The People of Israel Confess Their Sin
1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. 2 And the Israelites1 iseparated themselves from all foreigners and stood and jconfessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And they stood up in their place and kread from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God. 4 On the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. 5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. lBlessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
26 “You are the Lord, myou alone. nYou have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, owith all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. 7 You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and pbrought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and qgave him the name Abraham. 8 You found his heart rfaithful before you, and smade with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.
9 “And tyou saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and uheard their cry at the Red Sea, 10 and performed vsigns and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And wyou made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. 11 And xyou divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers yinto the depths, as a stone into mighty waters. 12 zBy a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go. 13 aYou came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them bfrom heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 and cyou made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. 15 dYou gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and ebrought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and fyou told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.
16 “But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and gstiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17 They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and happointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.3 But you are a God ready to forgive, igracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18 Even jwhen they had made for themselves a golden4 calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, 19 you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The kpillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. 20 lYou gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them mwater for their thirst. 21 nForty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
17 uLet the velders who wrule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 xFor the Scripture says, y“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, z“The laborer deserves his wages.” 19 Do not admit a charge against an elder except aon the evidence of two or three witnesses. 20 As for those who persist in sin, brebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. 21 cIn the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, ddoing nothing from partiality. 22 eDo not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure. 23 No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. 24 The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. 25 So also good works are conspicuous, and feven those that are not cannot remain hidden.
1 gLet all who are under a yoke as bondservants1 regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, hso that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. 2 Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are ibrothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved.
False Teachers and True Contentment
Teach and urge jthese things.
