Midrash sur Néhémie 9:32

In Palestine this is what they learned: R. Gidel said in the name of Rab: "Great implies that he (Ezra) used the Tetragrammaton." R. Mathna said: "It means that he said, Our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible," and R. Mathna's statement is in accord with R. Joshua b. Levi, who said: "Why were they called the men of the Great Assembly? Because they restored the old crown to its original influence. What does this refer to? Moses had said (Deut. 10, 17) God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible. Then came Jeremiah and said: 'The idolaters are dancing in His Temple. Where is His terribleness?' So he omitted terrible. Then came Daniel, who said: 'The idolaters enslaved His children. Where is His might?' So he omitted mighty. Then came the men of the Great Assembly, and said: 'On the contrary, this is His might, and this His terribleness: His might because of his patience toward the wicked; and this His terribleness, for had not men felt His terror, how could such a small people [as Israel] have been kept alive among so many idol-worshipping peoples?' " [Therefore they again introduced the phrase, the God, the great, the terrible, and the mighty.'] But the Rabbis (Jeremiah and Daniel), how could they rely upon their own authority to abolish what Moses had established? "Because," said R. Elazar, "they knew the Holy One, praised be He! loves Truth. So they did not wish to lie to Him, to tell Him what they did not think."