The Israelites confess their sins
1 On the twenty-fourth day of that same month, the Israelites assembled to
fast. They put on sackcloth and sprinkled dust upon their heads.
2 The race of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners; they stood
and confessed their sins and those of their ancestors.
3 They stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of Yahweh,
their God, for three hours. For another three hours, they con fessed their
sins and bowed before Yahweh, their God.
4 Joshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Chenani stood
on the platform of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to Yahweh,
their God.
5 Then the Levites: Joshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah,
Sheba niah and Pethaliah said, ¡°Arise, bless Yah weh, our God, forever and
ever. Blessed be your glorious Name which is beyond all blessing and
praise.¡±
Prayer of Ezra
6 Then Ezra said, ¡°You, Yahweh, you alone made the heavens, the heaven of
heavens, and all their army, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and
all that is in them. You give life to all, and all the angels of heaven
adore you.
7 You, Yahweh, are the God who chose Abram; you brought him out of Ur of
Chaldea, and gave him the name Abraham.
8 You found him faithful to you and made with him the Covenant to give him
and his descendants the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the
Perizzite, the Jebu site and the Gir ga sh ite. And you have fulfilled your
word, for you are just.
9 You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and listened to their cry
by the Red Sea.
10 You worked signs and wonders against Pharaoh, his ministers and all his
people, for you knew that they had treated us harshly, and you have received
fame to this day.
11 You divided the sea before our ancestors who passed through the midst of
the sea without their feet getting wet. You cast their pursuers into the
depths of the sea, as stones fall into the deep waters.
12 You guided them by day with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar
of fire to light for them the way they should follow.
13 You came down upon Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven; you gave
them just decisions and laws that express truth, excellent precepts and com
mand ments.
14 You taught them to consecrate the sabbath to you; you gave them
commandments, precepts and the Law, through the hand of Moses, your servant.
15 You gave them bread from heaven and told them to satisfy their hunger;
you made water gush forth from the rock to quench their thirst, and
commanded them to go and take possession of the land which you had sworn to
give them.
16 But our fathers became proud and hard-headed, and they did not listen to
your commands.
17 They refused to listen and to remember all the marvels you did for them.
They hardened their hearts rebelliously and wanted to return to their
slavery in Egypt. But you, God of forgiveness, mer ci ful and gracious, slow
to anger and rich in kindness, did not abandon them.
18 They even made for themselves a molten calf and said: ¡®This is your god,
Israel, who brought you out of Egypt,¡¯ and they terribly insulted you and
blasphemed you.
19 But you, in your great kindness, did not abandon them in the desert; the
pillar of cloud did not de part from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by
night, by which you showed them the way they should take.
20 You gave them your good Spirit to instruct them; you gave them manna so
they could eat, and water to quench their thirst.
21 Forty years you cared for them in the desert and they lacked nothing,
neither did their clothes wear out or their feet swell.
22 You gave them kingdoms and lands; you allotted to them the frontier
lands. They took possession of the land of Sihon, king of Heshbon, and the
land of Og, king of Bashan.
23 And you multiplied their sons as the stars of heaven, bringing them to
the land you promised their fathers.
24 Their children entered and took possession of the land. Before them you
crushed the land¡¯s inhabitants, the Ca na anites whom you gave into their
hands with their kings and all the in ha bitants, to do to them as they
pleased.
25 They conquered fortified cities and a fertile land, took possession of
houses well-stocked, wells ready-hewn, vineyards and olive groves, and fruit
trees in great abundance. They ate, were satisfied and grew fat, and they
lived com fortably by your great kindness.
26 But then, they were disobedient and they rebelled against you. They threw
your Law behind their backs, they killed your prophets and they terribly
blasphemed you.
27 You handed them over to their enemies who oppressed them. In their
oppression they cried to you, and you listened to them from heaven, so by
your immense kindness, you sent them saviors who freed them from their op
pressors.
28 But when they were at peace, they did evil against you again, and you
gave them over to the hands of the enemies who oppressed them. Once more
they cried to you, and you listened to them from heaven, and by your great
kindness you saved them many times.
29 Insistently, you asked them to return to your Law, but they were very
proud, so they did not listen to your com mands and decisions. They did not
observe what people should fulfill to have life. They turned their backs and
did not listen to you for they were hard-headed.
30 You were patient with them for many years. You admonished them by your
Spirit through the mouth of the prophets; but they did not listen. Then you
gave them over into the hands of the peoples of these coun tries.
31 But because of your great kindness, you did not let them be destroyed,
nor did you abandon them, for you are a God of kindness and mercy.
32 Now then, our God, great, po wer ful and fearsome God, you who keep your
covenant and your love, take into account this misery which has come upon
us, upon our kings and leaders, our priests and pro phets, upon our fathers
and all your people since the time of the kings of Assyria to the present
day.
33 You have shown yourself just in all that has happened, for you have
faithfully fulfilled your promises, but we have acted wickedly.
34 Our kings and leaders, our priests and our fathers did not keep your Law,
they did not follow your commandments or the norms you gave them.
35 While they were in their king-doms, enjoying the prosperity that came
from you and the very fertile and wide land you had prepared for them, they
did not serve you nor did they turn away from their wick ed deeds.
36 See, we are now slaves, en slaved in the land you gave to our fathers to
enjoy its fruits and its goodness.
37 The abundant fruits of the land go to the kings you have set over us
because of our sins. They do what they please with us and our livestock, and
because of this we live in great distress.¡±
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Comments Nehemiah, Chapter 9
• 9.1 We must relate this penance ceremony with chapters 9 and 10 of Ezra.
It deals with asking forgiveness for the sins which separate people from
God¡¯s law and are harmful to the race of Israel. They stress es pe cially
the sin of marrying women of another race and a different reli gion: the
Bible knows that marrying someone of another religion often brings a person
to move away from their own religious community. This was Solomon¡¯s sin.
After publicly confessing the faults of the community, they remember God¡¯s
mercy: it is use less to know the sins if feelings of inner re pentance are
not aroused in remembering how God always forgives generously. Following, we
have a summary of sacred history showing God¡¯s mercy towards his people.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, several com mitments are made: these are
necessary to counter the weakness of the will, and to aid the struggle
against laxity. It is not merely a question of rules; the risk consists in
paying more attention to external observance than to the spirit of the Law
whose goal is to form a people always ready to serve God.