Bible-Reading.comNehemiah 5
1Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their countrymen the Jews.
2For there were some who said, We, our sons and our daughters, are a great number: let us get grain, so that we may have food for our needs.
3And there were some who said, We are giving our fields and our vine-gardens and our houses for debt: let us get grain because we are in need.
4And there were others who said, We have given up our fields and our vine-gardens to get money for the king's taxes.
5But our flesh is the same as the flesh of our countrymen, and our children as their children: and now we are giving our sons and daughters into the hands of others, to be their servants, and some of our daughters are servants even now: and we have no power to put a stop to it; for other men have our fields and our vine-gardens.
6And on hearing their outcry and what they said I was very angry.
7And after turning it over in my mind, I made a protest to the chiefs and the rulers, and said to them, Every one of you is taking interest from his countryman. And I got together a great meeting of protest.
8And I said to them, We have given whatever we were able to give, to make our brothers the Jews free, who were servants and prisoners of the nations: and would you now give up your brothers for a price, and are they to become our property? Then they said nothing, answering not a word.
9And I said, What you are doing is not good: is it not the more necessary for you to go in the fear of our God, because of the shame which the nations may put on us?
10Even 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.
11Give back to them this very day their fields, their vine-gardens, their olive-gardens, and their houses, as well as a hundredth part of the money and the grain and the wine and the oil which you have taken from them.
12Then they said, We will give them back, and take nothing for them; we will do as you say. Then I sent for the priests and made them take an oath that they would keep this agreement.
13And shaking out the folds of my robe, I said, So may God send out from his house and his work every man who does not keep this agreement; even so let him be sent out and made as nothing. And all the meeting of the people said, So be it, and gave praise to the Lord. And the people did as they had said.
14Now 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.
15But earlier rulers who were before me made the people responsible for their upkeep, and took from them bread and wine at the rate of forty shekels of silver; and even their servants were lords over the people: but I did not do so, because of the fear of God.
16And I kept on with the work of this wall, and we got no land for ourselves: and all my servants were helping with the work.
17And more than this, a hundred and fifty of the Jews and the rulers were guests at my table, in addition to those who came to us from the nations round about us.
18Now the food made ready for one day was one ox and six fat sheep, as well as fowls; and once in ten days a store of all sorts of wine: but all the same, I did not take the food to which the ruler had a right, because the people were crushed under a hard yoke.
19Keep in mind, O my God, for my good, all I have done for this people.
Nehemiah 6
1Now when word was given to Sanballat and Tobiah and to Geshem the Arabian and to the rest of our haters, that I had done the building of the wall and that there were no more broken places in it (though even then I had not put up the doors in the doorways);
2Sanballat and Geshem sent to me saying, Come, let us have a meeting in one of the little towns in the lowland of Ono. But their purpose was to do me evil.
3And I sent men to them saying, I am doing a great work, so that it is not possible for me to come down: is the work to be stopped while I go away from it and come down to you?
4And four times they sent to me in this way, and I sent them the same answer.
5Then Sanballat sent his servant to me a fifth time with an open letter in his hand;
6And in it these words were recorded: It is said among the nations, and Geshem says so, that you and the Jews are hoping to make yourselves free from the king's authority; and that this is why you are building the wall: and they say that it is your purpose to be their king;
7And that you have prophets preaching about you in Jerusalem, and saying, There is a king in Judah: now an account of these things will be sent to the king. So come now, and let us have a discussion.
8Then I sent to him, saying, No such things as you say are being done, they are only a fiction you have made up yourself.
9For they were hoping to put fear in us, saying, Their hands will become feeble and give up the work so that it may not get done. But now, O God, make my hands strong.
10And I went to the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us have a meeting in the house of God, inside the Temple, and let the doors be shut: for they will come to put you to death; truly, in the night they will come to put you to death.
11And I said, Am I the sort of man to go in flight? what man, in my position, would go into the Temple to keep himself safe? I will not go in.
12Then it became clear to me that God had not sent him: he had given this word of a prophet against me himself: and Tobiah and Sanballat had given him money to do so.
13For this reason they had given him money, in order that I might be overcome by fear and do what he said and do wrong, and so they would have reason to say evil about me and put shame on me.
14Keep in mind, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat and what they did, and Noadiah, the woman prophet, and the rest of the prophets whose purpose was to put fear into me.
15So the wall was complete on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.
16And when our haters had news of this, all the nations round about us were full of fear and were greatly shamed, for they saw that this work had been done by our God.
17And further, in those days the chiefs of Judah sent a number of letters to Tobiah, and his letters came to them.
18For in Judah there were a number of people who had made an agreement by oath with him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah, the son of Arah; and his son Jehohanan had taken as his wife the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah.
19And they said much before me of the good he had done, and gave him accounts of my words. And Tobiah sent letters with the purpose of causing me fear.
Nehemiah 7
1Now when the building of the wall was complete and I had put up the doors, and the door-keepers and the music-makers and the Levites had been given their places,
2I made my brother Hanani, and Hananiah, the ruler of the tower, responsible for the government of Jerusalem: for he was a man of good faith, fearing God more than most.
