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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 9
Jews fast and confess their sins—Levites bless and praise the Lord, and
recite his goodness toward Israel.
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1 Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel
were assembled with afasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon
them.
2 And the seed of Israel aseparated themselves
from all bstrangers, and stood and cconfessed 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.
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1a
Jer. 36:6;
TG
Fasting
2a
Alma 5:57
b
OR foreigners
c
TG
Confession;
TG
Repentance
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4 ¶ Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God.
5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
6 Thou, even thou, art aLORD alone;
thou hast made bheaven, 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 cpreservest them all; and the host of heaven
worshippeth thee.
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6a
2 Kgs. 19:15;
Abr. 5:4(1-5)
b
Rev. 14:7;
Moses 3:4(1-5)
c
Mosiah 2:21(20-21)
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7 Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose
aAbram, and broughtest him forth out of bUr of the
Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;
8 And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a
acovenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the
Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I
say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art
brighteous:
9 And didst see the aaffliction of our fathers in
Egypt, and heardest their cry by the bRed sea;
10 And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his
servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly
against them. So didst thou get thee a aname, as it is this
day.
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7a
Gen. 12:1
b
Abr. 2:4(3-4)
8a
Gen. 12:7;
1 Chr. 16:16
b
D&C 3:2
9a
TG
Affliction
b
Hel. 8:11
10a
Ex. 7:5;
Ex. 9:16
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11 And thou didst adivide the sea before them,
so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou
threwest into the deeps, as a bstone into the mighty waters.
12 Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy
apillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the
way wherein they should go.
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11a
Ex. 14:21;
1 Ne. 4:2;
1 Ne. 17:26
Mosiah 7:19;
Hel. 8:11;
D&C 8:3
12a
Ex. 13:21;
Deut. 1:33
Ps. 78:14
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13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them
from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good
astatutes and commandments:
14 And madest known unto them thy holy asabbath,
and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:
15 And gavest them abread from heaven for their
hunger, and broughtest forth bwater for them out of the rock for their
thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to cpossess the land
which thou hadst sworn to give them.
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13a
Deut. 4:8;
Ezek. 20:11
b
Mosiah 12:33;
3 Ne. 25:4
14a
TG
Sabbath
15a
Ex. 16:14;
TG
Bread
b
Ex. 17:6;
1 Ne. 17:29;
2 Ne. 25:20
c
Deut. 1:8
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16 But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and
ahardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,
17 And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that
thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a
captain to areturn to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to
bpardon, gracious and cmerciful, slow to
danger, and of great ekindness, and forsookest them
not.
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16a
Jacob 4:14;
Morm. 3:12(11-12)
17a
Num. 14:4
b
TG
Forgiveness
c
1 Chr. 16:41
d
TG
Anger
e
TG
Kindness
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18 Yea, when they had made them a amolten
bcalf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of
Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;
19 Yet thou in thy manifold mercies aforsookest
them not in the wilderness: 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 shew them light, and the way
wherein they should go.
20 Thou gavest also thy good aspirit to
binstruct them, and withheldest not thy cmanna from
their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.
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18a
Ex. 32:4
b
Deut. 9:16
19a
Jacob 6:4
20a
TG
Teaching with the spirit
b
TG
Holy Ghost, Source of Testimony
c
Deut. 8:3;
1 Ne. 17:28;
Mosiah 7:19
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21 Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
22 Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.
23 Their children also amultipliedst thou as the
stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised
to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.
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23a
Gen. 15:5;
D&C 132:30;
Abr. 2:9
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24 So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest 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 afat land,
and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit
trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted
themselves in thy great goodness.
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25a
Num. 13:27
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26 Nevertheless they were adisobedient, and
brebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and
cslew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee,
and they wrought great provocations.
27 Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their
aenemies, who bvexed them: and in the time of their
ctrouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from
heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them dsaviours,
who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
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26a
TG
Disobedience
b
TG
Rebellion
c
Hel. 13:24(24-26)
27a
Judg. 2:14
b
Hel. 12:3(2-3)
c
TG
Tribulation
d
Judg. 3:9
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28 But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;
29 And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.
30 Yet many years didst thou aforbear them, and
btestifiedst against them by thy cspirit in thy
dprophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into
the hand of the people of the lands.
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30a
TG
Forbearance
b
2 Kgs. 17:13
c
Acts 7:51;
TG
Holy Ghost, Mission
d
TG
Prophets, Mission of
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31 Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly
consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and
amerciful God.
32 Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the
aterrible God, who bkeepest covenant and mercy, let not
all the trouble seem 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, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.
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31a
TG
God, Mercy of;
TG
Mercy
32a
OR feared (revered) God
b
Deut. 7:9
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33 Howbeit thou art ajust in all that is
brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done bwickedly:
34 Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them.
35 For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.
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33a
TG
God, Justice of
b
Mosiah 13:29;
Alma 46:8;
D&C 101:7-8
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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 hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.
38 And because of all this we make a sure
covenant,a and write it; and our
princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.
The Stupid Natural Man
To live after the manner of the flesh, that is the natural man, is death. The uncontrolled
gradifiation of the flesh reguardless of anyone and anything else destroys life.
It does not preserve nor prolong life. Becoming adicted to drugs and carnal desires is
what will kill your mind and your body. It is pure stupidity. To over indulge one's natural
carnal desires is destructive of society and the well being of mankind. To do such is not
acting intelligently even if your IQ is 180. Destroying yourself and others around you
by not living the commandments of God is just plain stupid.
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38a because of all this we make a sure
covenant, It is human nature, I suppose, that when things are rough man
turns to God for relief. It is sad that men are not wise enough to live righteously and
thereby receive God's blessing through all time rather than to having to be brought down
low into bondage to realize and recognize God and God's blessings. Only when in bondage
to Babylon and Persia has Israel come to covenant to believe in, worship and keep God's
commandments. And these commandments are but to the benefit and well being of man. If man
would use their common sense they would willingly live the commandments just out of the
natural benefits that so living them does provide unto them. But the natural man is not
a wise man but does but seek after the uncontroled desires of the flesh which only work
to destroy man rather than to preserve, protect and benefit man.
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Glory of God Is
Intelligence
If man were truely an intelligent being, he would live by all of the commandments
and laws of God, for therein lies the well being and true happiness of man. You
do not have to have an IQ of 150 to understand the benefits of living by God's
commandments for they are the wise laws of life and happiness. They are the true
eternal laws of life and happiness. Family, sociability, loving and caring one for
another, serving one another and dwelling in peace and happiness all one's days is
what preserves life and what is necessary to sustain the immortality man. Making
life's wise choices is easy, especially since God has already spelt out for us
just what is envolved and what it takes. Though God expects us to love and honor
him, that is not his purpose. His work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality
and eternal life of man. His commandments are the necessary training in what it
takes to live such successfully. God wants us to live His given commandments because
they are what well benefit us the most. His great interest is in our well being.
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