The words of Nehemiah son of Hachaliah. And it will be in the month Chisleu, the twentieth year, and I was in Shushan the fortress;

And it will be in my hearing these words, I sat down, and I shall weep and mourn days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of the heavens,

And it will be in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year to Arthasatha the king, wine before him: and I shall lift up the wine and give to the king. And I was not sad before him.

And the king will say to me, For what this thou seekest? And I shall pray to the God of the heavens.

And saying to the king, If good to the king, and if thy servant shall be good before thee, that thou wilt send me to Judah to the city of my fathers' sepulchres, and I will build it,

And the king will say to me (the consort will sit near him) How long shall be thy journey? and when wilt thou turn back? And it will be good before the king, and he will send me; and I shall give to him a time.

And a letter to Asaph watching the pleasure-grounds to the king, who shall give to me woods to frame the gates of the fortress that is to the house, and for the walls of the city, and for the house which I shall come into it And the king will give to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.

And Sanballat the Horonite will hear, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and it will be evil to them a great evil that a man came to seek good for the sons of Israel.

And I shall rise in the night, I and a few men with me; and I announced not to man what my God gave into my heart to do at Jerusalem: and no beast with me but the beast that I rode upon it

And the prefects knew not whither I went and what I was doing: and to the Jews and to the priests and to the nobles and to the prefects, and to the rest doing the work, even thus I announced not

And saying to them, Ye seeing the evil which we are in it, how Jerusalem lay waste, and her gates were burnt with fire: come ye, and we will build the walls of Jerusalem, and we shall be no more a reproach.

And I shall announce to them the hand of my God that it was good upon me; and also the king's words who said to me. And they will say, We will rise up and build. And they will strengthen their hands for good.

And Sanballat the Horonite will hear, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, and they will mock to us and despise us, and say, What this word that ye do? are ye bearing rule against the king?

And Eliashib the great priest will rise up and his brethren the priests, and they will build the sheep gate; they consecrated it, and they will set up its doors, and even to the tower of Meah they consecrated, and even to the tower of Hananeel.

And at their hand held fast Meremoth, son of Urijah, son of Koz. And upon their hand Meshullam son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabeel. And upon their hand held fast Zadok son of Baana.

And the gate of the valley held fast Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and they will set up its doors its bolts and its bars, and a thousand cubits in the wall even to the gate of the dung-hill.

And the gate of the dung-hill held fast Malchiah the son of Rechab, chief of the circuit of the house of the vineyard; he will build it, and set up its doors, its bolts and its bars.

And the gate of the fountain Shallum son of Colhozeh, ruler of the circuit of Mizpeh, held fast; he will build it and cover it, and set, it up, its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and the walls of the pool of Shiloh by the king's garden, and even to the steps going down from the city of David.

And it will be that when Sanballat heard that we are building the wall, and it will kindle to him, and he will be greatly angry, and he will mock against the Jews.

And he will say before his brethren and the strength of Shomeron, and he will say, What are the feeble Jews doing? will they leave to themselves? will they sacrifice? will they finish in a day? will they give life to the stones of the heaps of dust, and they being burnt?

And it will be that when Sanballat heard, and Tobiah, and the Arabians and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, that healing ascended to the walls of Jerusalem, that the breaches began to be stopped, and it kindled to them greatly;

And they will conspire all of them together to come to war against Jerusalem, and to do damage to it

And it will be that when the Jews dwelling near them came, and they will say to us ten times, From all places which ye shall turn back to us.

And it will be that when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God will disperse their counsel, and we shall turn back all of us to the wall, each to his work.

And it will be from that day the half of my young men doing in the work, and half of them holding fast and the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail; and the chiefs behind every house of Judah.

And there is which saying, Our sons and our daughters, we being many: and we will take grain and we will eat and live.

And it will kindle to me greatly as I heard their cry and these words.

And it will be said, Not good the word which ye do: will ye not go in the fear of our God from the reproach of the nations our enemies?