3And I said to them, Do not let the doors of Jerusalem be open till the sun is high; and while the watchmen are in their places, let the doors be shut and locked: and let the people of Jerusalem be put on watch, every one in his watch, opposite his house.
4Now the town was wide and great: but the people in it were only a small number, and the houses had not been put up.
5And my God put it into my heart to get together the rulers and the chiefs and the people so that they might be listed by families. And I came across a record of the names of those who came up at the first, and in it I saw these words:
6These are the people of the divisions of the kingdom, among those who had been made prisoners by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and taken away by him, who went back to Jerusalem and Judah, every one to his town;
7Who 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 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 Beth-lehem 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 Kiriath-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 Beth-el 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 family 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, of Kadmiel, of the children of Hodevah, seventy-four.
44The music-makers: the children of Asaph, a hundred and forty-eight.
45The door-keepers: 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 Paseah,
52The children of Besai, the children of Meunim, the children of Nephushesim,
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 Temah,
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 were three hundred and ninety-two.
61All these were the people who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer; but because they had no knowledge of their fathers' families or offspring, it was not certain if they were Israelites:
62The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred and forty-two.
63And of the priests: the children of Hobaiah, the children of Hakkoz, the children of Barzillai, who was married to one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and took their name.
64They made search for their record among the lists of families, but their names were nowhere to be seen, so they were looked on as unclean and no longer priests.
65And the Tirshatha said that they were not to have the most holy things for their food, till a priest came to give decision by the Urim and Thummim.
66The number of all the people together was forty-two thousand, three hundred and sixty;
67As well as their men-servants and their women-servants, of whom there were seven thousand, three hundred and thirty-seven; and they had two hundred and forty-five men and women to make music.
68They had seven hundred and thirty-six horses, two hundred and forty-five transport beasts;
69Four hundred and thirty-five camels, six thousand, seven hundred and twenty asses.
70And some of the heads of families gave money for the work. The Tirshatha gave into the store a thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, five hundred and thirty priests' robes.
71And some of the heads of families gave into the store for 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' robes.
73So the priests and the Levites and the door-keepers and the music-makers and some of the people and the Nethinim, and all Israel, were living in their towns.
Nehemiah 8
1And when the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their towns. And all the people came together like one man into the wide place in front of the water-doorway; and they made a request to Ezra the scribe that he would put before them the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel.
2And Ezra the priest put the law before the meeting of the people, before the men and women and all those who were able to take it in, on the first day of the seventh month.
3He was reading it in the wide place in front of the water-doorway, from early morning till the middle of the day, in the hearing of all those men and women whose minds were able to take it in; and the ears of all the people were open to the book of the law.
4And Ezra the scribe took his place on a tower of wood which they had made for the purpose; and by his side were placed Mattithiah and Shema and Anaiah and Uriah and Hilkiah and Maaseiah on the right; and on the left, Pedaiah and Mishael and Malchijah and Hashum and Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.
5And Ezra took the book, opening it before the eyes of all the people (for he was higher than the people); and when it was open, all the people got to their feet:
6And Ezra gave praise to the Lord, the great God. And all the people in answer said, So be it, so be it; lifting up their hands; and with bent heads they gave worship to the Lord, going down on their faces to the earth.
7And Jeshua and Bani and Sherebiah and Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites made the law clear to the people: and the people kept in their places.
8And they gave out the words of the book the law of God, clearly, and gave the sense of it, so that their minds were able to take it in.
9And Nehemiah, who was the Tirshatha, and Ezra, the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were the teachers of the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God; let there be no sorrow or weeping; for all the people were weeping on hearing the words of the law.
10Then 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.
11So the Levites made all the people quiet, saying, Be quiet, for the day is holy; and do not give way to grief.
12And all the people went away to take food and drink, and to send food to others, and to be glad, because the words which were said to them had been made clear.
13And on the second day the heads of families of all the people and the priests and the Levites came together to Ezra the scribe, to give attention to the words of the law.
14And they saw that it was recorded in the law that the Lord had given orders by Moses, that the children of Israel were to have tents for their living-places in the feast of the seventh month:
15And that they were to give out an order, and make it public in all their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the mountain and get olive branches and branches of field olives and of myrtle, and palm branches and branches of thick trees, to make tents, as it says in the book.
16And the people went out and got them and made themselves tents, every one on the roof of his house, and in the open spaces and in the open squares of the house of God, and in the wide place of the water-doorway, and the wide place of the doorway of Ephraim.
17All the people who had been prisoners and had come back, made tents and were living in them: for from the time of Jeshua, the son of Nun, till that day, the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great joy.
18And day by day, from the first day till the last, he was reading from the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast for seven days: and on the eighth day there was a holy meeting, as it is ordered in the law.
Nehemiah 9
1Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel came together, taking no food and putting haircloth and dust on their bodies.
