Nehemiah 9:1-3, 5-6, 13-15, 16-17, 32-35, 38

1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth and with earth on their heads.

2 Then those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.

3 They stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of the LORD their God for a fourth part of the day, and for another fourth they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God.

5 Then the Levites Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.”

6 And Ezra said, “You are the LORD, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. To all of them you give life, and the host of heaven worships you.

13 You came down also upon Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments,

14 and you made known your holy Sabbath to them and gave them commandments and statutes and a law through Moses your servant.

15 For their hunger you gave them bread from heaven, and for their thirst you brought water for them out of the rock, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you swore to give them.

16 “But they, our ancestors, acted presumptuously and stiffened their necks and did not obey your commandments;

17 they refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their necks and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them.

32 “Now therefore, our God—the great and mighty and awesome God, keeping covenant and steadfast love—do not treat lightly all the hardship that has come upon us, upon our kings, our officials, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until today.

33 You have been just in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly;

34 our kings, our officials, our priests, and our ancestors have not kept your law or heeded the commandments and the warnings that you gave them.

35 Even in their own kingdom, and in the great goodness you bestowed on them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you and did not turn from their wicked works.

38 Because of all this we make a firm agreement in writing, and on that sealed document are inscribed the names of our officials, our Levites, and our priests.