The Israelites fast and praise the Lord
1The Israelites came together on the 24th day of the 7th month. They fasted, put on sack-cloth and put sand on their heads. 2The Israelites did not want any Gentiles to be with them when they confessed their sins and the sins of their forefathers before the Lord. 3They stood there at the same place and read from the book of God and confessed their sins and worshipped the Lord for 3 hours. 4The Levites stood on the stairs for the Levites. They were Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani. They shouted_loudly and asked the Lord their God to help them. 5Then the Levites Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah said:
‘Stand up and praise the Lord your God
forever and ever.
Praise his wonderful name.
The Lord is King.
He is greater and more wonderful
than any other king.
No one knows enough words
to worship Him truly
and say how great He is.’
6Then the people said:
‘You are Lord.
You alone have made heaven,
and also the highest heaven,
and You have made all the stars in the sky.
You have made the earth and everything in it,
and the sea and everything in it.
You gave life to everything.
The stars in the sky worship You.
7You are the Lord, our God.
You chose Abram
and You brought him
from the town of Ur of the Babylonians
and You said his name would be Abraham.
8You saw that he believed in You
and You made a covenant with him.
You promised him and his descendants
that You would give them the land of the Canaanites,
the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites,
the Jebusites and the Girgashites.
And You did what You had promised
because You always do what is right.
9You saw how our forefathers
suffered in Egypt
and You listened when they called to You
at the Red Sea and asked You to help them.
10You knew that Pharaoh
and all his officials
and all the people in his land
had done bad things to our forefathers.
Then You did miracles that made them afraid.
Everyone knew who You were
and today everyone must also
know who You are.
11You made a path through the sea
so that our forefathers
could walk through on dry ground,
but You threw the people,
who followed_and_chased them, into the water.
They went down into the deep water like a stone.
12You led them in the day with a cloud
and at night the fire gave them light,
showing them the way they had to go.
13You came down to Mount Sinai.
From heaven You talked to your people
and You gave them your laws
which are right and good.
14You taught them about
your holy Sabbath day
and You sent Moses to give them your laws.
15When they were hungry,
You gave them food from heaven
and when they were thirsty,
You gave them water from a rock.
You told them to come and take the land
that You had promised them.
16But our forefathers
were rebellious and stubborn,
and they did not do what You wanted.
17They did not listen to your commandments,
and they did not remember the miracles that You had done.
They were stubborn, they were rebellious,
and they wanted to go back and be slaves again.
But You are God. You forgive people's sins,
You are gracious,
You are good to people who suffer,
You are patient,
and You always do what You have promised.
You did not leave them.
18You also did not leave them alone
when they made an image of a bull-calf
and they made You very angry
when they said that the calf
was their god that had brought them
out of the land of Egypt.
19You were good to them when they suffered,
and You did not leave them in the desert.
The cloud stayed there to show them
the way in the day time,
and in the night the fire made light on their road
so that they could see where to go.
20You gave them your Spirit to teach them.
You kept on giving them manna to eat
and water to drink.
21You looked after them
in the desert for 40 years,
and they had enough of everything.
Their clothes did not become old
and their feet did not hurt.
22You gave them lands and nations.
They could take everything for themselves,
the land of Heshbon from King Sihon
and the land of King Og from Bashan.
23You gave them many children,
as many as the stars in the sky.
You told their fathers that their children
would come and take the land
24and their children did come to take the land.
You made the people of the land,
the Canaanites, bow before your people.
Your people defeated the Canaanite people
and their kings,
and they did what they wanted
to the people of the land.
25They defeated the towns
that had strong walls
and they took the fertile land for themselves.
They took houses
that were full of precious things,
and the water holes that people
had cut into rocks,
vineyards, olive trees and many fruit trees.
They could eat until they had had enough,
and they became fat.
They enjoyed the good things
that You gave them.
26But they were stubborn,
and they were rebellious_against You.
They did not want to do what You wanted.
Your prophets warned them
and told them to come back to You,
but they killed the prophets,
and they did very bad things against You.
27And then You made their enemies
defeat them
and the enemies made them suffer.
When they suffered, they cried to You
and asked You to help them.
In heaven You listened to them.
You are always good to people who suffer.
So You sent people to come and save them
from their enemies.
28But when they had defeated all their enemies,
they started doing bad things again.
Then again You made their enemies
defeat them
and the enemies ruled over them.
Again they called You
and asked You to help them.
In heaven You listened to them again
and You saved them,
because You are good to people who suffer.
You did this many times.
29You warned them and told them
to do the things that You wanted them to do,
but they did not want to listen to You,
and they did not do what You said.
The laws give life
when someone does what the laws say,
but they sinned_against your laws.
They were stubborn and rebellious,
and they did not listen.
30You were patient with them
for many years.
You gave your Spirit to the prophets
and You sent the prophets to warn them.
But they did not listen to You
and then You made the people of other lands
defeat them.
31But You are good to people who suffer,
and You did not cause them all to die.
You did not leave them alone,
because You are a God who is merciful
and good to people who suffer.
32And now, our God,
everyone must fear You.
You are the great and powerful God.
You keep on doing what You have promised
in your covenant.
Please see how much we have suffered.
Our kings, our officials, our priests,
our prophets, our forefathers,
and all your people have suffered,
from the time of the kings of Assyria
to this day.
33But You were right
when You made it all happen.
You stayed the same,
but we have done things that are wrong.
34Our kings, our officials, our priests
and our forefathers
did not do what You want.
You told them what to do
and You warned them,
but they did not want to do it.
35They had their own king
and You gave them many good things
in this big and fertile land
that You gave them,
but they did not serve You
and they did not stop doing things that were wrong.
36Here we are today. We are slaves.
We are slaves in the land
that You gave to our forefathers.
You gave them this land
so that they could eat the good things
and enjoy the good things of the land.
37We sinned,
and that is why You have made other kings rule over us.
They do to us and to our animals
what they want to do.
We are in a lot of trouble.’
The people make an agreement
38All these things happened to us. That is why we made an agreement. We said we would do what we had promised and we wrote it down. Our leaders, our Levites and our priests wrote their names on it and they put their seals on it.
