Next to him the priests, men from the plain, carried on repairs.

Next to them Benjamin and Hasshub carried on repairs near their house, followed by Maaseiah's son Azariah, grandson of Ananiah, who worked beside his own house.

Following him, Henadad's son Binnui repaired another section from Azariah's house to the angle of the wall, and then to the corner.

Uzai's son Palal carried on repairs over against the angle of the wall at the tower that stands out from the king's upper palace, which is located by the royal guard's court. Next to him, Parosh's son Pedaiah carried on repairs.

Next to Pedaiah, the Tekoites repaired another section from the prominent tower as far as the wall of the Ophel.

Then next to them, Immer's son Zadok did repairs as far as his own house. Next to him, Shecaniah's son Shemaiah, custodian of the East Gate, carried on repairs.

Next to him, Shelemiah's son Hananiah and Zalaph's sixth son Hanun repaired another section. Next to him, Berechiah's son Meshullam carried on repairs up to his chamber.

Next to him, Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, carried on repairs up to the house of the Temple Servants and the merchants, up to the Muster Gate as far as the ascent to the corner.

He addressed his allies and the Samaritan officials, saying "What are these pathetic Jews doing? Are they intending to rebuild it by themselves? Do they intend to offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a single day? Can they make stones from this burned out rubble?"

Tobiah the Ammonite stood to the side, commenting, "If a fox were to jump onto what they're building, it would collapse their stone wall!"

Don't atone their iniquity, and don't let their sin be blotted out from before you, because they have demoralized the builders."

So we rebuilt the wall, completing it halfway up, because the people were committed to working.

So they all conspired together to invade and fight against Jerusalem, creating confusion there.

But we prayed to our God. We also set up guards day and night because of them.

Meanwhile, the people of Judah said, "The builders are tired and there's so much rubble that we can't reconstruct the wall!"

The Jews who lived near them kept coming to us, reporting at least ten times, "They'll attack us from every direction."

Looking things over, I stood up and spoke to the officials, the military leaders, and the rest of the people: "Don't fear them. Remember the great and awe-inspiring Lord. Fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes."

Our opponents heard that we had learned about them, that God had brought their plans to failure, and that each and every one of us had come to work on the wall.

From that day on, half of my helpers engaged in the work while the other half kept spears, shields, bows, and armor ready. The senior officials backed all of the Judeans

Each builder worked with a sword strapped to his side, while a trumpeter remained beside me to sound an alarm.

so wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, come over to us, and our God will fight for us!"

So we worked hard, half of us holding spears from dawn to dusk.

At the same time I told the people, "Let's have everyone sleep at night inside Jerusalem with their servants, so they can guard us at night and work during the day.

Others were saying, "We're having to mortgage our fields, our vineyards, and our homes so we can buy grain during this famine."

Still others were saying "We've borrowed money against our fields and vineyards to pay the king's taxes.

Now our bodies are no different than the bodies of our relatives, and our children are like their children. Nevertheless, we're about to force our sons and daughters into slavery, and some of our daughters are already in bondage. It's beyond our power to do anything about it, because our fields and vineyards belong to others."

I accused them, "To the best of our ability, we've been buying back our fellow Jews who had been sold to foreigners. Even now you're selling your fellow countrymen, only for them to be sold back to us!" They kept quiet and never spoke a word.

So I said, "What you're doing isn't right! Shouldn't you live in the fear of our God to avoid shame from our foreign enemies?

So today please restore to them their fields, vineyards, olive orchards, and homes, along with the one percent interest charge that you've assessed them on the grain, wine, and oil."

They responded, "We will restore these things, and will assess no interest charges against them. We will do what you are requesting!"

So I called the priests and made them take an oath to fulfill this promise. I also shook my robes, and said, "May God shake out every man from his house and his possessions who does not keep this promise. May he be emptied out and shaken just like this." All the assembly said, "Amen!" and praised the LORD. And the people kept their promise.

In addition, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah (that is, during the twelve years from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes), neither I nor my relatives relied on the provisions allotted to the governor.

Also, as I continued to work on the wall, we purchased no land, and all of my young men were employed in the work.

I fed 150 Jews and officials every day, not counting those who came from the nations around us.

When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had completed the wall and that no break remained in it (even though by that time I hadn't yet installed the doors in the gates),

Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me, saying "Come, let's meet together at Kephirim on the Ono Plain." But they were just trying to do me harm.

