King James Version

1 And on the twentieth and fourth day of this month, the children of Israel were gathered together in fasting and in sackcloth, and earth upon them. 2 And the descendants of Israel were separated from all the children of foreigners, and they stood and confessed about their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And they stood on their station and they called in the book of the law of the LORD their God on the fourth day, and the fourth part they confessed and worshiped the LORD their God. 4 And Jeshua and his sons, Kadmiel, Shabaniah, and Buni, and their sons, Kenani, rose up on the platform of the Levites, and they cried out with a loud voice to Yahweh their God. 5 And the Levites, Joshua and Kadmiel, the sons of Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shabaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting, and may your glorious name be blessed and exalted above all blessing and praise.” 6 You are Yahweh alone; you, you made the heavens, the heavens of the heavens and all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you give life to all, and the host of heaven worships you. 7 You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out from Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham. 8 And you found his heart faithful before you, and you made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite to his descendants, and you fulfilled your words because you are righteous. 9 And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and you heard their cry at the Sea of Reeds. 10 And you gave signs and wonders to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all the people of his land, for you knew that they had acted arrogantly against them, and you made a name for yourself as it is this day. 11 And you split the sea before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground, and you threw their pursuers into the depths like a stone in mighty waters. 12 In the pillar of cloud you led them by day and in the pillar of fire by night to give them light on the way in which they should go. 13 And on Mount Sinai, you descended and spoke to them from heaven, and you gave them righteous judgments and true teachings, statutes and good commandments. 14 And you have made known to them your holy Sabbath, and your commandments and statutes and teaching you commanded them through the hand of Moses your servant. 15 And you gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought out water from the rock for their thirst, and you said to them to enter the land which you had sworn to give them. 16 And they, our fathers, acted defiantly and hardened their necks and did not listen to Your commandments. 17 They refused to listen and did not remember your wonders that you did among them, and they stiffened their necks and gave their heads to return to their servitude in their rebellion, but you, O God, are ready to forgive, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abundant in kindness, and you did not forsake them. 18 Even when they made for themselves a molded calf and said, "This is your god that brought you up from Egypt," they made great sacrifices. 19 And you, in your great mercies, have not abandoned them in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud did not depart from above them by day to lead them on the way, nor the pillar of fire by night to give them light, and the way in which they should go. 20 And your good spirit you gave to instruct them, and you did not withhold your manna from their mouth, and water you gave them for their thirst. 21 And for forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their garments did not wear out, and their feet did not swell. 22 And she gave them kingdoms and nations, and divided them by lot; and they inherited the land of Sihon and the land of the king of Heshbon and the land of Og, king of Bashan. 23 And you have multiplied their sons like the stars of the heavens and brought them to the land that you said to their fathers to come to possess. 24 And the sons came and inherited the land, and they subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and they gave them into their hand, along with their kings and the peoples of the land to do with them as they wished. 25 And they captured fortified cities and a fertile land, and they inherited houses full of all good things, cisterns hewn out, vineyards and olive trees, and trees for food in abundance; and they ate and were satisfied, and they became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness. 26 And they rebelled and revolted against You, and they threw Your law behind their backs, and they killed Your prophets who had borne witness against them to bring them back to You, and they made great blasphemies. 27 And they will be given into the hand of their oppressors, and they will be distressed, and in the time of their distress they will cry out to You, and You will hear from heaven, and according to Your many mercies You will give them saviors, and they will save them from the hand of their oppressors. 28 And when they are at rest, they will return to do evil before you, and you will leave them in the hand of their enemies, and they will subdue them, and they will cry out to you, and you will hear from heaven and save them according to your many mercies. 29 And they testified against them to bring them back to Your Torah, but they rebelled and did not listen to Your commandments and Your ordinances; they sinned against them. What a person will do and live by them, they gave a rebellious shoulder and made stubborn their neck, and they did not listen. 30 And You prolonged over them many years and testified to them through Your Spirit by the hand of Your prophets, but they did not listen, and You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31 And in your abundant mercies, you did not complete them and did not forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God. 32 And now, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awe-inspiring God, who keeps the covenant and the kindness, do not let all the trouble that has come upon us be too little in Your eyes, for all the trouble that has come upon us from the days of the kings of Assyria until this day. 33 And you are righteous concerning all that has come upon us, for you have acted truthfully, but we have done wickedly. 34 And our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers did not keep your law and did not listen to your commandments and your testimonies which you testified against them. 35 And they in their kingdom and in Your goodness, the great that You gave to them, and in the wide and fat land that You set before them, did not serve You and did not turn back from their evil deeds. 36 Behold, we are today servants, and the land that you gave to our ancestors to eat its fruit and its goodness, behold, we are servants to it. 37 And the harvest is abundant for the kings whom You have set over us because of our sins, and because of our many transgressions, we are in great distress. 38 And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.