Study Desk

So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father's house and I have sinned.

but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.' Deuteronomy 30:2-5">[fn]

O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." For I was the king's cupbearer.

Furthermore I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, [fn] that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah,

and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, [fn] for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy." And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.

Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass.

After him the Levites, under Rehum the son of Bani, made repairs. Next to him Hashabiah, leader of half the district of Keilah, made repairs for his district.

Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity!

Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.

So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, "Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses."

Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us."

So neither I, my brethren, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes, except that everyone took them off for washing.

For there were those who said, "We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live."

There were also those who said, "We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our lands and vineyards.

Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards."

Indeed, I also continued the work on this wall, and we [fn] did not buy any land. All my servants were gathered there for the work.

Now that which was prepared daily was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowl were prepared for me, and once every ten days an abundance of all kinds of wine. Yet in spite of this I did not demand the governor's provisions, because the bondage was heavy on this people.

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