And they said unto me, The remnant who are left of the captivity, there in the province, are in great misfortune and reproach, the wall of Jerusalem, is broken down, and, the gates thereof, are burned with fire.

They, therefore, are thy servants, and thy people, - whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy firm hand.

Then said I unto the king, If, unto the king, it seemeth good, may, letters, be given me, unto the pashas Beyond the River, - that they may convey me over, until I come into Judah;

So I went forth through the valley-gate by night, even unto the front of the snake-fountain, and into the dung-gate, - and I viewed the walls of Jerusalem, how, they, were broken down, and, the gates thereof, consumed with fire.

Then told I them, of the hand of my God, that, it, had been good upon me, as also of the words of the king, which he had spoken unto me, - so they said, We will arise and build! and they strengthened their hands right well.

But, when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed at us, and poured contempt upon us, - and said, What is this thing which ye would do? against the king, would ye rebel?

Then arose Eliashib the high priest and his brethren the priests, and built the sheep-gate, they, hallowed it, and set up the doors thereof, - even unto the tower of Hammeah, hallowed they it, unto the tower of Hananel;

And, the fish-gate, did the sons of Hassenaah build, - they, laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof;

And, the old gate, did Joiada son of Paseah, and Meshullam, son of Besodeiah, repair, - they, laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, and the bars thereof;

at his hand, repaired, Uzziel son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths, and, at his hand, repaired Hananiah son of the perfumers, - and they fortified Jerusalem, as far as the broad wall;

The valley-gate, did Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah, repair, - they, built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, - also a thousand cubits in the wall, as far as the dung-gate.

and spake before his brethren, and the army of Samaria, and said, What are, these feeble Jews, doing? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they bring to life the stones out of the heaps of dust, when, they, have been burned up?

Now, Tobiah the Ammonite, was beside him, - so he said, Even that which they are building, if a fox should go up, he would break down their stone wall!

and do not cover their iniquity, and, their sin before thee, let it not be blotted out, - for they have caused vexation before them who are building.

and they conspired, all of them together, to come, to fight against Jerusalem, - and to cause it harm;

and our adversaries have said, They shall not know, neither shall they see, until we come into their midst, and slay them, - so shall we cause the work to cease.

But it came to pass, when the Jews dwelling near them came in, then said they unto us, ten times, From all places whither ye shall turn, they will be upon us!

They who were building at the wall and they who were carrying burdens, they who were lifting, each man , with his one hand, was working at the work, and, with the other, was grasping the weapon.

Even they who were building, every man, had his sword girded upon his loins, and so was building, - and, he that sounded the horn, was by my side.

Moreover, at that time, I said to the people, Let, every one with his young man, lodge for the night in the midst of Jerusalem, - so shall they serve us, in the night, as a watch, and, the day, for work.

and I said unto them, We, have bought our brethren the Jews, who had sold themselves unto the nations, according to our ability, and will, ye, even sell your brethren, or shall they sell themselves unto us? And they were silent, and found no answer.

And they said, We will restore them, and, from them, will we require nothing, so, will we do, as thou, art saying. Then called I the priests, and put them on oath, to do according to this promise.

And, Jews and deputies, a hundred and fifty men, and they who were coming in unto us from among the nations which were round about us, depended upon my table.

that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come! and let us meet together in the villages, in the valley of Ono, - But, they, were plotting to do me harm.

Yet they sent unto me, according to this message, four times, - and I replied to them according to this answer.

For, they all, were seeking to put us in fear, saying, Their hands will slacken from the work, and it will not be accomplished. Now, therefore, strengthen thou my hands!

When, I, came into the house of Shemaiah, son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, he, being shut in, he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, in the midst of the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to slay thee, yea, by night, are they coming to slay thee.

to this end, hired, he was, to the end that I might be afraid and do so, and might sin, - and it might serve them for an evil report, to the end they might bring reproach upon me.

And it came to pass, when all our enemies heard, and all the nations that were round about us saw, that they fell greatly in their own eyes, and took knowledge that, from God, had this work been wrought.

