Before dawn on open ground inside Jerusalem's plain flat-topped wall: a mound of pale dust and a folded length of dark sackcloth lie on worn stones, a few small figures gathering far behind, under a calm deep-blue sky.

The Book of

Nehemiah 9

From Creation to the tax collector, one long prayer, and one line it cannot stop saying.

38 verses≈ 9 min3 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–2The callA cupbearer prays and is sent
3–6The wallBuilt under fire in 52 days
7The peopleThe families remembered
8–10The WordRead, confessed, swornChapter 9
11–12The citySettled and dedicated
13The endingPromises broken, reforms again

The People Confess Their Sins

Close among men and women standing in ranks with dark sackcloth over their wool clothes, dust pale on their hair and head coverings, heads bowed, one man letting a last handful of dust fall over his head.

On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads.

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Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all the foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

While they stood in their places, they read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and they spent another quarter of the day in confession and worship of the LORD their God.

And the Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani—stood on the raised platform and cried out in a loud voice to the LORD their God.

Seen from behind and above, a great crowd in dark sackcloth rises from its knees, the near rows half up, filling the open ground to Jerusalem's plain flat-topped wall under a vast clear sky.

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:

Blessed be Your glorious name,

and may it be exalted

above all blessing and praise.

You alone are the LORD.

You created the heavens,

the highest heavens with all their host,

the earth and all that is on it,

the seas and all that is in them.

You give life to all things,

and the host of heaven worships You.

0:32

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Reflect

From everlasting to everlasting

They had been reading and confessing for hours, in sackcloth, and they were told, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God.” What does it do to your confession to begin with who God is? Write one sentence of praise before you write anything else today.

A mud-brick city at dawn with its stepped ziggurat rising above the river marshes, reed houses and boats in the foreground, mist on the water.

You are the LORD,

the God who chose Abram,

who brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans

and gave him the name Abraham.

The Levites

The Levites

You found his heart faithful before You,

and made a covenant with him

to give the land of the Canaanites and Hittites,

of the Amorites and Perizzites,

of the Jebusites and Girgashites—

to give it to his descendants.

You have kept Your promise,

because You are righteous.

The Levites

The Levites

You led them with a pillar of cloud by day

and a pillar of fire by night,

to light for them the way

in which they should travel.

The Levites

The Levites

You came down on Mount Sinai

and spoke with them from heaven.

You gave them just ordinances, true laws,

and good statutes and commandments.

You revealed to them Your holy Sabbath

and gave them commandments and statutes and laws

through Your servant Moses.

The Levites

The Levites

In their hunger You gave them bread from heaven;

in their thirst You brought them water from the rock.

You told them to go in and possess the land

that You had sworn to give them.

Question

Quick question

How did the day divide?

How long did they read from the Book of the Law that day?

But they and our fathers became arrogant and stiff-necked

and did not obey Your commandments.

They refused to listen and failed to remember the wonders You performed among them. They stiffened their necks and appointed a leader to return them to their bondage in Egypt.

Nehemiah 9:17

Even when they cast for themselves

an image of a calf and said,

‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’

and when they committed terrible blasphemies,

The Levites

The Levites

You gave them kingdoms and peoples

and allotted to them every corner of the land.

So they took the land of Sihon king of Heshbon

and of Og king of Bashan.

You multiplied their descendants

like the stars of heaven

and brought them to the land

You had told their fathers to enter and possess.

So their descendants went in and possessed the land;

You subdued before them the Canaanites dwelling in the land.

You delivered into their hands the kings and peoples of the land,

to do with them as they wished.

Evening in the hill country: old olive trees and terraced vineyards heavy with grapes, a stone-lined well with a rope and jar, and a small walled town on the ridge beyond.

They captured fortified cities and fertile land

and took houses full of all goods,

wells already dug,

vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance.

So they ate and were filled;

they grew fat and delighted in Your great goodness.

Low and close on weedy stones in a deserted courtyard at dusk: a rolled leather scroll lies dropped in the dirt, its cord loose, a broken clay lamp beside it, a leaning wall under a fading sky.

But they were disobedient and rebelled against You;

they flung Your law behind their backs.

They killed Your prophets,

who had admonished them to return to You.

They committed terrible blasphemies.

So You delivered them into the hands

of enemies who oppressed them,

and in their time of distress they cried out to You.

From heaven You heard them,

and in Your great compassion You gave them deliverers

who saved them from the hands of their enemies.

But as soon as they had rest,

they again did evil in Your sight.

So You abandoned them to the hands of their enemies,

who had dominion over them.

When they cried out to You again,

You heard from heaven,

and You delivered them many times

in Your compassion.

0:40

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

You admonished them to turn back to Your law,

but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments.

They sinned against Your ordinances,

by which a man will live if he practices them.

They turned a stubborn shoulder;

they stiffened their necks and would not obey.

The Levites

The Levites

You were patient with them for many years,

and Your Spirit admonished them through Your prophets.

Yet they would not listen,

so You gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.

for You are a gracious and compassionate God

Nehemiah 9:31

Reflect

Yet

Read the prayer’s turns: they rebelled, they cried out, You heard. Where do you see that circle in your own life? Write what you keep returning to, and then what God has kept doing.

The same circle, again and again

Whiteboard

Round and round it goes through the judges and the kings. What holds the circle together is not Israel’s repentance, which never lasts, but God’s compassion, which does.

Evening on the flat top of Jerusalem's plain new wall: an old man in sackcloth stands alone with his staff, looking north over empty stony hills and a burned-out terrace gone to weeds.

So now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God

who keeps His gracious covenant,

do not view lightly all the hardship

that has come upon us,

and upon our kings and leaders,

our priests and prophets,

our ancestors and all Your people,

from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.

You are just in all that has befallen us,

because You have acted faithfully,

while we have acted wickedly.

Our kings and leaders and priests and fathers

did not obey Your law

or listen to Your commandments

and warnings that You gave them.

For even while they were in their kingdom,

with the abundant goodness

that You had given them,

and in the spacious and fertile land

that You had set before them,

they would not serve You

or turn from their wicked ways.

A threshing floor in the hills of Judah: a thin farmer and his son stand by a small pile of grain, watching full sacks loaded onto donkeys under the eye of a Persian official with a bronze balance.

So here we are today as slaves

in the land You gave our fathers to enjoy its fruit and goodness—

here we are as slaves!

Its abundant harvest goes to the kings

You have set over us because of our sins.

And they rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please.

We are in great distress.

The Levites

The Levites

In view of all this, we make a binding agreement, putting it in writing and sealing it with the names of our leaders, Levites, and priests.”

Pray

Praise the LORD who alone made all things. Confess in your own words, your sins and not only the sins of others. Thank Him that He is “gracious and compassionate.” Pray for those living under hardship they did not choose. Ask for the courage to turn a prayer into a decision.

You’ve experienced

Nehemiah 9

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A verse to carry with you

But You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in loving devotion, and You did not forsake them.

Nehemiah 9:17

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