Nehemiah:8-9
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And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate ;
and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses ,
which the LORD had commanded to Israel .
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And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women ,
and all that could hear with understanding ,
upon the first day of the seventh month .
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And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday ,
before the men and the women ,
and those that could understand ;
and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law .
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And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood ,
which they had made for the purpose ;
and beside him stood Mattithiah ,
and Shema ,
and Anaiah ,
and Urijah ,
and Hilkiah ,
and Maaseiah ,
on his right hand ;
and on his left hand ,
Pedaiah ,
and Mishael ,
and Malchiah ,
and Hashum ,
and Hashbadana ,
Zechariah ,
and Meshullam .
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And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people ; (
for he was above all the people ;)
and when he opened it ,
all the people stood up :
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And Ezra blessed the LORD ,
the great God .
And all the people answered ,
Amen ,
Amen ,
with lifting up their hands :
and they bowed their heads ,
and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground .
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Also Jeshua ,
and Bani ,
and Sherebiah ,
Jamin ,
Akkub ,
Shabbethai ,
Hodijah ,
Maaseiah ,
Kelita ,
Azariah ,
Jozabad ,
Hanan ,
Pelaiah ,
and the Levites ,
caused the people to understand the law :
and the people stood in their place .
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So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly ,
and gave the sense ,
and caused them to understand the reading .
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And Nehemiah ,
which is the Tirshatha ,
and Ezra the priest the scribe ,
and the Levites that taught the people ,
said unto all the people ,
This day is holy unto the LORD your God ;
mourn not ,
nor weep .
For all the people wept ,
when they heard the words of the law .
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Then he said unto them ,
Go your way ,
eat the fat ,
and drink the sweet ,
and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared :
for this day is holy unto our Lord :
neither be ye sorry ;
for the joy of the LORD is your strength .
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So the Levites stilled all the people ,
saying ,
Hold your peace ,
for the day is holy ;
neither be ye grieved .
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And all the people went their way to eat ,
and to drink ,
and to send portions ,
and to make great mirth ,
because they had understood the words that were declared unto them .
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And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people ,
the priests ,
and the Levites ,
unto Ezra the scribe ,
even to understand the words of the law .
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And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses ,
that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month :
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And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities ,
and in Jerusalem ,
saying ,
Go forth unto the mount ,
and fetch olive branches ,
and pine branches ,
and myrtle branches ,
and palm branches ,
and branches of thick trees ,
to make booths ,
as it is written .
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So the people went forth ,
and brought them ,
and made themselves booths ,
every one upon the roof of his house ,
and in their courts ,
and in the courts of the house of God ,
and in the street of the water gate ,
and in the street of the gate of Ephraim .
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And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths ,
and sat under the booths :
for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so .
And there was very great gladness .
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Also day by day ,
from the first day unto the last day ,
he read in the book of the law of God .
And they kept the feast seven days ;
and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly ,
according unto the manner .
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Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting ,
and with sackclothes ,
and earth upon them .
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And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers ,
and stood and confessed their sins ,
and the iniquities of their fathers .
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And they stood up in their place ,
and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day ;
and another fourth part they confessed ,
and worshipped the LORD their God .
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Then stood up upon the stairs ,
of the Levites ,
Jeshua ,
and Bani ,
Kadmiel ,
Shebaniah ,
Bunni ,
Sherebiah ,
Bani ,
and Chenani ,
and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God .
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Then the Levites ,
Jeshua ,
and Kadmiel ,
Bani ,
Hashabniah ,
Sherebiah ,
Hodijah ,
Shebaniah ,
and Pethahiah ,
said ,
Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever :
and blessed be thy glorious name ,
which is exalted above all blessing and praise .
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Thou ,
even thou ,
art LORD alone ;
thou hast made heaven ,
the heaven of heavens ,
with all their host ,
the earth ,
and all things that are therein ,
the seas ,
and all that is therein ,
and thou preservest them all ;
and the host of heaven worshippeth thee .
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Thou art the LORD the God ,
who didst choose Abram ,
and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees ,
and gavest him the name of Abraham ;
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And foundest his heart faithful before thee ,
and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites ,
the Hittites ,
the Amorites ,
and the Perizzites ,
and the Jebusites ,
and the Girgashites ,
to give it ,
I say ,
to his seed ,
and hast performed thy words ;
for thou art righteous :
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And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt ,
and heardest their cry by the Red sea ;
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And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh ,
and on all his servants ,
and on all the people of his land :
for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them .
So didst thou get thee a name ,
as it is this day .
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And thou didst divide the sea before them ,
so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land ;
and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps ,
as a stone into the mighty waters .
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Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar ;
and in the night by a pillar of fire ,
to give them light in the way wherein they should go .
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Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai ,
and spakest with them from heaven ,
and gavest them right judgments ,
and true laws ,
good statutes and commandments :
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And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath ,
and commandedst them precepts ,
statutes ,
and laws ,
by the hand of Moses thy servant :
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And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger ,
and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst ,
and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them .
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But they and our fathers dealt proudly ,
and hardened their necks ,
and hearkened not to thy commandments ,
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And refused to obey ,
neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them ;
but hardened their necks ,
and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage :
but thou art a God ready to pardon ,
gracious and merciful ,
slow to anger ,
and of great kindness ,
and forsookest them not .
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Yea ,
when they had made them a molten calf ,
and said ,
This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt ,
and had wrought great provocations ;
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Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness :
the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day ,
to lead them in the way ;
neither the pillar of fire by night ,
to shew them light ,
and the way wherein they should go .
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Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them ,
and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth ,
and gavest them water for their thirst .
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Yea ,
forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness ,
so that they lacked nothing ;
their clothes waxed not old ,
and their feet swelled not .
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Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations ,
and didst divide them into corners :
so they possessed the land of Sihon ,
and the land of the king of Heshbon ,
and the land of Og king of Bashan .
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Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven ,
and broughtest them into the land ,
concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers ,
that they should go in to possess it .
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So the children went in and possessed the land ,
and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land ,
the Canaanites ,
and gavest them into their hands ,
with their kings ,
and the people of the land ,
that they might do with them as they would .
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And they took strong cities ,
and a fat land ,
and possessed houses full of all goods ,
wells digged ,
vineyards ,
and oliveyards ,
and fruit trees in abundance :
so they did eat ,
and were filled ,
and became fat ,
and delighted themselves in thy great goodness .
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Nevertheless they were disobedient ,
and rebelled against thee ,
and cast thy law behind their backs ,
and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee ,
and they wrought great provocations .
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Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies ,
who vexed them :
and in the time of their trouble ,
when they cried unto thee ,
thou heardest them from heaven ;
and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours ,
who saved them out of the hand of their enemies .
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But after they had rest ,
they did evil again before thee :
therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies ,
so that they had the dominion over them :
yet when they returned ,
and cried unto thee ,
thou heardest them from heaven ;
and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies ;
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And testifiedst against them ,
that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law :
yet they dealt proudly ,
and hearkened not unto thy commandments ,
but sinned against thy judgments , (
which if a man do ,
he shall live in them ;)
and withdrew the shoulder ,
and hardened their neck ,
and would not hear .
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Yet many years didst thou forbear them ,
and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets :
yet would they not give ear :
therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands .
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Nevertheless for thy great mercies '
sake thou didst not utterly consume them ,
nor forsake them ;
for thou art a gracious and merciful God .
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Now therefore ,
our God ,
the great ,
the mighty ,
and the terrible God ,
who keepest covenant and mercy ,
let not all the trouble seem little before thee ,
that hath come upon us ,
on our kings ,
on our princes ,
and on our priests ,
and on our prophets ,
and on our fathers ,
and on all thy people ,
since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day .
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Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us ;
for thou hast done right ,
but we have done wickedly :
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Neither have our kings ,
our princes ,
our priests ,
nor our fathers ,
kept thy law ,
nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies ,
wherewith thou didst testify against them .
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For they have not served thee in their kingdom ,
and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them ,
and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them ,
neither turned they from their wicked works .
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Behold ,
we are servants this day ,
and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof ,
behold ,
we are servants in it :
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And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins :
also they have dominion over our bodies ,
and over our cattle ,
at their pleasure ,
and we are in great distress .
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And because of all this we make a sure covenant ,
and write it ;
and our princes ,
Levites ,
and priests ,
seal unto it .
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Now those that sealed were ,
Nehemiah ,
the Tirshatha ,
the son of Hachaliah ,
and Zidkijah ,
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