The temple attendants were living on Ophel, and Ziha and Gishpa were over them.

The king responded, “What is it you are seeking?” Then I quickly prayed to the God of heaven

The builders to a man had their swords strapped to their sides while they were building. But the trumpeter remained with me.

Please remember me for good, O my God, for all that I have done for this people.

Those truly of Israelite descent separated from all the foreigners, standing and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.

“You saw the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt, and you heard their cry at the Red Sea.

You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully. It is we who have been in the wrong!

Joel son of Zicri was the officer in charge of them, and Judah son of Hassenuah was second-in-command over the city.

Shabbethai and Jozabad, leaders of the Levites, were in charge of the external work for the temple of God;

For they were under royal orders which determined their activity day by day.

And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who together with his colleagues was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving.

So I registered a complaint with the leaders, asking “Why is the temple of God neglected?” Then I gathered them and reassigned them to their positions.

Please remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, the covenant of the priesthood, and the Levites.

I said to the king, “If the king is so inclined, let him give me letters for the governors of Trans-Euphrates that will enable me to travel safely until I reach Judah,

But the former governors who preceded me had burdened the people and had taken food and wine from them, in addition to forty shekels of silver. Their associates were also domineering over the people. But I did not behave in this way, due to my fear of God.

Ezra the scribe stood on a towering wooden platform constructed for this purpose. Standing near him on his right were Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Masseiah. On his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

“We – the priests, the Levites, and the people – have cast lots concerning the wood offerings, to bring them to the temple of our God according to our families at the designated times year by year to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as is written in the law.

On that day men were appointed over the storerooms for the contributions, first fruits, and tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions prescribed by the law for the priests and the Levites, for the people of Judah took delight in the priests and Levites who were ministering.

Was it not because of things like these that King Solomon of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. But the foreign wives made even him sin!

Hanani, who was one of my relatives, along with some of the men from Judah, came to me, and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped and had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem.