The Promise of Restoration
(Nehemiah 1:1–11)

1Nowe when all these things shall come vpon thee, either the blessing or the curse which I haue set before thee, and thou shalt turne into thine heart, among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driuen thee, 2And shalt returne vnto the Lord thy God, and obey his voyce in all that I commaund thee this day: thou, and thy children with all thine heart and with all thy soule, 3Then the Lord thy God wil cause thy captiues to returne, and haue compassion vpon thee, and wil returne, to gather thee out of all the people, where the Lord thy God had scattered thee. 4Though thou werest cast vnto the vtmost part of heauen, from thence will the Lorde thy God gather thee, & fro thence wil he take thee, 5And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, & thou shalt possesse it, and he will shewe thee fauour, and will multiplie thee aboue thy fathers.

6And the Lorde thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seede, that thou mayest loue the Lorde thy God with all thine heart, and with al thy soule, that thou maiest liue. 7And the Lorde thy God will lay all these curses vpon thine enemies, and on them, that hate thee, and that persecute thee. 8Returne thou therefore, and obey the voyce of the Lorde, and do all his commaundements, which I commaund thee this day. 9And the Lorde thy God will make thee plenteous in euery worke of thine hande, in the fruite of thy bodie, and in the fruite of thy cattel, and in the fruite of the lande for thy wealth: for the Lord will turne againe, & reioyce ouer thee to do thee good, as he reioyced ouer thy fathers, 10Because thou shalt obey the voyce of the Lord thy God, in keeping his comandements, and his ordinances, which are written in the booke of this Law, when thou shalt returne vnto the Lord thy God with all thine heart & with al thy soule.

The Choice of Life or Death

11For this commandement which I commande thee this day, is not hid from thee, neither is it farre off. 12It is not in heauen, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go vp for vs to heauen, & bring it vs, and cause vs to heare it, that we may doe it? 13Neither is it beyonde the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go ouer the sea for vs, & bring it vs, & cause vs to heare it, that we may do it? 14But the word is very nere vnto thee: euen in thy mouth and in thine heart, for to do it.

15Beholde, I haue set before thee this day life and good, death and euill, 16In that I commaunde thee this day, to loue the Lorde thy God, to walke in his wayes, & to keepe his commaundements, and his ordinances, and his lawes, that thou mayest liue, and be multiplied, & that the Lorde thy God may blesse thee in the land, whither thou goest to possesse it. 17But if thine heart turne away, so that thou wilt not obey, but shalt be seduced and worship other gods, and serue them, 18I pronounce vnto you this day, that ye shal surely perish, ye shall not prolong your dayes in the lande, whither thou passest ouer Iorden to possesse it. 19I call heauen and earth to recorde this day against you, that I haue set before you life & death, blessing and cursing. therefore chuse life, that both thou and thy seede may liue, 20By louing the Lorde thy God, by obeying his voyce, and by cleauing vnto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy dayes: that thou mayest dwell in the lande which the Lorde sware vnto thy fathers, Abraham, Izhak, and Iaakob, to giue them.