but if ye return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the outermost part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, to cause my name

After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired another portion, from the turning [of the wall] to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

After him Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz repaired another portion, from the door of the house of Eliashib even to the end of the house of Eliashib.

After him Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another portion, from the house of Azariah to the turning [of the wall], and to the corner.

Palal the son of Uzai [repaired] opposite the turning [of the wall], and the tower that stands out from the upper house of the king, which is by the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh [repaired].

and do not cover their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they have provoked [thee] to anger before the builders.

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

And it came to pass from that time forth, that half of my servants labored in the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail. And the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.

And I said to the ranking men, and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another.

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

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

Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, [that is], twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bre

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.

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

For they all would have made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work that it not be done. But now, [O God], strengthen thou my hands.

And these were those who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but they could not show their fathers' house, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel:

These sought their registration [among] those who were reckoned by genealogy, but it was not found. Therefore they were deemed polluted and put from the priesthood.

And some from among the heads of fathers gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury a thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, five hundred and thirty priests' garments.

And he read in it before the broad place that was before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and of those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were [attentive] t

Also day by day, from the first day to 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 the seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.

Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, [and] Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. And blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted abo

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

And thou gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which thou had sworn to give them.

yet thou in thy manifold mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not depart from over them by day to lead them in the way, neither the pillar of fire by night to show them light, and the way in which

Thou also gave thy good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold thy manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.

Therefore thou delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them. And in the time of their trouble, when they cried to thee, thou heard from heaven, and according to thy manifold mercies thou gave them saviors

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

For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gave them, and in the large and fat land which thou gave before them, neither did they turn from their wicked works.

And the rest of the people--the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters,

And if the peoples of the land bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day. And that we would forego the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.

For there was a commandment from the king concerning them, and a settled provision for the singers, as every day required.

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.

The sons of Benjamin also [dwelt] from Geba [onward], at Michmash and Aija, and at Bethel and the towns of it,

And the sons of the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of the Netophathites,

also from Beth-gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth; for the singers had built for them villages round about Jerusalem.

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

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.

And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me.

Thus I cleansed them from all foreigners, and appointed charges for the priests and for the Levites, each one in his work,