Then the king said to me, For what do thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

And the king said to me (the queen also sitting by him), For how long shall thy journey be? And when will thou return? So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time.

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

Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me captains of the army and horsemen.

So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.

And I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the jackal's well and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates of it were consumed with fire.

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 went up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall. And I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, and so returned.

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].

So we built the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half [the height] of it, for the people had a mind to work.

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 our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come into the midst of them, and kill them, and cause the work to cease.

and the builders, every man had his sword girded by his side, and so built. And he who sounded the trumpet was by me.

So we labored in the work, and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared.

So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us put off our clothes, everyone [went with] his weapon [to] the water.

There were also who said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute [upon] our fields and our vineyards.

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.

Also I shook out my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, who does not perform this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the assembly said, Amen, and praised LORD. And th

But the former governors who were before me charged the people, and took bread and wine from them, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people. But I did not so, because of the fear of God.

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

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?

Then I sent to him, saying, There are no such things done as thou say, but thou imagine them out of thine own heart.

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.

So the wall was finished in the twenty-fifth [day] of [the month] Elul, in fifty-two days.

the sons of Keros, the sons of Sia, the sons of Padon,

The sons of Solomon's servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Sophereth, the sons of Perida,

All the Nethinim and the sons of Solomon's servants, were three hundred ninety-two.

So the priests, and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinim, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities. And when the seventh month came, the sons of Israel were in their cities.

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

So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, Be silent, for the day is holy, neither be ye grieved.

So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, each one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the broad place of the water gate, and in the broad pla

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.

And thou saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea,

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.

Moreover thou gave them kingdoms and peoples, which thou allotted after their portions. So they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.

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

And they took fortified cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all good things, cisterns hewn out, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted t

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

they clung to their brothers, their ranking men, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of LORD our Lord, and his or

And Pethahiah the son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah the son of Judah, was at the king's hand in all matters concerning the people.

Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and the fields of it, Azekah and the towns of it. So they encamped from Beersheba to the valley of Hinnom.

So stood the two companies of those who gave thanks in the house of God, and I, and the half of the rulers with me,

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.

had prepared for him a great chamber, where formerly they laid the meal-offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, and the s

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.

In those days I saw in Judah some men treading wine-presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys [therewith], as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on t

So the merchants and sellers of all kind of wares lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.

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.

In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, [and] of Moab.