The People of Israel Confess Their Sin

1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of ^vthis month the people of Israel were assembled ^wwith fasting ^xand in sackcloth, ^yand with earth on their heads. 2 ^zAnd the Israelites¹ separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 ^aAnd they stood up in their place and read 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 ^bJeshua, 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. ^cBlessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

6 ^d“You are the Lord, you alone. ^eYou have made heaven, ^fthe heaven of heavens, ^gwith all their host, ^ethe earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; ^hand you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. 7 You are the Lord, the God ⁱwho chose Abram and brought him out of ^jUr of the Chaldeans ^kand gave him the name Abraham. 8 ^lYou found his heart faithful before you, ^mand made with him the covenant to give to his offspring ⁿthe land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. ^oAnd you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

9 ^p“And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard ^qtheir cry at the Red Sea, 10 ^rand performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that ^sthey acted arrogantly against our fathers. And ^tyou made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. 11 ^uAnd you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, ^vas a stone into mighty waters. 12 By ^wa 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 ^xYou came down on Mount Sinai ^yand spoke with them from heaven and gave them ^zright rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 ^aand you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. 15 ^bYou gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and ^cbrought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you ^dtold them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

16 “But they and our fathers ^eacted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17 They refused to obey ^fand were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.³ But you are a God ready to forgive, ^ggracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18 Even ^hwhen they had made for themselves a golden⁴ calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ ⁱand had committed great blasphemies, 19 you ^jin your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. ^kThe pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, ^knor 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 ^mand did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water 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 Let the elders ^zwho rule well be considered worthy of ^adouble honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, ^b“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, ^c“The laborer deserves his wages.” 19 Do not admit a charge against an elder except ^don the evidence of two or three witnesses. 20 As for those who persist in sin, ^erebuke them in the presence of all, ^fso that the rest may stand in fear. 21 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels ^gI charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, ^hdoing nothing from partiality. 22 ⁱDo not be hasty in the ^jlaying on of hands, nor ^ktake part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure. 23 No longer drink only water, but ^luse a little wine ^mfor 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 ⁿeven those that are not cannot remain hidden.

1 ^oLet all who are under a yoke as bondservants¹ regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, ^pso 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 ^qbrothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved.

False Teachers and True Contentment

^rTeach and urge these things.