Study Desk

I gave them instructions for Iddo, the leading man in a place called Kasifya, and told them what to say to Iddo and his brother, who were in charge of Kasifya, so that they would bring us men to minister in the house of our God.

Since the good hand of our God was on us, they brought us Ish-Sekhel from the descendants of Machli the son of Levi, the son of Isra'el; Sherevyah with eighteen of his sons and kinsmen;

Hashavyah, with Yesha‘yah, from the descendants of M'rari, and twenty of his kinsmen and their sons;

For I would have been ashamed to ask the king for a detachment of soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies along the road, since we had said to the king, "The hand of our God is on all who seek him, for good; but his power and fury is against all who abandon him."

I weighed out to them the silver, the gold and the utensils for the house of our God contributed by the king, his counselors, his princes and all Isra'el present there.

Now, for a brief moment, Adonai our God has shown us the favor of allowing a remnant to escape and giving us a secure foothold in his holy place, in order for God to make things look brighter to us and revive us a little in our slavery.

‘Ezra then left his place in front of the house of God and went to the room of Y'hochanan the son of Elyashiv. After going there, he neither ate food nor drank water; because he was mourning over the treachery of the exiles.

Among the cohanim were found these who had married foreign women: of the sons of Yeshua the son of Yotzadak and his brothers: Ma‘aseiyah, Eli‘ezer, Yariv and G'dalyah.

I said, "Please, Adonai ! God of heaven! You great and fearsome God, who keeps his covenant and extends grace to those who love him and observe his mitzvot!

In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of Artach'shashta the king, it happened that I took the wine and brought it to the king. Prior to then I had never appeared sad in his presence.

But I answered them: "The God of heaven will enable us to succeed. Therefore we his servants will set about rebuilding. But you have no share, right or history to commemorate in Yerushalayim."

Then Elyashiv the cohen hagadol set out with his fellow cohanim, and they rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set up its doors; they consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred and on to the Tower of Hanan'el.

Next to him Y'dayah the son of Harumaf made repairs opposite his own house. Next to him Hatush the son of Hashavn'yah made repairs.

Next to him Shalum the son of HaLochesh, leader of half the district of Yerushalayim, he and his daughters, made repairs.

After him the L'vi'im made repairs: Rechum the son of Bani; next to him Hashavyah, leader of half the district of Ke‘ilah, made repairs for his district.

After them Binyamin and Hashuv made repairs opposite their house. After them ‘Azaryah the son of Ma‘aseiyah, the son of ‘Ananyah, made repairs next to his house.

Above the Horse Gate the cohanim made repairs, each one opposite his own house.

After them Tzadok the son of Immer made repairs opposite his house. After him Sh'ma‘yah the son of Sh'khanyah, the keeper of the East Gate, made repairs.

After him Hananyah the son of Shelemyah and Hanun the sixth son of Tzalaf made repairs on another section. After him Meshulam the son of Berekhyah made repairs opposite his own room.

Finally, between the upper room at the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and merchants made repairs. But when Sanvalat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he was furious. Greatly enraged, he ridiculed the Judeans; before his kinsmen and the army of Shomron he said, "What are these pathetic Judeans doing? Are they going to rebuild anything they want? Are they going to sacrifice? Are they going to finish today? Are they going to recover useful stones from the piles of rubble, burned rubble at that?" Toviyah the ‘Amoni was with him, and he said, "Whatever they're building, why, if even a fox went up it, he'd knock their stone wall down!" Our God, listen! We are being treated with contempt. Turn back their jeers on their own heads; give them over to be plundered in a land of exile. Don't cover their guilt, don't let their sin be wiped out from before you; because they have insulted the builders to their face. So we kept building the wall, which was soon joined together and completed to half its height all the way around; because the people worked with a will.