And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this,

Jehovah, God of Israel, thou art righteous; for we are a remnant that is escaped, as it is this day. Behold, we are before thee in our trespasses; for there is no standing before thee because of this.

And now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandments of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

And they gave their hand to send away their wives; and they offered a ram of the flock, as trespass-offering for their guilt.

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the fortress,

And the rulers did not know whither I went or what I did, for I had not as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.

And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me; as also of the king's words which he had said unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. And they strengthened their hands for the good work.

Next to them repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths; and next to him repaired Hananiah of the perfumers, and they left Jerusalem in its state as far as the broad wall.

The valley-gate repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and set up its doors, its locks and its bars, and a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the dung-gate.

After him repaired Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of Koz, another piece, from the door of the house of Eliashib as far as the end of the house of Eliashib.

After him repaired Binnui the son of Henadad another piece, from the house of Azariah to the angle, as far as the corner.

After him the Tekoites repaired a second piece, over against the great tower which lies out, as far as the wall of Ophel.

yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and behold, we must bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage already; neither is it in the power of our hand to redeem them, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.

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

And they said, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do, as thou hast said. And I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise.

And I sent to him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.

And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, could go into the temple, and live? I will not go in.

These sought their genealogical register, but it was not found; therefore were they, as polluted, removed from the priesthood.

all the people gathered together as one man to the open place that was before the water-gate; and they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which Jehovah had commanded Israel.

And on the second day were gathered together the chief fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to Ezra the scribe, even to gain wisdom as to the words of the law.

and that they should publish and proclaim through all their cities, and at Jerusalem, saying, Go forth to the mount, and fetch olive-branches, and wild olive-branches, and myrtle-branches, and palm-branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.

and didst shew signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and upon all his servants, and upon all the people of his land; for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them, and thou didst make thee a name, as it is this day.

And thou didst divide the sea before them, and they went through the midst of the sea on dry ground; and their pursuers thou threwest into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters.

And thou gavest them kingdoms and peoples, and didst divide them by countries; and they possessed the land of Sihon, as well the land of the king of Heshbon, as the land of Og king of Bashan.

And their children thou didst multiply as the stars of heaven, and thou broughtest them into the land concerning which thou didst say to their fathers that they should go in to possess it.

And the children went in and possessed the land; and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, both their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would.

And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood-offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers' houses, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of Jehovah our God, as it is written in the law;

and the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as it is written in the law; and to bring the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks to the house of our God, to the priests that minister in the house of our God;

And as to the hamlets in their fields, some of the children of Judah dwelt in Kirjath-Arba and its dependent villages, and in Dibon and its dependent villages, and in Jekabzeel and its dependent villages,

and Bakbukiah and Unni, their brethren, were over against them as watches.

In those days I saw in Judah some treading winepresses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading them on asses; as also wine, grapes and figs, and all manner of burdens; and they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day; and I protested in the day on which they sold the victuals.

For the act of the queen will come abroad to all women, so as to render their husbands contemptible in their eyes, when they shall say, The king Ahasuerus commanded the queen Vashti to be brought in before him, and she came not!

(Esther, as Mordecai had charged her, had not yet made known her birth nor her people; for Esther did what Mordecai told her, like as when she was brought up with him.)

And it came to pass as they spoke daily to him, and he hearkened not to them, that they informed Haman, to see whether Mordecai's matters would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.

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

For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there arise relief and deliverance to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall perish. And who knows whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

And the king said, Hasten Haman, that it may be done as Esther has said. And the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

Yet all this is of no avail to me so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.

And the king said to Haman, Make haste, take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast said.

Write ye then for the Jews as seems good to you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring. For a writing that is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, cannot be reversed.

the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout the provinces of king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt. And no man could withstand them; for the fear of them had fallen upon all the peoples.

as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month that was turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.

And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them.

the Jews ordained and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves to them, so that it should not fail, that they would observe these two days according to their writing and according to their fixed time, every year;

to confirm these days of Purim in their fixed times, according as Mordecai the Jew and queen Esther had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, as to the matters of the fastings and their cry.

But he said to her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. We have also received good from God, and should we not receive evil? In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants that have not seen the light.

Even as I have seen, they that plough iniquity and sow mischief, reap the same.

How much more them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed as the moth!

For man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upwards.

But as for me I will seek unto God, and unto God commit my cause;

They meet with darkness in a the daytime, and grope at midday as in the night.

And thou shalt know that thy seed is numerous, and thine offspring as the herb of the earth.

Thou shalt come to the grave in a ripe age, as a shock of corn is brought in in its season.

Doth the wild ass bray by the grass? loweth an ox over his fodder?

What my soul refuseth to touch, that is as my loathsome food.

My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a stream, as the channel of streams which pass away,

As a bondman earnestly desireth the shadow, and a hireling expecteth his wages,

Have I sinned, what do I unto thee, thou Observer of men? Why hast thou set me as an object of assault for thee, so that I am become a burden to myself?

They pass by like skiffs of reed; as an eagle that swoops upon the prey.

For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him; that we should come together in judgment.

Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

Are thy days as the days of a mortal? are thy years as a man's days,

Thy hands have bound me together and made me as one, round about; yet dost thou swallow me up!

Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as clay, and wilt bring me into dust again.

Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

And it increaseth: thou huntest me as a fierce lion; and ever again thou shewest thy marvellous power upon me.

I should be as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

A land of gloom, as darkness itself; of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as thick darkness.

It is as the heights of heaven; what wilt thou do? deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know?

Yet a senseless man will make bold, though man be born like the foal of a wild ass.

For thou shalt forget misery; as waters that are passed away shalt thou remember it;

And life shall arise brighter than noonday; though thou be enshrouded in darkness, thou shalt be as the morning,

I also have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you; and who knoweth not such things as these?

But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowl of the heavens, and they shall tell thee;

Doth not the ear try words, as the palate tasteth food?

Will it be well if he should search you out? or as one mocketh at a man, will ye mock at him?

One who, as a rotten thing consumeth, as a garment that the moth eateth.

He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; and he fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not.

Look away from him; and let him rest, till he accomplish, as a hireling, his day.

Distress and anguish make him afraid; they prevail against him, as a king ready for the battle.

He shall shake off his unripe grapes as a vine, and shall cast his flower as an olive.

I also could speak as ye: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could join together words against you, and shake my head at you;

His anger teareth and pursueth me; he gnasheth with his teeth against me; as mine adversary he sharpeneth his eyes at me.

Oh that there were arbitration for a man with +God, as a son of man for his friend!

And mine eye is dim by reason of grief, and all my members are as a shadow.

But as for you all, pray come on again; and I shall not find one wise man among you.

Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed stupid in your sight?

They that come after shall be astonished at his day, as they that went before them were affrighted.

He breaketh me down on every side, and I am gone; and my hope hath he torn up as a tree.

And he hath kindled his anger against me, and hath counted me unto him as one of his enemies.

The sojourners in my house and my maids count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.

Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

And as for me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and the Last, he shall stand upon the earth;

He flieth away as a dream, and is not found; and is chased away as a vision of the night.

As for me, is my complaint to a man? or wherefore should not my spirit be impatient?

Do they become as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away?

The clods of the valley are sweet unto him; and every man followeth suit after him, as there were innumerable before him.

But he knoweth the way that I take; he trieth me, I shall come forth as gold.

They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge;