but if ye return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

And the king said to me, Why is thy face sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sadness of heart. And I was very sore afraid.

And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me but I told no man what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem and there was no beast with me, except the beast that I rode upon.

And I answered them, and said to them, The God of the heavens, he will prosper us, and we his servants will arise and build; but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem.

And next to them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord.

Palal the son of Uzai, over against the angle, and the high tower that lies out from the king's house, which was by the court of the prison. After him, Pedaiah the son of Parosh.

But we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to the half thereof; for the people had a mind to work.

And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come into the midst of them and kill them, and put an end to the work.

And neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard that followed me, none of us put off our garments: every one had his weapon on his right side.

But the former governors that were before me had been chargeable to the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver: even their servants bore rule over the people. But I did not so, because of the fear of God.

Yea, also I applied myself to this work of the wall, and we bought no fields; and all my servants were gathered thither for the work.

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

And I sent to him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.

My God, remember Tobijah and Sanballat according to these their works, and also the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets who would have put me in fear.

Also they spoke of his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. And Tobijah sent letters to put me in fear.

Now the city was large and great; but the people in it were few, and no houses were built.

And my God put into my heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, for registration by genealogy. And I found a genealogical register of those that had come up at the first, and I found written in it:

And these are they that went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub-Addon and Immer; but they could not shew their father's house, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel.

These sought their genealogical register, but it was not found; therefore were they, as polluted, removed from the priesthood.

And Ezra the scribe stood upon a high stage of wood, which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkijah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchijah, and Hashum, and Hashbaddana, Zechariah, Meshullam.

But they, our fathers, dealt proudly, and hardened their neck, and hearkened not to thy commandments,

and refused to obey, neither were they mindful of thy wonders which thou hadst done among them; but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion made a captain to return to their bondage. But thou art a +God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great loving-kindness, and thou forsookest them not.

But they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets who testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.

But when they had rest, they did evil again before thee; and thou didst leave them in the hand of their enemies, and they had dominion over them; and again they cried unto thee, and thou heardest them from the heavens, and many times didst thou deliver them, according to thy mercies.

And thou testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law; but they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thine ordinances (which if a man do, he shall live in them); and they withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.

And many years didst thou forbear with them, and testifiedst against them by thy Spirit through thy prophets; but they would not give ear: and thou gavest them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

But thou art just in all that is come upon us; for thou hast acted according to truth, and we have done wickedly.

And these are the chiefs of the province that dwelt in Jerusalem; but in the cities of Judah dwelt every one in his possession in their cities, Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the Nethinim, and the children of Solomon's servants.

And these are the children of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Isaiah;

because they had not met the children of Israel with bread and with water, and had hired Balaam against them, to curse them; but our God turned the curse into blessing.

And I made storekeepers over the storehouses: Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah; and subordinate to them, Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were esteemed faithful, and their office was to distribute to their brethren.

And their children spoke half in the language of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.

Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among the many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel; but even him did foreign wives cause to sin.