The People Confess Their Sins

Now on the twenty-fourth day of (A)this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, (B)and with [a]dust on their heads. Then (C)those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and (D)confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and (E)read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.

Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the [b]stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God. And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said:

“Stand up and bless the Lord your God
Forever and ever!

“Blessed be (F)Your glorious name,
Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!
(G)You alone are the Lord;
(H)You have made heaven,
(I)The heaven of heavens, with (J)all their host,
The earth and everything on it,
The seas and all that is in them,
And You (K)preserve them all.
The host of heaven worships You.

“You are the Lord God,
Who chose (L)Abram,
And brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans,
And gave him the name (M)Abraham;
You found his heart (N)faithful before You,
And made a (O)covenant with him
To give the land of the Canaanites,
The Hittites, the Amorites,
The Perizzites, the Jebusites,
And the Girgashites—
To give it to his descendants.
You (P)have performed Your words,
For You are righteous.

“You(Q) saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt,
And (R)heard their cry by the Red Sea.
10 You (S)showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,
Against all his servants,
And against all the people of his land.
For You knew that they (T)acted [c]proudly against them.
So You (U)made a name for Yourself, as it is this day.
11 (V)And You divided the sea before them,
So that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land;
And their persecutors You threw into the deep,
(W)As a stone into the mighty waters.
12 Moreover You (X)led them by day with a cloudy pillar,
And by night with a pillar of fire,
To give them light on the road
Which they should travel.

13 “You(Y) came down also on Mount Sinai,
And spoke with them from heaven,
And gave them (Z)just ordinances and true laws,
Good statutes and commandments.
14 You made known to them Your (AA)holy Sabbath,
And commanded them precepts, statutes and laws,
By the hand of Moses Your servant.
15 You (AB)gave them bread from heaven for their hunger,
And (AC)brought them water out of the rock for their thirst,
And told them to (AD)go in to possess the land
Which You had [d]sworn to give them.

16 “But(AE) they and our fathers acted [e]proudly,
(AF)Hardened[f] their necks,
And did not heed Your commandments.
17 They refused to obey,
And (AG)they were not mindful of Your wonders
That You did among them.
But they hardened their necks,
And [g]in their rebellion
They appointed (AH)a leader
To return to their bondage.
But You are God,
Ready to pardon,
(AI)Gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger,
Abundant in kindness,
And did not forsake them.

18 “Even (AJ)when they made a molded calf for themselves,
And said, ‘This is your god
That brought you up out of Egypt,’
And worked great provocations,
19 Yet in Your (AK)manifold mercies
You did not forsake them in the wilderness.
The (AL)pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day,
To lead them on the road;
Nor the pillar of fire by night,
To show them light,
And the way they should go.
20 You also gave Your (AM)good Spirit to instruct them,
And did not withhold Your (AN)manna from their mouth,
And gave them (AO)water for their thirst.
21 (AP)Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness;
They lacked nothing;
Their (AQ)clothes did not wear out
And their feet did not swell.

22 “Moreover You gave them kingdoms and nations,
And divided them into [h]districts.
So they took possession of the land of (AR)Sihon,
[i]The land of the king of Heshbon,
And the land of Og king of Bashan.
23 You also multiplied (AS)their children as the stars of heaven,
And brought them into the land
Which You had told their fathers
To go in and possess.
24 So (AT)the [j]people went in
And possessed the land;
(AU)You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land,
The Canaanites,
And gave them into their hands,
With their kings
And the people of the land,
That they might do with them as they wished.
25 And they took strong cities and a (AV)rich land,
And possessed (AW)houses full of all goods,
Cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves,
And [k]fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate and were filled and (AX)grew fat,
And delighted themselves in Your great (AY)goodness.

