The traders and sellers of all kinds of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem once or twice.

<p class="bodytext">So I purified them of everything foreign, and I assigned specific<n id="1" /> duties to the priests and the Levites.

When all our enemies heard and all the nations who were around us saw<n id="1" /> this, they were greatly disheartened.<n id="2" /> They knew that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.p>

<p class="bodytext">Then Nehemiah the governor,<n id="1" /> Ezra the priestly scribe,<n id="2" /> and the Levites who were imparting understanding to the people said to all of them,<n id="3" /> &#8220;This day is holy to the <sc>LORDsc> your God. Do not mourn or weep.&#8221; For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the law.

You performed awesome signs<n id="1" /> against Pharaoh, against his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that the Egyptians<n id="2" /> had acted presumptuously<n id="3" /> against them. You made for yourself a name that is celebrated to this day.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;So now, our God &#8211; the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity<n id="1" /> &#8211; do not regard as inconsequential<n id="2" /> all the hardship that has befallen us &#8211; our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people &#8211; from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day!

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Now the rest of the people &#8211; the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple attendants, and all those who have separated themselves from the neighboring peoples<n id="1" /> because of the law of God, along with their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all of whom are able to understand &#8211;

We will not buy<n id="1" /> on the Sabbath or on a holy day from the neighboring peoples who bring their wares and all kinds of grain to sell on the Sabbath day. We will let the fields lie fallow every seventh year, and we will cancel every loan.<n id="2" />

We will also bring the first of our coarse meal, of our contributions, of the fruit of every tree, of new wine, and of olive oil to the priests at the storerooms of the temple of our God, along with a tenth of the produce<n id="1" /> of our land to the Levites, for the Levites are the ones who collect the tithes in all the cities where we work.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">So we rebuilt the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height.<n id="1" /> The people were enthusiastic in their work.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">So it happened that the Jews who were living near them came and warned us repeatedly<n id="1" /> about all the schemes<n id="2" /> they were plotting<n id="3" /> against us.p>

I gave myself to the work on this wall, without even purchasing<n id="1" /> a field. All my associates were gathered there for the work.p>

<p class="bodytext">All of them were wanting<n id="1" /> to scare us, supposing, &#8220;Their hands will grow slack from the work, and it won&#8217;t get done.&#8221;p> <p class="bodytext">So now, strengthen my hands!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all the rest of Israel lived in their cities.p><t /><p class="bodytext">When the seventh month arrived and the Israelites<n id="1" /> were settled in their cities,<n id="2" />

So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly which included men and women and all those able to understand what they heard. (This happened on the first day of the seventh month.)

Ezra blessed the <sc>LORDsc>, the great God, and all the people replied &#8220;Amen! Amen!&#8221; as they lifted their hands. Then they bowed down and worshiped the <sc>LORDsc> with their faces to the ground.p>

So all the people departed to eat and drink and to share their food<n id="1" /> with others<n id="2" /> and to enjoy tremendous joy,<n id="3" /> for they had gained insight in the matters that had been made known to them.p>

<p class="bodytext">On the second day of the month the family leaders<n id="1" /> met with<n id="2" /> Ezra the scribe, together with all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to consider the words of the law.

<t /><p class="bodytext">At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> they sought out the Levites from all the places they lived<n id="2" /> to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication joyfully with songs of thanksgiving and songs accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.

Should we then in your case hear that you do all this great evil, thereby being unfaithful to our God by marrying<n id="1" /> foreign wives?&#8221;p>