of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the LORD.

30 So the priests and the Levites took the weight of the silver, and the gold,| and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.

31 Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.

32 And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days.

33 Now on the fourth day was the silver and the gold and the vessels weighed in the house of our God by 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, Levites;

34 By number and by weight of every

Before CHRIST, 457.

1 or, desolate.

6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our 3 trespass is grown up to the heavens.

7 Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass to this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.

8 And now for a 4 little space grace hath been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us 5 a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

9 For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and sto

that time.

35 Also the children of those that had been carried away, who had come out of the captivity, offered burnt-offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety and six rams, seventy and seven lambs, twelve he-goats for a sinoffering all this was a burnt-offering to the LORD.

36 And they delivered the king's commissions to the king's lieutenants, and to the governors on this side of the

tion.

a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

12 Now therefore give not your

the house of God.

CHAP. IX.

ness.

5

ment.

or, a pin: That is, a constant and sure abode.

daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.

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

14 Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the 6 Heb. to set people of these abominations? wouldst thou not be angry with us ull thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?

up.

8

vants.

Heb. from mouth to

mouth.

Ex. 23. 32. Deut. 7. 3.

withheld beneath

15 O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we having escaped, remain yet, as it is this day: behold, we are be fore thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.

CHAP. X.

2 Shechaniah encourageth Ezra to reform the marriages with foreign wives. 6 Ezra, mourning, assembleth the people. 9 The people, at the exhortation of Ezra, repent and promise amendment. 15 The care to perform it. 18 The names of them who had married foreign wives.

Now when Ezra had prayed, and

when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled to him out of Israel a very great congregation of

Before

892.

Heb. wept a great weeping.

2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken 2 foreign wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. 3 Now therefore let us make a cove-2 nant with our God 3 to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of 3 Heb. to those that tremble at the commandment bring forth. of our God; and let it be done according 4 Heb.

to the law.

4 Arise; for this matter belongeth to thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.

5 Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they would do according to this word. And they swore. 6 Then Ezra arose from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he ate no bread, nor drank water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.

7 And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity, that they should assemble at Jerusalem;

8 And that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be 4 forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.

9 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, and the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for 5 the great rain.

10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said to them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken foreign wives to increase the trespass of Israel.

11 Now therefore make confession to the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the foreign wives.

12 Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.

13 But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand abroad, neither is this a work of one day or two: for 7 we are many that have transgressed in this thing.

14 Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them who have taken foreign wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and its judges, until the fierce wrath of our God 8 for this matter shall be turned from us.

15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah s were

or, not of

ites.

devoted.

Heb. the

showers.

6 Heb. have caused to

dwell, or, have brought 7 or, we have

8

back.

greatly of fended in this thing. or, till this matter be dispatched.

9 Heb. stood.

17 And they made an end with all the men that had taken foreign wives by the first day of the first month.

18 And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken foreign wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.

19 And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.

20 And of the sons of Immer; Hanani, and Zebadiah.

21 And of the sons of Harim; Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.

22 And, of the sons of Pashur; Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

23 Also of the Levites; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (the same is Kelita,) Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

24 Of the singers also; Eliashib: and of the porters; Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.

25 Moreover, of Israel: of the sons of Parosh; Ramiah, and Jeziah, and Malchiah, and Miamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.

26 And of the sons of Elam; Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Eliah.

27 And of the sons of Zattu; Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.

28 Of the sons also of Bebai; Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.

29 And of the sons of Bani; Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, and Ramoth.

30 And of the sons of Pahath-moab ; Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.

31 And of the sons of Harim; Eliezer, Ishijah, Malchiah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,

32 Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.

33 Of the sons of Hashum; Mattenai, Mattathah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.

34 Of the sons of Bani; Maadai, Amram, and Uel,

35 Benaiah, Bedeiah, Chelluh, 36 Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, 37 Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasau, 38 And Bani, and Binnui, Shimei, 39 And Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah,

1 Nehemiah, understanding by Hanani the misery of Jerusalem, mourneth, fasteth, and prayeth: 5 His prayer.

HE words of Nehemiah the son of

Tachaliah. And it came to pass in

|people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.

11 O LORD, I beseech thee, let now thy ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and pros

2 That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

3 And they said to me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also a is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.

grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cup-bearer. CHAP. II.

1 Artaxerxes understanding the cause of Ne hemiah's sadness, sendeth him with letters and commission to Jerusalem. 9 Nehemiah, to the grief of the enemies, cometh to Jerusa lem: 12 He vieweth secretly the ruins of the walls: 17 He inciteth the Jews to build in despite of the enemies.

AND it came to pass in the month Ni

san, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him:

these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

5 And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:

6 Let thy ear now be attentive, and thy 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.

7 We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word

king. Now I had not before been sad in his presence.

2 Wherefore the king said to me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was very greatly afraid,

3 And said to the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchers, lieth waste, and its gates are consumed with fire?

4 Then the king said to me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

5 And I said to the king, If it should please the king, and if thy servant hath found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldst send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' sepulchers, that I may build

it.

ses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:

9 But if ye turn to me, and keep my commandments, and do them; a though there were of you driven to the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

10 Now these are thy servants and thy

thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

7 Moreover, I said to the king, If it should please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah:

8 And 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 palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

9 Then 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.

10 When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there had come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.

12 ¶ 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.

13 And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragonwell, and to the dung-port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and their gates were consumed with fire.

14 Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.

15 Then I went up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.

16 And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.

Before CHRIST, 445.

a Jer. 31. 38.

17 Then said I to them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and its gates are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall 1 Heb. at his of Jerusalem, that we may be no more a hand. reproach.

18 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 to me. And they said, Let us rise and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?

2

or, left Je rusalem to the broad wall.

20 Then I answered them, and said to them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will 3 Heb. arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

CHAP. III.

second

measure.

tower of Meah they sanctified it, to the tower of Hananeel.

2 And 1 next to him built the men of Jericho. And next to them built Zaccur the son of Imri.

3 But the fish-gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid its beams, and set up its doors, its locks and its bars.

4 And next to them repaired Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of Koz. And next to them repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabeel. And next to them repaired Zadok the son of Baana.

5 And next to them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their LORD.

6 Moreover, the old gate repaired Jehoiada the son of Paseah, and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah; they laid its beams, and set up its doors, and its locks, and its bars.

7 And next to them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon, and of Mizpah, to the throne of the governor on this side of the river.

8 Next to him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths. Next to him also repaired Hananiah the son of one of the apothecaries, and they 2 fortified Jerusalem to the broad wall.

9 And next to them repaired Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem.

10 And next to them repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, even over against his house. And next to him repaired Hattush the son of Hashabniah.

11 Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hashub the son of Pahath-moab, repaired the 3 other piece, and the tower of the furnaces.

12 And next to him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters.

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

14 But the dung-gate repaired Malchiah the son of Rechab, the ruler of part of Beth-haccerem; he built it, and set up its doors, its locks, and its bars.

15 But the gate of the fountain repaired Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of part of Mizpah; he built it, and cov ered it, and set up its doors, its locks, and its bars, and the wall of the pool of Siloah by the king's garden, and to the stairs that go down from the city of David.

16 After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of the half part of Beth-zur, to the place over against the sepulchers of David, and to the pool that was made, and to the house of the mighty.

17 him repaired Levites

they built the sheep-gate; they sanctified 20. it, and set up the doors of it; even to the

paired Hashabiah the ruler of the half part of Keilah, in his part.

18 After him repaired their brethren, Bavai the son of Henadad, the ruler of the half part of Keilah.

19 And next to him repaired Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, another piece over against the ascent to the armory, at the turning of the wall.

Before CHRIST,

445.

20 After him Baruch the son of 4 Zabbai, earnestly repaired the other piece, from the turning of the wall to the door of d Jer. 32. 2. the house of Eliashib the high priest.

21 After him repaired Meremoth the son of Urijah the son of Koz another piece, from the door of the house of Eliashib, even to the end of the house of Eliashib.

22 And after him repaired the priests, the men of the plain.

23 After him repaired Benjamin and Hashub, over against their house. After him repaired Azariah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, by his house.

24 After him repaired Binnui, the son of Henadad, another piece, from the house of Azariah to the turning of the wall, even to the corner.

e2 Chr. 27.3.

5 or, the tower.

25 Palal, the son of Uzai, over against the turning of the wall, and the tower which lieth out from the king's high house, that was by the a court of the pris-6 or, corner on. After him Pedaiah, the son of Parosh.

26 Moreover, the Nethinims dwelt in es Ophel, to the place over against the water-gate towards the east, and the projecting tower.

chamber.

3 Heb. as

29 After them repaired Zadok the son of Immer over against his house. After him repaired also Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the east gate. cended. 30 After him repaired Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, another piece. After him repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah over against his chamber.

31 After him repaired Malchiah the goldsmith's son, to the place of the Nethi-4 Heb. to nims, and of the merchants, over against make an the gate Miphkad, and to the ascent of the corner.

32 And between the ascent of the corner to the sheep-gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants.

CHAP. IV.

error to it.

from all places ye

1 While the enemies scoff, Nehemiah prayeth, 5 or, that and continueth the work. 7 Understanding the wrath and secrets of the enemy, he setteth a watch. 13 He armeth the laborers, 19 and giveth military precepts.

UT it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. 2 And he spoke before his brethren, and the army of Samaria, and said,

4 Hear, O our God; for we are 2 despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity:

5 And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.

6 So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to the half of it, for the people had a mind to work.

7 ¶ But it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem s were set up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth,

8 And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and 4 to hinder it.

9 Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.

10 And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.

11 And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.

12 And it came to pass, that when the Jews who dwelt by them came, they said to us ten times, 5 From all places whence ye shall return to us they will be upon you.

13 Therefore I sets in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

14 And I looked, and arose, and said to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be ye not afraid of them: remember the LORD who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

15 And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God had brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one to his work.

16 And it came to pass, from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.

17 They who built on the wall, and they that bore burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.

18 For the builders, every one had his