Nehemiah 9-11

New King James Version

The People Confess Their Sins

9 Now on the twenty-fourth day of ^(A)this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, ^(B)and with ^[a]dust on their heads. ²Then ^(C)those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and ^(D)confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. ³And they stood up in their place and ^(E)read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.

⁴Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the ^[b]stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God. ⁵And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said:

“Stand up and bless the Lord your God
Forever and ever!

“Blessed be ^(F)Your glorious name,
Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!
⁶^(G)You alone are the Lord;
^(H)You have made heaven,
^(I)The heaven of heavens, with ^(J)all their host,
The earth and everything on it,
The seas and all that is in them,
And You ^(K)preserve them all.
The host of heaven worships You.

⁷“You are the Lord God,
Who chose ^(L)Abram,
And brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans,
And gave him the name ^(M)Abraham;
⁸You found his heart ^(N)faithful before You,
And made a ^(O)covenant with him
To give the land of the Canaanites,
The Hittites, the Amorites,
The Perizzites, the Jebusites,
And the Girgashites—
To give it to his descendants.
You ^(P)have performed Your words,
For You are righteous.

⁹“You^(Q) saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt,
And ^(R)heard their cry by the Red Sea.
¹⁰You ^(S)showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,
Against all his servants,
And against all the people of his land.
For You knew that they ^(T)acted ^[c]proudly against them.
So You ^(U)made a name for Yourself, as it is this day.
¹¹^(V)And You divided the sea before them,
So that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land;
And their persecutors You threw into the deep,
^(W)As a stone into the mighty waters.
¹²Moreover You ^(X)led them by day with a cloudy pillar,
And by night with a pillar of fire,
To give them light on the road
Which they should travel.

¹³“You^(Y) came down also on Mount Sinai,
And spoke with them from heaven,
And gave them ^(Z)just ordinances and true laws,
Good statutes and commandments.
¹⁴You made known to them Your ^(AA)holy Sabbath,
And commanded them precepts, statutes and laws,
By the hand of Moses Your servant.
¹⁵You ^(AB)gave them bread from heaven for their hunger,
And ^(AC)brought them water out of the rock for their thirst,
And told them to ^(AD)go in to possess the land
Which You had ^[d]sworn to give them.

¹⁶“But^(AE) they and our fathers acted ^[e]proudly,
^(AF)Hardened^[f] their necks,
And did not heed Your commandments.
¹⁷They refused to obey,
And ^(AG)they were not mindful of Your wonders
That You did among them.
But they hardened their necks,
And ^[g]in their rebellion
They appointed ^(AH)a leader
To return to their bondage.
But You are God,
Ready to pardon,
^(AI)Gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger,
Abundant in kindness,
And did not forsake them.

¹⁸“Even ^(AJ)when they made a molded calf for themselves,
And said, ‘This is your god
That brought you up out of Egypt,’
And worked great provocations,
¹⁹Yet in Your ^(AK)manifold mercies
You did not forsake them in the wilderness.
The ^(AL)pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day,
To lead them on the road;
Nor the pillar of fire by night,
To show them light,
And the way they should go.
²⁰You also gave Your ^(AM)good Spirit to instruct them,
And did not withhold Your ^(AN)manna from their mouth,
And gave them ^(AO)water for their thirst.
²¹^(AP)Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness;
They lacked nothing;
Their ^(AQ)clothes did not wear out
And their feet did not swell.

²²“Moreover You gave them kingdoms and nations,
And divided them into ^[h]districts.
So they took possession of the land of ^(AR)Sihon,
^[i]The land of the king of Heshbon,
And the land of Og king of Bashan.
²³You also multiplied ^(AS)their children as the stars of heaven,
And brought them into the land
Which You had told their fathers
To go in and possess.
²⁴So ^(AT)the ^[j]people went in
And possessed the land;
^(AU)You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land,
The Canaanites,
And gave them into their hands,
With their kings
And the people of the land,
That they might do with them as they wished.
²⁵And they took strong cities and a ^(AV)rich land,
And possessed ^(AW)houses full of all goods,
Cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves,
And ^[k]fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate and were filled and ^(AX)grew fat,
And delighted themselves in Your great ^(AY)goodness.

