Nehemiah 9:2

The People Confess Their Sins

1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of ^athis month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, ^band with dust on their heads.

2 Then ^athose of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and ^bconfessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

3 And they stood up in their place and ^aread from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one–fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.

4 Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God.

5 And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said:
“Stand up and bless the Lord your God
Forever and ever!
“Blessed be ^aYour glorious name,
Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!

6 ^aYou alone are the Lord;
^bYou have made heaven,
^cThe heaven of heavens, with ^dall their host,
The earth and everything on it,
The seas and all that is in them,
And You ^epreserve them all.
The host of heaven worships You.

7 “You are the Lord God,
Who chose ^aAbram,
And brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans,
And gave him the name ^bAbraham;

Commentaries:

Forerunner Commentary
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What Does Nehemiah 9:2 Mean?

Nehemiah 9:2

Their children faced the same tests ours face today: a shortage of converted potential mates. Many of them had started dating and marrying "outside the church." Most of those they married never converted to God's truths but remained pagans. This led to whole families forsaking God's way of life. They forsook Israelite culture to the point that Nehemiah later writes that "half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod [a Philistine city], and could not speak the language of Judah" (Nehemiah 13:24). Boaz' marriage to Ruth, a foreigner of Moab, proves to be the exception, not the rule.

Staff
The Feast Is Over . . . Now What?

Related Topics: Assimilation | Boaz and Ruth | Dating Outside Church | Marriage | Marriage Outside Church

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