Nehemiah 9:26-31

God was good to his people the *Jews. He looked after them and he gave them a good country to live in. But they did not obey him. God sent *prophets to warn them, but they killed the *prophets. So God punished the people. He allowed their enemies to defeat them. Then the people called out to God for help. God continued to love his people. So he heard their cries and he rescued them. But then they forgot God again and they did not obey his Law. So, again, God punished them. He allowed their enemies to defeat them and to rule over them again. Again, the people called out to God and he heard their cries. He rescued them and he warned them to obey his Law.

This happened many times during the history of the *Jews. The people did not obey God, so he punished them. He allowed their enemies to defeat them. Then the people were sorry and they asked God to rescue them. God did rescue them and he warned them to obey him. But the people soon forgot how good God was. Then they did wicked things again.

Although the people often forgot God’s kindness, God still loved them. They did not deserve his kindness. But he was still good to them and he did not destroy the nation.

v32 ‘You are our God.

You are great and powerful.

You are magnificent.

You always do what you promised.

And you are kind to us.

So now, please consider all our troubles to be important to you.

Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our *prophets

have suffered these troubles.

Our *ancestors and all your people have suffered these troubles.

We have suffered them from the time

of the kings of Assyria until now.

v33 But you have been fair when you allowed all these things to happen to us.

You have done what is right.

But we have done wicked things.

v34 Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our *ancestors

did not obey your Law.

They did not listen to your commands.

You warned them, but they did not listen.

v35 You gave to our *ancestors many good things

when they lived in their own country.

You gave to them this large country.

And it was a good country in which to produce crops.

But they did not serve you there.

And they did not stop doing wicked things.

v36 But now we are slaves.

You gave to our *ancestors this land.

So then, they could eat the food that it yielded.

You gave this land to them

so that they could enjoy all its good things.

See, we are slaves in this country!

v37 The harvest of this land is great.

But we have done wicked things.

So this harvest goes to the kings

that you have placed over us.

They rule over our bodies

and over our animals.

They do what they like with us.

We suffer much trouble.’