1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month the children of Israel came together, fasting, wearing sackcloth, and with earth on their heads.
2 Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the guilt of their fathers.
3 Standing where they were, they read from the book of the law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and for another quarter they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God.
4 Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the Levites' stairs and cried out loudly to the LORD their God.
5 Then the Levites Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, "Rise and bless the LORD your God from age to age! May your glorious name be blessed, which is lifted high above all blessing and praise.
6 You are the LORD, you alone. You made the heavens, the highest heavens with all their army, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to them all, and the army of heaven worships you.
7 You are the LORD God who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and named him Abraham.
8 You found his heart faithful toward you and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Girgashites to his offspring. And you have kept your promise, because you are righteous.
9 You saw how our fathers suffered in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea.
10 You did signs and wonders against Pharaoh, all his officials, and all the people of his land, because you knew how arrogantly they treated our fathers. You made a name for yourself that remains to this day.
11 You split the sea in front of them, and they crossed through the middle of it on dry ground; but you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into raging waters.
12 By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire, to light up the road they were to travel.
13 You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You gave them just judgments and reliable laws, good statutes and commandments.
14 You made your holy Sabbath known to them and gave them commandments, statutes, and law through your servant Moses.
15 When they were hungry, you gave them bread from heaven; when they were thirsty, you brought water out of the rock for them. You told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with raised hand to give them.
16 But they, our fathers, became arrogant and stiff-necked and would not obey your commandments.
17 They refused to listen and did not remember the wonders you had done among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion chose a leader to go back to their slavery. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and rich in steadfast love, and you did not abandon them.
18 Even when they cast an image of a calf for themselves and said, 'This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,' and committed terrible blasphemies,
19 you in your great mercy did not abandon them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day to guide them on their way, nor the pillar of fire by night to light up the road they were to travel.
20 You gave your good Spirit to teach them. You did not hold back your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water when they were thirsty.
21 For forty years you provided for them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.
22 You gave them kingdoms and peoples, assigning them every border region. They took over the land of Sihon, the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.
23 You made their children as numerous as the stars in the sky, and you brought them into the land you had told their fathers to enter and possess.
24 So their children went in and took possession of the land. You humbled before them the Canaanites who lived in the land and handed them over to them, together with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with as they wished.
25 They captured fortified cities and rich land; they took over houses filled with every good thing, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in plenty. They ate until they were full and grew fat, and they reveled in your great goodness.
26 But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they threw your law behind their backs. They killed your prophets, who had warned them to turn them back to you, and they committed terrible blasphemies.
27 So you handed them over to their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you, and you heard from heaven, and in your great mercy you gave them deliverers who rescued them from their enemies.
28 Yet as soon as they had rest, they went back to doing evil in your sight, and you left them in the hands of their enemies, who ruled over them. When they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your mercy you rescued them time after time.
29 You warned them in order to bring them back to your law, but they acted arrogantly and would not obey your commandments. They sinned against your judgments, by which a person who does them will live. They stubbornly turned their shoulders away, stiffened their necks, and refused to listen.
30 For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you warned them through your prophets, but they would not pay attention. So you handed them over to the peoples of the lands.
31 Yet in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.
32 So now, our God, the great, mighty, and fearsome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, do not regard as small all the hardship that has come on us, on our kings, our officials, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.
33 In all that has happened to us you have been in the right; you have acted faithfully, while we have done wrong.
34 Our kings, officials, priests, and fathers did not keep your law; they paid no attention to your commandments or to the testimonies you warned them with.
35 Even while they were in their own kingdom, enjoying your great goodness to them in the broad and rich land you gave them, they did not serve you or turn away from their wicked ways.
36 See, today we are slaves; we are slaves in the very land you gave our fathers so that they could eat its fruit and its good things.
37 Its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.
38 In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement in writing, and our officials, our Levites, and our priests are putting their names on the sealed document."