The Book of Nehemiah

1 *The words of aNehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month bChisleu, in cthe twentieth year, as I was in dShushan ethe palace, 2 That fHanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also gis broken down, and hthe gates thereof are burned with fire. 4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that iI 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, kthe great and terrible God, lthat keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: 6 Let mthine ear now be attentive, and mnthine 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 oconfess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: pboth I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 We have qdealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, rwhich thou commandedst thy servant Moses. 8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, sIf ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: 9 tBut if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; uthough there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them xunto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. 10 yNow these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. 11 O Lord, I beseech thee, zlet now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, awho 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 bcupbearer.

2 *And it came to pass in the month aNisan, in bthe twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and cI took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. 2 Wherefore the king said unto me, dWhy is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but esorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, 3 And said unto the king, fLet the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when gthe city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and hthe gates thereof are consumed with fire? 4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to ithe God of heaven. 5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it. 6 And the king said unto me, (the †queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a jtime. 7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the kgovernors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; 8 And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s lforest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the mpalace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for nthe house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, oaccording to the good hand of my God upon me.

9 *Then I came to the kgovernors 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 pSanballat the qHoronite, and rTobiah the servant, the sAmmonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man tto seek the welfare of the children of Israel. 11 uSo 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 wgate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the xdung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were ybroken down, and zthe gates thereof were consumed with fire. 14 Then I went on to the agate of the fountain, and to the bking’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. 15 Then went I up in the night by the cbrook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the wgate of the valley, and so returned. 16 And the drulers 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 drulers, nor to the rest that did the work. 17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem elieth waste, and fthe gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more ga reproach. 18 Then I told them of hthe 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 istrengthened their hands for this good work. 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and kGeshem the Arabian, heard it, they llaughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? mwill ye rebel against the king? 20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: nbut ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

3 Then aEliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the bsheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the ctower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the dtower of Hananeel. 2 And †next unto him builded ethe men of Jericho. And next to them builded fZaccur the son of Imri. 3 But the gfish gate did the sons of hHassenaah build, who also ilaid the beams thereof, and jset up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. 4 And next unto them repaired kMeremoth the son of kUrijah, the son of lKoz. And next unto them repaired mMeshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of nMeshezabeel. And next unto them repaired nZadok the son of Baana. 5 And next unto them the oTekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to pthe work of their Lord. 6 Moreover the qold gate repaired Jehoiada the son of rPaseah, and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah; they ilaid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. 7 And next unto them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon sthe Meronothite, the men of tGibeon, and of uMizpah, unto the xthrone of the governor on this side the river. 8 Next unto him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the ygoldsmiths. Next unto him also repaired zHananiah the son of one of the aapothecaries, and they ||fortified Jerusalem unto the bbroad wall. 9 And next unto them repaired Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of cthe half part of Jerusalem. 10 And next unto them repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, even over against his house. And next unto him repaired dHattush the son of eHashabniah. 11 fMalchijah the son of gHarim, and hHashub the son of iPahath-moab, repaired the †other piece, and the ktower of the furnaces. 12 And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of lHalohesh, the ruler of cthe half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters. 13 The mvalley gate repaired nHanun, and the inhabitants of oZanoah; they built it, and pset up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and a thousand cubits on the wall unto qthe dung gate. 14 But the qdung gate repaired rMalchiah the son of Rechab, the ruler of part of sBeth-haccerem; he built it, and pset up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. 15 But tthe gate of the fountain repaired Shallun the son of uCol-hozeh, the ruler of part of vMizpah; he built it, and covered it, and pset up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of wSiloah by the xking’s garden, and unto ythe 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 zBeth-zur, unto the place over against athe sepulchres of David, and to the bpool that was made, and unto the house of the mighty. 17 After him repaired the Levites, Rehum the son of cBani. Next unto him repaired dHashabiah, the ruler of the half part of eKeilah, in his part. 18 After him repaired their brethren, Bavai the son of fHenadad, the ruler of the half part of eKeilah. 19 And next to him repaired gEzer the son of hJeshua, the ruler of iMizpah, another piece over against the going up to kthe armoury at lthe turning of the wall. 20 After him mBaruch the son of n||Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece, from lthe turning of the wall unto the door of the house of oEliashib the high priest. 21 After him repaired pMeremoth the son of Urijah the son of Koz another piece, from the door of the house of oEliashib even to the end of the house of Eliashib. 22 And after him repaired the priests, the men of qthe plain. 23 After him repaired rBenjamin and sHashub over against their house. After him repaired tAzariah the son of uMaaseiah the son of Ananiah by his house. 24 After him repaired wBinnui the son of fHenadad another piece, from the house of tAzariah unto lthe turning of the wall, even unto xthe corner. 25 Palal the son of Uzai, over against lthe turning of the wall, and the tower which lieth out from ythe king’s high house, that was by zthe court of the prison. After him aPedaiah the son of bParosh. 26 Moreover cthe Nethinims ||dwelt in ||Ophel, unto the place over against the dwater gate toward the east, and the tower that lieth out. 27 After them the eTekoites repaired another piece, over against the great tower that lieth out, even unto the wall of Ophel. 28 From above the fhorse gate repaired the priests, every one over against his house. 29 After them repaired Zadok the son of gImmer over against his house. After him repaired also hShemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the ieast gate. 30 After him repaired kHananiah the son of lShelemiah, and mHanun the sixth son of Zalaph, another piece. After him repaired nMeshullam the son of Berechiah over against his ochamber. 31 After him repaired pMalchiah qthe goldsmith’s son unto rthe place of the Nethinims, and of the smerchants, over against the gate tMiphkad, and to the ||going up of the corner. 32 And between the ||going up of the corner unto the usheep gate repaired qthe goldsmiths and the merchants.

4 But it came to pass, athat when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and bmocked the Jews. 2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of cSamaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they †fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? 3 Now aTobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if da fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. 4 eHear, O our God; for we are †despised: and fturn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: 5 And gcover not their iniquity, and hlet not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. 6 So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

7 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the iArabians, and the jAmmonites, and the kAshdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem †were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, 8 And lconspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and †to hinder it. 9 Nevertheless we made our prayer unto 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 which dwelt by mthem came, they said unto us nten times, ||From all places whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you. 13 Therefore set I †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 rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, oBe not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is pgreat and terrible, and qfight 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 unto us, and God had rbrought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto 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 sspears, the shields, and the bows, and the shabergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. 17 They which builded on the wall, and they that bare 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 sword girded †by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. 19 And tI said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. 20 In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: uour God shall fight for us. 21 So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from xthe rising of the morning till the stars appeared. 22 Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day. 23 So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, ||saving that every one put them off for washing.