and said, "I beg you, Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments:

They all built the wall and those who bore burdens loaded themselves; everyone with one of his hands worked in the work, and with the other held his weapon;

Moreover there were at my table, of the Jews and the rulers, one hundred fifty men, besides those who came to us from among the nations that were around us.

Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and [the letters] of Tobiah came to them.

My God put into my heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written therein:

These are the children of the province, who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, everyone to his city;

These were those who went up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer; but they could not show their fathers' houses, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel:

These sought their register [among] those who were reckoned by genealogy, but it was not found: therefore were they deemed polluted and put from the priesthood.

He read therein before the broad place that was before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and of those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were [attentive] to the book of the law.

All the assembly of those who were come again out of the captivity made booths, and lived in the booths; for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the children of Israel had not done so. There was very great gladness.

Now those who sealed were: Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah,

The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge, and understanding --

The other company of those who gave thanks went to meet them, and I after them, with the half of the people, on the wall, above the tower of the furnaces, even to the broad wall,

So stood the two companies of those who gave thanks in the house of God, and I, and the half of the rulers with me;

In those days saw I in Judah some men treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys [therewith]; as 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.

In those days also saw I the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, [and] of Moab: