Nehemiah 9:16–18

²⁹And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.

¹¹But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.

¹²So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

¹³Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!

¹⁴I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

²⁷For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death?

¹⁵While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

¹⁰And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day.

⁵But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

⁸Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.

¹³And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel.

¹⁴Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God.

⁵¹¶ Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

²⁶Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God:

²⁷And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the Lord hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

²⁸Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.

²⁹Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.

³⁰The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;

³¹And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.

³²Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God,

³³Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.

¹⁵¶ But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

²⁹O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

¹³Furthermore the Lord spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

²³Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.

²⁴Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.

²⁷Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:

²⁶And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

⁹And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

¹³But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

¹⁸O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

⁴Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

¹⁰¶ But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.

¹⁵Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.

³¹¶ O generation, see ye the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?

¹HE, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

⁶We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

⁸And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

⁹The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

¹⁰They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;

¹¹And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.

¹²Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

¹³He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.

¹⁴In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

¹⁵He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.

¹⁶He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

¹⁷And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.

¹⁸And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.

¹⁹Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

²⁰Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?

²¹Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;

²²Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:

²³Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,

²⁴And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.

²⁵Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full.

²⁶He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.

²⁷He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

²⁸And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.

²⁹So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;

³⁰They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,

³¹The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

³²For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.

³³Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

³⁴When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and inquired early after God.

³⁵And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.

³⁶Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.

³⁷For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

³⁸But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

³⁹For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

⁴⁰How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

⁴¹Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

⁴²They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

⁴³How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:

⁴⁴And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.

⁴⁵He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

⁴⁶He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust.

⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost.

⁴⁸He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

⁴⁹He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

⁵⁰He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

⁵¹And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:

⁵²But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

⁵³And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

⁵⁴And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.

⁵⁵He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

⁵⁶Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

⁵⁷But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

⁵⁸For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

⁵⁹When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:

⁶⁰So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

⁶¹And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand.

⁶²He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.

⁶³The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

⁶⁴Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

⁶⁵Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

⁶⁶And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

⁶⁷Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

⁶⁸But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

⁶⁹And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.

⁷⁰He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

⁷¹From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

⁷²So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

⁸Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;

⁸Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

⁹When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

¹⁰Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

⁶Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.

⁵For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

¹³And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

⁸The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.

⁹The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

¹⁵But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

¹⁸Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

¹⁹He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

¹³And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

⁶And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

⁷Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

⁷Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

⁸¶ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

⁹Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

¹⁰Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

¹¹How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?

¹⁸The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

¹⁹Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.

⁸The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

⁹He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.

¹⁰He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

¹¹For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

¹³Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

¹⁴For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

¹⁵As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.

¹⁶For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

¹⁷But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;

¹⁸To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

³⁸But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

⁴²They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

⁴³How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:

¹⁵For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

⁵⁷The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:

⁴³Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.

⁴⁴Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:

⁴⁵And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.

⁴⁶He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.

⁷Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.

¹¹And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.

⁶To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

⁷In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

¹³They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:

³And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?

⁴And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

²⁴Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word:

²⁵But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord.

⁴But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

³⁹To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

²⁵See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

¹¹¶ And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?

⁴¹And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord? but it shall not prosper.

¹⁴Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up.

²⁴¶ Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

¹²Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

¹³Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

¹⁴Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.

¹⁵Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

¹⁹They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.

²⁰Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.

²¹They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;

²²Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea.

²³Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.

⁴And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

⁵And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the Lord.

⁶And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

⁷¶ And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:

⁸They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

¹²And the Lord said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

¹³Furthermore the Lord spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

¹⁴Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.

¹⁵So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.

¹⁶And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded you.

³¹And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.

³²Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.

⁷Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

⁸But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

⁹But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁰¶ Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.

¹¹And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.

¹²Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.

¹³But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.

¹⁴But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.

¹⁵Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;

¹⁶Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

¹⁷Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.

¹⁸But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:

¹⁹I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;

²⁰And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.

²¹Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

²²Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.

²³I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;

²⁴Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols.

²⁵Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;

²⁶And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the Lord.

²⁷¶ Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.

²⁸For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.

²⁹Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.

³⁰Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?

³¹For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.

³²And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.

³³¶ As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:

³⁴And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

³⁵And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.

³⁶Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God.

³⁷And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:

³⁸And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

³⁹As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.

⁴⁰For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.

⁴¹I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.

⁴²And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.

⁴³And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.

⁴⁴And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.