Nehemiah 1-7

Nehemiah 1

¹The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the fortress,

²that 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.

³And they said to me, Those who remain, that are left of the captivity there in the province, are in great affliction and reproach; and the wall of Jerusalem is in ruins, and its gates are burned with fire.

⁴And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat and wept, and mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of the heavens,

⁵and said, I beseech thee, Jehovah, God of the heavens, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and keep his commandments.

⁶Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, to hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, confessing the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.

⁷We have acted very perversely against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances that thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

⁸Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the peoples;

⁹but if ye return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

¹⁰And they are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand.

¹¹O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants who delight to fear thy name; and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was the king's cupbearer.

Nehemiah 2

¹And 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 to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence.

²And the king said to me, Why is thy face sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sadness of heart. And I was very sore afraid.

³And I 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' sepulchres, lies waste, and its gates are consumed with fire?

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

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

⁶And the king said to me -- the queen also sitting by him, -- For how long shall thy journey be, and when wilt thou return? And it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

⁷And I said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may set me forward till I come into Judah;

⁸and 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 appertains 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.

⁹And I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of a force and horsemen with me.

¹⁰And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobijah 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.

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

¹²And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me -- but I told no man what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem -- and there was no beast with me, except the beast that I rode upon.

¹³And I went out by night by the valley-gate, even toward the jackal-fountain, and to the dung-gate; and I viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were in ruins, and its gates were consumed with fire.

¹⁴And I went on to the fountain-gate, and to the king's pool; and there was no place for the beast under me to pass.

¹⁵And I went up in the night through the valley, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the valley-gate and returned.

¹⁶And the rulers did not know whither I went or what I did, for I had not 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.

¹⁷And I said to them, Ye see the distress that we are in, that Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.

¹⁸And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me; as also of the king's words which he had said unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. And they strengthened their hands for the good work.

¹⁹And Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobijah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it; and they mocked us and despised us, and said, What is this thing which ye do? will ye rebel against the king?

²⁰And I answered them, and said to them, The God of the heavens, he will prosper us, and we his servants will arise and build; but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 3

¹And Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they built the sheep-gate. They hallowed it, and set up its doors; and they hallowed it even to the tower of Meah, to the tower of Hananeel.

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

³And the fish-gate did the sons of Senaah build: they laid its beams, and set up its doors, its locks and its bars.

⁴And 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.

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

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

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

⁸Next to them repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths; and next to him repaired Hananiah of the perfumers, and they left Jerusalem in its state as far as the broad wall.

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

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

¹¹Malchijah the son of Harim and Hasshub the son of Pahath-Moab repaired a second piece, and the tower of the furnaces.

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

¹³The 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 of the wall as far as the dung-gate.

¹⁴And the dung-gate repaired Malchijah the son of Rechab, the chief of the district of Beth-haccerem; he built it, and set up its doors, its locks and its bars.

¹⁵And the fountain-gate repaired Shallun the son of Colhozeh, the chief of the district of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up its doors, its locks and its bars, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king's garden, and to the stairs that go down from the city of David.

¹⁶After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the chief of the half district of Beth-zur, even over against the sepulchres of David, and to the pool that was made, and to the house of the mighty men.

¹⁷After him repaired the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani. Next to him repaired Hashabiah, the chief of the half district of Keilah, for his district.

¹⁸After him repaired their brethren, Bavvai the son of Henadad, the chief of the half district of Keilah.

¹⁹And next to him repaired Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, a second piece over against the going up to the armoury at the angle.

²⁰After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired another piece, from the angle to the entry of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

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

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

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

²⁴After him repaired Binnui the son of Henadad another piece, from the house of Azariah to the angle, as far as the corner.

²⁵Palal the son of Uzai, over against the angle, and the high tower that lies out from the king's house, which was by the court of the prison. After him, Pedaiah the son of Parosh.

²⁶(Now the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, even over against the water-gate toward the east, and the tower which lies out.)

²⁷After him the Tekoites repaired a second piece, over against the great tower which lies out, as far as the wall of Ophel.

²⁸From above the horse-gate repaired the priests, every one over against his house.

²⁹After them repaired Zadok the son of Immer over against his house. And after him repaired also Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the east gate.

³⁰After him repaired Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, a second piece. After them repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah over against his chamber.

³¹After him repaired Malchijah of the goldsmiths to the place of the Nethinim and of the dealers, over against the gate Miphkad, and to the ascent of the corner.

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

Nehemiah 4

¹And it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we built the wall, he was angry and very indignant, and mocked the Jews.

²And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? shall they be permitted to go on? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, when they are burned?

³And Tobijah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox went up, it would break down their stone wall. --

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

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

⁶But we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to the half thereof; for the people had a mind to work.

⁷And it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobijah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being repaired, that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth,

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

⁹Then we prayed to our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.

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

¹¹And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come into the midst of them and kill them, and put an end to the work.

¹²And it came to pass that when the Jews that dwelt by them came and told us so ten times, from all the places whence they returned to us,

¹³I set in the lower places behind the wall in exposed places, I even set the people, according to their families, with their swords, their spears and their bows.

¹⁴And I looked, and rose up, and said to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be 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.

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

¹⁶And from that time forth the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held the spears, and the shields, and the bows, and the corslets; and the captains were behind all the house of Judah.

¹⁷They that built on the wall, and they that bore burdens, with those that loaded, wrought in the work with one hand, and with the other they held a weapon.

¹⁸And the builders had every one his sword girded by his side, and built. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.

¹⁹And I said to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work is great and extended, and we are scattered upon the wall, one far from another:

²⁰in what place ye hear the sound of the trumpet, thither shall ye assemble to us; our God will fight for us.

²¹And we laboured in the work; and half of them held the spears from the rising of the dawn till the stars appeared.

²²Likewise at the same time I said to the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and be for labour in the day.

²³And neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard that followed me, none of us put off our garments: every one had his weapon on his right side.

Nehemiah 5

¹And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.

²And there were that said, We, our sons and our daughters, are many, and we must procure corn that we may eat and live.

³And there were that said, We have had to pledge our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses, that we might procure corn in the dearth.

⁴And there were that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute upon our fields and vineyards;

⁵yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and behold, we must bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage already; neither is it in the power of our hand to redeem them, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.

⁶And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.

⁷And I consulted with myself; and I remonstrated with the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother! And I set a great assembly against them.

⁸And I said to them, We, according to our ability, have redeemed our brethren the Jews, who were sold to the nations; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? And they were silent and found no answer.

⁹And I said, The thing that ye do is not good. Ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, so as not to be the reproach of the nations our enemies?

¹⁰I also, my brethren and my servants, we might exact usury of them, money and corn. I pray you, let us leave off this usury.

¹¹Restore, I pray you, to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive-gardens, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine and the oil, that ye have exacted of them.

¹²And they said, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do, as thou hast said. And I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise.

¹³Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house and from his earnings, that performeth not this promise: even thus be he shaken out and emptied! And all the congregation said, Amen! And they praised Jehovah. And the people did according to this promise.

¹⁴Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor.

¹⁵But the former governors that were before me had been chargeable to the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver: even their servants bore rule over the people. But I did not so, because of the fear of God.

¹⁶Yea, also I applied myself to this work of the wall, and we bought no fields; and all my servants were gathered thither for the work.

¹⁷And there were at my table a hundred and fifty of the Jews and the rulers, besides those that came to us from among the nations that were about us.

¹⁸And that which was prepared daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days all sorts of wine in abundance. Yet for all this I demanded not the bread of the governor; for the service was heavy upon this people.

¹⁹Remember for me, my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.

Nehemiah 6

¹And it came to pass when Sanballat, and Tobijah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it (though at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),

²that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief.

³And I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down. Why should the work cease, whilst I leave it and come down to you?

⁴And they sent to me four times after this sort; and I answered them in the same manner.

⁵Then sent Sanballat his servant to me in this manner the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand,

⁶in which was written: It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou buildest the wall, and according to these words thou wilt become their king.

⁷And thou hast also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning thee at Jerusalem saying, There is a king in Judah! And now it will be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.

⁸And I sent to him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.

⁹For they all would have made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be slackened from the work, that it be not carried out. -- Now therefore strengthen my hands!

¹⁰And I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabeel, who had shut himself up. And he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple; for they are coming to kill thee; even in the night are they coming to kill thee.

¹¹And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, could go into the temple, and live? I will not go in.

¹²And I perceived, and behold, God had not sent him; for he pronounced this prophecy against me; and Tobijah and Sanballat had hired him.

¹³Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have wherewith to spread an evil report, that they might reproach me.

¹⁴My God, remember Tobijah and Sanballat according to these their works, and also the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets who would have put me in fear.

¹⁵So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.

¹⁶And it came to pass that when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations that were about us were afraid and were much cast down in their own eyes, and they perceived that this work was wrought by our God.

¹⁷Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobijah, and those of Tobijah came to them.

¹⁸For there were many in Judah sworn to him; for he was a son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah.

¹⁹Also they spoke of his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. And Tobijah sent letters to put me in fear.

Nehemiah 7

¹And it came to pass when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, that the doorkeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed.

²And I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the citadel, charge over Jerusalem; for he was a faithful man and feared God above many.