Moreover, his good deeds, were they telling before me, and, my affairs, were they carrying out to him, - letters, did Tobiah send to put me in fear.

And I said unto them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until, hot, be the sun, and, while they are standing by, let them close the doors, and make them fast, - setting watches, of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one over against his own house.

These, are the sons of the province, who came up from among the Captives of the Exile, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did exile, - but they came back to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one to his own city;

And, these, are they who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, - but they could not tell their ancestral house, nor their seed, whether, of Israel, they were:

These, sought their writing wherein they were registered, but it was not found, - so they were desecrated out of the priesthood;

and the governor told them, they must not eat of the most holy things, - until there should stand up a priest, with Lights and Perfections.

Then all the people gathered themselves together as one man, into the broad way that was before the water-gate, - and they spake unto Ezra the scribe, to bring the book of the law of Moses, which Yahweh had commanded Israel.

And Ezra the scribe stood upon a lofty platform of wood, which they had made for the purpose, and there stood, beside him, Mattithiah and Shema and Anaiah and Uriah and Hilkiah and Maaseiah, on his right hand, - and, on his left, Pedaiah and Mishael and Malchijah and Hashum and Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, Meshullam.

And Ezra blessed Yahweh the great God, - and all the people responded, Amen! Amen! with the lifting up of their hands, - and they bent their heads and bowed themselves down unto Yahweh, with their faces to the ground.

So they read in the book of the law of God, distinctly, - and, giving the sense, caused them to understand the reading.

Then Nehemiah - he, was the governor - and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites who were causing the people to understand, said unto all the people, To-day, is, holy, unto Yahweh your God, do not mourn, nor weep, - for, weeping, were all the people, when they heard the words of the law.

And all the people went their way, to eat and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great rejoicing, - because they had understood the words which were made known unto them.

And they found written in the law, - that Yahweh gave command through Moses, that the sons of Israel should dwell in booths, during the festival of the seventh month;

and that they should publish and send along a proclamation throughout all their cities and throughout Jerusalem, saying, Forth to the mountain, and bring in branches of olive, and branches of oleaster, and branches of myrtle, and branches of palms, and branches of thick trees, - to make booths, as it is written.

So he read in the book of the law of God, day by day, from the first day unto the last day, and they kept the festival seven days, and, on the eighth day, a closing feast, according to the regulation.

So they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of Yahweh their God, a fourth part of the day, - and, a fourth part, they were making confession and bowing themselves down, unto Yahweh their God.

and didst grant signs and wonders against Pharaoh, and against all his servants, and against all the people of his land, for thou hadst taken note, that they ruled proudly over them, - and so thou didst make thee a name, as at this day.

And, the sea, didst thou cleave asunder before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea, on dry ground, - whereas, their pursuers, thou didst cast into the depths like a stone, into the mighty waters,

And, in a pillar of cloud, didst thou lead them, by day, - and in a pillar of fire, by night, to light up for them the way wherein they should go.

But, they and our fathers, dealt proudly, - and hardened their neck, and hearkened not unto thy commandments;

but refused to hearken, neither kept in mind thy wonders which thou hadst done with them, but they hardened their neck, and appointed a head that they might return to their servitude, in their perverseness. But, thou, art a God of forgivenesses, gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness, and didst not forsake them.

Yea, although they made them a molten calf, and said, This, is thy God, that brought thee up out of Egypt, - and wrought great insults,

yet, thou, in thine abounding compassions, didst not forsake them in the desert, - the pillar of cloud, departed not from over them by day, to lead them in the way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to light up for them the way wherein they should go.

Yea, forty years, didst thou sustain them in the desert, they lacked nothing, - their mantles, waxed not old and, their feet, swelled not.

And thou gavest them kingdoms, and peoples, and allotted to each of them a corner, - and they took possession of the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.

Their children also, didst thou multiply, like the stars of the heavens, - and didst bring them into the land which thou hadst promised their fathers they should enter to possess;

and they captured fortified cities and a fat soil, and took possession of houses full of every good thing, wells digged, vineyards and oliveyards and fruit-trees, in abundance, - so they did eat and were filled and became fat, and luxuriated in thy great goodness.

