Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.

O Jehovah, I pray You, let now Your ear be open to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name. And I pray You, bless Your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. (For I was the king's cupbearer.)

And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.

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

But, when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed at us, and poured contempt upon us, - and said, What is this thing which ye would do? against the king, would ye rebel?

And upon his hand the men of Jericho built And upon his hand Zaccur son of Imri, built

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 upon their hand held fast the Tekoites; and their nobles brought not their neck into the work of their Lord.

And upon their band held fast Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon, and Mizpeh to the throne of the prefect beyond the river.

Upon his hand held fast Uzziel son of Harhaiah of the goldsmiths. And upon his hand held fast Hananiah son of the perfumers; and they will leave Jerusalem even to the broad wall.

And upon their hand held fast Raphia, son of Hur, chief of half the circuit of Jerusalem.

And upon their hand held fast Jedaiah son of Harumaph, and before his house, and upon his hand, held fast Hattush son of Hashabniah.

And upon his hand held fast Shallum son of Halohesh, chief of half the circuit of Jerusalem, he and his daughters.

After him held fast the Levites, Rehum, son of Bani. Upon his hand held fast Hashabiah chief of half the circuit of Keilah to his circuit

And upon his hand held fast Ezer son of Joshua, chief of Mizpeh, the second measure from before the going up of the weapons of the corner.

Palal, the son of Uzai, made good the wall opposite the angle and the tower which comes out from the higher part of the king's house, by the open space of the watch. After him was Pedaiah, the son of Parosh.

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Even what they are building—if a fox should get up on it, he would break down their stone wall.”

Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity:

Nevertheless, we made our prayer unto our God, and set watchmen upon the wall day and night over against them.

And Judah will say, The strength of the bearer was weak, and the dust much; and we shall not be able to build upon the wall.

Then our enemies said, "They will not know nor see until we come upon them and will kill them and stop the work."

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

Therefore set I 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 looked, and gat me up, and said unto the chief men and rulers, and to the other people, "Be not ye afraid of them, but think rather upon the great LORD, which ought to be feared; and fight for your brethren, sons, daughters, wives, and houses."

They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.

Even they who were building, every man, had his sword girded upon his loins, and so was building, - and, he that sounded the horn, was by my side.

And I said unto the nobles, 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.

And we doing in the work: and half of them holding fast upon the spears from the ascending of the dawn even till the coming forth of the stars.

So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard that followed me, none of us put off our clothes, every one went with his weapon to the water.

There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards.

and my heart reigneth over me, and I strive with the freemen, and with the prefects, and say to them, 'Usury one upon another ye are exacting;' and I set against them a great assembly,

And also I, my brethren and my young men exacting upon them silver and grain: we will leave off now this debt

Turn back now to them according to this day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses, and the hundredth of the silver and the grain, the new wine and the new oil which ye impose upon them.

whereas, the former pashas, who were before me, suffered themselves to be a burden upon the people, and took from them in bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver, even, their young men, bare rule over the people, - but, I, did not so, because of the fear of God.

I laboured also in the work upon the wall, and bought no land. And all my servants came thither together unto the work.

And, Jews and deputies, a hundred and fifty men, and they who were coming in unto us from among the nations which were round about us, depended upon my table.

Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people.

Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.

Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;)

Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, "Come and let us meet together in the villages upon the plain of the city Ono." Nevertheless, they thought to do me evil.

Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand;

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.

For I perceived that God had not sent him; Yet spake he prophecy upon me. Nevertheless, Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him for money.

to this end, hired, he was, to the end that I might be afraid and do so, and might sin, - and it might serve them for an evil report, to the end they might bring reproach upon me.

My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.

I said to them, "Do not open the gates of Jerusalem until the sun is hot. While they are standing guard let them shut and fasten the doors. And appoint guards from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, one at his post and another opposite his house."

Then my God put into my heart to assemble the nobles, the prefects, and the people to be enrolled. I found the book of the genealogy of those who first came back, and I found [this] written upon it:

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 Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.

And he read in it before the open place that was before the water-gate from the morning until midday, in presence of the men and the women, and those that could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

And Ezra took the book, opening it before the eyes of all the people (for he was higher than the people); and when it was open, all the people got to their feet:

And Joshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, causing the people to understand to the law: and the people upon their standing.

So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.

Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.

And they will rise up upon their standing and read in the book of the law of Jehovah their God, the fourth of the day; and a fourth confessing and worshiping to Jehovah their God.

Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God.

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 wilt see the humbling of our fathers in Egypt, and thou heardest their cry upon the sea of sedge:

And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day.

