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your GoD, mourn not, nor weep, for all the People wept, when they heard the WORDS of the Law.

10 Then he faid unto them, Go your Way, eat the Fat, and drink the Sweet, and fend Portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this Day is HOLY unto our LORD: neither be you forry, for the Joy of the LORD is your STRENGTH.

11 So the Levites ftilled all the People, faying, Hold your Peace, for the Day is HOLY, neither be ye grieved.

12 And all the People went their Way to eat and to drink, and to fend Portions, and to make great Mirth, because they had UNDERSTOOD the Words that were declared unto them.

13 And on the fecond Day were gathered together the chief of the Fathers of all the People, the Priests and the Levites, unto Ezra, even to understand the Words of the LAW.

14 And they found written in the LAW which the LORD had commanded by Mofes, that the Children of Ifrael should dwell in Booths, in the Feaft of the feventh Month:

15 And that they should publish and proclaim, in all their Cities and in Jerufalem, faying, Go forth unto the Mount, and fetch Olive, Pine, and Myrtle, and Palm-branches, and Branches of thick Trees, to make Booths, as it is written.

16 So the People went forth and brought them, and made themselves Booths, every one upon the Roof of his House, and in their Courts, and in the Courts of the House of GOD.

17 And all the Congregation made Booths, and fat under the Booths: for fince the Days of Joshua the Son of Nun, unto that Day, had not the Children of Ifrael done fo: and there was very great Gladness.

18 Alfo Day by Day, from the first Day, unto the laft Day, he read in the Book of the LAW of GOD: and they kept the Feaft feven Days, and on the eighth Day was a folemn Affembly, according unto the Manner.

CHAP. IX.

A folemn Faft and Repentance of the People. 4 The Levites make a Religious Confeffion of God's Goodness, and their Wickedness.

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TOW in the twenty and fourth Day of this Month, the Children of Ifrael were affembled with FASTING, and with Sackcloths, and Earth upon them. 2 And the Seed of Ifrael feparated themfelves from all STRANGERS, and ftood and confeffed their SINS, and the INIQUITIES of their FATHERS.

3 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,

4 Then stood upon the Stairs of the Levites, Jefhua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud Voice unto the LORD their GOD.

5 And faid, Stand up and BLESS the LORD your God for ever and ever; and bleffed be thy GLORIOUS NAME, which is EXALTED above all BLESSING and PRAISE.

6 Thou, even thou art LORD ALONE, thou haft 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.

7 Thou art the LORD the GOD, who didft chufe Abram, and broughteft him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gaveft him the Name of Abraham:

8 And foundest his Heart faithful before thee, and madeft a COVENANT with him, to give the Land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebufites, and the Girgafhites, to give it, I fay, to his Seed, and haft PERFORMED thy WORDS, for thou art RIGHTEOUS.

9 And didft fee the Affliction of our Fathers in Egypt, and heardeft their Cry by the red Sea:

10 And fhewedft SIGNS and WONDERS, upon Pharaoh, and on all his Servants, and on all the People of his Land: for thou knoweft that they dealt proudly against them: fo didft thou get thee a Name, as it is at this Day.

11 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 threweft into the Deeps, as a Stone into the mighty Waters.

12 Moreover, thou LEDDEST them in the Day by a Ooo

CLOUDY

CLOUDY PILLAR; and in the Night by a PILLAR of FIRE, to give them Light in the Way wherein they fhould go.

13 Thou cameft down alfo upon Mount SINAI, and SPAKEST with them from Heaven, and gaveft them RIGHT Judgments, and true Laws, good STATUTES and COM

MANDMENTS:

14 And madeft known unto them thy HOLY SABBATH, and commandedft them Precepts, Statutes, and Laws, by the Hand of Mofes thy Servant.

15 And gaveft them BREAD from HEAVEN, for their Hunger, and broughteft forth Water for them out of the Rock, for their Thirst, and promifedft them that they fhould go in to poffefs the Land, which thou hadst fworn to give them.

16 But they and our Fathers dealt PROUDLY, and HARDNED their Necks, and HEARKNED not to thy COMMAND

MENTS.

17 And REFUSED to OBEY, neither were MINDFUL OF thy WONDERS that thou didst among them: but HARDNED their NECKS, and in their REBELLION appointed a Captain to return to their BONDAGE: but thou art a GOD ready to FARDON, gracious and merciful, flow to Anger, and of great Kindness, and FOR SOOKEST them not.

