We have behaved corruptly against you, not obeying the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments that you commanded your servant Moses.

Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews. ¹ 

Also in those days I saw the men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

So I stationed people at the lower places behind the wall in the exposed places. ¹  I stationed the people by families, with their swords, spears, and bows.

And from among the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Barzillai (who had married a woman from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name).

You prolonged your kindness ¹  with them for many years, and you solemnly admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they paid no attention, ²  so you delivered them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. ³ 

These are the provincial leaders ¹  who settled in Jerusalem. (While other Israelites, the priests, the Levites, the temple attendants, and the sons of the servants of Solomon settled in the cities of Judah, each on his own property in their cities,

After him the priests worked, men of the nearby district.

The entire group numbered 42,360,

Bakbukiah and Unni, ¹  their colleagues, stood opposite them in the services.

¹ These are the words of Nehemiah ²  son of Hacaliah: It so happened that in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year, ³  I was in Susa ⁴  the citadel.

Then I said, “Please, O LORD God of heaven, great and awesome God, who keeps his loving covenant ¹  with those who love him and obey ²  his commandments,

After them Benjamin and Hasshub worked opposite their house. After them Azariah son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, worked near his house.

I then put in charge over Jerusalem ¹  my brother Hanani and Hananiah ²  the chief of the citadel, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many do.

They searched for their records in the genealogical materials, but none were found. They were therefore excluded ¹  from the priesthood.

not counting their 7,337 male and female servants. They also had 245 male and female singers.

Ezra opened the book in plain view ¹  of all the people, for he was elevated above all the people. When he opened the book, ²  all the people stood up.

Then I gave instructions that the storerooms should be purified, and I brought back the equipment ¹  of the temple of God, along with the grain offering and the incense.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard all this, ¹  they derided us and expressed contempt toward us. They said, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

We did not change clothes ¹  – not I, nor my relatives, nor my workers, nor the watchmen who were with me. Each had his weapon, even when getting a drink of water. ²