Also I shook out my arm, and said, Thus God will shake out every man who will not raise up this word from his house and from his labor; so shall he be shaken out and emptied. And all the convocation will say, Amen, and praise Jehovah. And the people did according to this word.

Also from the day which it was commanded me to be their prefect in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year and even to the thirty and second year to Arthasatha the king, twelve years I and my brethren ate not the bread of the prefect

And what was done for one day, one ox, six choice sheep; and birds were done for me, and within ten days with every wine for abundance: and with this, the bread of the prefect I sought not for the servitude was heavy upon this people

And it will be as it was heard by Sanballat and Tobiah, and by Geshem the Arabian, and by the rest of our enemies, that I built the wall and a breach was not left in it; also even to this time I set not up the doors in the gates;

Being written in it, It was heard in the nations, and Geshem said, Thou and the Jews are reckoning to rebel: for this thou buildest the wall, and thou to be to them for king according to these words.

And also thou didst set up prophets to call upon thee in Jerusalem, saying, A king in Judah: and now it will be heard by the king according to these words: and now come and we will counsel together.

And I shall send to him saying, It was not according to these words which thou sayest, for from thy heart thou feignest them.

For all of them causing us to be afraid, saying, their hands shall be slackened from the work, and it shall not be done. And now strengthen my hand.

So that he was hired that I shall be afraid and do thus, and sin, and it was to them for an evil name, so that they shall reproach me.

And it will be as all our enemies heard, and all the nations that were round about us saw, and they will fall greatly in their own eyes: and they knew that from God was done this work.

And it will be as the wall was built, and I shall set up the doors, and the gate-keepers, and those singing, and the Levites will be appointed.

And it will be said to them, The gates of Jerusalem shall not be opened till the sun being hot; and till they standing by shall shut the doors and fasten: and setting up watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, a man in his watch, and a man before his house.

And my God will give to my heart, and I shall gather together the nobles and the prefects and the people, to be enrolled: and I shall find the writing of the register of those coming up among the first, and I shall find written as it

The sons of Pahath-Moab to the sons of Joshua and Joab, two thousand and eight hundred and eighteen.

The sons of Zattu, eight hundred forty and five.

The sons of Binnui, six hundred forty and eight

The sons of Bebai, six hundred twenty and eight

The sons of Ater to Hezekiah, ninety and eight

The sons of Hashum, three hundred twenty and eight

The men of the house of bread and Netophah, a hundred eighty and eight

The men of Anathoth, a hundred twenty and eight

Those singing: the sons of Asaph, a hundred forty and eight

The gate keepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, a hundred thirty and eight

These sought their writing of those being enrolled, and it was not found: and they will be defiled from the priesthood.

And the Tirshatha will say to them that they shall not eat from the holy of holies till a priest stood up for Lights and Truth.

And what the rest of the people gave was gold, two myriads of drachmas, and silver, two thousand portions, and priests' tunics, sixty and seven.

And he will read in it before the broad place which is before the gate of the waters, from the light even to the half of the day, before the men and the women, and those understanding; and the ears of all the people will be to the book of the law.

And Ezra the scribe will stand upon a tower of wood which they made for the word; and near him will stand Mattathiah and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, upon his right hand; and his left, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, Meshullam.

And Ezra will open the book before the eyes of all the people; for he was above all the people; and when he opened it all the people stood:

And he will say to them, Go ye; eat fatnesses, and drink sweetnesses, and send portions to him for whom nothing was prepared: for the day is holy to our Lord: and ye shall not grieve, for the joy of Jehovah this is your strength.

And all the people will go to eat and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great gladness, for they understood the words that were made known to them.

Thou thyself, O Jehovah, thou alone, didst make the heavens, the heavens of heavens, with all their army, the earth and all that is upon it, the seas and all that is in them, and thou makest alive all of them: and the army of the heavens worshiping to thee.

