6You alone are Yahweh.

You have made the heavens,

The heaven of 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 of them

And the heavenly host bows down to You.

7You are Yahweh God,

Who chose Abram

And brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees,

And gave him the name Abraham.

8You found his heart faithful before You,

And cut a covenant with him

To give him the land of the Canaanite,

Of the Hittite and the Amorite,

Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite—

To give it to his seed.

And You have established Your promise,

For You are righteous.

9“You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt,

And heard their cry by the [†]Red Sea.

10Then You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,

Against all his servants and all the people of his land;

For You knew that they acted presumptuously toward them,

And made a name for Yourself as it is this day.

11You split the sea before them,

So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry land;

And their pursuers You cast into the depths,

Like a stone into mighty waters.

12And with a pillar of cloud You led them by day,

And with a pillar of fire by night

To light for them the way

In which they were to go.

13Then You came down on Mount Sinai,

And spoke with them from heaven;

You gave them upright judgments and true laws,

Good statutes and commandments.

14So You made known to them Your holy sabbath,

And commanded to them commandments, statutes and law,

By the hand of Your servant Moses.

15You gave bread from heaven for them for their hunger,

You brought forth water from a rock for them for their thirst,

And You said to them to enter in order to possess

The land which You [†]swore to give them.

16“But they, our fathers, acted presumptuously;

They [†]became stiff-necked and would not listen to Your commandments.

17They refused to listen,

And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You did among them;

So they became stiff-necked and gave themselves a chief to return to their slavery [†]in Egypt.

But You are a God of lavish forgiveness,

Gracious and compassionate,

Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness;

And You did not forsake them.

18Even when they made for themselves

A molten calf

And said, ‘This is your God

Who brought you up from Egypt,’

And [†]committed great [†]blasphemies,

19But You, in Your abundant compassion,

Did not forsake them in the wilderness;

The pillar of cloud did not depart from them by day,

To lead them on their way,

Nor the pillar of fire by night,

To light for them the way in which they were to go.

20You gave Your good Spirit to give them insight,

Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth,

And You gave them water for their thirst.

21Indeed, forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, and they did not lack;

Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell.

22You also gave them kingdoms and peoples,

And apportioned them to them as a [†]boundary.

They took possession of the land of Sihon [†]the king of Heshbon

And the land of Og the king of Bashan.

23You made their sons numerous as the stars of heaven,

And You brought them into the land

Which You had said for their fathers to enter and possess.

24So their sons entered and possessed the land.

And You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites,

And You gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land,

To do with them according to their desire.

25They captured fortified cities and a [†]rich [†]land.

They took possession of houses full of every good thing,

Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,

Trees for food in abundance.

So they ate, were filled, and grew fat,

And reveled in Your great goodness.

26“But they became disobedient and rebelled against You,

And cast Your law behind their backs

And killed Your prophets who had testified to them

So that they might return to You,

And they [†]committed great [†]blasphemies.

27Therefore You gave them into the hand of the ones who distressed them, and they afflicted them with distress,

But at the time of their distress they cried to You,

And You listened from heaven, and according to Your abundant compassion

You gave them saviors and they saved them from the hand of the ones that distressed them.

28But as soon as they had rest, they returned to do evil before You;

Therefore You forsook them in the hand of their enemies, so they had dominion over them.

Then they returned and cried to You. And You listened from heaven,

And many times You delivered them according to Your compassion,

29And testified to them in order to turn them back to Your law.

Yet they acted presumptuously and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your judgments,

By which if a man does them, he shall live.

And they gave a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.

30However, You bore with them for many years,

And testified to them by Your Spirit by the hand of Your prophets,

Yet they would not give ear.

So You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

31Nevertheless, in Your abundant compassion You did not make a complete destruction of them or forsake them,

For You are a gracious and compassionate God.

32“So now, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness,

Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You,

Which has found us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all Your people,

From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day.

33However, You are righteous in all that has come upon us;

For You have dealt in truth, but we have acted wickedly.

34Now our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers did not do Your law

Or pay attention to Your commandments and Your testimonies with which You testified against them.

35But they, in their own kingdom,

With Your abundant goodness which You gave them,

With the broad and rich land which You set before them,

Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds.

36Behold, we are slaves today,

And as to the land which You gave to our fathers to eat of its fruit and its goodness,

Behold, we are slaves in it.

37Its abundant produce is for the kings

Whom You have put over us because of our sins;

They also rule over our bodies

And over our cattle according to their desire,

So we are in great distress.

An Agreement Is Cut

38“[†]Now because of all this

We are cutting an agreement in writing;

And on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.”