¹Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting , with sackcloth , and dirt on them .

²The offspring of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

³They stood up in their place , and read in the scroll of the Torah of the LORD their God a fourth part of the day ; and a fourth part they confessed and worshiped the LORD their God .

⁴Then Yeshua, Bani , Kadmiel , Shebaniah , Bunni , Sherebiah , Bani , and Chenani of the Levites stood up on the stairs , and cried with a loud voice to the LORD their God .

⁵Then the Levites , Yeshua, and 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 !

⁶You are the LORD , even you alone . You have made heaven , the heaven of heavens , with all their army , the earth and all things that are on it , the seas and all that is in them , and you preserve them all . The army of heaven worships you .

⁷You are the LORD , the God who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur-Kasdim, gave him the name of Abraham,

⁸found his heart faithful before you , and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite , the Hittite , the Amorite, the Perizzite , the Jebusite , and the Girgashite , to give it to his offspring , and have performed your words , for you are righteous .

⁹“You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt , and heard their cry by the Sea of Suf,

¹⁰and showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh , against all his servants , and against all the people of his land, for you knew that they dealt proudly against them , and made a name for yourself , as it is today .

¹¹You divided the sea before them , so that they went through the middle of the sea on the dry land ; and you cast their pursuers into the depths , as a stone into the mighty waters .

¹²Moreover, in a pillar of cloud you led them by day ; and in a pillar of fire by night , to give them light in the way in which they should go .

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

¹⁴and made known to them your holy Sabbath , and commanded them commandments , statutes , and a law , by Moses your servant ,

¹⁵and gave them bread from the sky for their hunger , and brought water out of the rock for them for their thirst , and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them .

¹⁶“But they and our fathers behaved proudly , hardened their neck , didn’t listen to your commandments ,

¹⁷and refused to obey . They weren’t mindful of your wonders that you did among them , but hardened their neck , and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage . But you are a God ready to pardon , gracious and merciful , slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness , and didn’t forsake them .

¹⁸Yes , when they had made themselves a molded calf , and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt ,’ and had committed awful blasphemies ,

¹⁹yet you in your manifold mercies didn’t forsake them in the wilderness . The pillar of cloud didn’t depart from over them by day , to lead them in the way ; neither did the pillar of fire by night , to show them light, and the way in which they should go .

²⁰You gave also your good Spirit to instruct them , and didn’t withhold your manna from their mouth , and gave them water for their thirst .

²¹“Yes, forty years you sustained them in the wilderness . They lacked nothing . Their clothes didn’t grow old , and their feet didn’t swell .

²²Moreover you gave them kingdoms and peoples , which you allotted according to their portions. So they possessed the land of Sihon , even the land of the king of Heshbon , and the land of Og king of Bashan .

²³You also multiplied their children as the stars of the sky , and brought them into the land concerning which you said to their fathers that they should go in to possess it .

²⁴“So the children went in and possessed the land ; and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land , the Canaanites , and gave them into their hands , with their kings and the peoples of the land , that they might do with them as they pleased .

²⁵They took fortified cities and a rich land, and possessed houses full of all good things , cisterns dug out , vineyards , olive groves , and fruit trees in abundance . So they ate, were filled , became fat , and delighted themselves in your great goodness .

²⁶“Nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against you , cast your law behind their back , killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you , and they committed awful blasphemies .

²⁷Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries , who distressed them . In the time of their trouble , when they cried to you , you heard from heaven ; and according to your manifold mercies you gave them saviors who saved them out of the hands of their adversaries .

²⁸But after they had rest , they did evil again before you ; therefore you left them in the hands of their enemies , so that they had the dominion over them ; yet when they returned and cried to you , you heard from heaven ; and many times you delivered them according to your mercies ,

²⁹and testified against them , that you might bring them again to your law . Yet they were arrogant , and didn’t listen to your commandments , but sinned against your ordinances (which if a man does , he shall live in them ), turned their backs , stiffened their neck , and would not hear .

³⁰Yet many years you put up with them , and testified against them by your Spirit through your prophets . Yet they would not listen. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

³¹“Nevertheless in your manifold mercies you didn’t make a full end of them , nor forsake them ; for you are a gracious and merciful God .

³²Now therefore , our God, the great , the mighty , and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness , don’t let all the travail seem little before you that has come on us , on our kings , on our princes , on our priests , on our prophets , on our fathers, and on all your people , since the time of the kings of Assyria to this day .

³³However you are just in all that has come on us ; for you have dealt truly , but we have done wickedly .

³⁴Also our kings , our princes , our priests , and our fathers have not kept your law , nor listened to your commandments and your testimonies with which you testified against them .

³⁵For they have not served you in their kingdom , and in your great goodness that you gave them , and in the large and rich land which you gave before them . They didn’t turn from their wicked works .

³⁶“Behold , we are servants today , and as for the land that you gave to our fathers to eat its fruit and its good , behold , we are servants in it .

³⁷It yields much increase to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins . Also they have power over our bodies and over our livestock, at their pleasure , and we are in great distress .

³⁸Yet for all this, we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, our Levites, and our priests, seal it.”