36:1Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s place in Jerusalem. 36:2Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 36:3The king of Egypt removed him from office at Jerusalem, and fined the land one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 36:4The king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Neco took Joahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt. 36:5Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did that which was evil in Yahweh his God’s sight. 36:6Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon. 36:7Nebuchadnezzar also carried some of the vessels of Yahweh’s house to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. 36:8Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah; and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place. 36:9Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight. 36:10At the return of the year, king Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the valuable vessels of Yahweh’s house, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem. 36:11Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 36:12He did that which was evil in Yahweh his God’s sight. He didn’t humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from Yahweh’s mouth. 36:13He also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God; but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart against turning to Yahweh, the God of Israel. 36:14Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted Yahweh’s house which he had made holy in Jerusalem. 36:15Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place; 36:16but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy. 36:17Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or gray-headed. He gave them all into his hand. 36:18All the vessels of God’s house, great and small, and the treasures of Yahweh’s house, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. 36:19They burned God’s house, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all of its valuable vessels. 36:20He carried those who had escaped from the sword away to Babylon, and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, 36:21to fulfill Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years. 36:22Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that Yahweh’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, 36:23“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, Yahweh his God be with him, and let him go up.’”
Ezra
1:1Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth might be accomplished, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, 1:2“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 1:3Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel (he is God), which is in Jerusalem. 1:4Whoever is left, in any place where he lives, let the men of his place help him with silver, with gold, with goods, and with animals, besides the freewill offering for God’s house which is in Jerusalem.’” 1:5Then the heads of fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin, the priests, and the Levites, all whose spirit God had stirred to go up rose up to build Yahweh’s house which is in Jerusalem. 1:6All those who were around them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with animals, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered. 1:7Also Cyrus the king brought out the vessels of Yahweh’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought out of Jerusalem, and had put in the house of his gods; 1:8even those, Cyrus king of Persia brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. 1:9This is the number of them: thirty platters of gold, one thousand platters of silver, twenty-nine knives, 1:10thirty bowls of gold, four hundred ten silver bowls of a second sort, and one thousand other vessels. 1:11All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand four hundred. Sheshbazzar brought all these up when the captives were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.
2:1Now these are the children 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 to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his city; 2:2who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel: 2:3The children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy-two. 2:4The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy-two. 2:5The children of Arah, seven hundred seventy-five. 2:6The children of Pahathmoab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred twelve. 2:7The children of Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four. 2:8The children of Zattu, nine hundred forty-five. 2:9The children of Zaccai, seven hundred sixty. 2:10The children of Bani, six hundred forty-two. 2:11The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty-three. 2:12The children of Azgad, one thousand two hundred twenty-two. 2:13The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty-six. 2:14The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty-six. 2:15The children of Adin, four hundred fifty-four. 2:16The children of Ater, of Hezekiah, ninety-eight. 2:17The children of Bezai, three hundred twenty-three. 2:18The children of Jorah, one hundred twelve. 2:19The children of Hashum, two hundred twenty-three. 2:20The children of Gibbar, ninety-five. 2:21The children of Bethlehem, one hundred twenty-three. 2:22The men of Netophah, fifty-six. 2:23The men of Anathoth, one hundred twenty-eight. 2:24The children of Azmaveth, forty-two. 2:25The children of Kiriath Arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty-three. 2:26The children of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty-one. 2:27The men of Michmas, one hundred twenty-two. 2:28The men of Bethel and Ai, two hundred twenty-three. 2:29The children of Nebo, fifty-two. 2:30The children of Magbish, one hundred fifty-six. 2:31The children of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four. 2:32The children of Harim, three hundred twenty. 2:33The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty-five. 2:34The children of Jericho, three hundred forty-five. 2:35The children of Senaah, three thousand six hundred thirty. 2:36The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy-three. 2:37The children of Immer, one thousand fifty-two. 2:38The children of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred forty-seven. 2:39The children of Harim, one thousand seventeen. 2:40The Levites: the children of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the children of Hodaviah, seventy-four. 2:41The singers: the children of Asaph, one hundred twenty-eight. 