⁶ But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, ^(A)for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Then after certain days I obtained leave from the king,

The Generosity of Nehemiah

¹⁴ Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year ^(A)until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ^(B)ate the governor’s provisions.

²⁵ but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

⁵ And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”

⁶ Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), “How long will your journey be? And when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him ^(A)a time.

Nehemiah Sent to Judah

2 And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of ^(A)King ^[a]Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that ^(B)I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before.

²² And they kept the ^(A)Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy; for the Lord made them joyful, and ^(B)turned the heart ^(C)of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

¹⁷ Now after the death of Jehoiada the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king. And the king listened to them. ¹⁸ Therefore they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served ^(A)wooden images and idols; and ^(B)wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass.

The Gold Calf^(A)

32 Now when the people saw that Moses ^(B)delayed coming down from the mountain, the people ^(C)gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ^(D)“Come, make us ^[a]gods that shall ^(E)go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who ^(F)brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”