But if you return to Me and carefully observe My commands, even though your exiles were banished to the ends of the earth, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I chose to have My name dwell.”

After I arrived in Jerusalem and had been there three days,

I went out at night through the Valley Gate toward the Serpent’s Well and the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.

I went on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but farther down it became too narrow for my animal to go through.

So I went up at night by way of the valley and inspected the wall. Then heading back, I entered through the Valley Gate and returned.

Beside them the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles did not lift a finger to help their supervisors.

After him their fellow Levites made repairs under Binnui son of Henadad, ruler over half the district of Keilah.

After them Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs opposite their house. Beside them Azariah son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, made repairs beside his house.

Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, “Indeed, even if a fox climbed up what they are building, he would break down their stone wall!”

Listen, our God, for we are despised. Make their insults return on their own heads and let them be taken as plunder to a land of captivity.

Do not cover their guilt or let their sin be erased from Your sight, because they have provoked the builders.

They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw it into confusion.

In Judah, it was said:

The strength of the laborer fails,
since there is so much rubble.
We will never be able
to rebuild the wall.

So I stationed people behind the lowest sections of the wall, at the vulnerable areas. I stationed them by families with their swords, spears, and bows.

When our enemies heard that we knew their scheme and that God had frustrated it, every one of us returned to his own work on the wall.

Wherever you hear the trumpet sound, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us!”

There was a widespread outcry from the people and their wives against their Jewish countrymen.

We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

I became extremely angry when I heard their outcry and these complaints.

Return their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses to them immediately, along with the percentage of the money, grain, new wine, and olive oil that you have been assessing them.”

Furthermore, from the day King Artaxerxes appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah—from the twentieth year until his thirty-second year, 12 years—I and my associates never ate from the food allotted to the governor.

The governors who preceded me had heavily burdened the people, taking food and wine from them, as well as a pound of silver. Their subordinates also oppressed the people, but I didn’t do this, because of the fear of God.

Instead, I devoted myself to the construction of the wall, and all my subordinates were gathered there for the work. We didn’t buy any land.

There were 150 Jews and officials, as well as guests from the surrounding nations at my table.

In it was written:

It is reported among the nations—and Geshem agrees—that you and the Jews plan to rebel. This is the reason you are building the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king

and have even set up the prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim on your behalf: “There is a king in Judah.” These rumors will be heard by the king. So come, let’s confer together.

Then I replied to him, “There is nothing to these rumors you are spreading; you are inventing them in your own mind.”

When all our enemies heard this, all the surrounding nations were intimidated and lost their confidence, for they realized that this task had been accomplished by our God.

I said to them, “Do not open the gates of Jerusalem until the sun is hot, and let the doors be shut and securely fastened while the guards are on duty. Station the citizens of Jerusalem as guards, some at their posts and some at their homes.”

The city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and no houses had been built yet.

The following are those who came from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but were unable to prove that their families and ancestors were Israelite:

and from the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Barzillai—who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name.

These searched for their entries in the genealogical records, but they could not be found, so they were disqualified from the priesthood.

The governor ordered them not to eat the most holy things until there was a priest who could consult the Urim and Thummim.

not including their 7,337 male and female slaves, as well as their 245 male and female singers.

So the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, temple singers, some of the people, temple servants, and all Israel settled in their towns.

When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns,

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Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and with their hands uplifted all the people said, “Amen, Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah, who were Levites, explained the law to the people as they stood in their places.

They found written in the law how the Lord had commanded through Moses that the Israelites should dwell in booths during the festival of the seventh month.

So they proclaimed and spread this news throughout their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hill country and bring back branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, just as it is written.”

The people went out, brought back branches, and made booths for themselves on each of their rooftops, and courtyards, the court of the house of God, the square by the Water Gate, and the square by the Gate of Ephraim.

The whole community that had returned from exile made booths and lived in them. They had not celebrated like this from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day. And there was tremendous joy.

Ezra read out of the book of the law of God every day, from the first day to the last. The Israelites celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day there was an assembly, according to the ordinance.

On the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting, wearing sackcloth, and had put dust on their heads.

Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the guilt of their fathers.

While they stood in their places, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day and spent another fourth of the day in confession and worship of the Lord their God.

Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the raised platform built for the Levites and cried out loudly to the Lord their God.

You alone are Yahweh.
You created the heavens,
the highest heavens with all their host,
the earth and all that is on it,
the seas and all that is in them.
You give life to all of them,
and the heavenly host worships You.

You saw the oppression of our ancestors in Egypt
and heard their cry at the Red Sea.

