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.

Now these are thy servants and thy people whom thou have redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.

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 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 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.

Hear, O our God, for we are despised, and turn back their reproach upon their own head, and give them up for a spoil in a land of captivity,

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 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.

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.

Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our sons as their sons. And, lo, we 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 our

in which was written, It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou are building the wall. And thou would be their king according to these words.

Then I sent to him, saying, There are no such things done as thou say, but thou imagine them out of thine own heart.

These are the sons of the province who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, everyone to his city

Thou are LORD, even thou alone, thou have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and thou preserve them all. And the host of heaven worshi

Thou are LORD, the God who chose Abram, and brought him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name of Abraham,

and refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou did among them, but stiffened their neck. And in their rebellion they appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But thou are a God ready to pardon, gracious a

Nevertheless in thy manifold mercies thou did not make a full end of them, nor forsake them, for thou are a gracious and merciful God.

However thou are just in all that has come upon us, for thou have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly,

Behold, we are servants this day, and as for the land that thou gave to our fathers to eat the fruit of it and the good of it, behold, we are servants in 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.

For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the heave-offering of the grain, of the new wine, and of the oil, to the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters, and

Now these are the chiefs of the province who dwelt in Jerusalem. But in the cities of Judah everyone dwells in his possession in their cities, [namely], Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the Nethinim, and the sons of Solomo

And these are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah.

Now these are the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,