And it happened in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, wine was before him. And I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence before.

And also I, my brothers and my servants, might take from them silver and grain. Please let us leave this lending at interest.

Please even today give back to them their lands, their vineyards, their olive-yards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money and of the grain, the wine, and the oil, that you take from them.

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 of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Koz, the sons of Barzillai, who took one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite to wife, and was called after their name.

You also gave Your good Spirit to teach them, and did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.

And they took strong cities and a rich land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards and olive-yards, and fruit trees in abundance. And they ate and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in Your great goodness.

And we swore that we would not give our daughters to the people of the land nor take their daughters for our sons.

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 to the house of our God, to the rooms, into the treasure house.

And I contended with them, and cursed them, and struck certain of them, and plucked off their hair. And I made them swear by the name of God, saying, You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters to your sons, or for yourselves.