2And the seed of Israel made themselves separate from all the men of other nations, publicly requesting forgiveness for their sins and the wrongdoing of their fathers.
3And for a fourth part of the day, upright in their places, they were reading from the book of the law of their God; and for a fourth part of the day they were requesting forgiveness and worshipping the Lord their God.
4Then Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani took their places on the steps of the Levites, crying in a loud voice to the Lord their God.
5Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, Get up and give praise to the Lord your God for ever and ever. Praise be to your great name which is lifted up high over all blessing and praise.
6You are the Lord, even you only; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens with all their armies, the earth and all things in it, the seas and everything in them; and you keep them from destruction: and the armies of heaven are your worshippers.
7You are the Lord, the God, who took Abram and made him yours, guiding him from Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name of Abraham;
8You saw that his heart was true to you, and made an agreement with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Jebusite and the Girgashite, even to give it to his seed, and you have done what you said; for righteousness is yours:
9And you saw the trouble of our fathers in Egypt, and their cry came to your ears by the Red Sea;
10And you did signs and wonders on Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land; for you saw how cruel they were to them. So you got yourself a name as it is today.
11By you the sea was parted before them, so that they went through the sea on dry land; and those who went after them went down into the deep, like a stone into great waters.
12And you went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light on the way they were to go.
13And you came down on Mount Sinai, and your voice came to them from heaven, giving them right decisions and true laws, good rules and orders:
14And you gave them word of your holy Sabbath, and gave them orders and rules and a law, by the hand of Moses your servant:
15And you gave them bread from heaven when they were in need, and made water come out of the rock for their drink, and gave them orders to go in and take for their heritage the land which your hand had been lifted up to give them.
16But they and our fathers, in their pride, made their necks stiff, and gave no attention to your orders,
17And would not do them, and gave no thought to the wonders you had done among them; but made their necks stiff, and turning away from you, made a captain over themselves to take them back to their prison in Egypt: but you are a God of forgiveness, full of grace and pity, slow to wrath and great in mercy, and you did not give them up.
18Even when they had made for themselves an ox of metal, and said, This is your God who took you up out of Egypt, and had done so much to make you angry;
19Even then, in your great mercy, you did not give them up in the waste land: the pillar of cloud still went before them by day, guiding them on their way, and the pillar of fire by night, to give them light, and make clear the way they were to go.
20And you gave your good spirit to be their teacher, and did not keep back your manna from their mouths, and gave them water when they had need of it.
21Truly, for forty years you were their support in the waste land, and they were in need of nothing; their clothing did not get old or their feet become tired.
22And you gave them kingdoms and peoples, making distribution to them in every part of the land: so they took for their heritage the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan.
23And you made their children as great in number as the stars of heaven, and took them into the land, of which you had said to their fathers that they were to go in and take it for themselves.
24So the children went in and took the land, and you overcame before them the people of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them up into their hands, with their kings and the people of the land, so that they might do with them whatever it was their pleasure to do.
25And they took walled towns and a fat land, and became the owners of houses full of all good things, water-holes cut in the rock, vine-gardens and olive-gardens and a wealth of fruit-trees: so they had food enough and became fat, and had joy in the good you gave them.
26But they were hard-hearted, and went against your authority, turning their backs on your law, and putting to death your prophets, who gave witness against them with the purpose of turning them back again to you, and they did much to make you angry.
27And so you gave them up into the hands of their haters who were cruel to them: and in the time of their trouble, when they made their prayer to you, you gave ear to them from heaven; and in your great mercy gave them saviours, who made them free from the hands of their haters.
28But when they had rest, they did evil again before you: so you gave them into the hands of their haters, who had rule over them: but when they came back and made their prayer to you, you gave ear to them from heaven; again and again, in your mercy, you gave them salvation;
29And gave witness against them so that you might make them come back again to your law: but their hearts were lifted up, and they gave no attention to your orders and went against your decisions (which, if a man keeps them, will be life to him), and turning their backs on you, made their necks stiff and did not give ear.
30Year after year you put up with them, and gave witness against them by your spirit through your prophets: still they did not give ear: and so you gave them up into the hands of the peoples of the lands.
31Even then, in your great mercy, you did not put an end to them completely, or give them up; for you are a God of grace and mercy.
32And now, our God, the great, the strong, the God who is to be feared, who keeps faith and mercy, let not all this trouble seem small to you, which has come on us, and on our kings and our rulers and on our priests and our prophets and our fathers and on all your people from the time of the kings of Assyria till this day.
33But still, you have been in the right in everything which has come on us; you have been true to us, but we have done evil:
34And our kings, our rulers, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or given attention to your orders and your witness, with which you gave witness against them.
35For they have not been your servants in their kingdom, and in all the good things you gave them, and in the great and fat land you gave them, and they have not been turned away from their evil-doing.
36Now, 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:
37And it gives much increase to the kings whom you have put over us because of our sins: and they have power over our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure, and we are in great trouble.
38And because of all this we are making an agreement in good faith, and putting it in writing; and our rulers, our Levites, and our priests are putting their names to it.