Nehemiah 9:1-8

New International Version

The Israelites Confess Their Sins

9 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads.^(A) ²Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners.^(B) They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors.^(C) ³They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God. ⁴Standing on the stairs of the Levites^(D) were Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani. They cried out with loud voices to the Lord their God. ⁵And the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah—said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God,^(E) who is from everlasting to everlasting.^[a]”

“Blessed be your glorious name,^(F) and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. ⁶You alone are the Lord.^(G) You made the heavens,^(H) even the highest heavens, and all their starry host,^(I) the earth^(J) and all that is on it, the seas^(K) and all that is in them.^(L) You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven^(M) worship you.

⁷“You are the Lord God, who chose Abram^(N) and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans^(O) and named him Abraham.^(P) ⁸You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites.^(Q) You have kept your promise^(R) because you are righteous.^(S)