And it cometh to pass, at my hearing these words, I have sat down, and I weep and mourn for days, and I am fasting and praying before the God of the heavens.

And it cometh to pass, in the month of Nisan, the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, wine is before him, and I lift up the wine, and give to the king, and I had not been sad before him;

and the king saith to me, 'Wherefore is thy face sad, and thou not sick? this is nothing except sadness of heart;' and I fear very much,

and say to the king, 'Let the king to the age live! wherefore should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of the graves of my fathers, is a waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?'

And the king saith to me (and the queen is sitting near him), 'How long is thy journey? and when dost thou return?' and it is good before the king, and he sendeth me away, and I set to him a time.

And I declare to them the hand of my God that is good upon me, and also the words of the king that he said to me, and they say, 'Let us rise, and we have built;' and they strengthen their hands for good.

And Eliashib the high priest riseth, and his brethren the priests, and they build the sheep-gate; they have sanctified it, and set up its doors, even unto the tower of Meah they have sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel;

and the fish-gate have sons of Hassenaah built, they have walled it, and set up its doors, its locks, and its bars.

And the old gate have Jehoiada son of Paseah, and Meshullam son of Besodeiah, strengthened; they have walled it, and set up its doors, and its locks, and its bars.

The gate of the valley hath Hanun strengthened, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they have built it, and set up its doors, its locks, and its bars, and a thousand cubits in the wall unto the dung-gate.

And the dung-gate hath Malchijah son of Rechab, head of the district of Beth-Haccerem, strengthened; he doth built it, and set up its doors, its locks, and its bars.

And the gate of the fountain hath Shallum son of Col-Hozeh, head of the district of Mizpah, strengthened: he doth build it, and cover it, and set up its doors, its locks, and its bars, and the wall of the pool of Siloah, to the garden of the king, and unto the steps that are going down from the city of David.

Also, at that time I said to the people, 'Let each with his servant lodge in the midst of Jerusalem, and they have been to us by night a guard, and by day for the work:'

and my heart reigneth over me, and I strive with the freemen, and with the prefects, and say to them, 'Usury one upon another ye are exacting;' and I set against them a great assembly,

And it cometh to pass, when it hath been heard by Sanballat, and Tobiah, and by Geshem the Arabian, and by the rest of our enemies, that I have builded the wall, and there hath not been left in it a breach, (also, till that time the doors I had not set up in the gates,)

And it cometh to pass, when the wall hath been built, that I set up the doors, and the gatekeepers are appointed, and the singers, and the Levites,

Sons of Zattu: eight hundred forty and five.

Sons of the servants of Solomon: sons of Sotai, sons of Sophereth, sons of Perida,

And these are those coming up from Tel-Melah, Tel-Harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer -- and they have not been able to declare the house of their fathers, and their seed, whether they are of Israel --

And he saith to them, 'Go, eat fat things, and drink sweet things, and sent portions to him for whom nothing is prepared, for to-day is holy to our Lord, and be not grieved, for the joy of Jehovah is your strength.'

And they make -- all the assembly of the captives of the captivity -- booths, and they sit in booths; for the sons of Israel had not done, from the days of Jeshua son of Nun, so unto that day, and there is very great joy.

and the seed of Israel are separated from all sons of a stranger, and stand and confess concerning their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers,

and didst find his heart stedfast before Thee, so as to make with him the covenant, to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his seed. 'And Thou dost establish Thy words, for Thou art righteous,

And their sons Thou hast multiplied as the stars of the heavens, and bringest them in unto the land that Thou hast said to their fathers to go in to possess.

and they, in their kingdom, and in Thine abundant goodness, that Thou hast given to them, and in the land, the large and the fat, that Thou hast set before them, have not served Thee, nor turned back from their evil doings.

and its increase it is multiplying to the kings whom Thou hast set over us in our sins; and over our bodies they are ruling, and over our cattle, according to their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

And I strive with the prefects, and say, 'Wherefore hath the house of God been forsaken?' and I gather them, and set them on their station;