91 Then on the twenty-fourth day of this month, the People of Israel gathered for a fast, wearing burlap and faces smudged with dirt as signs of repentance. 2 The Israelites broke off all relations with foreigners, stood up, and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their parents. 3 While they stood there in their places, they read from the Book of The Revelation of God, their God, for a quarter of the day. For another quarter of the day they confessed and worshiped their God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Nehemiah 9:1-3
Commentary on Nehemiah 9:1-3
(Read Nehemiah 9:1-3)
The word will direct and quicken prayer, for by it the Spirit helps our infirmities in prayer. The careful study of God's word will more and more discover to us our own sinfulness, and the plenteousness of his salvation; thus it calls us to mourn for sin, and to rejoice in him. Every discovery of the truth of God, should render us more unwearied in attendance on his sacred word, and on his worship.