Nehemiah

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept and mourned [for] days, and I was fasting and praying before the face of the God of the heavens,

and I said, “Please, O YHWH, God of the heavens, the great and awesome God, keeping the covenant and loving devotion for those loving Him and observing His commandments,

please let Your ear be attentive, and Your eyes be open, that You may listen to the prayer of Your servant, which I pray before You now, day and night, for the sons of Israel Your servants. And confessing on account of the sins of the sons of Israel, which we have sinned against You, both I and the house of my father have sinned.

We have acted very corruptly against You, and we have not kept the commandments, and the statutes, and the ordinances that You commanded Moses Your servant.

Remember, please, the word that You commanded Moses Your servant, saying, ‘You⁺ are unfaithful—I will scatter you⁺ among the nations;

and [if] you⁺ return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though your⁺ outcast were in the end of the heavens, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen as a dwelling for My name there.’

And they [are] Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power and by Your mighty hand.

Please, O Lord, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name, and let prosper, please, Your servant this day, and grant him mercy in the eyes of this man.” (For I was cupbearer to the king.)

And Sanballat the Horonite heard, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and they were disturbed exceedingly deeply that a man had come to seek the good of the sons of Israel.

And they said, “We will restore [it], and from them will require nothing. Thus we will do as you say.” And I called the priests, and caused them to swear to do according to this word.

Then I shook out my lap and said, “So may God shake out every man who does not perform this word from his house and from his property; even thus is he shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said, “Amen,” and they praised YHWH, and the people did according to this word.

written in it: “Among the nations it is reported, and Gashmu says, [that] you and the Jews plan to rebel; upon thus you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king, according to these words.

And also you have appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, ‘[There is] a king in Judah!’ And these words will be reported to the king; and now come and let us counsel together.”

And I sent to him, saying, “These things are not being done as you say, but you are inventing them in your own heart.”

And Ezra the priest brought the Law before the face of the assembly, of men and also women, and all with understanding to hear, on the first day of the seventh month.

And he read from it before the face of the open square that [was] in front of the Water Gate from the morning until the middle of the day before the men and the women and those with understanding. And the ears of all the people [were] toward the Book of the Law.

And Ezra the scribe stood on a tower of wood that they had made for the purpose. And Mattithiah stood beside him, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah at his right hand, and at his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchijah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, [and] Meshullam.

And Ezra opened the book before the eyes of all the people, for he was above all the people. And at his opening [it], all the people stood up.

And Ezra blessed YHWH, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” with lifting up of their hands, and they bowed and prostrated themselves to YHWH—nostrils to the ground.

And Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites instructed the people in the law, and the people [were] on their stations.

And they read from the Book of the Law of God, explaining it and giving the meaning, and they gave understanding to the convocation.

And Nehemiah (he [was] the Tirshatha) said—and Ezra the priest [and] the scribe and the Levites who were instructing the people—to all the people, “This day [is] holy to YHWH your⁺ God. Do not mourn and do not weep.” For all the people wept at their hearing the words of the Law.

And he said to them, “Go, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to those with nothing prepared for them, for the day [is] holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of YHWH is your⁺ strength.”

And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of YHWH their God [for] a fourth of the day, and a fourth they confessed and bowed low to YHWH their God.

And there stood on the ascent, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, [and] Chenani, and they cried out in a loud voice to YHWH their God.

And the Levites said—Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, [and] Pethahiah: “Rise [and] bless YHWH your⁺ God from forever even to forever! And blessed be the name of your glory, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.

You [are] He, YHWH, You alone; You have made the heavens, the heavens of the heavens, and all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You give life to all things, and the host of the heavens gives worship to You.

And the Sabbath of Your holiness You made known to them, and the commands and statutes and instructions You commanded to them by the hand of Moses Your servant.

And now, our God—the God the great, the mighty, and fearsome, keeping the covenant and the kindness, should not all the hardship that has found us seem little before Your face—for our kings, for our princes, and for our priests, and for our prophets, and for our fathers, and for all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.

And You [are] righteous over all that has come upon us, for faithfully You have acted, and we have been wicked.

taking hold upon their brothers, their nobles, and entering into a curse and into an oath to walk in the law of God that was given by the hand of Moses the servant of God, and to keep and to do all the commandments of YHWH, our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes,

These [were] in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and Ezra the priest [and] scribe.

And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to make the dedication [with] gladness, and with praises, and with singing, [with] cymbals, harps, and with lyres.

And the sons of the singers gathered together from the circuit around Jerusalem, and from the villages of the Netophathite,

and from Beth-gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem.

And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people, and the gates, and the wall.

[Then] I brought up the leaders of Judah upon the wall, and I made stand two great thanksgiving groups, and one went to the south upon the wall toward the Gate of the Dunghill.

And after them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah,

and Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam,

Judah, and Benjamin, and Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,

and [some] from the sons of the priests with the trumpets, Zechariah son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph,

and his brothers—Shemaiah, and Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, and Judah, Hanani—with instruments of song of David the man of God, and Ezra the scribe before them.

And at the Gate of the Fountain and in front of them they went up on the stairs of the City of David, on the ascent to the wall, up above the house of David, and up to the Gate of the Water eastward.

And the second thanksgiving group was proceeding opposite, and I [was] behind it, and half of the people on the wall above the Tower of the Ovens and up to the Broad Wall.

And above the Gate of Ephraim, and above the Gate of Jeshanah, and above the Gate of the Fish, and the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, and up to the Gate of the Sheep, and they stood by the Gate of the Guard.

And the two thanksgiving groups stood in the house of God, and I, and half of the officials with me,

and the priests—Eliakim, Maaseiah, Minjamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, Hananiah—with the trumpets;

and Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang out, and Jezrahiah [was] the overseer.

And they sacrificed on that day great sacrifices, and they rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. And also the women and the sons rejoiced, and the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar.

In those days I saw in Judah those treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing [in] the heaps [of grain], and lifting [loads] upon the donkeys, and also wine, [and] grapes, and figs, and every load carried; and [they were] bringing [it] [to] Jerusalem on the day of the Sabbath. And I protested on the day of their selling provision.

And the Tyrians who dwelt in it were bringing fish and every of merchandise and selling on the Sabbath to the sons of Judah, even in Jerusalem.

And I contended with the nobles of Judah, and I said to them, “What [is] this evil thing that you⁺ are doing, and profaning the day of the Sabbath?

Thus did not your⁺ fathers do, and our God brought upon us all this disaster, and upon this city? And you⁺ are adding to wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath!”

And it came to pass when the gates of Jerusalem were becoming dark before the face of the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and I said that they shall not open them until after the Sabbath. And [some] from my servants I made stand at the gates, [that] there should not be brought [in] loads carried on the day of the Sabbath.

And they lodged—those who traded and those who sold all kinds of goods to sell—outside of Jerusalem once or twice.

And I testified against them and said to them, “Why [are] you⁺ lodging in front of the wall? If you⁺ do [this] again, a hand I will put forth on you⁺.” From that time they did not come on the Sabbath.

And I said to the Levites that they should be cleansing themselves, and coming in guarding the gates, to sanctify the day of the Sabbath. Also for this, remember me, O my God, and have pity on me according to the abundance of your loving devotion.

Also in those days I saw the Judeans [who] had settled [with] women—Ashdodite, Ammonite, [and] Moabite.

And of their sons, half were speaking Ashdodite, and none of them knowing how to speak Judean, and according to the tongue of people by people.

And I contended with them and cursed them and struck [some] men from them and pulled out their hair. And I made them swear by God, “You⁺ shall Not give your⁺ daughters to their sons or take from their daughters for your⁺ sons or for yourselves.

By these [things] did not Solomon king of Israel sin? And among the many nations there was not a king like him, and he was beloved to his God, and God gave him as king over all Israel; yet even him, the foreign women caused to sin.

And to you⁺ shall we listen to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God by settling [with] foreign women?”

And one from the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the great priest [was] a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, and I caused him to flee from me.

Remember them, O my God, on account of the defiling of the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

And I purified them from everything foreign, and I appointed duties for the priests and for the Levites, each man in his work,

and for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.