The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel,

That Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, who 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 fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had never been sad before in his presence.

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

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.

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

So I went up by the valley during the night and was examining the wall. Then I returned and came to the Valley Gate and returned.

So Eliashib the high priest came forward, along with his fellow priests, and reconstructed the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and installed its doors. They also consecrated the wall as far as the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel.

Then came the Levites, Rehum, the son of Bani. By his side was working Hashabiah, ruler of half the division of Keilah, for his division.

After them came Benjamin and Hasshub, opposite their house. After them Azariah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, made good the wall by the house where he himself was living.

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

But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being repaired, and that the breaks began to be closed, then they were very angry,

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

And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nothing, that we returned all of us to the wall, everyone unto his work.

And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants worked in the work, and the other half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the armor; and the rulers supported all the house of Judah.

So we continued the work, while half of the men were holding spears from daybreak until the stars came out.

Then came there to be a great outcry of the people and their wives, - against their brethren the Jews.

I laboured also in the work upon the wall, and bought no land. And all my servants came thither together unto the work.

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

Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;)

Notwithstanding, I sent messengers unto them, saying, "I have a great business to do, I cannot come down. The work should stand still, if I were negligent, and came down to you."

Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.

And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.

Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them.

Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed,

And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein,

These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city;

Who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number, I say, of the men of the people of Israel was this;

These were the ones who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but they were not able to prove their ancestral houses or their descent, whether they were from Israel:

And Hathirsatha said unto them that they should not eat of the most holy, till there came up a Priest with light and perfectness.

So the priests, and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinims, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities; and when the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities.

And when the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their towns. And all the people came together like one man into the wide place in front of the water-doorway; and they made a request to Ezra the scribe that he would put before them the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel.

And on the second day the heads of families of all the people and the priests and the Levites came together to Ezra the scribe, to give attention to the words of the law.

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.

In the four and twentieth day of this month came the children of Israel together with fasting, and sackcloth, and earth upon them,

And you saw the trouble of our fathers in Egypt, and their cry came to your ears by the Red Sea;

You came down also upon mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:

But when they came to rest, they turned back again to do evil before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them. So they converted, and cried unto thee, and thou heardest them from heaven; and many times hast thou delivered them according to thy great mercy,

and their lords that had rule of them, received it for their brethren. And they came to sware, and to bind themselves with an oath to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, that they would observe and do according unto all the commandments, judgments, and statutes of the LORD our God:

These [are] the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

And when the time came for the wall of Jerusalem to be made holy, they sent for the Levites out of all their places to come to Jerusalem, to keep the feast with joy, and with praise and melody, with brass and corded instruments of music.

And the sons of the music-makers came together from the lowland round about Jerusalem and from the daughter-towns of the Netophathites,

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.

So the two choirs, came to a stand, at the house of God, - and I, and half the deputies with me;

And on that day they made great offerings and were glad; for God had made them glad with great joy; and the women and the children were glad with them: so that the joy of Jerusalem came to the ears of those who were far off.

Because they did not give the children of Israel bread and water when they came to them, but got Balaam to put a curse on them: though the curse was turned into a blessing by our God.

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

But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king:

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

And then I came to learn that the food of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, the doers of the work, had gone back each to his field.

Then all Judah came with the tenth part of the grain and wine and oil and put it into the store-houses.

And there were men of Tyre there, who came with fish and all sorts of goods, trading with the children of Judah and in Jerusalem on the Sabbath.

And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.

Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath.