Nehemia 9:1-3

The People Acknowledge Their Sin before God

9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust. 9:2 Those truly of Israelite descent ¹  separated from all the foreigners, ²  standing and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors. ³  9:3 For one-fourth of the day they stood in their place and read from the book of the law of the LORD their God, and for another fourth they were confessing their sins ⁴  and worshiping the LORD their God.

Nehemia 9:38

The People Pledge to be Faithful

9:38 (10:1) ⁵  “Because of all of this we are entering into a binding covenant ⁶  in written form; ⁷  our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have affixed their names ⁸  on the sealed document.”

[9:2]  ¹ tn Heb “the seed of Israel.”

[9:2]  ² tn Heb “sons of a foreigner.”

[9:2]  ³ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 9, 16, 23, 32, 34, 36).

[9:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “confessing.” The words “their sins” are not present in the Hebrew text of v. 3, but are clearly implied here because they are explicitly stated in v. 2.

[9:38]  ⁵ sn Beginning with 9:38, the verse numbers through 10:39 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:38 ET = 10:1 HT, 10:1 ET = 10:2 HT, 10:2 ET = 10:3 HT, etc., through 10:39 ET = 10:40 HT. Beginning with 11:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[9:38]  ⁶ tn Heb “we are cutting.”

[9:38]  ⁷ tn Heb “and writing.”

[9:38]  ⁸ tn Heb “our leaders, our Levites, and our priests on the sealed document.” The Hebrew text is elliptical here; the words “have affixed their names” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons. Cf. v. 2.