that Hanani one of my brethren came, he and certain men out of Judah, - so I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

And it came to pass, in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that, wine, was before him, - so I took up the wine, and gave unto the king, and I had never been sad before him.

Then the king said to me, Concerning what, is it, thou, wouldst make request? So I prayed unto the God of the heavens,

And the king said unto me, the queen, also sitting beside him, For how long would be thy journey? and when wouldst thou return? So it seemed good before the king to send me, and I set him a time.

So I entered Jerusalem, - and was there three days.

So I went forth through the valley-gate by night, even unto the front of the snake-fountain, and into the dung-gate, - and I viewed the walls of Jerusalem, how, they, were broken down, and, the gates thereof, consumed with fire.

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

So I said unto them, Ye, can see the misfortune that, we, are in, how that, Jerusalem, lieth waste, and, the gates thereof, are burned with fire: Come, and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may remain, no longer, a reproach.

Then told I them, of the hand of my God, that, it, had been good upon me, as also of the words of the king, which he had spoken unto me, - so they said, We will arise and build! and they strengthened their hands right well.

Now, Tobiah the Ammonite, was beside him, - so he said, Even that which they are building, if a fox should go up, he would break down their stone wall!

So we built the wall, and all the wall was finished unto the half thereof, - -and the people had a mind to work.

and our adversaries have said, They shall not know, neither shall they see, until we come into their midst, and slay them, - so shall we cause the work to cease.

So I set - on the lower slopes of the place behind the wall in the waste grounds, - yea I set the people, by their families, with their swords, their spears and their bows.

Then I looked and rose up, and said - unto the nobles and unto the deputies and unto the rest of the people, Do not ye fear because of them, - the great and fearful Lord, remember ye, so shall ye fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

Even they who were building, every man, had his sword girded upon his loins, and so was building, - and, he that sounded the horn, was by my side.

So I said unto the nobles and unto the deputies, and unto the rest of the people, The work, is great and large, - and, we, are separated upon the wall, far away, each man from his brother:

So, we, were working at the work, - one half of them, grasping the spears, from the uprisings of the dawn, until the coming out of the stars.

Moreover, at that time, I said to the people, Let, every one with his young man, lodge for the night in the midst of Jerusalem, - so shall they serve us, in the night, as a watch, and, the day, for work.

So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my young men, nor the men of the watch that followed me, none of us, put off our clothes, - every one went with his weapon to the water.

And there were others who were saying, We have borrowed silver, for the king's tribute, - upon our lands and our vineyards.

Now, therefore, as is the flesh of our brethren, so is our flesh, as are their children, so are our children. Yet lo! we are putting in subjection our sons and our daughters, for bondservants, yea there are some of our daughters already trodden down, and we are powerless, and, our fields and our vineyards, belong to others.

So my heart took counsel unto me and I contended with the nobles and with the deputies, and said to them, A loan on interest - every man to his brother, are ye making, - So I appointed over them a great assembly;

And they said, We will restore them, and, from them, will we require nothing, so, will we do, as thou, art saying. Then called I the priests, and put them on oath, to do according to this promise.

Moreover, from the day I was commanded to become their pasha in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year, even unto the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, I and my brethren, pasha's bread, have not eaten;

whereas, the former pashas, who were before me, suffered themselves to be a burden upon the people, and took from them in bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver, even, their young men, bare rule over the people, - but, I, did not so, because of the fear of God.

So I sent unto them messengers, saying, A great work, am, I, doing, and cannot come down, - wherefore should the work cease whilst I leave it, and come down unto you?

to this end, hired, he was, to the end that I might be afraid and do so, and might sin, - and it might serve them for an evil report, to the end they might bring reproach upon me.

So the wall was finished, on the twenty-fifth of Elul, - in fifty-two days.

And it came to pass, when all our enemies heard, and all the nations that were round about us saw, that they fell greatly in their own eyes, and took knowledge that, from God, had this work been wrought.

So then my God put it into my heart, and I gathered together the nobles and the deputies and the people, to register their genealogy, - then found I a register roll, of them who came up at the first, and found written therein: -

the sons of Keros, the sons of Sia, the sons of Padon;

These, sought their writing wherein they were registered, but it was not found, - so they were desecrated out of the priesthood;

So the priests and the Levites and the door-keepers and the singers and some of the people, and the Nethinim and all Israel, took up their abode in their cities. And, when the seventh month arrived, the sons of Israel were in their cities.

So then Ezra the priest brought the law, before the convocation of both men and women, and all that had understanding to hearken, - on the first day of the seventh month;

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

So he said unto them - Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared, for holy is the day, unto our Lord, - and be not grieved, for, the joy of Yahweh, is your strength.

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

And all the convocation of them who had returned out of the captivity made booths, and dwelt in booths, for, since the days of Jeshua son of Nun, had not the sons of Israel done so, unto that day, - and there was very great rejoicing.

So he read in the book of the law of God, day by day, from the first day unto the last day, and they kept the festival seven days, and, on the eighth day, a closing feast, according to the regulation.

So they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of Yahweh their God, a fourth part of the day, - and, a fourth part, they were making confession and bowing themselves down, unto Yahweh their God.

Yea thou sawest the affliction of our fathers, in Egypt, and, their outcry, thou heardest, by the Red Sea;

and didst grant signs and wonders against Pharaoh, and against all his servants, and against all the people of his land, for thou hadst taken note, that they ruled proudly over them, - and so thou didst make thee a name, as at this day.

And, the sea, didst thou cleave asunder before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea, on dry ground, - whereas, their pursuers, thou didst cast into the depths like a stone, into the mighty waters,

so the children entered and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and deliveredst them into their hand, - with their kings, and the peoples of the land, to do with them according to their pleasure;

and they captured fortified cities and a fat soil, and took possession of houses full of every good thing, wells digged, vineyards and oliveyards and fruit-trees, in abundance, - so they did eat and were filled and became fat, and luxuriated in thy great goodness.

For, into the chambers, should the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi bring in the heave-offering of the corn, the new wine and the oil, since, there, are the utensils of the sanctuary, and the priests who are in attendance, and the doorkeepers, and the singers, - so would we not neglect the house of our God.

Zanoah, Adullam and their villages, Lachish, and the fields thereof, Azekah, and the hamlets thereof, - so they encamped from Beer-sheba, unto the valley of Hinnom.

So the sons of the singers gathered themselves together, - both out of the circuit round about Jerusalem, and out of the villages of the Netophathites;

So the two choirs, came to a stand, at the house of God, - and I, and half the deputies with me;

And they sacrificed, on that day, great sacrifices, and rejoiced, for, God, had caused them to rejoice with great joy, moreover also, the women and children, rejoiced, - so that the rejoicing of Jerusalem was heard afar off.

So they kept the charge of their God, and the charge of the purification, and so did the singers and the doorkeepers, - according to the commandment of David and of Solomon his son.

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

so he prepared him a large chamber, where aforetime they used to lay the meal-offering, the frankincense, and the utensils, and the tithe of the corn, the new wine and the oil, in charge of the Levites, and the singers, and the doorkeepers, - and the heave-offerings for the priests.

Then came I to know, that, the portions of the Levites, had not been given them , - so that the Levites and the singers, who had been doing the work, had fled every one to his field.

Therefore contended I with the deputies, and said, Wherefore is the house of God, forsaken? So I gathered them together, and set them in their place.

In those days, saw I in Judah - some treading winepresses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves and lading asses, moreover also wine, grapes, and figs, and every kind of burden, which they were bringing into Jerusalem on the sabbath day, - so I protested against it, as a day for them to sell provisions.

so I contended with the nobles of Judah, - and said unto them, What is this wicked thing which, ye, are doing, and profaning the sabbath day?

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.

Moreover, in these days, saw I the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, of Moab;

So I contended with them, and laid a curse upon them, and I smote, from among them, certain men, and pulled out their hair, - and I put them on oath by God, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take of their daughters, for your sons nor for yourselves.

Was it not, over these things, that Solomon king of Israel sinned - though, among many nations, there was no king such as he, and he was, beloved by his God, and so God gave him to be king over all Israel, - even him, did foreign women, cause to sin.

So I purified them from everything foreign, - and appointed charges unto the priests and unto the Levites, every one in his work;