You divided the sea before them,
and they crossed through it on dry ground.
You hurled their pursuers into the depths
like a stone into churning waters.

You revealed Your holy Sabbath to them,
and gave them commands, statutes, and instruction
through Your servant Moses.

You provided bread from heaven for their hunger;
You brought them water from the rock for their thirst.
You told them to go in and possess the land
You had sworn to give them.

They refused to listen
and did not remember Your wonders
You performed among them.
They became stiff-necked and appointed a leader
to return to their slavery in Egypt.
But You are a forgiving God,
gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in faithful love,
and You did not abandon them.

You did not abandon them in the wilderness
because of Your great compassion.
During the day the pillar of cloud
never turned away from them,
guiding them on their journey.
And during the night the pillar of fire
illuminated the way they should go.

You sent Your good Spirit to instruct them.
You did not withhold Your manna from their mouths,
and You gave them water for their thirst.

You provided for them in the wilderness 40 years
and they lacked nothing.
Their clothes did not wear out,
and their feet did not swell.

You multiplied their descendants
like the stars of heaven
and brought them to the land
You told their ancestors to go in and take possession of it.

So their descendants went in and possessed the land:
You subdued the Canaanites who inhabited the land before them
and handed their kings and the surrounding peoples over to them,
to do as they pleased with them.

But they were disobedient and rebelled against You.
They flung Your law behind their backs
and killed Your prophets
who warned them
in order to turn them back to You.
They committed terrible blasphemies.

So You handed them over to their enemies,
who oppressed them.
In their time of distress, they cried out to You,
and You heard from heaven.
In Your abundant compassion
You gave them deliverers, who rescued them
from the power of their enemies.

But as soon as they had relief,
they again did what was evil in Your sight.
So You abandoned them to the power of their enemies,
who dominated them.
When they cried out to You again,
You heard from heaven and rescued them
many times in Your compassion.

You warned them to turn back to Your law,
but they acted arrogantly
and would not obey Your commands.
They sinned against Your ordinances,
which a person will live by if he does them.
They stubbornly resisted,
stiffened their necks, and would not obey.

You were patient with them for many years,
and Your Spirit warned them through Your prophets,
but they would not listen.
Therefore, You handed them over to the surrounding peoples.

When they were in their kingdom,
with Your abundant goodness that You gave them,
and in the spacious and fertile land You set before them,
they would not serve You or turn from their wicked ways.

and their brothers
Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan,

The rest of the people—the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, and temple servants, along with their wives, sons, and daughters, everyone who is able to understand and who has separated themselves from the surrounding peoples to obey the law of God—

join with their noble brothers and commit themselves with a sworn oath to follow the law of God given through God’s servant Moses and to carefully obey all the commands, ordinances, and statutes of Yahweh our Lord.

We will not give our daughters in marriage to the surrounding peoples and will not take their daughters as wives for our sons.

Now the leaders of the people stayed in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots for one out of ten to come and live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the other nine-tenths remained in their towns.

These are the heads of the province who stayed in Jerusalem (but in the villages of Judah each lived on his own property in their towns—the Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants, and descendants of Solomon’s servants—

and their relatives who did the work at the temple: 822. Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pelaliah, son of Amzi, son of Zechariah, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah

and their relatives, capable men: 128. Zabdiel son of Haggedolim, was their chief.

The gatekeepers:

Akkub, Talmon, and their relatives, who guarded the gates: 172.

There was, in fact, a command of the king regarding them, and an ordinance regulating the singers’ daily tasks.

As for the farming settlements with their fields:

Some of Judah’s descendants lived in Kiriath-arba and its villages,
Dibon and its villages, and Jekabzeel and its villages;

Zanoah and Adullam with their villages;
in Lachish with its fields and Azekah and its villages.
So they settled from Beer-sheba to the Valley of Hinnom.

Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah.

These were the leaders of the priests and their relatives in the days of Jeshua.

Bakbukiah, Unni, and their relatives stood opposite them in the services.

The leaders of the Levites—Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel, along with their relatives opposite them—gave praise and thanks, division by division, as David the man of God had prescribed.

They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers, as David and his son Solomon had prescribed.

For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were leaders of the singers and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.

I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah’s household possessions out of the room.

I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God restored there, along with the grain offering and frankincense.

Therefore, I rebuked the officials, saying, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” I gathered the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts.

I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, with Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah to assist them, because they were considered trustworthy. They were responsible for the distribution to their colleagues.

The Tyrians living there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem.

Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples but could not speak Hebrew.

I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to take an oath before God and said: “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or yourselves!

Didn’t King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations. He was loved by his God and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin.