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 said, I beseech you, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, that keeps covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:

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

And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which pertains to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the temple that I shall enter into. And the king so granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any animal with me, except the animal that I rode upon.

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

Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass.

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

Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they built the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Hammeah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananel.

But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.

Moreover the old gate repaired Joiada the son of Paseah, and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah; they laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.

The valley gate repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and a thousand cubits on the wall unto the refuse gate.

But the refuse gate repaired Malchijah the son of Rechab, the ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem; he built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.

But the gate of the fountain repaired Shallun the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king's garden, and unto the stairs that go down from the city of David.

Moreover the Nethinim dwelling in Ophel, repaired unto the place opposite the water gate toward the east, and the tower that projects out.

From above the horse gate repaired the priests, every one opposite his house.

After them repaired Zadok the son of Immer opposite his house. After him repaired also Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the east gate.

After him repaired Malchijah the goldsmith's son unto the house of the Nethinim, and of the merchants, opposite the gate Hammiphkad, and to the upper chamber of the corner.

And between the upper chamber of the corner unto the sheep gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants.

Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a spoil in a land of captivity:

Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.

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.

In whatever place therefore you hear the sound of the trumpet, come you there unto us: our God shall fight for us.

For there were those that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore let us get grain for them, that we may eat, and live.

Also I said, It is not good what you do: ought you not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations our enemies?

Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that performs not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD. And the people did according to this promise.

But the former governors that had been before me laid burdens upon the people, and had taken of them food and wine, besides forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bore rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.

Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.

For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it will not be done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.

Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, 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 you; yea, in the night will they come to slay you.

And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

My God, think you upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.

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

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

That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God more than many.

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

And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spoke unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.

And he read in it facing the square that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.

And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

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

And Nehemiah, who is the governor, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.

So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the water gate, and in the square at the gate of Ephraim.

Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.

And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshiped the LORD their God.

Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God.

Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the LORD your God forever and ever: and blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

You are the LORD, the God who did choose Abram, and brought him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name of Abraham;

And showed signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for you knew that they dealt arrogantly against them. So did you get you a name, as it is this day.

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:

And refused to obey, neither were mindful of your wonders that you did among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a leader to return to their bondage: but you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsook them not.

Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is your God that brought you up out of Egypt, and had worked great provocations;

You gave also your good spirit to instruct them, and withheld not your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.

Nevertheless for your great mercies' sake you did not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for you are a gracious and merciful God.

Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before you, that has come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.

Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that you gave unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it:

And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every one having knowledge, and having understanding;

They joined with their brethren, their nobles, 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 the LORD our Lord, and his ordinances and his statutes;

Also we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God;

For the showbread, and for the continual grain offering, and for the continual burnt offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make an atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.

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

Also the firstborn 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, unto the priests that minister in the house of our God:

And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our work.

And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the storehouse.

For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine, and the oil, unto the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the gatekeepers, and the singers: and we will not forsake the house of our God.

Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, was the ruler of the house of God.

And Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the heads of the Levites, had the oversight of the outside business of the house of God.

The overseer also of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica, of the sons of Asaph, the singers, were over the business of the house of God.

And the heads of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brethren opposite them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, watch corresponding with watch.

Then I brought up the leaders of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies of them that gave thanks, of which one went on the right hand upon the wall toward the refuse gate:

And his brethren, Shemaiah, and Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, and Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God, and Ezra the scribe went before them.

And at the fountain gate, which was opposite them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, even unto the water gate eastward.

And from above the gate of Ephraim, and above the old gate, and above the fish gate, and the tower of Hananeel, and the tower of the hundred, even unto the sheep gate: and they stopped at the gate of the guard.

So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in the house of God, and I, and half of the rulers with me:

Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced: for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.

And both the singers and the gatekeepers kept the charge of their God, and the charge of the purification, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son.

For in the days of David and Asaph of old there was a leader of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.

On that day they read in the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and in it was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God forever;

Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: however our God turned the curse into a blessing.

And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah:

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

Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and there I brought again the articles of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.

Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place.

Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its service.

Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet you bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.

And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your mercy.

And I contended with them, and pronounced them cursed, and struck certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, You shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.

Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did foreign women cause to sin.

Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying foreign wives?

Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.

And provided for the wood offering, at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.