³And I said to them that the gates of Jerusalem should not be opened until the sun was hot, and that they should shut the doors and bar them while they stood by; and that there should be appointed watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one over against his house.

⁴Now the city was large and great; but the people in it were few, and no houses were built.

⁵And my God put into my heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, for registration by genealogy. And I found a genealogical register of those that had come up at the first, and I found written in it:

⁶These are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one to his city;

⁷those who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:

⁸The children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two.

⁹The children of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy-two.

¹⁰The children of Arah, six hundred and fifty-two.

¹¹The children of Pahath-Moab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and eighteen.

¹²The children of Elam, a thousand two hundred and fifty-four.

¹³The children of Zattu, eight hundred and forty-five.

¹⁴The children of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty.

¹⁵The children of Binnui, six hundred and forty-eight.

¹⁶The children of Bebai, six hundred and twenty-eight.

¹⁷The children of Azgad, two thousand three hundred and twenty-two.

¹⁸The children of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-seven.

¹⁹The children of Bigvai, two thousand and sixty-seven.

²⁰The children of Adin, six hundred and fifty-five.

²¹The children of Ater of the family of Hezekiah, ninety-eight.

²²The children of Hashum, three hundred and twenty-eight.

²³The children of Bezai, three hundred and twenty-four.

²⁴The children of Hariph, a hundred and twelve.

²⁵The children of Gibeon, ninety-five.

²⁶The men of Bethlehem and Netophah, a hundred and eighty-eight.

²⁷The men of Anathoth, a hundred and twenty-eight.

²⁸The men of Beth-azmaveth, forty-two.

²⁹The men of Kirjath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty-three.

³⁰The men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred and twenty-one.

³¹The men of Michmas, a hundred and twenty-two.

³²The men of Bethel and Ai, a hundred and twenty-three.

³³The men of the other Nebo, fifty-two.

³⁴The children of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred and fifty-four.

³⁵The children of Harim, three hundred and twenty.

³⁶The children of Jericho, three hundred and forty-five.

³⁷The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-one.

³⁸The children of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred and thirty.

³⁹The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three.

⁴⁰The children of Immer, a thousand and fifty-two.

⁴¹The children of Pashhur, a thousand two hundred and forty-seven.

⁴²The children of Harim, a thousand and seventeen.

⁴³The Levites: the children of Jeshua and of Kadmiel, of the children of Hodvah, seventy-four.

⁴⁴The singers: the children of Asaph, a hundred and forty-eight.

⁴⁵The doorkeepers: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, a hundred and thirty-eight.

⁴⁶The Nethinim: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth,

⁴⁷the children of Keros, the children of Sia, the children of Padon,

⁴⁸the children of Lebana, the children of Hagaba, the children of Salmai,

⁴⁹the children of Hanan, the children of Giddel, the children of Gahar,

⁵⁰the children of Reaiah, the children of Rezin, the children of Nekoda,

⁵¹the children of Gazzam, the children of Uzza, the children of Phaseah,

⁵²the children of Besai, the children of Meunim, the children of Nephishesim,

⁵³the children of Bakbuk, the children of Hakupha, the children of Harhur,

⁵⁴the children of Bazlith, the children of Mehida, the children of Harsha,

⁵⁵the children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Thamah,

⁵⁶the children of Neziah, the children of Hatipha.

⁵⁷The children of Solomon's servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Perida,

⁵⁸the children of Jaala, the children of Darkon, the children of Giddel,

⁵⁹the children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth-Hazzebaim, the children of Amon.

⁶⁰All the Nethinim, and the children of Solomon's servants, three hundred and ninety-two.

⁶¹And these are they that went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub-Addon and Immer; but they could not shew their father's house, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel.

⁶²The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobijah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred and forty-two.

⁶³And of the priests: the children of Hobaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called after their name.

⁶⁴These sought their genealogical register, but it was not found; therefore were they, as polluted, removed from the priesthood.

⁶⁵And the Tirshatha said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up the priest with Urim and Thummim.

⁶⁶The whole congregation together was forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty,

⁶⁷besides their servants and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven; and they had two hundred and forty-five singing-men and singing-women.

⁶⁸Their horses were seven hundred and thirty-six; their mules, two hundred and forty-five;

⁶⁹the camels, four hundred and thirty-five; the asses, six thousand seven hundred and twenty.

⁷⁰And some of the chief fathers gave to the work. The Tirshatha gave to the treasure a thousand darics of gold, fifty basons, five hundred and thirty priests' coats.

⁷¹And some of the chief fathers gave to the treasure of the work twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand two hundred pounds of silver.

⁷²And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand pounds of silver, and sixty-seven priests' coats.

⁷³And the priests, and the Levites, and the doorkeepers, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinim, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities. And when the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in their cities,