²⁶“Nevertheless they ^(AZ)were disobedient
And rebelled against You,
^(BA)Cast Your law behind their backs
And killed Your ^(BB)prophets, who ^[l]testified against them
To turn them to Yourself;
And they worked great provocations.
²⁷^(BC)Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their enemies,
Who oppressed them;
And in the time of their trouble,
When they cried to You,
You ^(BD)heard from heaven;
And according to Your abundant mercies
^(BE)You gave them deliverers who saved them
From the hand of their enemies.

²⁸“But after they had rest,
^(BF)They again did evil before You.
Therefore You left them in the hand of their enemies,
So that they had dominion over them;
Yet when they returned and cried out to You,
You heard from heaven;
And ^(BG)many times You delivered them according to Your mercies,
²⁹And ^[m]testified against them,
That You might bring them back to Your law.
Yet they acted ^[n]proudly,
And did not heed Your commandments,
But sinned against Your judgments,
^(BH)‘Which if a man does, he shall live by them.’
And they shrugged their shoulders,
^[o]Stiffened their necks,
And would not hear.
³⁰Yet for many years You had patience with them,
And ^[p]testified ^(BI)against them by Your Spirit ^(BJ)in Your prophets.
Yet they would not listen;
^(BK)Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
³¹Nevertheless in Your great mercy
^(BL)You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them;
For You are God, gracious and merciful.

³²“Now therefore, our God,
The great, the ^(BM)mighty, and awesome God,
Who keeps covenant and mercy:
Do not let all the ^[q]trouble seem small before You
That has come upon us,
Our kings and our princes,
Our priests and our prophets,
Our fathers and on all Your people,
^(BN)From the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.
³³However ^(BO)You are just in all that has befallen us;
For You have dealt faithfully,
But ^(BP)we have done wickedly.
³⁴Neither our kings nor our princes,
Our priests nor our fathers,
Have kept Your law,
Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies,
With which You testified against them.
³⁵For they have ^(BQ)not served You in their kingdom,
Or in the many good things that You gave them,
Or in the large and rich land which You set before them;
Nor did they turn from their wicked works.

³⁶“Here ^(BR)we are, servants today!
And the land that You gave to our fathers,
To eat its fruit and its bounty,
Here we are, servants in it!
³⁷And ^(BS)it yields much increase to the kings
You have set over us,
Because of our sins;
Also they have ^(BT)dominion over our bodies and our cattle
At their pleasure;
And we are in great distress.

³⁸“And because of all this,
We ^(BU)make a sure covenant and write it;
Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests ^(BV)seal it.”

The People Who Sealed the Covenant

10 Now those who placed their seal on the document were:

Nehemiah the ^[r]governor, ^(BW)the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, ²^(BX)Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, ³Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, ⁴Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, ⁵Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, ⁶Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, ⁷Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, ⁸Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah. These were the priests.

⁹The Levites: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, and Kadmiel.

¹⁰Their brethren: Shebaniah, Hodijah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, ¹¹Micha, Rehob, Hashabiah, ¹²Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, ¹³Hodijah, Bani, and Beninu.

¹⁴The leaders of the people: ^(BY)Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, ¹⁵Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, ¹⁶Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, ¹⁷Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, ¹⁸Hodijah, Hashum, Bezai, ¹⁹Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, ²⁰Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, ²¹Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, ²²Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, ²³Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, ²⁴Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, ²⁵Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, ²⁶Ahijah, Hanan, Anan, ²⁷Malluch, Harim, and Baanah.

The Covenant That Was Sealed

²⁸^(BZ)Now the rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, ^(CA)and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding— ²⁹these joined with their brethren, their nobles, ^(CB)and entered into a curse and an oath ^(CC)to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes: ³⁰We would not give ^(CD)our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons; ³¹^(CE)if the peoples of the land brought ^[s]wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and we would forego the ^(CF)seventh year’s produce and the ^(CG)exacting^[t] of every debt.

³²Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to exact from ourselves yearly ^(CH)one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: ³³for ^(CI)the showbread, for the regular grain offering, for the ^(CJ)regular burnt offering of the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the set feasts; for the holy things, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God. ³⁴We cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, ^(CK)for bringing the wood offering into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at the appointed times year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God ^(CL)as it is written in the Law.

