Please, ¹  O Lord, listen attentively ²  to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who take pleasure in showing respect ³  to your name. Grant your servant success today and show compassion to me ⁴  in the presence of this man.” Now ⁵  I was cupbearer for the king.

Hanani, who was one of my relatives, ¹  along with some of the men from Judah, came to me, ²  and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped and had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem. ³ 

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.

So in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah, all Israel was contributing the portions for the singers and gatekeepers, according to the daily need. ¹  They also set aside ²  the portion for the Levites, and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron.

Then I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel. He was confined to his home. ¹  He said, “Let’s set up a time to meet in the house of God, within the temple. Let’s close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. It will surely be at night that they will come to kill you.”

and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king’s nature preserve, ¹  so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall ²  and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, ³  for the good hand of my God was on me.

Then I related to them how the good hand of my God was on me and what ¹  the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let’s begin rebuilding right away!” ²  So they readied themselves ³  for this good project.

When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a ¹  covenant with him to give his descendants ²  the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise, ³  for you are righteous.

So I came to Jerusalem. ¹  When I had been there for three days,

The entire group numbered 42,360,

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.

For they were under royal orders ¹  which determined their activity day by day. ² 

So the king said to me, “Why do you appear to be depressed when you aren’t sick? What can this be other than sadness of heart?” This made me very fearful.

What the rest of the people gave amounted to 20,000 gold drachmas, 2,000 silver minas, and 67 priestly garments.

of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;

of Malluch, ¹  Jonathan; of Shecaniah, ²  Joseph;

of Harim, Adna; of Meremoth, ¹  Helkai;

of Iddo, ¹  Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;

of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;

of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;