Ezra 10 - Nehemiah 2

English Standard Version

The People Confess Their Sin

10 ^(A)While Ezra prayed and ^(B)made confession, weeping and ^(C)casting himself down ^(D)before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly. ²And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra: ^(E)“We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. ³Therefore ^(F)let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and ^(G)their children, according to the counsel of my lord^[a] and of ^(H)those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done ^(I)according to the Law. ⁴Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; ^(J)be strong and do it.” ⁵Then Ezra arose and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel ^(K)take an oath that they would do as had been said. So they took the oath.

⁶Then Ezra withdrew ^(L)from before the house of God and went to the ^(M)chamber of ^(N)Jehohanan the son of ^(O)Eliashib, where he spent the night,^[b] neither ^(P)eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles. ⁷And a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles that they should assemble at Jerusalem, ⁸and that if anyone did not come within three days, by order of the officials and the elders all his property should be forfeited, and he himself banned from the congregation of the exiles.

⁹Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. And all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the ^(Q)heavy rain. ¹⁰And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have broken faith and married foreign women, and so increased the guilt of Israel. ¹¹Now then ^(R)make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers and do his will. ^(S)Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” ¹²Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “It is so; we must do as you have said. ¹³But the people are many, and it is a time of heavy rain; we cannot stand in the open. Nor is this a task for one day or for two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter. ¹⁴Let our officials stand for the whole assembly. Let all in our cities who have taken foreign wives come ^(T)at appointed times, and with them the elders and judges of every city, ^(U)until the fierce wrath of our God over this matter is turned away from us.” ¹⁵Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah opposed this, and ^(V)Meshullam and ^(W)Shabbethai the Levite supported them.

¹⁶Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest selected men,^[c] heads of fathers' houses, according to their fathers' houses, each of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to examine the matter; ¹⁷and by the first day of the first month they had come to the end of all the men who had married foreign women.

Those Guilty of Intermarriage

¹⁸Now there were found some of the sons of the priests who had married foreign women: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah, some of the sons of ^(X)Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers. ¹⁹They ^(Y)pledged themselves to put away their wives, and their guilt offering was ^(Z)a ram of the flock for their guilt.^[d] ²⁰^(AA)Of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah. ²¹^(AB)Of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah. ²²Of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

²³Of the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. ²⁴Of the singers: Eliashib. Of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.

²⁵And of Israel: of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Hashabiah,^[e] and Benaiah. ²⁶Of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah. ²⁷Of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza. ²⁸Of the sons of Bebai were Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai. ²⁹Of the sons of Bani were Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth. ³⁰Of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh. ³¹Of the ^(AC)sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, ³²Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah. ³³Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei. ³⁴Of the sons of ^(AD)Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel, ³⁵Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, ³⁶Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, ³⁷Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu. ³⁸Of the sons of Binnui:^[f] Shimei, ³⁹Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, ⁴⁰Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, ⁴¹Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, ⁴²Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph. ⁴³Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah. ⁴⁴All these had married foreign women, and some of the women ^(AE)had even borne children.^[g]

Report from Jerusalem

1 The words of ^(AF)Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

Now it happened in the month of ^(AG)Chislev, ^(AH)in the twentieth year, as I was in ^(AI)Susa the citadel, ²that ^(AJ)Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. ³And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and ^(AK)shame. ^(AL)The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, ^(AM)and its gates are destroyed by fire.”

Nehemiah's Prayer

⁴As soon as I heard these words I ^(AN)sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the ^(AO)God of heaven. ⁵And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, ^(AP)the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁶^(AQ)let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, ^(AR)confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even ^(AS)I and my father's house have sinned. ⁷^(AT)We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules ^(AU)that you commanded your servant Moses. ⁸Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, ^(AV)I will scatter you among the peoples, ⁹^(AW)but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, ^(AX)though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them ^(AY)to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ ¹⁰^(AZ)They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. ¹¹O Lord, ^(BA)let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”

Now I was ^(BB)cupbearer to the king.

Nehemiah Sent to Judah

2 In the month of Nisan, ^(BC)in the twentieth year of King ^(BD)Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, ^(BE)I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. ²And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but ^(BF)sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. ³I said to the king, ^(BG)“Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, ^(BH)when the city, the place of my fathers' graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” ⁴Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed ^(BI)to the God of heaven. ⁵And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' graves, that I may rebuild it.” ⁶And the king said to me (^(BJ)the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me ^(BK)when I had given him a time. ⁷And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me ^(BL)to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, ⁸and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of ^(BM)the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, ^(BN)for the good hand of my God was upon me.

Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem's Walls

⁹Then I came to ^(BO)the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. ¹⁰But when ^(BP)Sanballat the Horonite and ^(BQ)Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

¹¹^(BR)So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. ¹²Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode. ¹³I went out by night by ^(BS)the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to ^(BT)the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem ^(BU)that were broken down ^(BV)and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. ¹⁴Then I went on to ^(BW)the Fountain Gate and to ^(BX)the King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. ¹⁵Then I went up in the night ^(BY)by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. ¹⁶And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.

¹⁷Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, ^(BZ)how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer ^(CA)suffer derision.” ¹⁸And I told them ^(CB)of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” ^(CC)So they strengthened their hands for the good work. ¹⁹But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and ^(CD)Geshem the Arab heard of it, ^(CE)they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? ^(CF)Are you rebelling against the king?” ²⁰Then I replied to them, ^(CG)“The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim^[h] in Jerusalem.”