2:42The children of the gatekeepers: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, in all one hundred thirty-nine. 2:43The temple servants: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth, 2:44the children of Keros, the children of Siaha, the children of Padon, 2:45the children of Lebanah, the children of Hagabah, the children of Akkub, 2:46the children of Hagab, the children of Shamlai, the children of Hanan, 2:47the children of Giddel, the children of Gahar, the children of Reaiah, 2:48the children of Rezin, the children of Nekoda, the children of Gazzam, 2:49the children of Uzza, the children of Paseah, the children of Besai, 2:50the children of Asnah, the children of Meunim, the children of Nephisim, 2:51the children of Bakbuk, the children of Hakupha, the children of Harhur, 2:52the children of Bazluth, the children of Mehida, the children of Harsha, 2:53the children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Temah, 2:54the children of Neziah, the children of Hatipha. 2:55The children of Solomon’s servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Hassophereth, the children of Peruda, 2:56the children of Jaalah, the children of Darkon, the children of Giddel, 2:57the children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth Hazzebaim, the children of Ami. 2:58All the temple servants, and the children of Solomon’s servants, were three hundred ninety-two. 2:59These were those who went up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer; but they could not show their fathers’ houses, and their offspring, whether they were of Israel: 2:60the children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred fifty-two. 2:61Of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Hakkoz, and the children of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name. 2:62These sought their place among those who were registered by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they deemed disqualified and removed from the priesthood. 2:63The governor told them that they should not eat of the most holy things until a priest stood up to serve with Urim and with Thummim. 2:64The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty, 2:65besides their male servants and their female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven; and they had two hundred singing men and singing women. 2:66Their horses were seven hundred thirty-six; their mules, two hundred forty-five; 2:67their camels, four hundred thirty-five; their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred twenty. 2:68Some of the heads of fathers’ households, when they came to Yahweh’s house which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for God’s house to set it up in its place. 2:69They gave according to their ability into the treasury of the work sixty-one thousand darics of gold, and five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priests’ garments. 2:70So the priests, and the Levites, and some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants, lived in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.
3:1When the seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. 3:2Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up with his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. 3:3In spite of their fear because of the peoples of the surrounding lands, they set the altar on its base; and they offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh, even burnt offerings morning and evening. 3:4They kept the feast of tents, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required; 3:5and afterward the continual burnt offering, the offerings of the new moons, of all the set feasts of Yahweh that were consecrated, and of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to Yahweh. 3:6From the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh; but the foundation of Yahweh’s temple was not yet laid. 3:7They also gave money to the masons, and to the carpenters. They also gave food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus King of Persia. 3:8Now in the second year of their coming to God’s house at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of Yahweh’s house. 3:9Then Jeshua stood with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to have the oversight of the workmen in God’s house: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brothers the Levites. 3:10When the builders laid the foundation of Yahweh’s temple, they set the priests in their clothing with trumpets, with the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise Yahweh, according to the directions of David king of Israel. 3:11They sang to one another in praising and giving thanks to Yahweh, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever toward Israel.” All the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised Yahweh, because the foundation of Yahweh’s house had been laid. 3:12But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. Many also shouted aloud for joy, 3:13so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people; for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard far away.
4:1Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity were building a temple to Yahweh, the God of Israel; 4:2they came near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as you do; and we have been sacrificing to him since the days of Esar Haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” 4:3But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel, said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves together will build to Yahweh, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.” 4:4Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building. 4:5They hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. 4:6In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. 4:7In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his companions, wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the writing of the letter was written in Syrian, and delivered in the Syrian language. 4:8Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows, 4:9then Rehum the chancellor, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions, the Dinaites, and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites, 4:10and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar brought over, and set in the city of Samaria, and in the rest of the country beyond the River, and so forth, wrote. 4:11This is the copy of the letter that they sent: To King Artaxerxes, From your servants the men beyond the River. 4:12Be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us to Jerusalem. They are building the rebellious and bad city, and have finished the walls, and repaired the foundations. 4:13Be it known now to the king that if this city is built and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and in the end it will be hurtful to the kings. 4:14Now because we eat the salt of the palace, and it is not appropriate for us to see the king’s dishonor, therefore we have sent and informed the king, 4:15that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will see in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they have started rebellions within it in the past. That is why this city was destroyed. 