So I sent messengers to them, replying "I am involved in a great endeavor, so I can't leave. Why should the work stop while I leave it to come down to you?"

Then Sanballat sent his assistant to me the fifth time. But this time the letter was sent unsealed, and

It is reported among the nations and Gashmu confirms this that you and the Jews are planning a revolt, and that you're rebuilding the wall in order to declare yourself king. According to these reports, you also have appointed prophets to proclaim about you in Jerusalem, "There is a king in Judah!" Since these words are being reported to the king, come and let's meet together.

I sent word back to him, "Nothing has happened as you've claimed. You're making up these charges in your imagination."

For they all were trying to make us afraid by saying, "Their hands will become tired from laboring, so the work won't be completed." "Therefore, LORD, strengthen my hands!"

Later I visited Delaiah's son Shemaiah, a grandson of Mehetabel, who was confined at home. He kept urging me, "Let's meet together at the house of God, within the Temple, and take refuge there, because they're coming to kill you. In fact, they're coming at night to kill you!"

But I asked him, "Should a man like me run? Should someone like me run into the Temple to save his life? I won't go there!"

I perceived that God had not sent him. Instead, Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him to pronounce this prophecy against me.

He had been hired to make me afraid so I would sin by doing what he suggested. Then they could create a slanderous report to use against me.

"Remember me, my God, and take note of what Tobiah and Sanballat are doing. Also take note of the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who intend to make me afraid."

So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of Elul in 52 days.

Meanwhile, at that time the nobles of Judah continued to send many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah kept sending letters to them.

For many Judeans had sworn allegiance to him, since he was son-in-law to Arah's son Shecaniah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Berechiah's son Meshullam.

Furthermore, they kept reporting Tobiah's good deeds to me, and kept repeating what I told him. Tobiah kept sending letters to intimidate me.

I appointed my brother Hanani and fortress commander Hananiah to be over Jerusalem, since he was a faithful person who revered God more than many others did.

I charged them, "Do not open the gates of Jerusalem until mid-day. Until then, let everyone stand watch, keeping the gates shut and locked. Appoint security watches from those who live in Jerusalem. Everyone should maintain his own watch near his house."

So my God gave me the idea to gather together the nobles, the officials, and the people so they could be registered according to their genealogies.

I found a register of the original inhabitants in which there was recorded a list of descendants of the province of Judah who returned from captivity, from those who had been exiled by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. They had come back to Jerusalem and to Judah, each one to his town.

These people searched for their ancestral records, but they couldn't be located. Accordingly, they were considered disqualified from the priesthood.

The governor ordered them not to eat anything holy until a priest would be installed with Urim and Thummim.

Some of the heads of the families contributed to the work. The governor contributed 1,000 gold drachmas to the treasury, along with 50 basins, and 530 priestly garments.

Some of the heads of the families gave to the treasury 20,000 gold drachmas and 2,200 silver units for the work.

So on the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought out the Law before the assembled people. Both men and women were in attendance, as well as all who could understand what they were hearing.

Ezra read from it, facing the plaza in front of the Water Gate, from early in the morning until mid-day in the presence of the men and women, as well as all who could understand. All the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden rostrum erected for that purpose. Beside him to his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maasseiah. Beside him to his left stood Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

Furthermore, Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the descendants of Levi taught the Law to the people while the people remained standing.

All the people gathered as a united body into the plaza in front of the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel.

Because all the people were weeping as they listened to the words of the Law, Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the descendants of Levi who taught the people told everyone, "This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep."

He also told them, "Go eat the best food, drink the best wine, and give something to those who have nothing, since this day is holy to our Lord. Don't be sorrowful, because the joy of the LORD is your strength."

The descendants of Levi also calmed all the people by saying, "Be still, for the day is holy. Don't be sorrowful!"

So all the people went to eat, to drink, to send something to those who had nothing, and to celebrate with great joy, because they understood the words that were being declared to them.

The next day, the heads of the families of all the people were gathered together, along with the priests and the descendants of Levi, to meet with Ezra the scribe in order to understand the words of the Law.

They found written in the Law that the LORD had commanded through Moses that the Israelis were to live in tents during the festival scheduled for the seventh month.

