The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. It happened in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year, that I myself was in the citadel in Susa,

Please, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I am praying before you by day and by night for your servants, the {Israelites}, and confessing the sins of the {Israelites} that we have sinned against you. I and my father's house have sinned.

We have certainly offended you and have not kept the commands, regulations, and judgments that you have commanded your servant Moses.

Please, remember the word that you have commanded to your servant Moses, saying, 'If you act unfaithfully I will scatter you all among the nations.

Then I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has [found] favor in your presence, [I ask] that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors' burial sites, so that I may rebuild it."

Then I said to the king, "If it is good for the king, let letters be given to me for the governors [in the province] Beyond the River, that they may let me pass until I come to Judah.

Also, a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king's land reserve, that he should give me timber for laying the beams for the gates of the citadel of the house and for the walls of the city, and for the house which I will enter." And the king gave [permission] to me, according to the good hand of God on me.

But when Sanballat the Horonite and the Ammonite servant Tobiah heard [this], {they were greatly displeased} that a person had come to seek the welfare of the {Israelites}.

I got up during the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anybody what my God put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. No animal [was] with me except the animal that I was riding on.

I went out during the night at the gate of the valley by the Dragon spring and to the Dung Gate. And I examined the walls in Jerusalem and its gates that had been destroyed by the fire.

Then I said to them, "You see the misery that we are in, that Jerusalem is ruined and its gates burned by the fire. Come, build the walls of Jerusalem and we shall no longer be a disgrace."

I told them of the good hand of my God that was upon me and surely the words of the king that were spoken to me. And they said, "Let us arise and build!" And they strengthened their hands for [this] good work.

But Sanballat the Horonite, the Ammonite servant Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard it, and they mocked and despised us, saying, "What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?"

Palal son of Uzai [repaired] opposite the Angle at the tower that juts out from the upper house of the king, at the courtyard of the guard. After him Pedaiah son of Parosh

After him the Tekoites repaired a second section of a wall opposite the projecting tower that goes out as far as the wall of Ophel.

Now it happened when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, [he] became angry and greatly provoked, and he mocked the Jews.

Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and said, "Their wall of stone that they are building would break down if a fox went on it!"

Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem were going forward and the gaps were being closed, they were very angry.

It happened when our enemies heard that their plan was known to us, that God had frustrated [it], and we all returned to the wall--each to his work.

From that day, half of my servants were working on craftsmanship, half were holding spears, small shields, bows, and breastplates. The commanders were behind the whole house of Judah.

At the time I also said to the people, "Let each man and his servant spend the night inside Jerusalem, so that they will be a guard for us in the night and work in the day."

There were those who were saying, "Our sons and daughters, we are many. We must get grain so that we may eat and live."

There were also those saying, "We have pledged our fields and our vineyards and our houses so that we can get grain in the famine."

So I said, "The thing that you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God [to prevent] the disgrace from the nations, our enemies?

Please restore to them this day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, their houses, and the interest on the money, the grain, the grape juice, and the olive oil that you have been taking from them."

Remember me for good, my God, all that I have done for this people.

Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and to the rest of our enemies that I had built the wall and that no gap was left in it--though up to that time I had not erected doors in the gates--

In it was written, "It has been reported among the nations, and Gashmu also is saying it, that you and the Jews are considering rebellion. Therefore, truly you are building the wall and you are becoming their king, according to these words.

But I said, "Should a man like me run away? And would a man like me go into the temple so that he can save his life? I will not go in!"

For this reason he was hired: to frighten [me] so that I would act and sin, so that they would have a bad report so they could taunt me.

When our enemies heard of this, all of the nations surrounding us were afraid and {lost their confidence}. They knew that this work had been done with [the help of] our God.

So the governor said to them that they could not eat the most holy food until a priest could come with Urim and Thummim.

All of the people gathered as one to the public square before the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that Yahweh had commanded Israel.

He read from it facing the public square before the Water Gate from dawn until noon that day, opposite the men, women, and those with understanding. The ears of all the people [were attentive] to the book of the law.

Then Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden podium that had been made for the occasion. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right. On his left [was] Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

So they read the book from the law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that they could understand the reading.

All of the people went to eat, to drink, to send a share, and to have great joy because they understood the words that they had made known to them.