4:16We inform the king that, if this city is built and the walls finished, then you will have no possession beyond the River. 4:17Then the king sent an answer to Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their companions who live in Samaria, and in the rest of the country beyond the River: Peace. 4:18The letter which you sent to us has been plainly read before me. 4:19I decreed, and search has been made, and it was found that this city has made insurrection against kings in the past, and that rebellion and revolts have been made in it. 4:20There have also been mighty kings over Jerusalem, who have ruled over all the country beyond the River; and tribute, custom, and toll, was paid to them. 4:21Make a decree now to cause these men to cease, and that this city not be built, until a decree is made by me. 4:22Be careful that you not be slack doing so. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? 4:23Then when the copy of king Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews, and made them to cease by force of arms. 4:24Then work stopped on God’s house which is at Jerusalem. It stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
5:1Now the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem. They prophesied to them in the name of the God of Israel. 5:2Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build God’s house which is at Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God, helping them. 5:3At the same time Tattenai, the governor beyond the River came to them, with Shetharbozenai, and their companions, and asked them, “Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall?” 5:4They also asked for the names of the men were who were making this building. 5:5But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not make them cease, until the matter should come to Darius, and an answer should be returned by letter concerning it. 5:6The copy of the letter that Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, and Shetharbozenai, and his companions the Apharsachites, who were beyond the River, sent to Darius the king follows. 5:7They sent a letter to him, in which was written: To Darius the king, all peace. 5:8Be it known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God, which is built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on with diligence and prospers in their hands. 5:9Then we asked those elders, and said to them thus, “Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall?” 5:10We asked them their names also, to inform you that we might write the names of the men who were at their head. 5:11Thus they returned us answer, saying, “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are building the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. 5:12But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon. 5:13But in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree to build this house of God. 5:14The gold and silver vessels of God’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought into the temple of Babylon, those Cyrus the king also took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor. 5:15He said to him, ‘Take these vessels, go, put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let God’s house be built in its place.’ 5:16Then the same Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of God’s house which is in Jerusalem. Since that time even until now has it been in building, and yet it is not completed. 5:17Now therefore, if it seems good to the king, let a search be made in the king’s treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether it is so, that a decree was made of Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem; and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter.”
6:1Then Darius the king made a decree, and the house of the archives, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon, was searched. 6:2A scroll was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of Media, and in it this was written for a record: 6:3In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree: Concerning God’s house at Jerusalem, let the house be built, the place where they offer sacrifices, and let its foundations be strongly laid; with its height sixty cubits, and its width sixty cubits; 6:4with three courses of great stones and a course of new timber. Let the expenses be given out of the king’s house. 6:5Also let the gold and silver vessels of God’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought again to the temple which is at Jerusalem, everything to its place. You shall put them in God’s house. 6:6Now therefore, Tattenai, governor beyond the River, Shetharbozenai, and your companions the Apharsachites, who are beyond the River, you must stay far from there. 6:7Leave the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in its place. 6:8Moreover I make a decree what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king’s goods, even of the tribute beyond the River, expenses must be given with all diligence to these men, that they not be hindered. 6:9That which they have need of, including young bulls, rams, and lambs, for burnt offerings to the God of heaven; also wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests who are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail; 6:10that they may offer sacrifices of pleasant aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons. 6:11I have also made a decree that whoever alters this message, let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and fastened on it; and let his house be made a dunghill for this. 6:12May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow all kings and peoples who stretch out their hand to alter the same, to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree. Let it be done with all diligence. 6:13Then Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, Shetharbozenai, and their companions did accordingly with all diligence, because Darius the king had sent a decree. 6:14The elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 6:15This house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. 6:16The children of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy. 6:17They offered at the dedication of this house of God one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 6:18They set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses. 6:19The children of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 6:20Because the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together, all of them were pure. They killed the Passover for all the children of the captivity, for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. 6:21The children of Israel who had returned out of the captivity, and all who had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, ate, 6:22and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy; because Yahweh had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of God, the God of Israel’s house.
7:1Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, 7:2the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, 7:3the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, 7:4the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, 7:5the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest— 7:6this Ezra went up from Babylon. He was a skilled scribe in the law of Moses, which Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given; and the king granted him all his request, according to Yahweh his God’s hand on him. 7:7Some of the children of Israel, including some of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. 7:8He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. 7:9For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God on him. 7:10For Ezra had set his heart to seek Yahweh’s law, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel. 7:11Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even the scribe of the words of Yahweh’s commandments, and of his statutes to Israel: 7:12Artaxerxes, king of kings, To Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the perfect God of heaven. Now 7:13I make a decree, that all those of the people of Israel, and their priests and the Levites, in my realm, who intend of their own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with you. 7:14Because you are sent by the king and his seven counselors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your God which is in your hand, 7:15and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, 7:16and all the silver and gold that you will find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem; 7:17therefore you shall with all diligence buy with this money bulls, rams, lambs, with their meal offerings and their drink offerings, and shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. 7:18Whatever seems good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, do that according to the will of your God. 7:19The vessels that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver before the God of Jerusalem. 7:20Whatever more will be needed for the house of your God, which you may have occasion to give, give it out of the king’s treasure house. 7:21I, even I Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers who are beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, requires of you, it shall be done with all diligence, 7:22up to one hundred talents of silver, and to one hundred cors of wheat, and to one hundred baths of wine, and to one hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. 7:23Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done exactly for the house of the God of heaven; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? 7:24Also we inform you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll, on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, or laborers of this house of God. 7:25You, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people who are beyond the River, who all know the laws of your God; and teach him who doesn’t know them. 7:26Whoever will not do the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed on him with all diligence, whether it is to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. 7:27Blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify Yahweh’s house which is in Jerusalem; 7:28and has extended loving kindness to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. I was strengthened according to Yahweh my God’s hand on me, and I gathered together chief men out of Israel to go up with me.
8:1Now these are the heads of their fathers’ households, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king: 8:2Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush. 8:3Of the sons of Shecaniah, of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah; and with him were listed by genealogy of the males one hundred fifty. 8:4Of the sons of Pahathmoab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah; and with him two hundred males. 8:5Of the sons of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel; and with him three hundred males. 8:6Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan; and with him fifty males. 8:7Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah; and with him seventy males. 8:8Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael; and with him eighty males. 8:9Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel; and with him two hundred eighteen males. 8:10Of the sons of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah; and with him one hundred sixty males. 8:11Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai; and with him twenty-eight males. 8:12Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan; and with him one hundred ten males. 8:13Of the sons of Adonikam, who were the last; and these are their names: Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah; and with them sixty males. 8:14Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud; and with them seventy males. 8:15I gathered them together to the river that runs to Ahava; and there we encamped three days: and I looked around at the people the priests, and found there were none of the sons of Levi. 8:16Then sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, for Elnathan, for Jarib, for Elnathan, for Nathan, for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib and for Elnathan, who were teachers. 8:17I sent them out to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia; and I told them what they should tell Iddo, and his brothers the temple servants, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God. 8:18According to the good hand of our God on us they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brothers, eighteen; 8:19and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty; 8:20and of the temple servants, whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, two hundred twenty temple servants. All of them were mentioned by name. 8:21Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a straight way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our possessions. 8:22For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is on all those who seek him, for good; but his power and his wrath is against all those who forsake him.” 8:23So we fasted and begged our God for this: and he granted our request. 8:24Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, even Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them, 8:25and weighed to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels, even the offering for the house of our God, which the king, his counselors, his princes, and all Israel there present, had offered. 8:26I weighed into their hand six hundred fifty talents of silver, one hundred talents of silver vessels; one hundred talents of gold, 8:27twenty bowls of gold weighing one thousand darics; and two vessels of fine bright brass, precious as gold. 8:28I said to them, “You are holy to Yahweh, and the vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a freewill offering to Yahweh, the God of your fathers. 8:29Watch and keep them, until you weigh them before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites, and the princes of the fathers’ households of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the rooms of Yahweh’s house.” 8:30So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God. 8:31Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the bandit by the way. 8:32We came to Jerusalem, and stayed there three days. 8:33On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest; and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them was Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, the Levite; 8:34everything by number and by weight; and all the weight was written at that time. 8:35The children of the captivity, who had come out of exile, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve male goats for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to Yahweh. 8:36They delivered the king’s commissions to the king’s satraps, and to the governors beyond the River. So they supported the people and God’s house.
9:1Now when these things were done, the princes came near to me, saying, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, following their abominations, even those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 9:2For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy offspring have mixed themselves with the peoples of the lands. Yes, the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this trespass.” 9:3When I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled the hair out of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded. 9:4Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel were assembled to me, because of their trespass of the captivity; and I sat confounded until the evening offering. 9:5At the evening offering I arose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn; and I fell on my knees, and spread out my hands to Yahweh my God; 9:6and I said, “My God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities have increased over our head, and our guiltiness has grown up to the heavens. 9:7Since the days of our fathers we have been exceeding guilty to this day; and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests, have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. 9:8Now for a little moment grace has been shown from Yahweh our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and revived us a little in our bondage. 9:9For we are bondservants; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended loving kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to set up the house of our God, and to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. 9:10“Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, 9:11which you have commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land, to which you go to possess it, is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their filthiness. 9:12Now therefore don’t give your daughters to their sons. Don’t take their daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity forever; that you may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ 9:13“After all that has come on us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, since you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such a remnant, 9:14shall we again break your commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples that do these abominations? Wouldn’t you be angry with us until you had consumed us, so that there would be no remnant, nor any to escape? 9:15Yahweh, the God of Israel, you are righteous; for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guiltiness; for no one can stand before you because of this.”
10:1Now while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before God’s house, there was gathered together to him out of Israel a very great assembly of men and women and children; for the people wept very bitterly. 10:2Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered Ezra, “We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing. 10:3Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and those who as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law. 10:4Arise; for the matter belongs to you, and we are with you. Be courageous, and do it.” 10:5Then Ezra arose, and made the chiefs of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they would do according to this word. So they swore. 10:6Then Ezra rose up from before God’s house, and went into the room of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. When he came there, he ate no bread, nor drank water; for he mourned because of their trespass of the captivity. 10:7They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together to Jerusalem; 10:8and that whoever didn’t come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his possessions should be forfeited, and himself separated from the assembly of the captivity. 10:9Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together to Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the wide place in front of God’s house, trembling because of this matter, and because of the great rain. 10:10Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have trespassed, and have married foreign women, to increase the guilt of Israel. 10:11Now therefore make confession to Yahweh, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women.” 10:12Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “As you have said concerning us, so must we do. 10:13But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand outside. This is not a work of one day or two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter. 10:14Now let our princes be appointed for all the assembly, and let all those who are in our cities who have married foreign women come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and its judges, until the fierce wrath of our God is turned from us, until this matter is resolved.” 10:15Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this; and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them. 10:16The children of the captivity did so. Ezra the priest, with certain heads of fathers’ households, after their fathers’ houses, and all of them by their names, were set apart; and they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. 10:17They finished with all the men who had married foreign women by the first day of the first month. 10:18Among the sons of the priests there were found who had married foreign women: of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brothers, Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah. 10:19They gave their hand that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt. 10:20Of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah. 10:21Of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah. 10:22Of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah. 10:23Of the Levites: Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (also called Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. 10:24Of the singers: Eliashib. Of the gatekeepers: Shallum, and Telem, and Uri. 10:25Of Israel: Of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, and Izziah, and Malchijah, and Mijamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah. 10:26Of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Elijah. 10:27Of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza. 10:28Of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai. 10:29Of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, Jeremoth. 10:30Of the sons of Pahathmoab: Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, and Binnui, and Manasseh. 10:31Of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, 10:32Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah. 10:33Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei. 10:34Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, and Uel, 10:35Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, 10:36Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, 10:37Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu, 10:38and Bani, and Binnui, Shimei, 10:39and Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah, 10:40Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, 10:41Azarel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah, 10:42Shallum, Amariah, Joseph. 10:43Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Iddo, and Joel, Benaiah. 10:44All these had taken foreign wives; and some of them had wives by whom they had children.
Nehemiah
1:1The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, 1:2Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 1:3They said to me, “The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” 1:4When I heard these words, I sat down and wept, and mourned several days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, 1:5and said, “I beg you, Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments: 1:6Let your ear now be attentive, and your eyes open, that you may listen to the prayer of your servant, which I pray before you at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel your servants, while I confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Yes, I and my father’s house have sinned. 1:7We have dealt very corruptly against you, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances, which you commanded your servant Moses. 1:8“Remember, I beg you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you trespass, I will scatter you among the peoples; 1:9but if you return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, to cause my name to dwell there.’ 1:10“Now these are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power, and by your strong hand. 1:11Lord, I beg you, let your ear be attentive now to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants, who delight to fear your name; and please prosper your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cup bearer to the king.
2:1In the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, I picked up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence. 2:2The king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 2:3I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?” 2:4Then the king said to me, “What is your request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 2:5I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may build it.” 2:6The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him), “How long will your journey be? When will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time for him. 2:7Moreover I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah; 2:8and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house that I will occupy.” The king granted my requests, because of the good hand of my God on me. 2:9Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. 2:10When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, because a man had come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. 2:11So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. 2:12I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I didn’t tell anyone what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There wasn’t any animal with me, except the animal that I rode on. 2:13I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the jackal’s well, then to the dung gate, and inspected the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed with fire. 2:14Then I went on to the spring gate and to the king’s pool, but there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass. 2:15Then went I up in the night by the brook, and inspected the wall; and I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, and so returned. 2:16The rulers didn’t know where I went, or what I did. 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 who did the work. 2:17Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we won’t be disgraced.” 2:18I told them of the hand of my God which was good on me, as also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. They said, “Let’s rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work. 2:19But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammontite servant, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they ridiculed us, and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?” 2:20Then I answered them, and said to them, “The God of heaven will prosper us. Therefore we, his servants, will arise and build; but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.”
3:1Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the sheep gate. They sanctified it, and set up its doors. They sanctified it even to the tower of Hammeah, to the tower of Hananel. 3:2Next to him the men of Jericho built. Next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built. 3:3The sons of Hassenaah built the fish gate. They laid its beams, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. 3:4Next to them, Meremoth the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz made repairs. Next to them, Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel made repairs. Next to them, Zadok the son of Baana made repairs. 3:5Next to them, the Tekoites made repairs; but their nobles didn’t put their necks to the Lord’s work. 3:6Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired the old gate. They laid its beams, and set up its doors, and its bolts, and its bars. 3:7Next to them, Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, repaired the residence of the governor beyond the River. 3:8Next to him, Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths, made repairs. Next to him, Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs, and they fortified Jerusalem even to the wide wall. 3:9Next to them, Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs. 3:10Next to them, Jedaiah the son of Harumaph made repairs across from his house. Next to him, Hattush the son of Hashabneiah made repairs. 3:11Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hasshub the son of Pahathmoab, repaired another portion, and the tower of the furnaces. 3:12Next to him, Shallum the son of Hallohesh, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, he and his daughters, made repairs. 3:13Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the valley gate. They built it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and one thousand cubits of the wall to the dung gate. 3:14Malchijah the son of Rechab, the ruler of the district of Beth Haccherem repaired the dung gate. He built it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. 3:15Shallun the son of Colhozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah repaired the spring gate. He built it, and covered it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king’s garden, even to the stairs that go down from David’s city. 3:16After him, Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of half the district of Beth Zur, made repairs to the place opposite the tombs of David, and to the pool that was made, and to the house of the mighty men. 3:17After him, the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani made repairs. Next to him, Hashabiah, the ruler of half the district of Keilah, made repairs for his district. 3:18After him, their brothers, Bavvai the son of Henadad, the ruler of half the district of Keilah made repairs. 3:19Next to him, Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, repaired another portion, across from the ascent to the armory at the turning of the wall. 3:20After him, Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired another portion, from the turning of the wall to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. 3:21After him, Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz repaired another portion, from the door of the house of Eliashib even to the end of the house of Eliashib. 3:22After him, the priests, the men of the Plain made repairs. 3:23After them, Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs across from their house. After them, Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of Ananiah made repairs beside his own house. 3:24After him, Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another portion, from the house of Azariah to the turning of the wall, and to the corner. 3:25Palal the son of Uzai made repairs opposite the turning of the wall, and the tower that stands out from the upper house of the king, which is by the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh made repairs. 3:26(Now the temple servants lived in Ophel, to the place over against the water gate toward the east, and the tower that stands out.) 3:27After him the Tekoites repaired another portion, over against the great tower that stands out, and to the wall of Ophel. 3:28Above the horse gate, the priests made repairs, everyone across from his own house. 3:29After them, Zadok the son of Immer made repairs across from his own house. After him, Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the east gate made repairs. 3:30After him, Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another portion. After him, Meshullam the son of Berechiah made repairs across from his room. 3:31After him, Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths to the house of the temple servants, and of the merchants, made repairs opposite the gate of Hammiphkad, and to the ascent of the corner. 3:32Between the ascent of the corner and the sheep gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs.
4:1But when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and was very indignant, and mocked the Jews. 4:2He 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 rubbish, since they are burned?” 4:3Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, “What they are building, if a fox climbed up it, he would break down their stone wall.” 4:4“Hear, our God; for we are despised; and turn back their reproach on their own head, give them up for a plunder in a land of captivity; 4:5don’t cover their iniquity, and don’t let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have insulted the builders.” 4:6So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half its height: for the people had a mind to work. 4:7But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, and that the breaches began to be filled, they were very angry; 4:8and they all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion among us. 4:9But we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them. 4:10Judah said, “The strength of the bearers of burdens is fading, and there is much rubble; so that we are not able to build the wall.” 4:11Our adversaries said, “They will not know or see, until we come in among them and kill them, and cause the work to cease.” 4:12When the Jews who lived by them came, they said to us ten times from all places, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.” 4:13Therefore I set guards in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places. I set the people by family groups with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 4:14I looked, and rose up, and said to the nobles, to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them! Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.” 4:15When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God had brought their counsel to nothing, all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. 4:16From that time forth, half of my servants did the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows, and the coats of mail; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. 4:17Those who built the wall, and those who bore burdens loaded themselves; everyone with one of his hands did the work, and with the other held his weapon. 4:18Among the builders, everyone wore his sword at his side, and so built. He who sounded the trumpet was by me. 4:19I said to the nobles, and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and large, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 4:20Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally there to us. Our God will fight for us.” 4:21So we did the work. Half of the people held the spears from the rising of the morning until the stars appeared. 4:22Likewise at the same time said I to the people, “Let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labor in the day.” 4:23So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes. Everyone took his weapon to the water.
5:1Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews. 5:2For there were that said, “We, our sons and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain, that we may eat and live.” 5:3There were also some that said, “We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain, because of the famine.” 5:4There were also some who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute using our fields and our vineyards as collateral. 5:5Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Behold, we bring our sons and our daughters into bondage to be servants, and some of our daughters have been brought into bondage. It is also not in our power to help it, because other men have our fields and our vineyards.” 5:6I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. 5:7Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, “You exact usury, everyone of his brother.” I held a great assembly against them. 5:8I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us?” Then they held their peace, and found not a word to say. 5:9Also I said, “The thing that you do is not good. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies? 5:10I likewise, my brothers and my servants, lend them money and grain. Please let us stop this usury. 5:11Please restore to them, even today, their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, that you are charging them.” 5:12Then they said, “We will restore them, and will require nothing of them. We will do so, even as you say.” Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they would do according to this promise. 5:13Also I shook out my lap, and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that doesn’t perform this promise; even be he shaken out, and emptied like this.” All the assembly said, “Amen,” and praised Yahweh. The people did according to this promise. 5:14Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor. 5:15But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people; but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God. 5:16Yes, I also continued in the work of this wall. We didn’t buy any land. All my servants were gathered there to the work. 5:17Moreover there were at my table, of the Jews and the rulers, one hundred fifty men, besides those who came to us from among the nations that were around us. 5:18Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days a store of all sorts of wine. Yet for all this, I didn’t demand the governor’s pay, because the bondage was heavy on this people. 5:19Remember to me, my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.
6:1Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, and to Geshem the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies, that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it (though even to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates) 6:2Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to harm me. 6:3I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I can’t come down. Why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you?” 6:4They sent to me four times like this; and I answered them the same way. 6:5Then Sanballat sent his servant to me the same way the fifth time with an open letter in his hand, 6:6in which was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel. Because of that, you are building the wall. You would be their king, according to these words. 6:7You have also appointed prophets to proclaim of you at Jerusalem, saying, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now it will be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.” 6:8Then I sent to him, saying, “There are no such things done as you say, but you imagine them out of your own heart.” 6:9For they all would have made us afraid, saying, “Their hands will be weakened from the work, that it not be done.” But now, strengthen my hands. 6:10I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home; and he said, “Let us meet together in God’s house, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple; for they will come to kill you. Yes, in the night will they come to kill you.” 6:11I said, “Should a man like me flee? Who is there that, being such as I, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.” 6:12I discerned, and behold, God had not sent him; but he pronounced this prophecy against me. Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 6:13He hired so that I would be afraid, do so, and sin, and that they might have material for an evil report, that they might reproach me. 6:14“Remember, my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and also the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.” 6:15So the wall was finished in the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. 6:16When all our enemies heard of it, all the nations that were around us were afraid, and they lost their confidence; for they perceived that this work was done by our God. 6:17Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them. 6:18For there were many in Judah sworn to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah; and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as wife. 6:19Also they spoke of his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.
