Seraiah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, supervisor in the temple of God,

and his colleagues – Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani – with musical instruments of ¹  David the man of God. (Ezra the scribe led them.) ² 

They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers, according to the commandment of David and ¹  his son Solomon.

For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors ¹  for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanks to God.

for they had not met the Israelites with food ¹  and water, but instead had hired Balaam to curse them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into blessing.)

But prior to this time, Eliashib the priest, a relative of Tobiah, had been appointed over the storerooms ¹  of the temple of our God.

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. ¹ 

I also provided for ¹  the wood offering at the appointed times and also for the first fruits. Please remember me for good, O my God.

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 ¹  him king over all Israel. But the foreign wives made even him sin!

“So now, our God – the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity ¹  – do not regard as inconsequential ²  all the hardship that has befallen us – our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people – from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day!

“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 ¹  at the designated times year by year to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as is written in the law.

We also accept responsibility, as is written in the law, for bringing the firstborn of our sons and our cattle and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks to the temple of our God, to the priests who are ministering in the temple of our God.

hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders ¹  and enter into a curse and an oath ²  to adhere to ³  the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey ⁴  carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, ⁵  along with his ordinances and his statutes.

It so happened that when our adversaries heard that we were aware of these matters, ¹  God frustrated their intentions. Then all of us returned to the wall, each to his own work.

Then I ¹  said, “The thing that you are doing is wrong! ²  Should you not conduct yourselves ³  in the fear of our God in order to avoid the reproach of the Gentiles who are our enemies?

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.

even when they made a cast image of a calf for themselves and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up from Egypt,’ or when they committed atrocious ¹  blasphemies.

and I returned to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah by supplying him with a storeroom in the courts of the temple of God.

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.

The Levites – Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah – said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God!” “May you be blessed, O LORD our God, from age to age. ¹  May your glorious name ²  be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise.