And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of LORD, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise LORD, after the order of David king of Israel.

then they drew near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers, and said to them, Let us build with you, for we seek your God, as ye do, and we sacrifice to him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria who brought us up here.

But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers of Israel, said to them, Ye have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God, but we ourselves together will build to LORD, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus

And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his companions, wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. And the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian [character], and set forth in the Syrian [tongu

and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar brought over, and set in the city of Samaria, and in the rest beyond the River, and so forth.

At the same time Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai, and their companions, came to them, and said thus to them, Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall?

Then we asked those elders, and said to them thus: Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall?

And he said to him, Take these vessels. Go put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built in its place.

that they may offer sacrifices of sweet savor to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.

And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their divisions, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.

For Ezra had set his heart to seek the law of LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances.

Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, even Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them,

And I said to them, Ye are holy to LORD, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill-offering to LORD, the God of your fathers.

For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the peoples of the lands. Yea, the hand of the heads and rulers has been chief in this trespass.

And when I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded.

Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel were assembled to me, because of the trespass of those of the captivity, and I sat confounded until the evening oblation.

and I said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our guiltiness has grown up to the heavens.

For we are bondmen, yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended loving kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the ruins of it, a

And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this th

Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together to Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth [day] of the month, and all the people sat in the broad place before the house of God,

And Ezra the priest stood up, and said to them, Ye have trespassed, and have married foreign women to increase the guilt of Israel.

Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, As thou have said concerning us, so must we do.

And the sons of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, [with] certain heads of fathers, after their fathers' houses, and all of them by their names, were set apart. And they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to exami

And of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.

And they said to me, The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. Also the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and the gates of it are burned with fire.

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days. And I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,

and said, I beseech thee, O LORD, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments:

O LORD, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name, and, I pray thee, prosper thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight

Now I was cupbearer to the king. And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not [formerly] been sad in

And the king said to me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very much afraid.

And I said to the king, Let the king live forever. Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchers, lays waste, and the gates of it are consumed with fire?

Then the king said to me, For what do thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

And I said to the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' sepulchers, that I may build it.

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

Moreover I said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given to me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through till I come to Judah,

Then I said to them, Ye see the evil condition that we are in, how Jerusalem lays waste, and the gates of it are burned with fire. Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach.

And I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me, as also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for the good [work].

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.

Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the sheep gate. They sanctified it, and set up the doors of it, even to the tower of Hammeah they sanctified it, to the tower of Hananel.

And the sons of Hassenaah built the fish gate. They laid the beams of it, and set up the doors of it, the bolts of it, and the bars of it.

And the old gate Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired. They laid the beams of it, and set up the doors of it, and the bolts of it, and the bars of it.

Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah, repaired the valley gate. They built it, and set up the doors of it, the bolts of it, and the bars of it, and a thousand cubits of the wall to the dung gate.

And Malchijah the son of Rechab, the ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the dung gate. He built it, and set up the doors of it, the bolts of it, and the bars of it.

And Shallun the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the fountain gate. He built it, and covered it, and set up the doors of it, the bolts of it, and the bars of it, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by

And he spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rub

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they are building, if a fox goes up he shall break down their stone wall.

But we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.

And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens has become feeble, and there is much rubbish, so that we are not able to build the wall.

And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come into the midst of them, and kill them, and cause the work to cease.

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

Therefore I set in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places, I set [there] the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

And I looked, and rose up, and said to the ranking men, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them. Remember LORD, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters

and the builders, every man had his sword girded by his side, and so built. And he who sounded the trumpet was by me.

And I said to the ranking men, and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another.

Likewise at the same time I said to the people, Let each with his servant lodge within Jerusalem that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labor in the day.

For there were who said, We, our sons and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain that we may eat and live.

There were some also who said, We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain because of the dearth.

There were also who said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute [upon] our fields and our vineyards.

Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the ranking men and the rulers, and said to them, Ye exact usury, everyone of his brother. And I held a great assembly against them.

And I said to them, According to our ability we have redeemed our brothers the Jews, who were sold to the nations, and would ye even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us? Then they were silent, and found not a word.

Also I said, The thing that ye do is not good. Ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies?

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

Also I shook out my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, who does not perform this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the assembly said, Amen, and praised LORD. And th

And I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, 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

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

Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed,

And I said to them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot, and while they stand [on guard], let them shut the doors, and bar ye them. And appoint watchmen of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, everyone in his wat

the sons of Zattu, eight hundred forty-five;

The sons of Solomon's servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Sophereth, the sons of Perida,

And these were those who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but they could not show their fathers' house, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel:

And the governor said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim.

And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people (for he was above all the people), and when he opened it, all the people stood up.

And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to LORD your God; do not mourn nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard th

Then he said to them, Go your way, eat fat things, and drink sweet things, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our LORD; neither be ye grieved, for the joy of LORD is your strength.

And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.

Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, [and] Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. And blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted abo

and found his heart faithful before thee, and made a covenant with him 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 have performed

Yea, when they had made a molten calf for them, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations,

Their sons thou also multiplied as the stars of heaven, and brought them into the land concerning which thou said to their fathers that they should go in to possess it.

And it yields much increase to the kings whom thou have set over us because of our sins. Also they have power over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

The chiefs of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani,

for the showbread, and for the continual meal-offering, and for the continual burnt-offering, for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin-offerings to make atonement for Israel,

And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters as every day required. And they set apart [that which was] for the Levites, and the Levites set apart [that whi

Then I contended with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place.

Then I contended with the ranking men of Judah, and said to them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day?

And it came to pass that, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath. And I set some of my servant

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

that in those days, when king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace,

Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for so was the king's manner toward all who knew law and judgment,

and next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven rulers of Persia and Media who saw the king's face, and sat first in the kingdom),

Then the king's servants who ministered to him said, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king.

And the king loved Esther above all the women. And she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

After these things king Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the rulers that were with him.

Then the king's servants, who were in the king's gate, said to Mordecai, Why do thou transgress the king's commandment?

And Haman said to king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom, and their laws are diverse from [those of] every people, nor do they keep the king's

And the king said to Haman, The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to thee.

The posts went forth in haste by the king's commandment, and the decree was given out in Shushan the palace. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.

Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, opposite the king's house. And the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, opposite the entran

And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the