7:1Now when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed, 7:2I put my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the governor of the fortress, in charge of Jerusalem; for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many. 7:3I said to them, “Don’t let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot; and while they stand guard, let them shut the doors, and you bar them: and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, everyone in his watch, with everyone near his house.” 7:4Now the city was wide and large; but the people were few therein, and the houses were not built. 7:5My God put into my heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be listed by genealogy. I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found this written in it: 7:6These are the children 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; 7:7who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel: 7:8The children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy-two. 7:9The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy-two. 7:10The children of Arah, six hundred fifty-two. 7:11The children of Pahathmoab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred eighteen. 7:12The children of Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four. 7:13The children of Zattu, eight hundred forty-five. 7:14The children of Zaccai, seven hundred sixty. 7:15The children of Binnui, six hundred forty-eight. 7:16The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty-eight. 7:17The children of Azgad, two thousand three hundred twenty-two. 7:18The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty-seven. 7:19The children of Bigvai, two thousand sixty-seven. 7:20The children of Adin, six hundred fifty-five. 7:21The children of Ater, of Hezekiah, ninety-eight. 7:22The children of Hashum, three hundred twenty-eight. 7:23The children of Bezai, three hundred twenty-four. 7:24The children of Hariph, one hundred twelve. 7:25The children of Gibeon, ninety-five. 7:26The men of Bethlehem and Netophah, one hundred eighty-eight. 7:27The men of Anathoth, one hundred twenty-eight. 7:28The men of Beth Azmaveth, forty-two. 7:29The men of Kiriath Jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty-three. 7:30The men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty-one. 7:31The men of Michmas, one hundred twenty-two. 7:32The men of Bethel and Ai, one hundred twenty-three. 7:33The men of the other Nebo, fifty-two. 7:34The children of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four. 7:35The children of Harim, three hundred twenty. 7:36The children of Jericho, three hundred forty-five. 7:37The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty-one. 7:38The children of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred thirty. 7:39The priests: The children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy-three. 7:40The children of Immer, one thousand fifty-two. 7:41The children of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred forty-seven. 7:42The children of Harim, one thousand seventeen. 7:43The Levites: the children of Jeshua, of Kadmiel, of the children of Hodevah, seventy-four. 7:44The singers: the children of Asaph, one hundred forty-eight. 7:45The gatekeepers: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, one hundred thirty-eight. 7:46The temple servants: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth, 7:47the children of Keros, the children of Sia, the children of Padon, 7:48the children of Lebana, the children of Hagaba, the children of Salmai, 7:49the children of Hanan, the children of Giddel, the children of Gahar, 7:50the children of Reaiah, the children of Rezin, the children of Nekoda, 7:51the children of Gazzam, the children of Uzza, the children of Paseah. 7:52The children of Besai, the children of Meunim, the children of Nephushesim, 7:53the children of Bakbuk, the children of Hakupha, the children of Harhur, 7:54the children of Bazlith, the children of Mehida, the children of Harsha, 7:55the children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Temah, 7:56the children of Neziah, the children of Hatipha. 7:57The children of Solomon’s servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Perida, 7:58the children of Jaala, the children of Darkon, the children of Giddel, 7:59the children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth Hazzebaim, the children of Amon. 7:60All the temple servants, and the children of Solomon’s servants, were three hundred ninety-two. 7:61These were those who went up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer; but they could not show their fathers’ houses, nor their offspring, whether they were of Israel: 7:62The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred forty-two. 7:63Of the priests: the children of Hobaiah, the children of Hakkoz, the children of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name. 7:64These searched for their genealogical records, but couldn’t find them. Therefore were they deemed disqualified and removed from the priesthood. 7:65The governor told that they should not eat of the most holy things until a priest stood up to minister with Urim and Thummim. 7:66The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty, 7:67besides their male servants and their female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven; and they had two hundred forty-five singing men and singing women. 7:68Their horses were seven hundred thirty-six; their mules, two hundred forty-five; 7:69their camels, four hundred thirty-five; their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred twenty. 7:70Some from among the heads of fathers’ households gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury one thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, and five hundred thirty priests’ garments. 7:71Some of the heads of fathers’ households gave into the treasury of the work twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand two hundred minas of silver. 7:72That which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold, plus two thousand minas of silver, and sixty-seven priests’ garments. 7:73So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel, lived in their cities. When the seventh month had come, the children of Israel were in their cities.