9 For we were bondmen; yet women and children: for the people our God hath not forsaken us in our wept very sore.

bondage, but hath extended mercy f 2 And Shechaniah the son of Jeunto us in the sight of the kings of hiel, one of the sons of Elam, anPersia, to give us a reviving, to set swered and said unto Ezra, We have up the house of our God, and to re- trespassed against our God, and pair the desolations thereof, and to have taken strange wives of the give us a wall in Judah and in Jeru- people of the land: yet now there is salem. hope in Israel concerning this thing. f 10 And now, O our God, what d 3 Now therefore let us make a shall we say after this? for we have covenant with our God to put away forsaken thy commandments,

11 Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. p 12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto 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.

all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

4 Arise; for this matter belongeth unto 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 should do according to this word. And they sware.

f 6 ¶ Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that

13 And after all that is 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 giv-had been carried away. en us such deliverance as this;

7 And they made proclamation 14 Should we again break thy throughout Judah and Jerusalem commandments, and join in affinity unto all the children of the captivity, with the people of these abomina- that they should gather themselves tions? wouldest not thou be angry together unto Jerusalem; with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?

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

t 15 O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses, for we cannot stand before thee be-f9¶ Then all the men of Judah cause of this. and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, and

C

CHAP. X.
OW when Ezra had prayed,

twentieth day of

weeping and casting himself down all the people sat in the street of the before the house of God, there as-house of God, trembling because of sembled unto him out of Israel a this matter, and for the great rain. very great congregation of men and 10 And Ezra the priest stood up,

and said unto them, Ye have trans- 21 And of the sons of Harim; gressed, and have taken strange Maasciah, and Elijah, and Shemawives to increase the trespass of Is- iah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah. rael.

41 Azareel, and Shelemiah, She-Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jadau, mariah, and Joel, Benaiah.

42 Shallum, Amariah, and Jo-f 44 All these had taken strange seph. wives: and some of them had wives

43 Of the sons of Nebo; Jeiel, by whom they had children.

CHAP. I.

The Book of NEHEMIAH.

word that thou commandest thy ser

THE words of Nehemiah the vant Moses, saying, If ye transgress,

Ten Hachaliah. And it I will scatter you abroad among the

came to pass in the month Chisleu, nations:

in the twentieth year, as I was in 9 But if ye turn unto me, and Shushan the palace, keep my commandments, and do 2 That Hanani, one of my bre-them; though there were of you cast thren, came, he and certain men of out unto the uttermost part of the Judah; and I asked them concern-heaven, yet will I gather them from ing the Jews that had escaped, which thence, and will bring them unto the were left of the captivity, and con- place that I have chosen to set my cerning Jerusalem. name here.

3 And they said unto me, The 10 Now these are thy servants and remnant that are left of the captivity thy people, whom thou hast redeemthere in the province are in great af-ed by thy great power, and by thy fliction and reproach: the wall of strong hand. Jerusalem also is broken down, and d 11 O LORD, I beseech thee, let the gates thereof are burned with now thine ear be attentive to the fire. prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cup bearer.

e 4 And it came to pass, when I heard 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:

CHAP. II.

month Nisan, in the twentiND it came to pass in the

time sad in his presence.

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

eth year of Artaxerxes the king, b 6 Let thine ear now be attentive, that wine was before him: and I took and thine eyes open, that thou may-up the wine, and gave it unto the est hear the prayer of thy servant, king. Now I had not been beforewhich 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. 17 We have dealt very corruptly o 3 And said unto the king, Let the against thee, and have not kept the king live for ever: why should not commandments, nor the statutes, nor my countenance be sad, when the the judgments, which thou com-city the place of my fathers' sepulmandedst thy servant Moses. chres, lieth waste, and the gates

8 Remember, I beseech thee, the thereof are consumed with fire?

e 4 Then the king said unto me, salem, which were broken down, For what dost thou make request and the gates thereof were consumSo I prayed to the God of hea-ed with fire.

ven.

f 5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldst send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.

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

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

6 And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and 16 And the rulers knew not whiwhen wilt thou return? So it pleas-ther I went, or what I did; neither ed the king to send me; and I set had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor him a time. to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.

f 7 Moreover, I said unto the king, If it 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;

ƒ 17 ¶ Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a re

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

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 was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

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

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

f 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?

20 Then answered them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but f 12 And I arose in the night, Iye have no portion, nor right, nor and some few men with me nei- memorial, in Jerusalem. ther told I any man what my God

CHAP. III. had put in my heart to do at Jeru-rose up with his brethren THEN Eliashib the high priest

salem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode the priests, and they builded the upon. sheep-gate; they sanctified it, and 13 And I went out by night by set up the doors of it; even unto the gate of the valley, even before the tower of Meab they sanctified the dragon-well, and to the dung-it, unto the tower of Hananeel. port, and viewed the walls of Jeru-ƒ 2 And next unto him builded the

men of Jericho. And next to them builded Zaccur the son of Imri. f3 But the fish-gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.

thereof, the locks thereof, and the
bars thereof, and a thousand cubits
on the wall unto the dung-gate.
f 14 But the dung-gate repaired
Malchiah the son of Rechab, the
ruler of part of Beth-haccerem; he
built it, and set up the doors there-
of, the locks thereof, and the bars
thereof.

f4 And next unto them repaired Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of Koz. And next unto them f 15 But the gate of the fountain repaired Meshullam the son of Be- repaired Shallum the son of Col-horechiah, the son of Meshezabeel. zeh, the ruler of part of Mizpah; he And next unto them repaired Za-built it, and covered it, and set up dok the son of Baana. the doors thereof, the locks thereof,

f 5 And next unto them the Teko- and the bars thereof, and the wall ites repaired; but their nobles put of the pool of Siloah by the king's not their necks to the work of their garden, and unto the stairs that go LORD. down from the city of David. f6 Moreover, the old gate repair-f 16 After him repaired Nehemiah ed Jehoiada the son of Paseah, and the son of Azbuk, the ruler of the Meshullam the son of Besodeiah; half part of Bethzur, unto the place they laid the beams thereof, and set over against the sepulchres of Daup the doors thereof, and the locks vid, and to the pool that was made, thereof, and the bars thereof. and unto the house of the mighty. 7 And next unto them repaired 17 After him repaired the LeMelatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon vites, Rehum the son of Bani. Next the Meronothite, the men of Gibe- unto him repaired Hashabiah the on, and of Mizpah, unto the throne ruler of the half part of Keilah, in of the governor on this side the river. his part.

f 8 Next unto him repaired Uzziel f 18 After him repaired their brethe son of Harhaiah, of the gold-thren, Bavai the son of Henadad, smiths. Next unto him also repair- the ruler of the half part of Keilah. ed Hananiah the son of one of the f 19 And next to him repaired apothecaries, and they fortified Je- Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of rusalem unto the broad wall. Mizpah, another piece over against f 9 And next unto them repaired the going up to the armoury, at the Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler turning of the wall. of the half part of Jerusalem. f 10 And next unto them repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, even over against his house. And next unto him repaired Hattush the son of Hashabníah.

f11 Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hashub the son of Pahath-moab, repaired the other piece, and the tower of the furnaces.

20 After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece, from the turning of the wall unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

f21 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.

f 12 And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, f 23 After him repaired Benjamin he and his daughters. and Hashub over against their g13 The valley-gate repaired Ha-house. After him repaired Azanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; riah the son of Maaseiah the son they built it, and set up the doors of Ananiah, by his house.