Then the two choirs that gave thanks took their stations ¹  in the temple of God. I did also, along with half the officials with me,

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 used you to smash shepherds and their flocks. I used you to smash farmers and their teams of oxen. I used you to smash governors and leaders.” ¹ 

clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.

The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had been doing, for up to this point I had not told any of the Jews or the priests or the nobles or the officials or the rest of the workers.

Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ¹  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

There were 150 Jews and officials who dined with me routinely, ¹  in addition to those who came to us from the nations ²  all around us.

I have stirred up one out of the north ¹  and he advances, one from the eastern horizon who prays in my name. ²  He steps on ³  rulers as if they were clay, like a potter treading the clay.

Prepare the nations to do battle against her. ¹  Prepare the kings of the Medes. Prepare their governors and all their leaders. ²  Prepare all the countries they rule to do battle against her. ³ 

“I will make her officials and wise men drunk, along with her governors, leaders, ¹  and warriors. They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,” ²  says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all. ³ 

She lusted after the Assyrians – governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

When I had made an inspection, ¹  I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awesome Lord, ²  and fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your families!” ³ 

I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is demanding ¹  and extensive, and we are spread out on the wall, far removed from one another.

I considered these things carefully ¹  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ²  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ³  from your own countrymen!” ⁴  Because of them I called for ⁵  a great public assembly.

My God placed it on my heart to gather the leaders, ¹  the officials, and the ordinary people so they could be enrolled on the basis of genealogy. I found the genealogical records ²  of those who had formerly returned. Here is what I found written in that record: ³ 

the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, ¹  Shoa, ²  and Koa, ³  and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, all of them governors and officials, officers and nobles, all of them riding on horses.