Ezra reformeth the

BEFORE CHRIST 457.

a Dan. 9. 20.

OW when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down 62 Chr.20.9. b before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people 2wept very sore.

2 Heb. wept a great weeping.

• Neh.13.27.

с

2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. 3 Now therefore let us make da covenant with our God to put away bring forth. all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble Deut.7.2,8. at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

d 2 Chr. 34. 31.

8 Heb. to

e ch. 9. 4.

4 Heb. devoted.

7 And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem;

8 And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be *forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.

9 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and 18ee1 Sam. all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling be

12. 18.

strange marriages.

cause of this matter, and for the great rain.

10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have trans-showers. gressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel. 11 Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and "separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.

12 Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.

13 But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.

14 Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.

15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.

16 And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

17 And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.

18 T And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.

19 And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being a guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.

20 And of the sons of Immer; Hanani, and Zebadiah.

21 And of the sons of Harim; Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.

22 And of the sons of Pashur; Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

23 Also of the Levites; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah, (the same

02 Chr.30.8.

5 Or, till this matter be

dispatched.

"Heb.stood.

456.

Nehemiah mourneth.

BEFORE CHRIST 456.

BEFORE CHRIST cir. 446.

a ch. 10. 1.

24 of the singers also; Eliashib: and of the porters; Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.

25 Moreover of Israel: of the sons of Parosh; Ramiah, and Jeziah, and Malchiah, and Miamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.

26 And of the sons of Elam; Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Eliah.

27 And of the sons of Zattu; Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.

28 of the sons also of Bebai; Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai. 29 And of the sons of Bani; Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, and Ramoth.

30 And of the sons of Pahathmoab; Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.

31 And of the sons of Harim;

Shimeon,

32 Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.

33 Of the sons of Hashum; Mattenai, Mattathah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.

34 of the sons of Bani; Maadai, Amram, and Uel,

35 Benaiah, Bedeiah, Chelluh, 36 Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, 37 Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasau, 38 And Bani, and Binnui, Shimei, 39 And Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah,

BEFORE CHRIST 456.

nadebai, ac

2 Or, Mab

402 Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, 41 Azareel, and Shelemiah, She-cording to mariah,

42 Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph. 43 Of the sons of Nebo; Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jadau, and Joel, Benaiah.

44 All these had taken strange wives and some of them had wives by whom they had children.

CHAPTER I.

1 Nehemiah, understanding by Hanuni the misery of Jerusalem, mourneth, fasteth, and prayeth. 5 His prayer.

HE words of a Nehemiah the

Tson of Hachaliah, and it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,

2`That Hanani, 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 ch. 2.17. great affliction and reproach:. the

• 2 Kings 25.10.

d Dan. 9. 4.

wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

4. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I 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, the great and Ex. 20. 6. terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:

6 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.

7h We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

k

some copies.

8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye trans-Lev.26.33. gress, I will scatter you abroad among 26, 27. & 28. the nations:

Deut. 4. 25,

64.

11 O Lord, I beseech thee, let lover. 6.

Artaxerxes sendeth Nehemiah

BEFORE CHRIST

cir. 446.

p Is. 26. & Heb. 13. 18.

q ch. 2. 1.

cir. 445.

b ch. 1. 11.

a Ezra 7. 1. & 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

3 And said unto the king, Let Dan. 2. 4. & the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?

6, 21. ch. 1. 3.

4. Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the 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 2 Heb. wife. 2 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 time.

fch. 5. 14. & 13. 6.

6 ch. 3. 7.

h ver. 18. Ezra 5. 5. & 7.6,9,28. 445.

a

7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors 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 forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained 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.

h

9 Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had

10 When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

BEFORE CHRIST 445.

11 So I came to Jerusalem, and Ezra 8.82. 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 me,

upon.

13 And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, ch. 1.3. & and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.

ver. 17.

14 Then I went on to the m gate ch. 3. 15. of the fountain, and to the king'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 "brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.

16 And the rulers 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 rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.

17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. 18 Then I told them of P the 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 a strengthened their hands for this 42 Sam. 2.7. good work.

19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?

79. 4. Ezek. 5. 14, 15. & 22.4.

p ver. 8.

b John 5.2. priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the dJer. 31. 38. tower of a Hananeel.

c ch. 12. 89.

Zech. 14.10.

2 Heb. at his hand.

f

2

2 And next unto him builded • the men of Jericho. And next to Ezra 2.34. them builded Zaccur the son of Imri. 3 But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the Zeph. 1. 10. beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the

12 Chr. 33. 14.

ch. 12. 39.

✔ See ch. 6.

1. & 7.1.

bars thereof.

4 And next unto them repaired Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of Koz. And next unto them repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabeel. And next unto them repaired Zadok the son of Baana.

5 And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put Judg.5.23. not their necks to the work of their Lord.

I ch. 12. 39.

keh. 2. 8.

8 Or, left Jerusalem unto the broad wall.

1 ch. 12. 38.

4 Heb. second measure. m ch. 12.38.

ch. 2. 13.

6 Moreover the old gate repaired Jehoiada the son of Paseah, and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah; they laid 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 the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon, and of Mizpah, unto the throne of the governor on this side the river.

8 Next unto him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths. Next unto him also repaired Hananiah the son of one of the apothecaries, and they fortified Jerusalem unto the 'broad wall.

they built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and a thousand cubits on the wall unto the dung gate. 14 But the dung gate repaired Malchiah the son of Rechab, the ruler of part of Beth-haccerem; he built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.

BEFORE CHRIST

445.

o ch. 2. 13.

15 But the gate of the fountain P ch. 2. 14. repaired Shallun the son of Colhozeh, the ruler of part of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of a Siloah by the king's 4 John 9. 7. garden, and unto the 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 Beth-zur, unto the place over against the sepulchres of David, and to the pool that was made, and 2 Kings unto the house of the mighty.

17 After him repaired the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani. Next unto him repaired Hashabiah, the ruler of the half part of Keilah, in his part.

18 After him repaired their brethren, Bavai the son of Henadad, the ruler of the half part of Keilah.

19 And next to him repaired Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, another piece over against the going up to the armoury at the turning of the wall.

20 After him Baruch the son of 2 Zabbai earnestly repaired the other 20 piece, from the turning of the wall unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

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

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

23 After him repaired Benjamin and Hashub over against their house. After him repaired Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of Ananiah by his house.

24 After him repaired Binnui the son of Henadad another piece, from the house of Azariah unto the turning of the wall, even unto the corner.

t

12 And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters.

13 The valley gate repaired nun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah;

26 Moreover the Nethinims dwelt