And thou didst cleave asunder the sea before them, and they will pass over in the midst of the sea upon dry land; and those pursuing them thou didst cast into the depths as a stone into the strong waters.

Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:

And thou wilt give them into the hand of their adversaries, and they will press upon them: and in the time of their straits they will cry to thee, and thou wilt hear from the heavens; and according to thy many compassion thou wilt give to them saviours, and they will save them from the hand of their adversaries.

And when rest to them they will turn back to do evil before thee: and thou wilt leave them in the hand of their enemies, and they will come down upon them: and they will turn back and cry to thee, and thou from the heavens wilt hear, and wilt deliver them according to thy compassion, many times.

Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.

Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:

Lo! we, to-day, are bondmen - even upon the land which thou gavest our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, lo! we, are bondmen;

And its produce being much for the kings whom thou gavest over us in our sins: and ruling over our bodies and upon our cattle according to their will, and we in great straits.

Seeing, therefore, all this, we, are plighting our faith, and putting it in writing, - and, upon the sealed scroll, are our rulers, our Levites, our priests.

Upon the sealed documents: Nehemiah the governor, son of Hacaliah and Zedekiah;

Holding upon their brethren, their mighty ones, and coming into a curse, and into an oath, to go in the law of God which was given by the hand of Moses the servant of God, and to watch and to do all the command of Jehovah our Lord, and his judgments and his ordinances;

"We put on ourselves the commandment upon us to yearly give a third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God:

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, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law:

for the command of the king is upon them, and support is for the singers, a matter of a day in its day.

And the sons of Levi, the chiefs of the fathers, being written upon the book of the words of the days, and even to the days of Johanan son of Eliashib.

Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies of them that gave thanks, whereof one went on the right hand upon the wall toward the dung gate:

toward the Wellgate, and they went up over against them upon the steps of the city of David at the going up of the wall to the house of David, unto the Watergate Eastward.

And the other company of them that gave thanks went over against them, and I after them, and the half of the people upon the wall, from beyond the tower of the furnaces even unto the broad wall;

and above the gate of Ephraim, and upon the old gate, and upon the fish-gate, and the tower of Hananel, and the tower of Hammeah, even as far as the sheep-gate, - and they came to a stand, at the gate of the guard.

On that day men were appointed for the storehouse rooms, the offerings, the first fruits, and the tithes, in order to gather in them from the fields of the cities the requirements of the law for the priests and Levites; for the joy of Judah [was] upon the priests and Levites standing there.

that they stood and waited upon the office of their God, and the office of the purification. And the singers and porters stood after the commandment of David and of Solomon his son:

Now, all Israel - in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, used to give the portions of the singers and the doorkeepers, the need of a day upon its day, - and they hallowed them unto the Levites, and, the Levites, hallowed them unto the sons of Aaron.

And I shall come to Jerusalem, and I shall understand upon the evil which Eliashib did for Tobiah to prepare for him a cell in the enclosures of the house of God.

And I shall contend with the prefects, and say, Wherefore was the house of God forsaken? And I shall gather them together, and cause them to stand upon their standing.

and I made treasurers over the treasuries - Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from among the Levites, and, next unto them, Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, - for faithful were they accounted, and it was laid upon them to distribute unto their brethren.

Think upon me, O my God, herein, and wipe not out my mercy, that I have showed on the house of my God, and on the officers thereof!

At the same time saw I some treading wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in clusters, and asses laden with wine, grapes, figs, and bringing all manner of burdens unto Jerusalem, upon the Sabbath day. And I rebuked them earnestly the same day that they sold the victuals.

Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.

And it cometh to pass, when the gates of Jerusalem have been dark before the sabbath, that I speak, and the doors are shut, and I say, that they do not open them till after the sabbath; and of my servants I have stationed at the gates; there doth not come in a burden on the sabbath-day.

and I testify against them, and say unto them, 'Wherefore are ye lodging over-against the wall? if ye repeat it, a hand I put forth upon you;' from that time they have not come in on the sabbath.

And I gave word to the Levites, that they should be purifying themselves and coming in, as keepers of the gates, to hallow the sabbath day. This also, remember to me, O my God, and have pity upon me, according to the abundance of thy lovingkindness.

So I contended with them, and laid a curse upon them, and I smote, from among them, certain men, and pulled out their hair, - and I put them on oath by God, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take of their daughters, for your sons nor for yourselves.

O my God, think thou upon them that are quit of the priesthood, and have defiled the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites!

and to offer the wood at times appointed, and the firstfruits. Think thou upon me, O my God, for the best!