lesserot Nehemiah:9:1-37 SEEK
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And on the twenty and fourth day of this month were the children of Israel assembled with fasting ,
and in sackclothes ,
and with earth upon them .
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And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all children of the strangers :
and they stood forward and made confession for their sins ,
and the iniquities of their fathers .
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And they stood up in their standing
place ,
and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God the fourth part of the day ;
and another fourth part they made confession ,
and prostrated themselves before the Lord their God .
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Then stood up upon the stairs of the Levites ,
Jeshua
and Bani ,
Kadmiel ,
Shebanyah ,
Bunni ,
Sherebyah ,
Bani ,
and Kenani ,
and they cried with a loud voice unto the Lord their God .
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Then said the Levites ,
Jeshua ,
and Kadmiel ,
Bani ,
Chashabneyah ,
Sherebyah ,
Hodiyah ,
Shebanyah ,
and Pethachyah ,
Arise !
bless ye the Lord your God from eternity to eternity .
And let men bless thy glorious name ,
which is exalted above all blessing and praise .
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Thou indeed art the Eternal One alone :
It is thou that hast made the heavens with all their host ,
the earth ,
and all that is upon her ,
the seas ,
and all that is in them ,
and thou givest life to them all ;
and the host of the heavens bow down before thee .
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Thou art indeed the Lord the God ,
who didst choose Abram ,
and bring him forth out of Ur of the Chaldeans ,
and change his name to Abraham ;
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And thou didst find his heart faithful before thee :
and thou madest with him the covenant to give the land of the Canaanites ,
the Hittites ,
the Emorites ,
and the Perizittes ,
and the Jebusites ,
and the Girgashite
to give it to his seed :
and thou hast performed thy words ;
for thou art righteous .
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And thou didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt ,
and their cry didst thou hear by the Red Sea ;
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And thou didst display signs and wonders on Pharaoh ,
and on all his servants ,
and on all the people of his land :
for thou knewest that they had dealt presumptuously against them ;
and thou didst make thyself a name ,
as it is this day .
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And the sea didst thou divide before them ,
so that they passed through the midst of the sea on dry land ;
and their pursuers didst thou throw into the deeps ,
like a stone in mighty waters .
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And by a pillar of cloud didst thou lead them in the day ,
and by a pillar of fire in the night ,
to give light unto them on the way whereon they should go .
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Also on mount Sinai camest thou down ,
and spokest with them from heaven ;
and thou gavest them upright ordinances ,
and truthful laws ,
good statutes and commandments ;
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And thy holy sabbath madest thou known unto them ,
and commandments ,
statutes ,
and a law didst thou enjoin on them ,
by the hand of Moses thy servant .
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And bread from heaven didst thou give them for their hunger ,
and water out of the rock broughtest thou forth for them for their thirst ;
and thou didst order them to go in to take possession of the land concerning which thou hadst lifted up thy hand to give it unto them .
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And they and our fathers acted presumptuously ,
and hardened their neck ,
and hearkened not to thy commandments .
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And they refused to obey ,
and remembered not thy marvelous deeds which thou hadst done with them ;
but they hardened their neck ,
and appointing a chief to return to their bondage ,
in their rebellion ;
but thou art a God ready to pardon ,
gracious and merciful ,
long
suffering ,
and abundant in kindness ,
and forsookest them not .
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Yea ,
although they had made for themselves a molten calf ,
and said ,
This is thy god that hath brought thee up out of Egypt ,
and had practised great provocations :
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Yet in thy abundant mercies didst thou not forsake them in the wilderness :
the pillar of cloud departed not from them by day ,
to lead them on the way ;
nor the pillar of fire by night ,
to give them light on the way whereon they should go .
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And thy good spirit thou gavest to make them intelligent ,
and thy manna thou withheldest not from their mouth ,
and water thou gavest them for their thirst .
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And forty years didst thou provide for them in the wilderness ;
they lacked nothing ;
their clothes did not wear out ;
and their feet swelled not .
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Thou gavest them also kingdoms and nations ,
which thou didst divide into various corners :
and they took possession of the land of Sichon ,
even the land of the king of Cheshbon ,
and the land of
Og the king of Bashan .
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And their children didst thou multiply like the stars of heaven ,
and then broughtest them into the land ,
concerning which thou hadst ordered their fathers to enter in to take possession of it .
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And the children entered in and took possession of the land ;
and thou didst humble before them the inhabitants of the land ,
the Cana
anites ,
and gavest them up into their hands ,
with their kings ,
and the nations of the land ,
that they might do with them according to their pleasure .
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And they captured fortified cities ,
and a fat soil ;
and they took possession of houses full of all good things ,
hewn
out wells ,
vineyards ,
and olive
yards ,
and fruit trees in abundance ;
and they ate ,
and were satisfied ,
and became fat ,
and delighted themselves in thy great goodness .
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Then became they disobedient ,
and rebelled against thee ,
and cast thy law behind their back ,
and they slew thy prophets who had warned them to bring them back unto thee ,
and they practised great provocations .
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Thereupon thou gavest them up into the hand of their adversaries ,
who oppressed them :
and in the time of their distress they used to cry unto thee ,
and thou ever heardest them from heaven ;
and according to thy abundant mercies thou wast wont to give them helpers ,
who helped them out of the hand of their adversaries .
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But when they had rest ,
they did again evil before thee :
wherefore thou didst leave them in the hand of their enemies ,
so that they had dominion over them ;
and when they returned ,
and cried unto thee ,
thou wast wont to hear them from heaven ,
and thou didst ever deliver them according to thy mercies many times .
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And thou gavest them warning to bring them back unto thy law :
yet they acted presumptuously ,
and hearkened not unto thy commandments ,
and sinned against thy ordinances ,
which a man is to do that he may live through them :
and they rendered their shoulder rebellious ,
and hardened their neck ,
and would not hear .
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Yet thou gavest them indulgence many years ,
and didst warn them through thy spirit by means of thy prophets ;
but they gave no ear :
therefore didst thou give them up into the hand of the nations of the lands .
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Yet in thy abundant mercies hast thou not made an entire end of them ,
and thou hast not forsaken them ;
for a gracious and merciful God art thou .
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And now ,
our God ,
the great ,
the mighty ,
and the terrible God ,
who keepest the covenant and kindness ,
let not be esteemed as little before thee all the hardship that hath befallen us ,
on our kings ,
on our princes ,
and on our priests ,
and on our prophets ,
and on our fathers ,
and on all thy people ,
from the days of the kings of Assyria until this day .
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Nevertheless thou art righteous in all that is come over us ;
for thou hast acted truth ,
but we have done wickedly .
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Also our kings ,
our priests ,
and our fathers have not executed thy law ,
and have not listened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies ,
wherewith thou didst warn them .
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But they in their kingdom ,
and in thy abundant goodness which thou hadst given unto them ,
and in the ample and fat land which thou hadst given up before them ,
did indeed not serve thee ,
and they turned not away from their wicked deeds .
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Behold ,
we are this day servants :
and as regardeth the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat its fruit and its good things ,
behold ,
we are servants in it ;
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And it yieldeth its products in abundance for the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins ;
also over our bodies have they dominion ,
and over our cattle at their pleasure ,
and we are in great distress .