The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it happened in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,

And the king said to me, For what do you ask? So I prayed to the God of Heaven,

And the rulers did not know where I had gone, nor what I was doing. Nor had I told the Jews as yet, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.

And they said, We will restore, and will ask nothing from them. So we will do as you say. Then I called the priests and took an oath from them that they should do according to this promise.

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

These sought their register among those who were reckoned by genealogy, but it was not found. Therefore they were put out, as defiled from the priesthood.

And all the people gathered themselves as one man into the street before the water gate. And they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which Jehovah had commanded to Israel.

and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth to the mountain and bring olive branches and pine branches and myrtle branches and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.

and gave out signs and wonders upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants and upon all the people of his land. For You knew that they were acting proudly against them. So You got Yourself a name, as today.

And the sons went in and possessed the land, and You humbled the people of the land before them, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the people of the land, so that they might do with them as they would.

And we cast the lots among the priests, and the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring into the house of our God, according to the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of Jehovah our God, as it is written in the Law

and to bring the first-born of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God;