When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official<n id="1" /> heard all this, they were very displeased that someone had come to seek benefit for the Israelites.p>

<p class="bodytext">Malkijah son of Recab, head of the district of Beth Hakkerem, worked on the Dung Gate. He rebuilt it and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars.p>

<p class="bodytext">After him the Levites worked &#8211; Rehum son of Bani and<n id="1" /> after him Hashabiah, head of half the district of Keilah, for his district.

Adjacent to him Ezer son of Jeshua, head of Mizpah, worked on another section, opposite the ascent to the armory at the buttress.

After him Baruch son of Zabbai worked on another section, from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

After him Binnui son of Henadad worked on another section, from the house of Azariah to the buttress and the corner.

After him Malkijah, one of the goldsmiths, worked as far as the house of the temple servants and the traders, opposite the Inspection Gate,<n id="1" /> and up to the room above the corner.

<p class="bodytext">These are the people<n id="1" /> of the province who returned<n id="2" /> from the captivity of the exiles, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had forced into exile.<n id="3" /> They returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, each to his own city.

<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" />

They discovered written in the law that the <sc>LORDsc> had commanded through<n id="1" /> Moses that the Israelites should live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month,

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.

<p class="bodytext">As for the settlements with their fields, some of the people of Judah settled in Kiriath Arba and its neighboring villages,<n id="1" /> in Dibon and its villages, in Jekabzeel and its settlements,

<t /><p class="bodytext">These are the priests and Levites who returned<n id="1" /> with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

And the leaders of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua son of Kadmiel, and their colleagues, who stood opposite them to offer praise and thanks, one contingent corresponding to the other, as specified by<n id="1" /> David the man of God.p>

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

may your ear be attentive and your eyes be open to hear the prayer of your servant that I am praying to you today throughout both day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I am confessing the sins of the Israelites that we have committed<n id="1" /> against you &#8211; both I myself and my family<n id="2" /> have sinned.

<p class="bodytext">Shallun son of Col-Hozeh, head of the district of Mizpah, worked on the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it, put on its roof, and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars. In addition, he rebuilt the wall of the Pool of Siloam,<n id="1" /> by the royal garden, as far as the steps that go down from the City of David.

Nehemiah son of Azbuk, head of a half-district of Beth Zur, worked after him as far as the tombs of David and the artificial pool and the House of the Warriors.p>

When I had made an inspection,<n id="1" /> I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, &#8220;Don&#8217;t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awesome Lord,<n id="2" /> and fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your families!&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

Their descendants<n id="1" /> entered and possessed the land. You subdued before them the Canaanites who were the inhabitants of the land. You delivered them into their hand, together with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with as they pleased.