Study Desk

Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace."

I told them that the hand of my God had been gracious upon me, and also the words that the king had spoken to me. Then they said, "Let us start building!" So they committed themselves to the common good.

So we rebuilt the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height; for the people had a mind to work.

So we prayed to our God, and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

But Judah said, "The strength of the burden bearers is failing, and there is too much rubbish so that we are unable to work on the wall."

So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from break of dawn until the stars came out.

I also said to the people at that time, "Let every man and his servant pass the night inside Jerusalem, so that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day."

So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me ever took off our clothes; each kept his weapon in his right hand.

For there were those who said, "With our sons and our daughters, we are many; we must get grain, so that we may eat and stay alive."

So I said, "The thing that you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God, to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies?

I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, "So may God shake out everyone from house and from property who does not perform this promise. Thus may they be shaken out and emptied." And all the assembly said, "Amen," and praised the Lord . And the people did as they had promised.

The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people, and took food and wine from them, besides forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God.

So I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to come down to you?"

You have also set up prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem concerning you, ‘There is a king in Judah!' And now it will be reported to the king according to these words. So come, therefore, and let us confer together."

He was hired for this purpose, to intimidate me and make me sin by acting in this way, and so they could give me a bad name, in order to taunt me.

So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.

These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but it was not found there, so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean;

So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel settled in their towns. When the seventh month came—the people of Israel being settled in their towns—

So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.