The Israelites Confess Their Sins

¹Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites were assembled with fasting and sackcloth, and there was dirt on them.[#Jos 7:6; 1Sa 4:12]

²The offspring of Israel separated themselves from all the foreigners and then stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.[#Ezr 10:11; Ne 13:3]

³They stood in their place and 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 worshipped the Lord their God.[#Ne 8:7–8]

⁴Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Kenani stood up on the stairs of the Levites and cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God.

⁵Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said:

Signatories to the Covenant

³⁸So on the basis of all this, we are executing a written agreement that is being sealed by our princes, Levites, and priests.