26 “Nevertheless they (AZ)were disobedient
And rebelled against You,
(BA)Cast Your law behind their backs
And killed Your (BB)prophets, who [l]testified against them
To turn them to Yourself;
And they worked great provocations.
27 (BC)Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their enemies,
Who oppressed them;
And in the time of their trouble,
When they cried to You,
You (BD)heard from heaven;
And according to Your abundant mercies
(BE)You gave them deliverers who saved them
From the hand of their enemies.

28 “But after they had rest,
(BF)They again did evil before You.
Therefore You left them in the hand of their enemies,
So that they had dominion over them;
Yet when they returned and cried out to You,
You heard from heaven;
And (BG)many times You delivered them according to Your mercies,
29 And [m]testified against them,
That You might bring them back to Your law.
Yet they acted [n]proudly,
And did not heed Your commandments,
But sinned against Your judgments,
(BH)‘Which if a man does, he shall live by them.’
And they shrugged their shoulders,
[o]Stiffened their necks,
And would not hear.
30 Yet for many years You had patience with them,
And [p]testified (BI)against them by Your Spirit (BJ)in Your prophets.
Yet they would not listen;
(BK)Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
31 Nevertheless in Your great mercy
(BL)You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them;
For You are God, gracious and merciful.

32 “Now therefore, our God,
The great, the (BM)mighty, and awesome God,
Who keeps covenant and mercy:
Do not let all the [q]trouble seem small before You
That has come upon us,
Our kings and our princes,
Our priests and our prophets,
Our fathers and on all Your people,
(BN)From the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.
33 However (BO)You are just in all that has befallen us;
For You have dealt faithfully,
But (BP)we have done wickedly.
34 Neither our kings nor our princes,
Our priests nor our fathers,
Have kept Your law,
Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies,
With which You testified against them.
35 For they have (BQ)not served You in their kingdom,
Or in the many good things that You gave them,
Or in the large and rich land which You set before them;
Nor did they turn from their wicked works.

36 “Here (BR)we are, servants today!
And the land that You gave to our fathers,
To eat its fruit and its bounty,
Here we are, servants in it!
37 And (BS)it yields much increase to the kings
You have set over us,
Because of our sins;
Also they have (BT)dominion over our bodies and our cattle
At their pleasure;
And we are in great distress.

38 “And because of all this,
We (BU)make a sure covenant and write it;
Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests (BV)seal it.

The People Who Sealed the Covenant

10 Now those who placed their seal on the document were:

Nehemiah the [r]governor, (BW)the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, (BX)Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah. These were the priests.

The Levites: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, and Kadmiel.

10 Their brethren: Shebaniah, Hodijah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, 11 Micha, Rehob, Hashabiah, 12 Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 13 Hodijah, Bani, and Beninu.

14 The leaders of the people: (BY)Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, 15 Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 16 Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, 17 Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, 18 Hodijah, Hashum, Bezai, 19 Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, 20 Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, 21 Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, 22 Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, 23 Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, 24 Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, 25 Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, 26 Ahijah, Hanan, Anan, 27 Malluch, Harim, and Baanah.

The Covenant That Was Sealed

28 (BZ)Now the rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, (CA)and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding— 29 these joined with their brethren, their nobles, (CB)and entered into a curse and an oath (CC)to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes: 30 We would not give (CD)our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons; 31 (CE)if the peoples of the land brought [s]wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and we would forego the (CF)seventh year’s produce and the (CG)exacting[t] of every debt.

32 Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to exact from ourselves yearly (CH)one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: 33 for (CI)the showbread, for the regular grain offering, for the (CJ)regular burnt offering of the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the set feasts; for the holy things, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God. 34 We cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, (CK)for bringing the wood offering into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at the appointed times year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God (CL)as it is written in the Law.

35 And we made ordinances (CM)to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the Lord; 36 to bring the (CN)firstborn of our sons and our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks, to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God; 37 (CO)to bring the firstfruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil, to the priests, to the storerooms of the [u]house of our God; and to bring (CP)the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levites should receive the tithes in all our farming communities. 38 And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites (CQ)when the Levites receive tithes; and the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to (CR)the rooms of the storehouse.

39 For the children of Israel and the children of Levi (CS)shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine and the oil, to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are, where the priests who minister and the gatekeepers (CT)and the singers are; and we will not (CU)neglect the house of our God.

Footnotes

  1. Nehemiah 9:1 Lit. earth on them
  2. Nehemiah 9:4 Lit. ascent
  3. Nehemiah 9:10 presumptuously or insolently
  4. Nehemiah 9:15 Lit. raised Your hand to
  5. Nehemiah 9:16 presumptuously
  6. Nehemiah 9:16 Stiffened their necks, became stubborn
  7. Nehemiah 9:17 So with MT, Vg.; LXX in Egypt
  8. Nehemiah 9:22 Lit. corners
  9. Nehemiah 9:22 So with MT, Vg.; LXX omits The land of
  10. Nehemiah 9:24 Lit. sons
  11. Nehemiah 9:25 Lit. trees for eating
  12. Nehemiah 9:26 admonished or warned them
  13. Nehemiah 9:29 admonished them
  14. Nehemiah 9:29 presumptuously
  15. Nehemiah 9:29 Became stubborn
  16. Nehemiah 9:30 admonished or warned them
  17. Nehemiah 9:32 hardship
  18. Nehemiah 10:1 Heb. Tirshatha
  19. Nehemiah 10:31 merchandise
  20. Nehemiah 10:31 collection
  21. Nehemiah 10:37 Temple

Coming of the Holy Spirit

When (A)the Day of Pentecost had fully come, (B)they were all [a]with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and (C)it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them [b]divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And (D)they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began (E)to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The Crowd’s Response

And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, (F)devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the (G)multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak (H)Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own [c]language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and (I)Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and [d]Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”

13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”

Peter’s Sermon(J)

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, (K)since it is only [e]the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 ‘And(L) it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
(M)That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and (N)your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
(O)And they shall prophesy.
19 (P)I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 (Q)The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
21 And it shall come to pass
That (R)whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be saved.’

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you (S)by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, (T)being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, (U)you [f]have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 (V)whom God raised up, having [g]loosed the [h]pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 25 For David says concerning Him:

(W)‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face,
For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad;
Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see (X)corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’

29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you (Y)of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, (Z)and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, [i]according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, (AA)that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 (AB)This Jesus God has raised up, (AC)of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore (AD)being exalted [j]to (AE)the right hand of God, and (AF)having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He (AG)poured out this which you now see and hear.

34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:

(AH)‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’

36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

37 Now when they heard this, (AI)they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

38 Then Peter said to them, (AJ)“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the [k]remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and (AK)to your children, and (AL)to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

A Vital Church Grows

40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this [l]perverse generation.” 41 Then those who [m]gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 (AM)And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ [n]doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and (AN)many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 Now all who believed were together, and (AO)had all things in common, 45 and [o]sold their possessions and goods, and (AP)divided[p] them among all, as anyone had need.

46 (AQ)So continuing daily with one accord (AR)in the temple, and (AS)breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And (AT)the Lord added [q]to the church daily those who were being saved.

Footnotes

  1. Acts 2:1 NU together
  2. Acts 2:3 Or tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each
  3. Acts 2:8 dialect
  4. Acts 2:11 Arabians
  5. Acts 2:15 9 a.m.
  6. Acts 2:23 NU omits have taken
  7. Acts 2:24 destroyed or abolished
  8. Acts 2:24 Lit. birth pangs
  9. Acts 2:30 NU He would seat one on his throne,
  10. Acts 2:33 Possibly by
  11. Acts 2:38 forgiveness
  12. Acts 2:40 crooked
  13. Acts 2:41 NU omits gladly
  14. Acts 2:42 teaching
  15. Acts 2:45 would sell
  16. Acts 2:45 distributed
  17. Acts 2:47 NU omits to the church

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