¶ Now¹ in the twenty² and fourth day of this month³ the children⁴ of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth⁵ upon them.

And the seed⁶ of Israel separated themselves from all strangers⁷, and stood and confessed⁸ their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.

And they stood⁹ up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth¹⁰ part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.

¶ Then stood up upon the stairs¹¹, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried¹² with a loud voice unto the LORD their God.

Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up¹³ and bless¹⁴ the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious¹⁵ name, which is exalted¹⁶ above all blessing and praise.

Thou, even thou,¹⁷ art LORD alone; thou hast¹⁸ made heaven, the heaven¹⁹ of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest²⁰ them all; and the host²¹ of heaven worshippeth thee.

Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose²² Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur²³ of the Chaldees, and gavest²⁴ him the name of Abraham;

And foundest²⁵ his heart faithful before thee, and madest²⁶ a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites²⁷, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed²⁸ thy words; for thou art righteous²⁹:

And didst see³⁰ the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest³¹ their cry by the Red sea;

¶ And shewedst³² signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they³³ dealt proudly against them. So didst³⁴ thou get thee a name, as it is this day.

And thou didst divide³⁵ the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors³⁶ thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone³⁷ into the mighty waters.

Moreover thou leddest³⁸ them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way³⁹ wherein they should go.

Thou camest⁴⁰ down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest⁴¹ with them from heaven, and gavest⁴² them right judgments, and true laws⁴³, good statutes and commandments:

And madest⁴⁴ known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst⁴⁵ them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses⁴⁶ thy servant:

And gavest⁴⁷ them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest⁴⁸ forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go⁴⁹ in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn⁵⁰ to give them.

But they and our fathers dealt⁵¹ proudly, and hardened⁵² their necks, and hearkened⁵³ not to thy commandments,

And refused⁵⁴ to obey, neither were mindful⁵⁵ of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion⁵⁶ appointed⁵⁷ a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God⁵⁸ ready to pardon⁵⁹, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest⁶⁰ them not.

⁶¹Yea, 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;

Yet thou in thy⁶² manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar⁶³ 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.

¶ Thou gavest⁶⁴ also thy good⁶⁵ spirit to instruct them, and withheldest⁶⁶ not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest⁶⁷ them water for their thirst.

Yea, forty⁶⁸ years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their⁶⁹ clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.

Moreover thou⁷⁰ gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide⁷¹ them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon⁷², and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.

Their children also multipliedst⁷³ thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest⁷⁴ them into the land, concerning which thou⁷⁵ hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.

So the⁷⁶ children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst⁷⁷ 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 would⁷⁸.

And they took strong⁷⁹ cities, and a fat land⁸⁰, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells⁸¹ digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat⁸², and delighted⁸³ themselves in thy great goodness.

Nevertheless they were⁸⁴ disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law⁸⁵ behind their backs, and slew⁸⁶ thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought⁸⁷ great provocations.

Therefore thou deliveredst⁸⁸ them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time⁸⁹ of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours⁹⁰, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.

But after they had rest, they did evil again⁹¹ 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 heardest⁹² them from heaven; and many times⁹³ didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;

And testifiedst⁹⁴ against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they⁹⁵ dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which⁹⁶ if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder⁹⁷, and hardened⁹⁸ their neck, and would not hear.

¶ Yet many years⁹⁹ didst thou forbear them,¹⁰⁰ and testifiedst against them by thy spirit¹⁰¹ in thy prophets¹⁰²: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.

Nevertheless for thy great¹⁰³ mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious¹⁰⁴ and merciful God.

Now therefore, our God¹⁰⁵, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest¹⁰⁶ covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble¹⁰⁷ seem little before thee, that hath come upon us,¹⁰⁸ 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 time¹⁰⁹ of the kings of Assyria unto this day.

Howbeit¹¹⁰ thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we¹¹¹ have done wickedly:

Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened¹¹² unto thy commandments and thy testimonies¹¹³, wherewith thou didst¹¹⁴ testify against them.

For they¹¹⁵ have not served thee in their kingdom¹¹⁶, and in thy great¹¹⁷ goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land¹¹⁸ which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.

¹¹⁹Behold, 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:

And it yieldeth¹²⁰ much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion¹²¹ over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

And because of all this we make¹²² a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it¹²³.