The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. It fortuned in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, that I was in the castle at Susa:

In the month Nisan in the twentieth year of king Artaxerxes, when the wine stood before him, I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king and I was heavy in his presence.

And from the time forth that it was committed unto me to be a captain in the land of Judah, namely from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of king Artaxerxes - that is twelve years - I and my brethren lived not of such sustenance as was given to a captain:

For the old captains that were before me, had been chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, and forty sicles of silver: yea and their servants had oppressed the people. But so did not I, and that because of the fear of God.

And I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, and he had shut himself within, and said, "Let us come together in to the house of God, even unto the midst of the temple, and shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee, yea even in the night will they come to put thee to death."

Behold, therefore are we in bondage this day: yea, even in the land that thou gavest unto our fathers, to enjoy the fruits and goods thereof, behold, there are we bondsmen.

And if the people of the land brought wares on the Sabbath, and all manner of victuals to sell, that we would not take it of them on the Sabbath and on the holy days. And that we would let the seventh year be free concerning all manner of charge.

And we cast the lot among the priests, Levites and the people, for offering of the wood to be brought unto the house of our God from year to year, after the houses of our fathers that it might be burnt at times appointed, upon the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law:

and yearly to bring the firstlings of our land, and the firstlings of our fruits of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the LORD:

But in all this was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon, came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I license of the king