Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:

But if ye turn to me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you driven to the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

And the king said to me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?

Then I answered them, and said to them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

And he spoke before his brethren, and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?

And it came to pass, that when the Jews who dwelt by them came, they said to us ten times, From all places whence ye shall return to us they will be upon you.

In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither to us: our God will fight for us.

And I said to them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, who were sold to the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold to us? Then they held their peace, and found nothing to answer.

Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they would do according to this promise.

Afterward I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.

And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.

For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn, of the new wine, and the oil, to the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters, and the singers: and we will not forsake the house of our God.

Then I testified against them, and said to them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth they came no more on the sabbath.