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I also shook out the front of my garment and said, "Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not establish this word; even thus may he be shaken out and emptied." And all the assembly said, "Amen!" And they praised Yahweh. Then the people did according to this word.

Then Sanballat sent his young man to me in the same manner a fifth time with an open letter in his hand.

Then I recognized that surely God had not sent him, but he spoke his prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

For many in Judah were sworn by oath to him because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as a wife.

Moreover, they were speaking about his good deeds in my presence and bringing my words to him. Then Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.

Then I said to them, "The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened until the sun is hot; and until they are there standing guard, they must shut and bolt the doors. Also have guards from the inhabitants of Jerusalem stand, each at his post, and each in front of his own house."

These are the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had taken away into exile, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city,

Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand.

So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim.

You found his heart faithful before You,And cut a covenant with himTo give him the land of the Canaanite,Of the Hittite and the Amorite,Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite—To give it to his seed.And You have established Your promise,For You are righteous.

Then You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,Against all his servants and all the people of his land;For You knew that they acted presumptuously toward them,And made a name for Yourself as it is this day.

are joining with their relatives, their nobles, and are entering into a curse and an oath to walk in God's law, which was given by the hand of Moses, God's servant, and to keep and to do all the commandments of Yahweh our Lord and His judgments and His statutes;

Now these are the heads of the provinces who lived in Jerusalem, but in the cities of Judah each lived in his own possession in their cities—the Israelites, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, and the sons of Solomon's servants.

and his relatives, heads of fathers' households, 242; and Amashsai the son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer,

and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who was the chief in beginning the thanksgiving in prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his relatives; and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.

The rest of Israel, of the priests and of the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, each on his own inheritance.

The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah who was over of the songs of thanksgiving, he and his brothers.

and his relatives, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them.

And they kept their responsibility given by their God and the responsibility of cleansing, together with the singers and the gatekeepers, according to the commandment of David and his son Solomon.

I also came to know that the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so the Levites and the singers who did the work had fled, each to his own field.