They found written in the law, which Yahweh had commanded by the hand of Moses, that the {Israelites} should live in booths during the festival of the seventh month,

and that they should proclaim and give voice in all of their cities in Jerusalem, saying, "Go out to the hill and bring olive tree branches, olive oil wood branches, myrtle shrub branches, palm tree branches, and other leafy tree branches to make booths, as it is written."

And all of the assembly of those who returned from captivity made booths and lived in the booths because the {Israelites} had not done it from the days of Jeshua son of Nun until that day. And there was very great joy.

Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, "Stand up, bless Yahweh your God from everlasting until everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name that is being exalted above all blessing and praise!

"You alone are Yahweh. You alone have made the heavens, the heavens of the heavens, and all of their army, the earth and all that is in it, the waters and all that is in them. You give life to all of them, and the army of the heavens worship you.

You gave signs and wonders against Pharaoh, all of his servants, and all of the people of his land because you knew that they acted arrogantly against them. You made a name for yourself, as it is this day.

You led them by day with a column of cloud and with a column of fire by night, to give them light on the way that they were to go.

You gave them bread from heaven for their starvation, and you caused water to go out from a rock for their thirst. You told them to go in order to take into possession the land that you have sworn by your hand to give to them.

They refused to listen and did not remember your wonders that you did among them. They stiffened their neck and in their rebellion {determined} to return to their slavery. But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, {slow to anger}, abundant in loyal love, so you did not abandon them.

But you in your many mercies did not abandon them in the desert. The column of cloud [that was] over them in the day did not cease to leave them on the way, and the column of fire by night [that] gave light to them on the way that they went.

You made their children numerous like the stars of the heavens and brought them to the land that you told their ancestors to enter in order to take possession.

You warned them so that they would return to your law. Yet they acted arrogantly and did not listen to your commandments but sinned against your judgments that a person must do so that they may live. They turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not listen.

"And now our God, the great, mighty, and awesome God who keeps [his] covenant and loyal love, do not belittle in your presence all of the hardship that is found in us, our kings, our officials, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all of our people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.

You are righteous in everything that has come on us, for you dealt faithfully, and we have acted wickedly.

Our kings, our officials, our priests, and our ancestors did not keep your law and did not listen to your commandments and statutes that you declared to them.

And in their kingdom and in the greatness you gave to them, and in the wide and fertile land that you gave before them, they did not serve you and did not turn from their evil deeds.

Behold, we are slaves to this day, and the land that you have given to our ancestors to eat its fruits and [enjoy] its goodness--behold, we are slaves in it!

for the rows of bread, the offering of the daily sacrifice, the continual [burnt] sacrifice, the Sabbaths, the new moon festivals, the appointed [festival] times, the holy objects, the sin offerings that make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.

They offered on that day great sacrifices and rejoiced because God brought great joy to them. And the women and children also rejoiced. The joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar.

On that day men were appointed for the storehouse rooms, the offerings, the first fruits, and the tithes, in order to gather in them from the fields of the cities the requirements of the law for the priests and Levites; for the joy of Judah [was] upon the priests and Levites standing there.

So all of Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave the daily food portions of the singers and gatekeepers. And they set apart [that which was for] the Levites, and the Levites set apart [that which was for] the descendants of Aaron.

On that day the book of Moses was read in the hearing of the people and it was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God

So it happened when they heard the law that they separated all of the foreign people from Israel.

So I came to Jerusalem. And I came to learn of the wrong that Eliashib had done for Tobiah by making him a room in the courtyard of the house of God.

And then I came to learn that the food of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, the doers of the work, had gone back each to his field.

In those days I saw in Judah [people] treading the wine press on the Sabbath, bringing in heaps [of grain] and loading them on donkeys along with wine, grapes and figs, and every kind of burden and bringing [it all] to Jerusalem on the day of the Sabbath. And I warned them at that time against selling food.

So I quarreled with the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the day of the Sabbath?

So when it became dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors be shut and said that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I appointed some of my young men over the gates [to prevent] any {goods} being brought in on the day of the Sabbath.

But I warned them and said to them, "Why are you spending the night opposite the wall? If you do [it again], I will lay hands against you." From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath.

And then I told two Levites that they must purify themselves and come to guard the gates in order to consecrate the day of the Sabbath. Remember this also, my God, and take pity on me according to the greatness of your loyal love.