Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month Bani-Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them. 2The seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. 3They stood up in their place, and read in the Book of the Taurat1 of YAHWEH2 their God a fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshiped YAHWEH their God. 4Then stood up on the stairs of the Levites3, Yusha4, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice to YAHWEH their God.
5Then the Levites, Yusha, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless YAHWEH your God from everlasting to everlasting; and praise be to your glorious Name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. 6You are YAHWEH, even you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all; and the host of heaven worships you. 7You are YAHWEH, the God who chose Ibram5, and brought him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name of Ibrahim6, 8and found his heart faithful before you, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his seed, and have performed your words; for you are righteous.
9“You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea, 10and showed signs and wonders on Firaun7, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land; for you knew that they dealt proudly against them, and you made a Name for yourself, as it is this day. 11You divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their pursuers you cast into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters. 12Moreover in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go.
13“You came down also on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14and made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them commandments, statutes, and a law, by Musa8 your servant, 15and gave them bread from the sky for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them.
16“But they and our fathers dealt proudly and hardened their neck, and did not listen to your commandments, 17and refused to obey, neither were mindful of your wonders that you did among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and did not forsake them. 18Yes, when they had made themselves a cast metal calf, and said, “This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,” and had committed awful blasphemies; 19yet you in your manifold mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not depart from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go. 20You gave also your good Spirit9 to instruct them, and did not withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.
21“Yes, forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not grow old, and their feet did not swell. 22Moreover you gave them kingdoms and peoples, which you allotted according to their portions: so they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. 23You also multiplied their children as the stars of the sky, and brought them into the land concerning which you said to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.
24“So the children went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings, and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they pleased. 25They took fortified cities, and a rich land, and possessed houses full of all good things, cisterns dug out, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance: so they ate, were filled, became fat, and delighted themselves in your great goodness.
26“Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, and cast your Taurat behind their back, and killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them back to you, and they committed awful blasphemies. 27Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried to you, you heard from heaven; and according to your manifold mercies you gave them deliverers who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries. 28But after they had rest, they did evil again before you; therefore you left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried to you, you heard from heaven; and many times you delivered them according to your mercies, 29and testified against them, that you might bring them back to your Taurat. Yet they dealt proudly, and did not listen to your commandments, but sinned against your ordinances, (which if a man does, he shall live in them,) turned their backs, hardened their necks, and would not hear. 30Yet many years you put up with them, and testified against them by your Spirit through your prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
31“Nevertheless in your manifold mercies you did not make a full end of them, nor forsake them; for you are a gracious and merciful God.
32“Now therefore, our God, the great, mighty, and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness, do not let all the trouble seem little before you, that has come on us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and on all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria to this day. 33However you are just in all that is come on us; for you have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly; 34neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept your Taurat, nor listened to your commandments and your testimonies with which you testified against them. 35For they have not served you in their kingdom, and in your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land which you gave them, neither have they turned from their wicked works.
36“Behold, we are servants today, and as for the land that you gave our fathers to eat its fruit and prosperity, behold, we are servants in it. 37It yields much increase to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins: also they have power over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress. 38Yet for all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, our Levites, and our priests, seal it.
- 9:3 Taurat, this Arabic term is derived from the Hebrew word Torah, which means “instruction” or “teaching.” Depending on context, Taurat can refer to,
1. The whole Hebrew Bible contained here under the title Taurat, equivalent to what Jews today call Tanakh, and what Christians call the Old Testament.
2. The revelation given to Prophet Musa, that is, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, sometimes called the Pentateuch. Pentateuch is a Greek word meaning “five books” and includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These five books are attributed to Prophet Musa himself. This is the traditional and most common meaning given to Taurat or Torah.
3. The Law of Musa found within the Pentateuch, with its hundreds of rules and regulations covering many aspects of daily life for the people of Israel. The most famous of these laws are the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20.
4. Taurat can also refer to divine instruction and teaching in general without reference to a particular book of the Hebrew Bible. ↩︎ - 9:3 YAHWEH, God’s personal Name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15: ‘God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”’ ↩︎
- 9:4 Levites, the descendants of Levi, one of the 12 sons of Prophet Yaqub (Jacob), from whose family line came all the priests who served in the Holy House of God, the Temple at Jerusalem. ↩︎
- 9:4 Yusha, this Arabic name and the name Jeshua are both derived from the Hebrew name Yehoshua, which means “YAHWEH saves.” Yehoshua also gives rise to the Arabic names ‘Isa and Yesu, as well as the Greek name Iesous, which is rendered Jesus in English. ↩︎
- 9:7 Ibram, this Arabic name is derived from the Hebrew name Abram, which means “exalted father.” ↩︎
- 9:7 Ibrahim, this Arabic name is derived from the Hebrew name Abraham, which means “father of many nations.” ↩︎
- 9:10 Firaun, an Arabic term derived from the Hebrew title Pharaoh, used for the kings of ancient Egypt. ↩︎
- 9:14 Musa, this Arabic name is derived from the Hebrew name Moses meaning “to pull out” or “draw out” (of water); referring to the biblical story where he was rescued from the Nile River by Firaun’s daughter. ↩︎
- 9:20 Spirit, or Holy Spirit, or Spirit of God; not an angel, created being, nor an impersonal force, but the uncreated, eternal essence of God himself. The Spirit was present and active at the creation of heaven and earth (see Genesis 1:2). He is also the one who moved the prophets to speak God’s Word to mankind (see 2 Peter 1:21). The Spirit also lives inside of every follower of ‘ISA AL-MASIH, empowering them to live in a way pleasing to God (see 1 Corinthians 3:16). ↩︎