Study Desk

and so I sent people to guard the wall at its lowest places and where there were still holes in it. I placed them according to families, and they stood guard with swords and spears and with bows and arrows.

Then I looked things over and told the leaders, the officials, and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of your enemies! The Lord is great and fearsome. So think of him and fight for your relatives and children, your wives and homes!"

Our enemies found out that we knew about their plot against us, but God kept them from doing what they had planned. So we went back to work on the wall.

I told the people and their officials and leaders, "Our work is so spread out, that we are a long way from one another.

I asked the men in charge and their workers to stay inside Jerusalem and stand guard at night. So they guarded the city at night and worked during the day.

So I thought it over and said to the leaders and officials, "How can you charge your own people interest?" Then I called a public meeting and accused the leaders

I continued, "What you have done is wrong! We must honor our God by the way we live, so the Gentiles can't find fault with us.

The leaders answered, "We will do whatever you say and return their property, without asking to be repaid." So I made the leaders promise in front of the priests to give back the property.

Each governor before me had been a burden to the people by making them pay for his food and wine and by demanding forty silver coins a day. Even their officials had been a burden to the people. But I respected God, and I didn't think it was right to be so hard on them.

Each day one ox, six of the best sheep, and lots of chickens were prepared. Then every ten days, a large supply of wine was brought in. I knew what a heavy burden this would have been for the people, and so I did not ask for my food allowance as governor.

So I sent messengers to tell them, "My work is too important to stop now and go there. I can't afford to slow down the work just to visit with you."

You even have prophets in Jerusalem, claiming you are now the king of Judah. You know the Persian king will hear about this, so let's get together and talk it over.

The people would always tell me about the good things Tobiah had done, and then they would tell Tobiah everything I had said. So Tobiah kept sending letters, trying to frighten me.

So God gave me the idea to bring together the people, their leaders, and officials and to check the family records of those who had returned from captivity in Babylonia, after having been taken there by King Nebuchadnezzar. About this same time, I found records of those who had been the first to return to Jerusalem from Babylon Province. By reading these records, I learned that they settled in their own hometowns,

And so, by the seventh month, priests, Levites, temple guards, musicians, workers, and many of the ordinary people had settled in the towns of Judah.

The people started crying when God's Law was read to them. Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher, and the Levites who had been teaching the people all said, "This is a special day for the Lord your God. So don't be sad and don't cry!"

The Levites encouraged the people by saying, "This is a sacred day, so don't worry or mourn!"

On the second day of the seventh month, the leaders of all the family groups came together with the priests and the Levites, so Ezra could teach them the Law

So the people gathered branches and made shelters on the flat roofs of their houses, in their yards, in the courtyard of the temple, and in the open areas around the Water Gate and Ephraim Gate.

You knew that the King of Egypt and his officials and his nation had mistreated your people. So you worked fearsome miracles against the Egyptians and earned a reputation that still remains.