O Lord, please let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight to revere in your name. Please, let your servant be successful this day and give him compassion before this man." I was cupbearer for the king.

Then I said to the king, "If it is good for the king, let letters be given to me for the governors [in the province] Beyond the River, that they may let me pass until I come to Judah.

Also, a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king's land reserve, that he should give me timber for laying the beams for the gates of the citadel of the house and for the walls of the city, and for the house which I will enter." And the king gave [permission] to me, according to the good hand of God on me.

Hear, our God, for we are despised. Turn their scorn on their head and give them over to plunder in the land of captivity.

and that they should proclaim and give voice in all of their cities in Jerusalem, saying, "Go out to the hill and bring olive tree branches, olive oil wood branches, myrtle shrub branches, palm tree branches, and other leafy tree branches to make booths, as it is written."

"You alone are Yahweh. You alone have made the heavens, the heavens of the heavens, and all of their army, the earth and all that is in it, the waters and all that is in them. You give life to all of them, and the army of the heavens worship you.

You found his heart faithful before you and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite and the Girgashite--to give [it] to his seed. And you have kept your word because you are righteous.

You led them by day with a column of cloud and with a column of fire by night, to give them light on the way that they were to go.

You gave them bread from heaven for their starvation, and you caused water to go out from a rock for their thirst. You told them to go in order to take into possession the land that you have sworn by your hand to give to them.

Behold, we are slaves to this day, and the land that you have given to our ancestors to eat its fruits and [enjoy] its goodness--behold, we are slaves in it!

Its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have given over us because of our sins, and [they are] ruling over our dead bodies and our livestock at their pleasure. We are in great trouble.

[are] helping their brothers, their nobles, and entering into a solemn oath to walk in the law of God which was given by the hand of Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all of the commandments of Yahweh our Lord and his judgments and regulations.

We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land nor take their daughters for our sons.

"We put on ourselves the commandment upon us to yearly give a third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God:

And the heads of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua son of Kadmiel, and their brothers opposite them, to praise and to give thanks by the command of David the man of God, section alongside section.

And then I came to learn that the food of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, the doers of the work, had gone back each to his field.

I appointed as treasurer over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, Pedaiah from the Levites, and as their hand Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered faithful. [The responsibility given] to them was to distribute to their brothers.

So I quarreled with them and cursed them and beat some of their men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath by God: "Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.