Nehemiah 1
Nehemiah's Prayer for
Jerusalem |
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The words of Nehemi'ah the son of
Hachali'ah.
And it came to pass in the month Chis'leu, in the
twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,
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that Hana'ni, one of my brethren, came,
he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the
Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and
concerning Jerusalem.
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3 |
And they said unto me, The remnant that
are left of the captivity there in the province are in great
affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken
down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
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4 |
And it came to pass, when I heard these
words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days,
and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
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and said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that
keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his
commandments:
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let thine ear now be attentive, and thine
eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I
pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy
servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we
have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have
sinned.
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We have dealt very corruptly against
thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the
judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.
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8 |
Remember, I beseech thee, the word that
thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress,
I will scatter you abroad among the nations: Lev. 26.33
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but if ye turn unto me, and keep
my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto
the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from
thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set
my name there. Deut. 30.1-5
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Now these are thy servants and thy
people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy
strong hand.
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O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear
be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy
servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy
servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.
For I was the king's cupbearer.
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