American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
The {Or, history}words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.Now it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the {Or, castle}palace,
that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, that were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings, and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in every place where I {Or, cause my name to be rememebered}record my name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee.
Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, and the brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood; {Or, beryl}onyx stones, and stones to be set, stones for inlaid work, and of divers colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.
to fulfil the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths: for as long as it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.
Now in the first year of {Hebrew: Coresh.}Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath Jehovah, the God of heaven, given me; and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whosoever there is among you of all his people, his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Jehovah, the God of Israel {Or, he is the God who is in Jerusalem}(he is God), which is in Jerusalem.
And they set the altar {Or, in its place}upon its base; for fear was upon them because of the peoples of the countries: and they offered burnt-offerings thereon unto Jehovah, even burnt-offerings morning and evening.
Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem, and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to {Or, set forward the work}have the oversight of the work of the house of Jehovah.
Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of {In chapter 2:40, Hodaviah.}Judah, {Hebrew; as one.}together, to have the oversight of the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites.
And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Jehovah, {According to some Massoretic text, the priests stood.}they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise Jehovah, after the order of David king of Israel.
Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity were building a temple unto Jehovah, the God of Israel;
then they drew near to Zerubabbel, and to the heads of fathers' houses, and said unto them, Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as ye do; {Another reading is, yet we do not sacrifice since &c.}and we sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up hither.
But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' houses of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us in building a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and {Or, terrified}troubled them in building,
and hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
And in the reign of {Or, Xerxes Hebrew: Ahashrerosh.}Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
This is the copy of the letter that they sent unto Artaxerxes the king: Thy servants the men beyond the River, and so forth.
Be it known unto the king, that the Jews that came up from thee are come to us unto Jerusalem; they are building the rebellious and the bad city, and have finished the walls, and repaired the foundations.
Be it known now unto the king, that, if this city be builded, and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and in the end it will be hurtful unto the kings.
Now because we eat the salt of the palace, and it is not meet for us to see the king's dishonor, therefore have we sent and certified the king;
that search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers: so shalt thou find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful unto kings and provinces, and that they have moved sedition within the same of old time; for which cause was this city laid waste.
We certify the king that, if this city be builded, and the walls finished, by this means thou shalt have no portion beyond the River.
Then sent the king an answer unto Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their companions that dwell in Samaria, and {Or, unto the rest beyond &c.}in the rest of the country beyond the River: Peace, and so forth.
The letter which ye sent unto us hath been {Or, translated}plainly read before me.
And I decreed, and search hath been made, and it is found that this city of old time hath made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made therein.
There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, who have ruled over all the country beyond the River; and tribute, custom, and toll, was paid unto them.
Make ye now a decree to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not builded, until a decree shall be made by me.
And take heed that ye be not slack herein: why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings?
Then when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power.
Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem; and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest—
this Ezra went up from Babylon. And he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which Jehovah, the God of Israel, had given; and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of Jehovah his God upon him.
And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinim, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
For upon the first day of the first month {Hebrew: that was the foundation of the going up.}began he to go up from Babylon; and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.
For Ezra had set his heart to seek the law of Jehovah, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances.
Let us therefore go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must {Or, lead}bring, and they shall hear my voice: and {Or, there shall be one flock}they shall become one flock, one shepherd.
And I also say unto thee, that thou art {Greek: Petros.}Peter, and upon this {Greek: petra.}rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem;
and that whosoever came not within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be {Hebrew: devoted}forfeited, and himself separated from the assembly of the captivity.
Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within the three days (it was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month); and all the people sat in the broad place before the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for {Hebrew: the rains.}the great rain.
And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have trespassed, and have married foreign women, to increase the guilt of Israel.
Now therefore {Or, give thanks}make confession unto Jehovah, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women.
Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, {Or, As thou hast said, so it behooved us to do}As thou hast said concerning us, so must we do.
But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without: neither is this a work of one day or two; for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.
Let now our princes {Hebrew: stand.}be appointed for all the assembly, and let all them that are in our cities that have married foreign women come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God be turned from us, {Or, as touching this matter}until this matter be despatched.
And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain heads of fathers' houses, after their fathers' houses, and all of them by their names, were set apart; and they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.
And they made an end with all the men that had married foreign women by the first day of the first month.
And among the sons of the priests there were found that had married foreign women: namely, of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brethren, Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.
And they gave their hand that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt.
And of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.
And of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.
And of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.
And of the Levites: Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (the same is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.
And of the singers: Eliashib. And of the porters: Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.
And of Israel: Of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, and Izziah, and Malchijah, and Mijamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.
And of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Elijah.
And of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.
And of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai.
And of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, {Another reading is, and Ramoth.}Jeremoth.
And of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.
And of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,
Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah.
Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei.
Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, and Uel,
Benaiah, Bedeiah, {Another reading is, Cheluhu.}Cheluhi,
Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,
Mattaniah, Mattenai, and {Another reading is, Jaasai.}Jaasu,
and Bani, and Binnui, Shimei,
and Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah,
Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
Azarel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah,
Shallum, Amariah, Joseph.
Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, {}Iddo, and Joel, Benaiah.
All these had taken foreign wives; and {Or, some of the wives had borne children.}some of them had wives by whom they had children.
The {Or, history}words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.Now it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the {Or, castle}palace,
that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, that were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, that were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.