Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:

Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,

And the king saith to me, 'For what art thou seeking?' and I pray unto the God of the heavens,

And Sanballat the Horonite will hear, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, and they will mock to us and despise us, and say, What this word that ye do? are ye bearing rule against the king?

And I return them word, and say to them, 'The God of the heavens -- He doth give prosperity to us, and we His servants rise and have built; and to you there is no portion, and right, and memorial in Jerusalem.'

Nevertheless, when our enemies heard that we had gotten word of it, God brought their counsel to nought, and we turned all again to the wall, every one unto his labour.

And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, that were sold unto the nations; and would ye even sell your brethren, and should they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found never a word.

And it will be said, Not good the word which ye do: will ye not go in the fear of our God from the reproach of the nations our enemies?

And they say, 'We give back, and of them we seek nothing; so we do as thou art saying.' And I call the priests, and cause them to swear to do according to this thing;

And I shook my lap, and said, "God shake out every man after the same manner from his house and labour, that maintaineth not this word: even thus be he shaken out, and void." And all the congregation said, "Amen," and praised the LORD. And the people did so.

Now when word was given to Sanballat and Tobiah and to Geshem the Arabian and to the rest of our haters, that I had done the building of the wall and that there were no more broken places in it (though even then I had not put up the doors in the doorways);

Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me, saying "Come, let's meet together at Kephirim on the Ono Plain." But they were just trying to do me harm.

and they send unto me, according to this word, four times, and I return them word according to this word.

And Sanballat sendeth unto me, according to this word, a fifth time, his servant, and an open letter in his hand;

wherein was written, It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel; for which cause thou art building the wall: and thou wouldest be their king, according to these words.

And I send unto him, saying, 'It hath not been according to these words that thou art saying, for from thine own heart thou art devising them;'

Then it became clear to me that God had not sent him: he had given this word of a prophet against me himself: and Tobiah and Sanballat had given him money to do so.

And Ezra the scribe will stand upon a tower of wood which they made for the word; and near him will stand Mattathiah and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, upon his right hand; and his left, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, Meshullam.

Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.

Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;

And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:

And you gave them word of your holy Sabbath, and gave them orders and rules and a law, by the hand of Moses your servant:

And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.

Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.

Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:

For the king's command concerning them a surety for those singing the word of a day in its day.

And Pethahiah son of Meshezaheel, from the sons of Zerah son of Judah, at the hand of the king for every word to the people.

And the chief of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brethren over against them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, ward over against ward.

Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were porters keeping the ward at the thresholds of the gates.

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

And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah giving, portions, of the singers and the gate-keepers, the word of a day in its day: and consecrating to the Levites; and the Levites consecrating to the sons of Aaron.

And I shall contend with the nobles of Judah, and say to them, What this evil word that ye are doing, and profaning the day of the Sabbath?

And it came to pass, when the gates of Jerusalem made a shadow before the sabbath, then gave I word, and they shut the doors, and I gave word, that they should not open them, until after the sabbath, - and, some of my young men, set I near the gates, so that no burden should be brought in, on the sabbath day.

And I gave word to the Levites, that they should be purifying themselves and coming in, as keepers of the gates, to hallow the sabbath day. This also, remember to me, O my God, and have pity upon me, according to the abundance of thy lovingkindness.