18 Yea, when they had made them a molten CALF, and faid, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great PROVOCATIONS:

19 Yet thou in thy MANIFOLD MERCIES FORSOOKEST them not in the Wildernefs: 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 fhew them LIGHT, and the Way wherein they fhould go.

20 Thou gaveft alfo thy GOOD SPIRIT to INSTRUCT them, and withheldeft not thy MANNA from their Mouth, and gaveft them Water for their THIRST.

21 Yea, forty Years didft thou fuftain them in the Wildernefs, fo that they lacked nothing; their CLOTHS Waxed not Old, and their FEET SWELLED not.

22 Morcover, thou gaveft them KINGDOMS and NATIONS, and didit divide them into Corners: fo they poffeffed the Land of Sihon, and the Land of the King of Hefhbon, and the Land of Og King of Bashan.

23 Their Children alfo MULTIPLIEDST thou as the STARS of Heaven, and broughteft them into the Land, con

cern ng

cerning which thou hadst promised to their Fathers, that they should go in to poffefs it.

24 So the Children went in and poffeffed the Land, and thou SUBDUEDST before them the Inhabitants of the Land, and gaveft them into their Hands, with their Kings, and the People of the Land, that they might do with them as they would.

25 And they took STRONG Cities, and a FAT Land, and poffeffed Houfes full of all Goods, Wells digged, Vineyards and Olive-yards, and Fruit-trees in Abundance: So they did eat, and were filled, and became Fat, and delighted themselves in thy great Goodness.

26 Nevertheless they were DISOBEDIENT, and REBELLED against thee, and caft thy LAW behind their Backs, and SLEW thy PROPHETS, which teftified against them to TURN them to THEE, and they wrought great PRO

VOCATIONS.

27 Therefore thou deliveredit them into the Hand of their Enemies, who vexed them: and in the Time of their TROUBLE when they cried unto thee, thou heardeft them from HEAVEN; and according to thy MANIFOLD MERCIES, thou gavest them SAVIOURS, who faved them out of the Hand of their Enemies.

28 But after they had REST, they did EVIL again before thee: therefore lefteft thou them in the Hand of their Enemies, fo that they had the Dominion over them: yet when they RETURNED and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from Heaven, and many Times didit thou deliver them, according to thy MERCIES:

29 And testifiedft against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy Law: yet they dealt PROUDLY, and hearkned not unto thy Commandments, but finned against thy Judgments (which if a Man do, he fhall live in them) and withdrew the Shoulder, and HARDNED their Neck, and would not HEAR.

30 Yet many Years didft thou forbear them, and teftifiedft against them, by thy SPIRIT in thy PROPHETS: yet would they not give Ear: therefore gaveft thou them into the Hand of the People of the Lands.

31 Nevertheless, for thy great MERCIES Sake, thou didst not utterly CONSUME them, nor FORSAKE them; for thou art a GRACIOUS and MERCIFUL GOD.

32 Now therefore our GoD, the GREAT, 00002

the MIGHTY,

and

and the TERRIBLE GOD, who keepeft COVENANT and MERCY; let not all the Trouble feem 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, fince the Time of the Kings of Affyria, unto this Day.

33 Howbeit, thou art JUST in all that is brought upon us; for thou haft done RIGHT, but we have done WICKEDLY.

34 Neither have our KINGS, our PRINCES, our PRIESTS, nor our Fathers kept thy Law, nor hearkned unto thy Commandments, and thy Teftimonies wherewith thou didst teftify against them.

35 For they have not ferved thee in their KINGDOM, and in thy GREAT GOODNESS that thou gavest them, and in the large and FAT Land which thou gaveft before them, neither TURNED they from their WICKED WORKS.

36 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.

37 And it yieldeth much Increase unto the Kings whom thou haft fet over us, because of our Sins: alfo they have Dominion over our Bodies, and over our Cattle, at their Pleasure, and we are in great Diftrefs.

38 And because of all this, we make a fure Covenant, and write it, and our Princes, Levites, and Priefs feal unto it.

CHA P. X.

The Names of them that fealed the Covenant. 29 The Points of the Covenant.

Ver. 28 ND the People, the Pricfts, the Levites, the Porters, the Singers, the Nethinims, and all they that had feparated themfelves from the People of the Lands, unto the Law of GoD, their Wives, their Sons, and their Daughters, every one having Knowledge, and having Understanding.

29 They clave to their Brethren, and entred into a Curfe and into an Oath, to walk in GOD's Law, which was given. by Mofes the Servant of GOD, and to observe and to do all the Commandments of the LORD our GOD, and his Judgments and his Statutes.

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