The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,

They said to me, The small band of Jews now living there in the land are in great trouble and shame: the wall of Jerusalem has been broken down, and its doorways burned with fire.

And saying, Now O Jehovah, God of the heavens, the great and terrible God watching the covenant and mercy to those loving him, and to those watching his commands:

Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine 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.

Remember now the word that thou didst command Moses thy servant, saying, Ye will transgress; I will scatter you among the nations:

Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.

O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the 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 cupbearer.

And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.

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.

Now, the deputies, knew not whither I had gone, nor what I was doing, - not even to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the deputies, nor to the rest who were doing the work, had I as yet told it.

Now the sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and bars.

(Now the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, unto the place over against the water gate toward the east, and the tower that standeth out.)

Now it happened when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, [he] became angry and greatly provoked, and he mocked the Jews.

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.

Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem were going forward and the gaps were being closed, they were very angry.

From that day forward, half of my men were doing the work and half of them were taking up spears, shields, bows, and body armor. Now the officers were behind all the people of Judah

Look in what place now ye hear the noise of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us. Our God shall fight for us,

Now there was a great outcry of the [poorer] people and their wives against their Jewish brothers [to whom they were deeply in debt].

Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.

and I said to them: "We ourselves have bought back our brothers the Jews who were sold to the nations as we were able. But now you yourselves have sold your brothers so they may be sold to us!" They were silent and could not find a word [to say].

Even I and my servants have been taking interest for the money and the grain we have let them have. So now, let us give up this thing.

Turn back now to them according to this day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses, and the hundredth of the silver and the grain, the new wine and the new oil which ye impose upon them.

Now from the time when I was made ruler of the people in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year till the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, for twelve years, I and my servants have never taken the food which was the right of the ruler.

Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people.

Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;)

Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me saying, "Come on! Let's set up a time to meet together at Kephirim in the plain of Ono." Now they intended to do me harm.

And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.

For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.

Now I went into the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined [at home], and he said, "Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple; for they are coming to kill you--during the night they are coming to kill you."

Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed,

Now the city was large and great: but the people were few therein, and the houses were not builded.

Now some from the heads of the {families} gave to the work. The governor gave to the storehouse one thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, and five hundred and thirty priestly tunics.

Now some of the heads of the {families} gave to the storehouse of the work twenty thousand gold darics and two thousand two hundred silver minas.

Now the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants and all Israel, lived in their cities.And when the seventh month came, the sons of Israel were in their cities.

Now when the seventh month drew nigh, and the children of Israel were in their cities, all the people gathered themselves together as one man upon the street before the Watergate, and said unto Ezra the scribe that he should fetch the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD commanded to Israel.

Then he said to them, Go away now, and take the fat for your food and the sweet for your drink, and send some to him for whom nothing is made ready: for this day is holy to our Lord: and let there be no grief in your hearts; for the joy of the Lord is your strong place.

Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.

Now on the Levites’ platform stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Chenani, and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God.

Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.

Now, today, we are servants, and as for the land which you gave to our fathers, so that the produce of it and the good might be theirs, see, we are servants in it:

But now its abundant produce belongs to the kings whom you placed over us because of our sin. They also have power over our bodies and our herds at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

"Now because of all of this we make a binding written agreement and are writing on the sealed documents [the names of] our commanders, our Levites, and our priests."

Now those that sealed were, Nehemiah, the Tirshatha, the son of Hachaliah, and Zidkijah,

"Now the rest of the people -- the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple attendants, and all those who have separated themselves from the neighboring peoples because of the law of God, along with their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all of whom are able to understand --

are joining with their fellow Israelites, their nobles, and are taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to keep and to observe all the commandments of God our Lord, and His ordinances and statutes:

Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem; but the rest of the people cast lots to bring one [person] out of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine-tenths remained in the other cities.

Now these are the chief of the province that dwelt in Jerusalem: but in the cities of Judah dwelt every one in his possession in their cities, to wit, Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the Nethinims, and the children of Solomon's servants.

Now these are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah;

Now from the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, son of Bunni;

Now the overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica, from the sons of Asaph, who were the singers for the service of the house of God.

Now concerning the villages and their fields, some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath-arba and its villages, in Dibon and its villages, in Jekabzeel and its villages,

Now these are the priests and the Levites that went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

Now in the days of Jehoiakim the priests and the heads of the {families} were: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;

Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem so that they might celebrate the dedication with gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving and with songs to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps and lyres.

Now, all Israel - in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, used to give the portions of the singers and the doorkeepers, the need of a day upon its day, - and they hallowed them unto the Levites, and, the Levites, hallowed them unto the sons of Aaron.

Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being allied unto Tobiah,

Did not your ancestors do this also, and our God brought on us all of this disaster and on this city [too]? Now you are adding fierce wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath!"

Now one of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. So I banished him from my sight.