³⁵And we made ordinances ^(CM)to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the Lord; ³⁶to bring the ^(CN)firstborn of our sons and our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks, to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God; ³⁷^(CO)to bring the firstfruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil, to the priests, to the storerooms of the ^[u]house of our God; and to bring ^(CP)the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levites should receive the tithes in all our farming communities. ³⁸And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites ^(CQ)when the Levites receive tithes; and the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to ^(CR)the rooms of the storehouse.

³⁹For the children of Israel and the children of Levi ^(CS)shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine and the oil, to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are, where the priests who minister and the gatekeepers ^(CT)and the singers are; and we will not ^(CU)neglect the house of our God.

The People Dwelling in Jerusalem

11 Now the leaders of the people dwelt at Jerusalem; the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, ^(CV)the holy city, and nine-tenths were to dwell in other cities. ²And the people blessed all the men who ^(CW)willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem.

³^(CX)These are the heads of the province who dwelt in Jerusalem. (But in the cities of Judah everyone dwelt in his own possession in their cities—Israelites, priests, Levites, ^(CY)Nethinim, and ^(CZ)descendants of Solomon’s servants.) ⁴Also ^(DA)in Jerusalem dwelt some of the children of Judah and of the children of Benjamin.

The children of Judah: Athaiah the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, of the children of ^(DB)Perez; ⁵and Maaseiah the son of Baruch, the son of Col-Hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of Shiloni. ⁶All the sons of Perez who dwelt at Jerusalem were four hundred and sixty-eight valiant men.

⁷And these are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah; ⁸and after him Gabbai and Sallai, nine hundred and twenty-eight. ⁹Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer, and Judah the son of ^[v]Senuah was second over the city.

¹⁰^(DC)Of the priests: Jedaiah the son of Joiarib, and Jachin; ¹¹Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, was the leader of the house of God. ¹²Their brethren who did the work of the house were eight hundred and twenty-two; and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah, ¹³and his brethren, heads of the fathers’ houses, were two hundred and forty-two; and Amashai the son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer, ¹⁴and their brethren, mighty men of valor, were one hundred and twenty-eight. Their overseer was Zabdiel ^[w]the son of one of the great men.

¹⁵Also of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni; ¹⁶^(DD)Shabbethai and ^(DE)Jozabad, of the heads of the Levites, had the oversight of ^(DF)the business outside of the ^[x]house of God; ¹⁷Mattaniah the son of ^[y]Micha, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, the leader who began the thanksgiving with prayer; Bakbukiah, the second among his brethren; and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun. ¹⁸All the Levites in ^(DG)the holy city were two hundred and eighty-four.

¹⁹Moreover the gatekeepers, Akkub, Talmon, and their brethren who kept the gates, were one hundred and seventy-two.

²⁰And the rest of Israel, of the priests and Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, everyone in his inheritance. ²¹^(DH)But the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel. And Ziha and Gishpa were over the Nethinim.

²²Also the overseer of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micha, of the sons of Asaph, the singers in charge of the ^[z]service of the ^[aa]house of God. ²³For ^(DI)it was the king’s command concerning them that a ^[ab]certain portion should be for the singers, a quota day by day. ²⁴Pethahiah the son of Meshezabel, of the children of ^(DJ)Zerah the son of Judah, was ^(DK)the^[ac] king’s deputy in all matters concerning the people.

The People Dwelling Outside Jerusalem

²⁵And as for the villages with their fields, some of the children of Judah dwelt in ^(DL)Kirjath Arba and its villages, Dibon and its villages, Jekabzeel and its villages; ²⁶in Jeshua, Moladah, Beth Pelet, ²⁷Hazar Shual, and Beersheba and its villages; ²⁸in Ziklag and Meconah and its villages; ²⁹in En Rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth, ³⁰Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages; in Lachish and its fields; in Azekah and its villages. They dwelt from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom.

³¹Also the children of Benjamin from Geba dwelt in Michmash, Aija, and Bethel, and their villages; ³²in Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah; ³³in Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim; ³⁴in Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat; ³⁵in Lod, Ono, and ^(DM)the Valley of Craftsmen. ³⁶Some of the Judean divisions of Levites were in Benjamin.