And thou didst find his heart faithful before thee, and thou didst cut out a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perezzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give to his seed: and thou wilt set up thy words, for thou art just:

And in a pillar of cloud thou didst guide them by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, to enlighten the way to them that they shall go in it

And thou in thy many compassions forsookest them not in the desert: not removing the pillar of cloud from above them in the day to guide them in the way; and the pillar of fire in the night, to enlighten to them, and the way that they shall go in it

And they will take inaccessible cities, and a fat land, and they will inherit houses full of all good, and wells hewed out, vineyards and olive trees, and the tree of food for abundance: and they will eat and be filled, and be fat, and will live delicately in thy great goodness.

And now our God, the great the mighty, and the terrible God, watching the covenant and the mercy, it shall not be little before thee all the distress which found us, to our kings, to our chiefs, to our priests, and to our prophets, and to our fathers, and to all thy people from the days of the kings of Assur even to this day.

Behold, we this day are servants, and the land which thou gavest to our fathers to eat its fruit and its goodness, behold, we are servants upon it:

And for all this we cut out faithfulness, and write; and upon the sealing, our chiefs, our Levites, and our priests

And we cast the lots for the oblation of the woods, of the priests, the Levites and the people, to bring to the house of our God, for the house of our fathers at the times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of Jehovah our God, as written in the law:

And Maaseiah son of Baruch, son of Col-Hozeth, son of Hazaiah, son of Adaiah, son of Joiarib, son of Zechariah, son of Shiloni.

All the sons of Perez dwelling in Jerusalem, four hundred sixty and eight, men of strength.

And after him Gebai, Sallai, nine hundred twenty and eight.

And their brethren doing the work to the house, eight hundred twenty and two: and Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pelaliah, son of Amzi, son of Zechaliah, son of Pashur, son of Malchiah,

And their brethren men of strength, a hundred twenty and eight: and he reviewing over them Zabdiel, son of the great ones:

And Pethahiah son of Meshezaheel, from the sons of Zerah son of Judah, at the hand of the king for every word to the people.

Iddo, Ginnetho, Abiah,

To Iddo, Zechariah; to Ginnethon, Meshullam;

And in the consecration of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to do the consecration and gladness, and with praises and with song of cymbals, lyres, and with harps.

And at the gate of the fountain, and before them, they went up upon the steps of the city of David in the going up to the wall from above to the house: of David, and even to the gate of waters of the sunrising.

And the second praised going about to the front, and I after it, and, half the people above to the wall, above to the tower of the furnaces and even to the broad wall;

In that day was read in the book of Moses in the ears of the people; and it was found written in it that there shall not come in an Ammonite and a Moabite to the convocation of God, even to forever;

And it will be in their hearing the law, and they will separate all the mixture from Israel.

And in all this I was not in Jerusalem: for in the thirty and second year to Arthasatha king of Babel, I came to the king, and at the end of days I asked for myself from the king:

And it will be greatly evil to me: and I shall cast forth all the vessels of the house of Tobiah without from the cell.

And I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from the Levites: and upon their hand Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah: for they were reckoned faithful: and upon them to divide out to their brethren.

Remember to me, O my God, concerning this, and thou wilt not wipe out my kindness which I did in the house of my God, and in its watches.

And the Tyrians sat in it, bringing in fish and every selling, and selling in the Sabbath to the sons of Judah, and in Jerusalem.

And I shall contend with the nobles of Judah, and say to them, What this evil word that ye are doing, and profaning the day of the Sabbath?

And it will be as the gates of Jerusalem were darkened before the Sabbath, and saying, and the doors shall be shut, and saying that they shall not open them till after the Sabbath: and from my young men I caused to stand at the gates; a burden shall not be brought in in the day of the Sabbath.

And I shall testify against them, and say to them, Wherefore are ye lodging before the wall? if ye shall do it a second time I will stretch forth the hand against you From that time they came not upon the Sabbath.