1. On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust.
2. Those truly of Israelite descent separated from all the foreigners, standing and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.
3. For one-fourth of the day they stood in their place and read from the book of the law of the lord their God, and for another fourth they were confessing their sins and worshiping the lord their God.
4. Then the Levites – Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Kenani – stood on the steps and called out loudly to the lord their God.
5. The Levites – Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah – said, “Stand up and bless the lord your God!”“May you be blessed, O lord our God, from age to age. May your glorious name be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise.
6. You alone are the lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, along with all their multitude of stars, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You impart life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
7. “You are the lord God who chose Abram and brought him forth from Ur of the Chaldeans. You changed his name to Abraham.
8. When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a covenant with him to give his descendants the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous.
9. “You saw the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt, and you heard their cry at the Red Sea.
10. You performed awesome signs against Pharaoh, against his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that the Egyptians had acted presumptuously against them. You made for yourself a name that is celebrated to this day.
11. You split the sea before them, and they crossed through the sea on dry ground! But you threw their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into surging waters.
12. You guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illumine for them the path they were to travel.
13. “You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You provided them with just judgments, true laws, and good statutes and commandments.
14. You made known to them your holy Sabbath; you issued commandments, statutes, and law to them through Moses your servant.
15. You provided bread from heaven for them in their time of hunger, and you brought forth water from the rock for them in their time of thirst. You told them to enter in order to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.
16. “But they – our ancestors – behaved presumptuously; they rebelled and did not obey your commandments.
17. They refused to obey and did not recall your miracles that you had performed among them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to return to their bondage in Egypt. But you are a God of forgiveness, merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and unfailing in your loyal love. You did not abandon them,
18. even when they made a cast image of a calf for themselves and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up from Egypt,’ or when they committed atrocious blasphemies.
19. “Due to your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. The pillar of cloud did not stop guiding them in the path by day, nor did the pillar of fire stop illuminating for them by night the path on which they should travel.