Nehemiah Chapter 9
So on the 24th day of the month, the crew of Israel was chilling together, fasting, rocking sackcloth, and tossing dirt on themselves.
Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
The fam of Israel split from all the sus folks, stood tall, and admitted their sins and their fam's mess-ups.
And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. {strangers: Heb. strange children}
They stood in their spot, read the law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, then spent another quarter confessing and worshiping.
And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God {one} fourth part of the day; and {another} fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.
The Levites, Jeshua and the gang, were up on the stairs shouting loudly to the Lord their God.
Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, {and} Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God. {stairs: or, scaffold}
Then Jeshua and the crew were like, "Get up and bless the Lord your God forever, fam! His name is legendary and deserves all the hype."
Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, {and} Pethahiah, said, Stand up {and} bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
You, Lord, are the one and only; you crafted the heavens and the whole universe, the earth and everything in it, the seas, and you keep it all lit; even the heavenly hosts vibe with you.
Thou, {even} thou, {art} LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all {things} that {are} therein, the seas, and all that {is} therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.
You’re the Lord, the God who picked Abram, pulled him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name Abraham;
Thou {art} the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;
You peeped his heart was faithful and made a covenant to give the land of the Canaanites and all those other peeps to his descendants, and you kept it real; you’re righteous, no cap.
And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give {it, I say}, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou {art} righteous:
You saw our ancestors’ struggles in Egypt and caught their cries by the Red Sea;
And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;
You showed signs and wonders to Pharaoh and all his crew because you knew they were acting all proud. That’s how you got your name, still popping off today.
And 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.
You split the sea for them, so they walked through on dry land, and their haters got dunked in the deep like a rock in the waves.
And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters.
You led them during the day with a cloud vibe and at night with a fire pillar to light up their path, no cap.
Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go.
You showed up on Mount Sinai, spoke to them from heaven, and dropped some fire rules and good commandments, straight up.
Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: {true...: Heb. laws of truth}
You made your holy sabbath known to them and delivered precepts and laws through Moses, your ride-or-die.
And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:
You blessed them with bread from heaven when they were hungry and brought water from the rock when they were thirsty, promising them the land you swore to give them, periodt.
And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them. {which...: Heb. which thou hadst lift up thine hand to give them}
But they and our ancestors got all prideful and stiff-necked, ignoring your commandments, fr.
But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,
They flat-out refused to listen, forgot about your wonders, and in their rebellion, picked a captain to take them back to slavery; but you’re a God who forgives, full of grace and mercy, slow to anger, and you didn’t ditch them.
And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou {art} a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not. {a God...: Heb. a God of pardons}
For real, when they made a golden calf and said, "This is your God who brought you outta Egypt," they really pushed your buttons.
Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This {is} thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;
Yet in your endless mercy, you didn’t ghost them in the wilderness; the cloud stayed with them by day and the fire by night to guide them, no cap.
Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.
You gave them your good spirit to teach them, didn’t hold back the manna, and hooked them up with water for their thirst.
Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.
For real, you had their backs for forty years in the wild; they were chilling with no needs, their fits didn’t fade, and their feet stayed on point.
Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, {so that} they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
Plus, you hooked them up with kingdoms and nations, splitting it all up so they could flex in Sihon’s land, Heshbon’s turf, and Og’s kingdom in Bashan.
Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.
Their kids were popping off like stars in the sky, and you brought them into the land you promised their fams, so they could claim it.
Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess {it}.
So the kids rolled in and took over the land; you put the Canaanites on blast, handing them over with their kings, so they could do their thing.
So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would. {as they...: Heb. according to their will}
They snatched up dope cities and a lit land, full of all the goods, wells, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees galore: they feasted, got full, and enjoyed your epic goodness.
And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. {wells: or, cisterns} {fruit...: Heb. tree of food}
But no cap, they were disobedient, flipping on you, tossing your law behind them, and took out your prophets who were trying to steer them right, causing major drama.
Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.
So you let their enemies flex on them, and when they were struggling and cried out, you heard them from heaven; you showed up with saviors, saving them from their foes.
Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest {them} from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
But after they chilled for a bit, they went back to being sus; so you left them with their enemies, who were running the show; yet when they came back and cried out, you heard them from heaven, and many times you saved them out of love.
But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest {them} from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies; {they did...: Heb. they returned to do evil}
You called them out to bring them back to your law, but they were all prideful, ignoring your commands, sinning against your rules (which if a dude follows, he’s good); they shrugged you off, stiffed their necks, and wouldn’t listen.
And 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. {withdrew...: Heb. they gave a withdrawing shoulder}
Yet for years you put up with them, calling them out through your spirit in the prophets; but they just wouldn’t listen; so you gave them over to the people of the lands.
Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. {forbear...: Heb. protract over them} {in thy...: Heb. in the hand of thy prophets}
But for your epic mercy, you didn’t ghost us completely or leave us hanging; you’re just a chill and kind God.
Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou {art} a gracious and merciful God.
So like, our God, the great and mighty one, who keeps it real with promises and mercy, don’t let all this drama seem small to you, 'cause it’s been rough for us, our kings, princes, priests, prophets, and fam since the Assyrian takeover.
Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day. {trouble: Heb. weariness} {that...: Heb. that hath found us}
For real, you’re just in all this chaos hitting us; you did right, but we were out here being sus.
Howbeit thou {art} just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:
Our kings, princes, priests, and ancestors didn’t stick to your rules or listen to your commands and warnings, where you showed us what’s up.
Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them.
They didn’t vibe with you in their kingdom, even with all the solid stuff you blessed them with and that dope land you gave them; they just kept doing their shady stuff.
For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.
Look, we’re just your servants today, and for the land you gave our fam to enjoy, we’re still just grinding in it.
Behold, we {are} servants this day, and {for} the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we {are} servants in it:
It’s yielding mad gains for the kings you put over us because of our mess-ups: they’ve got control over our lives and our livestock, and we’re in serious struggle mode.
And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we {are} in great distress.
So because of all this, we’re making a solid promise, writing it down; our princes, Levites, and priests are sealing the deal.
And because of all this we make a sure {covenant}, and write {it}; and our princes, Levites, {and} priests, seal {unto it}. {seal: Heb. are at the sealing, or, sealed}