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!

In those days, when king Ahasuerus sat upon the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the fortress,

Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble.

To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to show the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look upon.

"What law," sayeth the king, "should be executed upon the queen Vashti, because she did not according to the word of the king by his chamberlains?"

For the report of the queen, will go forth, unto all women, so putting contempt upon their lords, in their eyes, - when it is reported to them, King Ahasuerus, commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not.

After these acts when the displeasure of king Ahasuerus was allayed, he thought upon Vashti: what she had done, and what was concluded concerning her.

Then said the king's servants that attended upon him, Let there be maidens, virgins of beautiful countenance, sought for the king;

Esther had not told of her people, nor of her kindred, - for, Mordecai, had laid charge upon her, that she should not tell.

Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.

And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour 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.

Esther is not declaring her kindred and her people, as Mordecai hath laid a charge upon her, and the saying of Mordecai Esther is doing as when she was truly with him.

In those days, when, Mordecai, was sitting in the gate of the king, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the eunuchs of the king who guarded the threshold, were wroth, and sought to thrust a hand upon King Ahasuerus;

And, when the thing was searched into and found true , then were they two hanged upon the gallows, and it was written, in the book of the chronicles, before the king.

If, unto the king, it seem good, let it be written, to destroy them, - and, ten thousand talents of silver, will I weigh out upon the hands of them who are doing the business, to bring it into the treasuries of the king.

And the letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey.

Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was.

So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the [open] square of the city, which was in front of the king’s gate.

Also, a copy of the writing of the edict which had been given in Shusan to destroy them, gave he unto him, to shew unto Esther, and to tell her, - and to lay charge upon her, to go in unto the king - to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him, for her people.

And Mordecai passeth on, and doth according to all that Esther hath charged upon him.

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, over against the king's house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house.

And it will be when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the enclosure, she received favor in his eyes: and the king will stretch out to Esther the sceptre of gold which is in his hand: and Esther will draw near and touch upon the head of the sceptre.

Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends to him, Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and to-morrow speak thou to the king that Mordecai may be hanged upon it: then go thou in merrily with the king to the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.

And it was found written, how that Mordecai had told concerning Bigthana and Teresh, the two eunuchs of the king guarding the threshold, - who had sought to thrust forth a hand upon King Ahasuerus.

And the king said, What honour and dignity has been done to Mordecai for this? And the king's servants that attended upon him said, Nothing has been done for him.

Then said the king, Who is in the court? Now, Haman, had come into the outer court of the kings house, to speak unto the king, to hang Mordecai, upon the gallows which he had prepared for him.

Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head:

and let the robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials. Let him dress the man whom the king delights to honor [in the royal robe] and lead him on horseback through the open square of the city, and proclaim before him, ‘This is what shall be done for the man whom the king desires to honor.’”

So Haman took the royal robe and the horse and dressed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming before him, “This is what shall be done for the man whom the king desires to honor.”

Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.

And Harbonah, one of the eunuchs, saith before the king, 'Also lo, the tree that Haman made for Mordecai, who spake good for the king, is standing in the house of Haman, in height fifty cubits;' and the king saith, 'Hang him upon it.'

And they hang Haman upon the tree that he had prepared for Mordecai, and the fury of the king hath lain down.

For how can I endure to see the tragedy that will happen to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?”

Then the king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews.

And it was written in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed with the king's ring. And by posts that rode upon swift young Mules, sent he the writings,

Which the king gave to the Jews which were in every city and city to gather together, and to stand for their soul, to cut off, and to kill and to destroy all the power of the people and province pressing upon them, little ones and women, and their spoil for booty,

Upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.

A copy of the edict was to be issued as a law in every province and as a proclamation to all peoples, so that the Jews would be ready on that day, to avenge themselves on their enemies.

So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment. And the decree was given at Shushan the palace.