Nehemiah 9

Matthew^{(i) 1} In the foure & twentye daye of thys moneth came the children of Israell together wyth fastynge sack clothes, and earthe vpon them, ² & separated the sede of Israell from all the straunge chyldren, and stode & knowleged theyr synnes, and the wyckednesses of theyr fathers ³ & stode vp in theyr place, & red in the boke of the lawe of the Lord theyr God foure tymes on the day, and they knowleged & worshypped the Lorde theyr God foure tymes on the daye. ⁴ And the Leuytes stode on hye, namely Iesua, Bani, Cadmiel, Sabaniah, Buni, Serebiah, Bani & Chanani, & cryed loude vnto the Lorde theyr God. ⁵ And the Leuites, Iesua, Cadmiel Bani, Hasabniah, Serebiah, Hodiah, Sebaniah, Phathahiah, sayde: stande vp, prayse the Lorde youre God for euer, & let thankes be geuen vnto the name of thy glorye, which excelleth all thankesgeuing & prayse. ⁶ Lorde, thou alone haste made heauen, & the heauen of al heauens, with all theyr host the earth & all that is therein, the sea and all that is therein: thou geuest lyfe vnto all, & the host of heauen bowe them selues vnto the. ⁷ Thou arte the Lorde God, thou haste chosen Abram, & broughtest hym oute of Vr in Chaldea, & calledst hym Abraham, ⁸ & foundest hys herte faythfull before the, & madest a couenaunte wyth hym to geue vnto hys sede the lande of the Cananites, Hethites, Amorites, Pheresites, Iebusytes & Gergesytes, and haste made good thy wordes: for thou arte ryghteous, ⁹ & haste consydered the mysery of oure fathers in Egypte, & hearde theyr complaynte by the read sea, ¹⁰ & shewed tokens and wonders vpon Pharao, & on all hys seruauntes, and on al the people of his land: for thou knewest that they were presumptuous & cruell agaynst them, & so madest thou the a name as it is this daye. ¹¹ And the reed sea dyddest thou deuyde in sunder before them, so that they wente thorowe the myddes of the sea drye shoed: and theyr persecuters threwest thou into the depe as a stone, in the myghtye waters, ¹² and leddest them on the daye tyme in a cloudy pyler, and on the nyghte season in a pyler of fyre, to shew them lyghte in the waye that they wente. ¹³ Thou camest doune also vpon mount Sinai, and spakest vnto them from heauen, and gaueste them ryght iudgementes, true lawes good commaundementes and statutes, ¹⁴ and declaredeste vnto them thy holye Sabboth, & commaundedst them preceptes, ordinaunces, and lawes, by Moses thy seruaunte: ¹⁵ and gaueste them breade from heauen when they were hongrye, and broughtest forthe water for them out of the rock when they were thyrstye: and promysedest them, that they shulde go in, and take possessyon of the lande, ouer whiche thou haddest lyfte vp thyne hande for to geue them. ¹⁶ But oure fathers were proude and hardnecked, so that they folowed not the commaundementes, ¹⁷ and refused to heare, and were not myndefull of the wonders that thou dyddeste for them: but became obstynate & heady in so muche that they turned backe to theyr bondage in theyr disobedience. But thou my God forgauest, and wast gracyous, mercyfull, pacyente, and of greate goodnesse, and forsokest them not. ¹⁸ And thoughe they made a moulten calfe (and sayde: Thys is thy God, that brought the oute of the lande of Egypte) & dyd greate blasphemyes, ¹⁹ yet forsokeste thou them not in the wyldernes, accordynge to thy great mercye. And the cloudye pyler departed not from them on the daye tyme to leade them the way neyther the pyler of fyre in the nyght season, to shewe them lyghte in the waye that they wente. ²⁰ And thou gaueste them thy good spryte to enforme them, & withheldest not thy Manna from theyr mouthe, and gauest them water when they were thyrstye. ²¹ Fortye yeares longe madest thou prouysyon for them in the wyldernesse, so that they lacked nothynge: theyr clothes waxed not olde, and theyr fete swelled not. ²² And thou gauest them kyngedomes and nacyons, and partedst them accordynge to theyr porcyons, so that they possessed the lande of Sehon kynge of Hesebon, and the lande of Og the kynge of Basan. ²³ And theyr chyldren multyplyedst thou as the starres of heauen, and broughtest them into the lande whereof thou haddest spoken vnto their fathers, that they shulde go into it, and haue it in possessyon. ²⁴ And the chyldren wente in, and possessed the lande, and thou subdudest before them the inhabyters of the lande, euen the Cananites, & gauest them into theyr hande, & theyr kynges and the people of the lande, that they myghte do with them what they wolde. ²⁵ And they wanne theyr stronge cytyes, & a fat lande, and toke possession of houses that were ful of al maner goodes, welles digged oute, vyneyardes, oylegardens, and manye frutefull trees: & they ate & were fylled, & became fat, and lyued in welthe thorow thy great goodnesse. ²⁶ Neuerthelesse they were disobedient, & rebelled against the, and caste thy lawe behynde their backes, and slewe thy Prophetes (which exhorted them so earnestlye, that they shulde conuerte vnto the) and dyd greate blasphemyes. ²⁷ Therfore gauest thou them ouer into the hande of theyr enemyes that vexed them. And in the tyme of theyr trouble they cried vnto the, and thou hardest them from heauen and thorowe thy greate mercye thou gaueste them sauyours, which helped them oute of the hande of theyr enemyes. ²⁸ But when they came to reste, they turned backe agayne to do euyll before the: therefore lefteste thou them in the hande of theyr ennemyes, so that they had the domynyon ouer them. So they conuerted, and cryed vnto the, and thou heardeste them from heauen, and manye tymes haste thou delyuered them accordynge to thy greate mercye, ²⁹ and testyfyest vnto them, that they should turne agayne vnto thy lawe. Notwythstandyng they were proude, and herkened not vnto thy commaundementes, but synned in thy lawes (whiche a man shuld do, & lyue in them) & turned the shoulder awaye & were styfnecked, and wolde not heare. ³⁰ And manye yeares dyddest thou forbeare them, & testifyedst vnto them thorowe thy spryte, euen by the offyce of thy Prophetes, and yet wold they not heare Therfore gauest thou them into the hande of the nacyons in the landes. ³¹ But for thy greate mercyes sake thou haste not vtterlye consumed them, nether forsaken them: for thou arte a gracyous and mercyfull God. ³² Nowe oure God, thou great God, mightye and terryble, that thou kepest couenaunte and mercy, regarde not a lytle of the trauaile that hath happened vnto vs, and our kynges prynces, priestes, prophetes, fathers and all thy people, sence the tyme of the kynges of Assur vnto thys daye. ³³ Thou arte ryghteous in all that thou haste broughte vpon vs, for thou haste done ryghte. ³⁴ As for vs, we haue bene vngodly, and oure kynges, princes priestes and fathers haue not done after thy lawe, nor regarded thy commaundementes, & thy earnest exhortacyons wherewith thou hast exhorted them, ³⁵ and haue not serued the in their kyngedome, and in thy greate goodes that thou gauest them, and in the large and plenteous lande whiche thou gauest them, and haue not conuerted from theyr wycked workes. ³⁶ Beholde, therfore are we in bondage thys daye: yea euen in the lande that thou gaueste vnto oure fathers, to enioye the frutes and goodes thereof, beholde there are we bondemen. ³⁷ And greate is the increase of it vnto the kynges, whome thou haste set ouer vs because of oure synnes, and they haue domynyon ouer oure bodyes and cattell, and we are in great trouble. ³⁸ And in all thys make we a sure couenaunt, and wryte it, and let oure prynces, Leuites, & priestes seale it.