I said to the king, “If the king is so inclined, let him give me letters for the governors of Trans-Euphrates ¹  that will enable me to travel safely until I reach Judah,

After him Malkijah, one of the goldsmiths, worked as far as the house of the temple servants and the traders, opposite the Inspection Gate, ¹  and up to the room above the corner.

At that time I instructed ¹  the people, “Let every man and his coworker spend the night in Jerusalem and let them be guards for us by night and workers by day.

So all the assembly which had returned from the exile constructed temporary shelters and lived in them. The Israelites had not done so from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day. Everyone experienced very great joy. ¹ 

Even when they were in their kingdom and benefiting from your incredible ¹  goodness that you had lavished ²  on them in the spacious and fertile land you had set ³  before them, they did not serve you, nor did they turn from their evil practices.

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.