So they circulated a proclamation throughout their towns and in Jerusalem. It said, "Go out to the hill country and bring back olive branches, wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of mature trees, in order to set up tents, as has been written."

Then the people went out and found branches to make tents for themselves on the roofs of their houses, in their courtyards, and in the courts of God's Temple, in the plaza near the Water Gate, and in the plaza near the Gate of Ephraim.

The entire assembly of those who had returned from exile erected tents and lived in them. Indeed, from the days of Nun's son Joshua until that day the Israelis had not done so. Joy was everywhere,

and Ezra continued to read from the Book of the Law of God day by day, from the first day through the last. They celebrated for seven days, and on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly according to regulation.

On the twenty-fourth day of this same month, the Israelis gathered together while fasting, wearing sackcloth, and covering themselves with dust.

While they stood there, they read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for one fourth of the day, and they confessed and worshipped the LORD their God for another fourth of the day.

Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the rostrum assigned for use by the descendants of Levi and cried out loudly to the LORD their God.

Then the descendants of Levi Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, "Stand up and bless the LORD your God from eternity to eternity! Blessed be your glorious name! May it be exalted above all blessing and praise!

You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram, whom you brought from Ur of the Chaldeans and to whom you gave the name Abraham.

You found him faithful in your sight; you made a covenant with him and you gave the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites to his descendants. And you have kept your word, because you are righteous.

"You took note of the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt, and listened to their cry at the Red Sea.

You sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all of his officials, and against all the people of his land, because you knew they acted arrogantly against your people. So you established your name with them, as it remains to this day.

You led them during the day by a pillar of cloud, and by a pillar of fire at night to provide light for them on the path they took.

"You also came down to Mount Sinai, spoke with them from heaven, and gave them impartial regulations, true laws, statutes, and good commands.

You revealed to them your holy Sabbath, and you mandated precepts, statutes, and laws through Moses your servant.

You gave them food from heaven for their hunger and water from the rock for their thirst. You directed them to enter and possess the land that you had promised to give them.

"But they our ancestors became arrogant and stubborn, refusing to listen to your commands.

They would not listen, and did not remember the miracles you did among them. Instead, they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return them to their slavery. "But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in gracious love; therefore you did not abandon them.

You, in your great compassion, did not abandon them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not leave them in daylight, in order to provide light for them on the path they took. Nor did the pillar of fire abandon them at night, in order to provide light for them and lead them on the path they took.

"You gave your good Spirit to instruct them, not withholding manna from them, and providing water to quench their thirst.

"You multiplied their descendants like the stars in heaven and brought them to the land about which you told their ancestors to enter and possess.

So their descendants entered and took possession of the land. Before their eyes you subdued those living in the land the Canaanites putting them under their control, along with their kings and the nations of the land, so they could do with them as they pleased.

"Then they disobeyed, rebelled against you, and threw your Law behind their backs. They murdered your prophets who had admonished the people to return to you, committing terrible blasphemies.

So you delivered them into the control of their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed, they cried out to you, and you heard from heaven. In your great compassion you gave them deliverers who rescued them from the control of their enemies.

"But after they had gained relief, they returned to doing evil before you. Therefore you abandoned them to the control of their enemies, who continued to oppress them. But when they came back and cried out to you, you listened from heaven and delivered them in your compassion on many occasions.

You admonished them to return to your Law, but they acted arrogantly, and would not listen to your commands. They sinned against your regulations, which if anyone obeys, he will live by them. They turned away, being stubborn and stiff-necked, and they did not listen.

You were patient with them for many years, warning them by your Spirit through your prophets. But they would not listen, so you turned them over to the control of people in other lands.

"Now therefore, our God, the great, mighty, and awesome God, who keeps the covenant and gracious love, don't let all of the difficulties seem trifling to you, all of hardships that have come upon us, upon our kings, upon our leaders, upon our priests, upon our prophets, upon our ancestors, and upon all of your people from the time of the kings of Assyria until this day.

You are righteous in all that is happening to us, because you have acted faithfully while we have practiced evil.

Furthermore, neither our kings, nor our leaders, nor our priests nor our ancestors have practiced your Law or paid attention to your commands and warnings by which you admonished them.

"Look! Today we are your servants, along with the land that you gave to our ancestors, so they could enjoy its fruit and its value behold, in it we are your servants!