Study Desk

Ezra left Babylon on the first day of the first month and arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month. With God's blessing his trip went well.

Ezra had always given his time and attention to studying and obeying the law of the Lord . He also loved to teach its rules and commandments to others in Israel.

God showed his faithful love to me in front of the king, his advisors, and the king's important officials. The Lord my God was with me, and that gave me courage. I gathered together the leaders of Israel to go with me to Jerusalem.

I sent the men to Iddo, leader in the town of Casiphia. I told them what to say to Iddo and his relatives, who are the Temple workers in Casiphia. I told the men to ask Iddo and his relatives to send us workers to serve in God's Temple.

Because God was with us, they sent Sherebiah, a skilled man from the descendants of Mahli (Mahli was a son of Levi, one of Israel's sons.) They also sent his sons and brothers, 18 men in all.

Besides these, there were 220 Temple workers whose ancestors had been chosen by David and his officials to help the Levites. The names of all these men were written on the list.

I weighed the silver, gold, and the other things that were given for God's Temple. I gave them to the twelve priests I had chosen. King Artaxerxes, his advisors, his important officials, and all the Israelites in Babylon gave those things for God's Temple.

Now you must confess your sins to the Lord , the God of your ancestors. You must obey his command. Separate yourselves from the people living around you and from your foreign wives."

Then I prayed this prayer: " Lord , God of heaven, you are the great and powerful God. You are the God who keeps his agreement of love with people who love you and obey your commands.

The name of the high priest was Eliashib. He and his brothers, the priests, went to work and built the Sheep Gate. They prayed to make that gate holy to God. They set its doors in place in the wall. The priests worked on the wall of Jerusalem as far as the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel. They prayed to make all this work holy to God.

Jedaiah son of Harumaph repaired the next section of the wall. Jedaiah repaired the wall next to his own house. Hattush son of Hashabneiah repaired the next section.

Shallum son of Hallohesh repaired the next section of the wall. His daughters helped him. Shallum was the governor of the other half of Jerusalem.

The men from the tribe of Levi repaired the next section. They worked under Rehum son of Bani. Hashabiah repaired the next section. Hashabiah was governor of half the district of Keilah. He made repairs for his own district.

Benjamin and Hasshub repaired the wall in front of their own house. And Azariah son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, repaired the wall next to his house.

The priests repaired the section over the Horse Gate. Each priest repaired the wall in front of his own house.

Zadok son of Immer repaired the section in front of his house. Shemaiah son of Shecaniah repaired the next section. Shemaiah was the guard of the East Gate.

Hananiah son of Shelemiah and Hanun son of Zalaph repaired the rest of that section of wall. (Hanun was Zalaph's sixth son.) Meshullam son of Berekiah repaired the section in front of his house.

Sanballat talked with his friends and the army at Samaria and said, "What are these weak Jews doing? Do they think we will leave them alone? Do they think they will offer sacrifices? Maybe they think they can finish building in only one day. They cannot bring stones back to life from these piles of trash and dirt. These are just piles of ashes and dirt!"

Each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. The man who blew the trumpet to warn the people stayed next to me.

At that time I also said this to the people, "Every builder and his helper must stay inside Jerusalem at night. Then they can be guards at night and workers during the day."