Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and men of Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

And they said to me, The remnant left of the captivity there in the province is in great affliction and shame. And the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.

let Your ear now be open, and Your eyes open, so that You may hear the prayer of Your servant, which I pray before You now, day and night, for the sons of Israel Your servants, and confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both I and my father's house have sinned.

but if you turn to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though you were cast out to the outermost part of the heavens, yet I will gather you from there and will bring you to the place that I have chosen to set My name there.

And the king said to me, Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was very much afraid.

And I said to the king, Let the king live forever. Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?

And the king said to me, For what do you ask? So I prayed to the God of Heaven,

and I said to the king, If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I pray that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, so that I may build it.

And the king said to me (the queen also sitting by him), For how long shall your journey be? And when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time.

And I said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors Beyond the River, so that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah,

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

And I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king's letters. And the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.

And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me. And I did not tell to a man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem. And there was no animal with me, except the animal that I rode upon.

And I went on to the Fountain Gate, and to the King's Pool. But there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass.

And I said to them, You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem is wasted, and the gates of it are burned with fire. Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no more be a reproach.

And I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me, and also the king's words that he had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise up to build. So they made their hands strong for good.

Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They sanctified it and set up its doors, even to the Tower of Meah they sanctified it, to the Tower of Hananeel.

And it was from that time forth that half of my servants worked in the work, and the other half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the scale-armor. And the rulers were behind all the house of Judah,

For of the builders, each one had his sword tied by his side, and built. And he who sounded the trumpet was beside me.

Also at the same time I said to the people, Let everyone with his servant stay inside Jerusalem, so that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labor in the day.

And none, I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us put off our clothes except that everyone had his vessel of water.

For certain ones said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain for them, so that we may eat and live.

And my heart within myself ruled, and I rebuked the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, You exact interest, each one from his brother. And I held a great gathering against them.

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

Also I shook my lap and said, So let God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, who does not keep this promise, even may he be shaken out this way and emptied. And all the congregation said, amen, and praised Jehovah. And the people did according to this promise.

And from the time that I was chosen to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor.

But the former governors that had been before me were too heavy upon the people, and had taken bread and wine from them, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people. But I did not do this, because of the fear of God.

And I also kept on in the work of this wall. Nor did we buy any land. And all my servants gathered there to the work.

And at my table were a hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, besides those who came to us from among the nations around us.

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

Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me harm.

And they sent to me four times in this way. And I answered them in the same way.

Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same way the fifth time with an open letter in his hand, in which was written,

It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that you and the Jews are thinking of rebelling, for this reason you build the wall, so that you may be their king, according to these words.

For they all were alarmers of us, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work so that it may not be done. And now, O God, make my hands strong.

And, behold, I understood that God had not sent him, but that he said this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

Therefore he was hired that I should be afraid, and do so, and I should sin, and be for them an evil name, with which they might reproach me.

My God, think upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid.

Also they reported his good deeds before me, and told my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.

I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem. For he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.

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

and his brothers, Shemaiah, and Azareel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethaneel, and Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God, and with Ezra the scribe before them.

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 Meah, even to the Sheep Gate. And they stood still in the Prison Gate.

And stood the two praise choirs to give thanks in the house of God, and I, and half of the rulers with me.

And it grieved me very much. And I threw all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the room.

Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds which I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices of it.

And it happened when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I set some of my servants at the gates, so that there should be no burden brought in on the Sabbath day.

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

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

and for the wood offering, at chosen times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good!