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.

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.

Some also said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses. Let us buy grain because of the famine.

And some said, We have borrowed money on our lands and vineyards for the king's tax.

Yet now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our sons like their sons. And, lo, we bring our sons and our daughters into bondage, to be slaves, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage. And there is no power for our hand, for other men have our lands and vineyards.

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,

And some of the chiefs of the fathers gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury a thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, and five hundred and thirty priest's garments.

And some of the chiefs of the fathers gave to the treasury of the work twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand two hundred minas of silver.

And the priests, and the Levites, and the gatekeepers, and the singers, and some of the people, and the temple slaves, and all Israel, lived in their cities. And when the seventh month came, the sons of Israel were in their cities.

And now, our God, the great, the mighty, and the fearful God, who keeps covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble that has come upon us, on our kings, on our rulers, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all Your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria to this day, seem little before You.

And for the villages, with their fields, some of the sons of Judah lived at Kirjath-arba, and in its villages, and at Dibon, and in its villages, and at Jekabzeel, and its villages,

And at that time some were chosen over the rooms for the treasuries, for the offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to gather to them out of the fields of the cities the portions of the Law for the priests and Levites. For Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites who waited.

But in all this time I was not at Jerusalem. For in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon, I came to the king. And after some days I was given permission to leave the king.

In those days I saw in Judah some treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading asses and also wine, grapes, and figs, and all kinds of burdens which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I testified against them in the day in which they sold food.

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.