But they murmured and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their back, and, thy prophets, they slew, who testified against them that they might turn them back unto thee, - and they wrought great insults.

Therefore didst thou deliver them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them, - and, in the time of their distress, they made outcry unto thee, and, thou, out of the heavens, didst hear, and, according to thine abounding compassions, gavest them saviors, that they might save them out of the hand of their adversaries.

But, as soon as they had rest, they again wrought wickedness before thee, - and thou didst leave them in the hand of their enemies, who bare rule over them, yet, when they again made outcry unto thee, thou, from the heavens, didst hear and didst deliver them according to thy compassions, many times;

and didst testify against them, to bring them back unto thy law, yet, they, dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, and, against thy regulations, they sinned, the which - if any son of earth shall do - then shall he live by them, - and yielded a rebellious shoulder, and, their neck, they stiffened, and hearkened not.

And thou didst suffer many years to pass over them, and didst testify against them by thy Spirit through thy prophets, yet did they not give ear, - therefore didst thou deliver them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

But, they, in their kingdom, and in thine abundant goodness which thou gavest them, and in the broad and fat land which thou didst set before them, did not serve thee, neither turned they from their wicked doings.

and, the increase thereof, aboundeth unto the kings whom thou hast set over us, for our sins, - and, over our bodies, are they bearing rule, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and, in great distress, we are.

Zanoah, Adullam and their villages, Lachish, and the fields thereof, Azekah, and the hamlets thereof, - so they encamped from Beer-sheba, unto the valley of Hinnom.

And, at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought the Levites, out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, - to keep the dedication and the rejoicing, both with thanksgiving and with music, cymbals, harps, and with lyres.

and, over they fountain gate and straight before them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the going up of the wall, - above the house of David, even as far as the water-gate, eastward.

and above the gate of Ephraim, and upon the old gate, and upon the fish-gate, and the tower of Hananel, and the tower of Hammeah, even as far as the sheep-gate, - and they came to a stand, at the gate of the guard.

And they sacrificed, on that day, great sacrifices, and rejoiced, for, God, had caused them to rejoice with great joy, moreover also, the women and children, rejoiced, - so that the rejoicing of Jerusalem was heard afar off.

So they kept the charge of their God, and the charge of the purification, and so did the singers and the doorkeepers, - according to the commandment of David and of Solomon his son.

Now, all Israel - in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, used to give the portions of the singers and the doorkeepers, the need of a day upon its day, - and they hallowed them unto the Levites, and, the Levites, hallowed them unto the sons of Aaron.

because they met not the sons of Israel, with bread and with water, - but hired against them Balaam, to curse them, although our God turned the curse into a blessing.

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

so he prepared him a large chamber, where aforetime they used to lay the meal-offering, the frankincense, and the utensils, and the tithe of the corn, the new wine and the oil, in charge of the Levites, and the singers, and the doorkeepers, - and the heave-offerings for the priests.

Then commanded I, and they purified the chambers, - and I put back there, the utensils of the house of God, the meal-offering and the frankincense.

and I made treasurers over the treasuries - Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from among the Levites, and, next unto them, Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, - for faithful were they accounted, and it was laid upon them to distribute unto their brethren.

In those days, saw I in Judah - some treading winepresses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves and lading asses, moreover also wine, grapes, and figs, and every kind of burden, which they were bringing into Jerusalem on the sabbath day, - so I protested against it, as a day for them to sell provisions.

And it came to pass, when the gates of Jerusalem made a shadow before the sabbath, then gave I word, and they shut the doors, and I gave word, that they should not open them, until after the sabbath, - and, some of my young men, set I near the gates, so that no burden should be brought in, on the sabbath day.

Therefore I testified against them, and said unto them, Wherefore are ye lodging against the wall? if ye do it again, a hand, will I thrust upon you, - From that time, they came not on the sabbath.

And I gave word to the Levites, that they should be purifying themselves and coming in, as keepers of the gates, to hallow the sabbath day. This also, remember to me, O my God, and have pity upon me, according to the abundance of thy lovingkindness.