They told me, "The survivors of the captivity there in the province are living in great distress and shame. Furthermore, the Jerusalem wall remains broken down and its gates have been burned by fire."

I also asked the king, "If it seems good to you, order that letters of authorization be given me for the Trans-Euphrates governors, so they will allow me to pass through to Judah,

But when Sanballat the Horonite and his servant Tobiah the Ammonite heard of this, they were greatly distressed because someone had come to do good for the Israelis.

Then I told them how good my God had been to me, and about what the king had told me. They replied, "Let's get out there and build!" So they encouraged themselves to do good.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, his servant Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they jeered at us and despised us when they said, "What is this thing that you're doing? You're rebelling against the king, aren't you?"

So Eliashib the high priest came forward, along with his fellow priests, and reconstructed the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and installed its doors. They also consecrated the wall as far as the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel.

The Fish Gate was repaired by Hassenaah's sons. They built its framework and installed its doors, including locks and security bars,

Paseah's son Joiada and Besodeiah's son Meshullam repaired the Old Gate. They built its framework and installed its doors, including locks and security bars.

Hanun and the residents of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate, reconstructing it and installing its doors, including locks and security bars. They also rebuilt 1,000 cubits of the wall as far as the Dung Gate.

He addressed his allies and the Samaritan officials, saying "What are these pathetic Jews doing? Are they intending to rebuild it by themselves? Do they intend to offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a single day? Can they make stones from this burned out rubble?"

Tobiah the Ammonite stood to the side, commenting, "If a fox were to jump onto what they're building, it would collapse their stone wall!"

Don't atone their iniquity, and don't let their sin be blotted out from before you, because they have demoralized the builders."

But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repair work on the Jerusalem wall was progressing and that its breaches were being repaired, they flew into a rage.

So they all conspired together to invade and fight against Jerusalem, creating confusion there.

Our enemies said, "Before they notice or see us, we'll penetrate their midst, kill them, and stop the work!"

The Jews who lived near them kept coming to us, reporting at least ten times, "They'll attack us from every direction."

At the same time I told the people, "Let's have everyone sleep at night inside Jerusalem with their servants, so they can guard us at night and work during the day.

I accused them, "To the best of our ability, we've been buying back our fellow Jews who had been sold to foreigners. Even now you're selling your fellow countrymen, only for them to be sold back to us!" They kept quiet and never spoke a word.

They responded, "We will restore these things, and will assess no interest charges against them. We will do what you are requesting!"

Nevertheless, the former governors before me placed a heavy burden on the people. They received food and wine, plus a tax of 40 shekels of silver. Even their young men took advantage of the people, but I never did so because I feared God.

Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me, saying "Come, let's meet together at Kephirim on the Ono Plain." But they were just trying to do me harm.

They sent me this message four times, and I answered them the same way.

For they all were trying to make us afraid by saying, "Their hands will become tired from laboring, so the work won't be completed." "Therefore, LORD, strengthen my hands!"

Later I visited Delaiah's son Shemaiah, a grandson of Mehetabel, who was confined at home. He kept urging me, "Let's meet together at the house of God, within the Temple, and take refuge there, because they're coming to kill you. In fact, they're coming at night to kill you!"

He had been hired to make me afraid so I would sin by doing what he suggested. Then they could create a slanderous report to use against me.

When all of our enemies including the surrounding nations heard this, they became very discouraged, since they saw that the work had been done by our God.

Furthermore, they kept reporting Tobiah's good deeds to me, and kept repeating what I told him. Tobiah kept sending letters to intimidate me.

So my God gave me the idea to gather together the nobles, the officials, and the people so they could be registered according to their genealogies.

I found a register of the original inhabitants in which there was recorded a list of descendants of the province of Judah who returned from captivity, from those who had been exiled by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. They had come back to Jerusalem and to Judah, each one to his town.

They were coming with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah. Here is the enumeration of: The Men of Israel:

These people searched for their ancestral records, but they couldn't be located. Accordingly, they were considered disqualified from the priesthood.

not including their 7,337 male and female servants. They had 245 men and women singers.

They had 736 horses, 245 mules,

So on the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought out the Law before the assembled people. Both men and women were in attendance, as well as all who could understand what they were hearing.

Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and with uplifted hands, all the people responded, "Amen! Amen!" They bowed down and worshipped the LORD prostrate on the ground.

All the people gathered as a united body into the plaza in front of the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel.

Because all the people were weeping as they listened to the words of the Law, Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the descendants of Levi who taught the people told everyone, "This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep."

So all the people went to eat, to drink, to send something to those who had nothing, and to celebrate with great joy, because they understood the words that were being declared to them.

They found written in the Law that the LORD had commanded through Moses that the Israelis were to live in tents during the festival scheduled for the seventh month.

So they circulated a proclamation throughout their towns and in Jerusalem. It said, "Go out to the hill country and bring back olive branches, wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of mature trees, in order to set up tents, as has been written."

and Ezra continued to read from the Book of the Law of God day by day, from the first day through the last. They celebrated for seven days, and on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly according to regulation.

The remnant of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners. Then they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.

While they stood there, they read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for one fourth of the day, and they confessed and worshipped the LORD their God for another fourth of the day.

You sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all of his officials, and against all the people of his land, because you knew they acted arrogantly against your people. So you established your name with them, as it remains to this day.

You divided the sea in front of them, and they traveled through the midst of the sea on dry ground. You hurled their pursuers into the depths, as one throws a stone into turbulent waters.

You led them during the day by a pillar of cloud, and by a pillar of fire at night to provide light for them on the path they took.

"But they our ancestors became arrogant and stubborn, refusing to listen to your commands.

They would not listen, and did not remember the miracles you did among them. Instead, they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return them to their slavery. "But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in gracious love; therefore you did not abandon them.

Moreover, after they had cast a golden calf for themselves, they said, "This is your god who brought you out of Egypt!" and committed terrible blasphemies.

You, in your great compassion, did not abandon them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not leave them in daylight, in order to provide light for them on the path they took. Nor did the pillar of fire abandon them at night, in order to provide light for them and lead them on the path they took.

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

You gave them kingdoms and nations, apportioning them as frontier boundaries. They took possession of the land of Sihon, the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan.

So their descendants entered and took possession of the land. Before their eyes you subdued those living in the land the Canaanites putting them under their control, along with their kings and the nations of the land, so they could do with them as they pleased.

They conquered fortified cities and fertile ground, possessing houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, with vineyards, olive orchards, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were satiated, and were well nourished, delighting themselves in your great goodness.

"Then they disobeyed, rebelled against you, and threw your Law behind their backs. They murdered your prophets who had admonished the people to return to you, committing terrible blasphemies.

So you delivered them into the control of their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed, they cried out to you, and you heard from heaven. In your great compassion you gave them deliverers who rescued them from the control of their enemies.

"But after they had gained relief, they returned to doing evil before you. Therefore you abandoned them to the control of their enemies, who continued to oppress them. But when they came back and cried out to you, you listened from heaven and delivered them in your compassion on many occasions.

You admonished them to return to your Law, but they acted arrogantly, and would not listen to your commands. They sinned against your regulations, which if anyone obeys, he will live by them. They turned away, being stubborn and stiff-necked, and they did not listen.

You were patient with them for many years, warning them by your Spirit through your prophets. But they would not listen, so you turned them over to the control of people in other lands.

But they in their kingdom in the midst of your great goodness that you gave them and in the large and fertile land that you provided them did not serve you or turn away from their evil deeds.

"Look! Today we are your servants, along with the land that you gave to our ancestors, so they could enjoy its fruit and its value behold, in it we are your servants!

But now its abundant produce belongs to the kings whom you placed over us because of our sin. They also have power over our bodies and our herds at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

joined with their relatives and their leaders. They entered into an oath enforced by a curse to walk in God's Law that was given through God's servant Moses, and to be careful to obey all of the commands of the LORD, our Lord, as well as his regulations and statutes:

They were subject to the commands of the king, who provided for the singers daily.

in Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, and Azekah and its villages. They encamped from Beer-sheba to the Hinnom Valley.

At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they invited the descendants of Levi to come from wherever they lived to Jerusalem so they could celebrate the dedication with joy, thanksgiving, and songs, accompanied by cymbals, lyres, and harps.

At the Fountain Gate, which stood opposite them, they ascended the stairs of the City of David where the wall rose above the house of David east of the Water Gate.

and from above the Ephraim Gate, above the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate. They stopped at the Guard Gate.

That day they offered a large number of sacrifices, and they rejoiced, because God had caused them to rejoice enthusiastically. Their wives and children rejoiced, so that Jerusalem's joy was heard from a long distance.

They carried out their service obligations to their God and their service obligations of purification according to what David and his son Solomon had commanded.

because they did not greet the Israelis with food and water, but instead hired Balaam to oppose them by cursing them, even though our God turned the curse into a blessing.

When they heard the Law, they separated all those of foreign descent from Israel.

had prepared a great chamber for him, in the place where they used to place the grain offerings, incense, and vessels, along with the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil that was mandated for the descendants of Levi, the singers, the gate keepers, and the priests' offerings.

I ordered them to purify the chambers, and then they brought back the vessels from the Temple of God, along with the grain offerings and incense.

I appointed over the storerooms: Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from the descendants of Levi; and next to them Zaccur's son Hanan, the grandson of Mattaniah, because they had been considered faithful. Their duties were to distribute to their associates.

At that time I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the Sabbath, bringing in sacks of grain, loading them onto donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads. They brought them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I rebuked them on the day on which they were selling food.

As the Sabbath approached and it began to get dark at the gates of Jerusalem, I gave word to shut the gates, charging that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. I stationed some of my men at the gates to ensure that no loads would be brought in on the Sabbath day.

I argued with them, "Why are you staying outside the wall? If you do this again, I'll arrest you." From that time on, they didn't come anymore on the Sabbath.

Furthermore, their children spoke half of the time in the language of Ashdod, and could not speak in the language of Judah. Instead, they spoke in the languages of various nations.

Remember them, my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the descendants of Levi.