Question 1

What is happening when the people gather with fasting and sackcloth?

Accepted Answer

The people of Israel come together on the twenty‑fourth day of the month deeply humbled. They fast, wear sackcloth, and put dust on their heads to show sorrow for sin. They separate themselves from foreigners to show they belong to God and want to turn from past disobedience. They spend hours standing, listening to the book of the law, confessing sins, and worshiping. This shows a serious, public return to God, not just in words but in attitude, posture, and time given to hearing His word and praying.

Question 2

Why do they confess both their own sins and the sins of their fathers?

Accepted Answer

The people see that their present trouble is not just from their own choices but from a long pattern of disobedience. They speak of “our sins and the iniquities of our fathers” because they know they have walked in the same paths as previous generations. By naming both, they are not blaming their ancestors to excuse themselves. Instead, they admit that their whole history has been marked by turning away from God, and that they share in this guilt. This honest confession prepares them to seek mercy.

Question 3

What does this long prayer teach about God’s character?

Accepted Answer

The prayer paints a clear picture of who God is. He alone is Lord and Creator of heaven, earth, and sea, and He keeps everything alive. He chooses, makes promises, and keeps them, as with Abraham. He sees His people’s suffering, rescues them with power, and leads them by cloud and fire. He gives good laws, daily bread, water, and His Spirit. Even when the people are proud, stubborn, and idolatrous, He is ready to pardon, gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. He corrects, but He does not utterly forsake them.

Question 4

Why do the Levites retell the history from Abraham to their own day?

Accepted Answer

The Levites go back to Abraham and walk through the exodus, the wilderness, and the conquest of the land to show two things side by side: God’s steady mercy and Israel’s steady sin. This history is part of their confession. As they speak, they admit that God has always done right and kept His word, while the people have again and again hardened their necks, refused His commandments, killed His prophets, and turned to idols. Remembering this history helps them see their present distress as fair and drives them to seek God’s mercy and renew the covenant.

Question 5

What does it mean that God is “ready to pardon, gracious and merciful”?

Accepted Answer

When they say God is “ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness,” they are describing how He has dealt with them all along. They made a golden calf, wanted to go back to Egypt, ignored His wonders, and killed His messengers. Yet God did not leave them. He kept leading them, feeding them, giving them water, and sending prophets to call them back. Being ready to pardon means God does not quickly cast them away, but is willing to forgive when they turn back to Him, even after many failures.

Question 6

Why does God give them into the hand of their enemies again and again?

Accepted Answer

The prayer explains that when the people rebel, throw God’s law behind their backs, and reject the warnings of the prophets, God gives them into the hand of their enemies. This is not random cruelty but a just response, and it serves as discipline. Their enemies vex them, and in their trouble they cry out to God. Then God, in His many mercies, raises up saviors to rescue them. But after rest, they fall back into evil. This cycle of sin, suffering, crying out, and mercy repeats, showing both the seriousness of sin and God’s patience.

Question 7

Why do they say, “Behold, we are servants this day” in the land God gave?

Accepted Answer

They admit that, although they are back in the land that was promised to their fathers, they are not truly free. Foreign kings rule over them, take the increase of the land, and have power over their bodies and cattle. They call themselves servants in their own land to show how deeply their sins have affected their situation. This is part of their confession that God is just in what has happened. At the same time, they bring this distress to God, asking Him to see it and have mercy on them again.

Question 8

What is the “sure covenant” they make and write at the end?

Accepted Answer

After recounting God’s goodness and their long history of sin, the people respond by making a “sure covenant.” This means they make a firm, written agreement to obey God’s commandments. Their leaders, Levites, and priests seal it as a sign that they own this promise together. The suffering they have gone through has brought them to this point. Where blessings had not moved them before, trouble now presses them to commit themselves openly to God’s law and to live as His people in the land He gave.

Question 9

How can this passage guide someone’s repentance and prayer today?

Accepted Answer

This passage shows that real repentance is honest, humble, and based on truth. The people do not excuse themselves; they admit, “You have done right, but we have done wickedly.” They remember who God is and what He has done, then confess where they have turned away. Their prayer is soaked in Scripture and in the story of God’s dealings with them. For someone today, it gives a pattern: come to God with sorrow for sin, remember His mercy, confess fully, accept His justice, and then commit again to walk in obedience by His help.

Nehemiah 9:1

Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.

The People Confess Their Sins

The People Confess Their Sin

A Covenant Results

The People Confess Their Sins

The People Confess Their Sin

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Nehemiah 9:1

Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.

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The People Confess Their Sins

The People Confess Their Sin

A Covenant Results

The People Confess Their Sins

The People Confess Their Sin

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