that Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and certain men out of Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, that were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days. And I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,

Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou may hearken to the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, day and night, for the sons of Israel thy servants while I confess the sins of the sons

Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commanded thy servant Moses, saying, If ye trespass, I will scatter you abroad among the peoples,

but if ye return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the outermost part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, to cause my name

Now I was cupbearer to the king. And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not [formerly] been sad in

And I said to the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' sepulchers, that I may build it.

Moreover I said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given to me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through till I come to Judah,

and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the castle which appertains to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And

And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there came a man to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel.

And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me. I neither told any man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem, nor was there any beast with me except the beast that I rode upon.

Then I went on to the fountain gate and to the king's pool, but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.

Then I said to them, Ye see the evil condition that we are in, how Jerusalem lays waste, and the gates of it are burned with fire. Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach.

And I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me, as also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for the good [work].

But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? Will ye rebel against the king?

After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, repaired to the place opposite the sepulchers of David, and to the pool that was made, and to the house of the mighty men.

Palal the son of Uzai [repaired] opposite the turning [of the wall], and the tower that stands out from the upper house of the king, which is by the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh [repaired].

(Now the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, to the place opposite the water gate toward the east, and the tower that stands out.)

After him the Tekoites repaired another portion, opposite the great tower that stands out, and to the wall of Ophel.

But it came to pass that, when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they are building, if a fox goes up he shall break down their stone wall.

But it came to pass that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, [and] that the breaches began to be stopped, then they

And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens has become feeble, and there is much rubbish, so that we are not able to build the wall.

And it came to pass that, when the Jews who dwelt by them came, they said to us ten times, From all places from where ye shall return to us they will be upon you.

And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God had brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall, every man to his work.

And it came to pass from that time forth, that half of my servants labored in the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail. And the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.

Likewise at the same time I said to the people, Let each with his servant lodge within Jerusalem that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labor in the day.

For there were who said, We, our sons and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain that we may eat and live.

Also I said, The thing that ye do is not good. Ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies?

Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their fields, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them.

Then they said, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them, so will we do, even as thou say. Then I called the priests, and took an oath from them that they would do according to this promise.

Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, [that is], twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bre

Moreover there were at my table, of the Jews and the rulers, a hundred and fifty men, besides those who came to us from among the nations that were round about us.

Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep, also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine. Yet for all this I did not demand the bread of the governor, because the bon

Remember to me, O my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.

Now it came to pass, when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobiah, and to Geshem the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies, that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it, (though even to that time I had not s

that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together in [one of] the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief.

And I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it, and come down to you?

in which was written, It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou are building the wall. And thou would be their king according to these words.

For they all would have made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work that it not be done. But now, [O God], strengthen thou my hands.

And I said, Should such a man as I flee? And who is there, that, being such as I, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.

For this cause he was hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

And it came to pass, when all our enemies heard [of it], that all the nations that were around us feared, and were much cast down in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.

that I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the governor of the castle, charge over Jerusalem, for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.

And my God put into my heart to gather together the ranking men, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first. And I found written

And the governor said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim.

And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand pounds of silver, and sixty-seven priests' garments.

And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the broad place that was before the water gate. And they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which LORD had commanded to Israel.

And he read in it before the broad place that was before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and of those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were [attentive] t

And they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly, and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading.

And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

And they found written in the law how that LORD had commanded by Moses that the sons of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month,

and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth to the mount, and fetch olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick tre

And all the assembly of those who came again out of the captivity made booths, and dwelt in the booths, for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the sons of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness.

Thou are LORD, even thou alone, thou have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and thou preserve them all. And the host of heaven worshi

and showed signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land, for thou knew that they dealt proudly against them, and got thee a name, as it is this day.

And thou divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land. And thou cast their pursuers into the depths as a stone into the mighty waters.

And thou gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which thou had sworn to give them.

and refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou did among them, but stiffened their neck. And in their rebellion they appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But thou are a God ready to pardon, gracious a

Yea, when they had made a molten calf for them, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations,

Their sons thou also multiplied as the stars of heaven, and brought them into the land concerning which thou said to their fathers that they should go in to possess it.

So the sons went in and possessed the land. And thou subdued the inhabitants of the land before them, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings, and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as th

But after they had rest, they again did evil before thee. Therefore thou left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them. Yet when they returned, and cried to thee, thou heard from heaven, and many t

and testified against them, that thou might bring them again to thy law. Yet they dealt proudly, and did not hearken to thy commandments, but sinned against thine ordinances (which if a man does, he shall live in them), and withdre

Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness, let not all the travail seem little before thee, that has come upon us, on our kings, on our rulers, and on our priests, an

However thou are just in all that has come upon us, for thou have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly,

For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gave them, and in the large and fat land which thou gave before them, neither did they turn from their wicked works.

Behold, we are servants this day, and as for the land that thou gave to our fathers to eat the fruit of it and the good of it, behold, we are servants in it.

And that we would not give our daughters to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons.

And if the peoples of the land bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day. And that we would forego the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.

and that we should bring the first-fruits of our dough, and our heave-offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, the new wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithes of our ground

For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the heave-offering of the grain, of the new wine, and of the oil, to the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters, and

Then I brought up the rulers of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies that gave thanks and went in procession, [one went] on the right hand upon the wall toward the dung gate,

And they offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. And the women also and the children rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.

And on that day men were appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the heave-offerings, for the first-fruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the la

And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters as every day required. And they set apart [that which was] for the Levites, and the Levites set apart [that whi

On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people, and in it was found written that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of God forever,

And it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

and I came to Jerusalem, and understood the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.

And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each one to his field.

Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the observances of it.

Then I contended with the ranking men of Judah, and said to them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day?

And it came to pass that, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath. And I set some of my servant

Then I testified against them, and said to them, Why do ye lodge around the wall? If ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth they came no more on the Sabbath.

And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember to me, O my God, this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy loving k