9 Afterward, the officials came to me and said, The Israelites and the priests and Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, but have committed the abominations of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.

² For they have taken as wives some of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy offspring have mixed themselves with the peoples of the lands. Indeed, the officials and chief men have been foremost in this wicked act and direct violation [of God’s will].^(A)

³ When I heard this, I rent my undergarment and my mantle, I pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled.

⁴ Then all those who trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the offensive violation of His will by the returned exiles gathered around me as I sat astounded until the evening sacrifice.

⁵ At the evening sacrifice I arose from my depression, and, having rent my undergarment and my mantle, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God,

⁶ Saying, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has mounted to the heavens.

⁷ Since the days of our fathers we have been exceedingly guilty; and for our willfulness we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, captivity, plundering, and utter shame, as it is today.

⁸ And now, for a brief moment, grace has been shown us by the Lord our God, Who has left us a remnant to escape and has given us a secure hold in His holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

⁹ For we are bondmen; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended mercy and steadfast love to us before the kings of Persia, to give us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall [of protection] in Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁰ Now, O our God, what can we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commands

¹¹ Which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the pollutions of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations which have filled it from one end to the other with their filthiness.

¹² Therefore, do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons; and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it as an inheritance to your children always.

¹³ And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant,

¹⁴ Shall we break Your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would You not be angry with us till You had consumed us, so that there would be no remnant nor any to escape?^(B)

¹⁵ O Lord, the God of Israel, You are rigidly just and righteous, for we are left a remnant that is escaped, as it is this day. Behold, we are before You in our guilt, for none can stand before You because of this.

10 Now while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there gathered to him out of Israel a very great assembly of men, women, and children; for the people wept bitterly.

² And Shecaniah [II] son of Jehiel [one of the congregation], of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra: We have broken faith and dealt treacherously against our God and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land; yet now there is still hope for Israel in spite of this thing.

³ Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the foreign wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the command of our God; and let it be done according to the Law.

⁴ Arise, for it is your duty, and we are with you. Be strong and brave and do it.

⁵ Then Ezra arose and made the chiefs of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel swear that they would do as had been said. So they took the oath.

⁶ Then Ezra came from before the house of God and went into the lodging place of Jehohanan son of Eliashib [for the night]. There he ate no bread and drank no water, for he mourned over the returned exiles’ faithlessness [and violation of God’s law].

⁷ And proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles, that they should assemble in Jerusalem,

⁸ And that whoever 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 assembly of the exiles.

⁹ Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within three days. It was the twentieth day of the ninth month, and all the people sat in the open space before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain.

¹⁰ And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, You have acted wickedly and broken faith [with God] and have married foreign (heathen) women, increasing the guilt of Israel.

¹¹ So now make confession and give thanks to the Lord, the God of your fathers [for not consuming you], and do His will. ^[a]Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from [your] foreign (heathen) wives.

¹² Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, As you have said, so must we do.

¹³ But the people are many and it is a time of heavy rain; we cannot stand outside. Nor can this work be done in a day or two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.

¹⁴ Let our officials stand for the whole assembly; let all in our cities who have foreign wives come by appointment, and with each group the elders of that city and its judges, until the fierce wrath of our God over this matter is turned away from us.

¹⁵ Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supported them.

¹⁶ Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest and certain heads of fathers’ houses were selected, according to their fathers’ houses, each of them by name; and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter.

¹⁷ And by the first day of the first month they had come to the end of the cases of the men married to foreign wives.

¹⁸ Of the sons of the priests who had married non-Jewish women were found: of the sons of Jeshua [the high priest] son of Jozadak, and his brethren: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

¹⁹ They solemnly vowed to put away their [heathen] wives, and, being guilty, [each] offered a ram of the flock for [his] guilt.

²⁰ Of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.

²¹ Of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah.

²² Of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

²³ Of the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

²⁴ Of the singers: Eliashib. Of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.

²⁵ And of Israel: of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah (Hashabiah), and Benaiah.

²⁶ Of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah.

²⁷ Of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza.

²⁸ Of the sons also of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.

²⁹ Of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth.

³⁰ Of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh.

³¹ Of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,

³² Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.

³³ Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.

³⁴ Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel,

³⁵ Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi (Cheluhu),

³⁶ Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,

³⁷ Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu [Jaasai],

³⁸ Bani, Binnui, Shimei,

³⁹ Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah,

⁴⁰ Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,

⁴¹ Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah,

⁴² Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.

⁴³ Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Iddo (Jaddai), Joel, and Benaiah.

⁴⁴ All these had married foreign women, and some of the wives had borne children.

1 The words or story of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: Now in the month of Chislev in the twentieth year [of the Persian king], as I was in the castle of Shushan,

² Hanani, one of my kinsmen, came with certain men from Judah, and I asked them about the surviving Jews who had escaped exile, and about Jerusalem.

³ And they said to me, The remnant there in the province who escaped exile are in great trouble and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its [fortified] gates are destroyed by fire.

⁴ When I heard this, I sat down and wept and mourned for days and fasted and prayed [constantly] before the God of heaven,

⁵ And I said, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, Who keeps covenant, loving-kindness, and mercy for those who love Him and keep His commandments,

⁶ Let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to listen to the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You day and night for the Israelites, Your servants, confessing the sins of the Israelites which we have sinned against You. Yes, I and my father’s house have sinned.

⁷ We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.^(A)

⁸ Remember [earnestly] what You commanded Your servant Moses: If you transgress and are unfaithful, I will scatter you abroad among the nations;^(B)

⁹ But if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the farthest part of the heavens [the expanse of outer space], yet will I gather them from there and will bring them to the place in which I have chosen to set My ^[a]Name.^(C)

¹⁰ Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand.

¹¹ O Lord, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere and fear Your name (Your nature and attributes); and prosper, I pray You, Your servant this day and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was cupbearer to the king.

2 In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence.

² So the king said to me, Why do you look sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was very much afraid

³ And said to the king, Let the king live forever! Why should I not be sad faced when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchers, lies waste, and its [fortified] gates are consumed by fire?

⁴ The king said to me, For what do you ask? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

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

⁶ The king, beside whom the queen was sitting, asked me, How long will your journey take, and when will you return? So it pleased [him] to send me; and I set him a time.

⁷ Also I said to the king, If it pleases the king, let letters be given me for the governors beyond the [Euphrates] River, that they may let me pass through to Judah,

⁸ And a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest or park, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple and for the city wall and for the house that I shall occupy. And the king granted what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.

⁹ Then I came to the governors beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.

¹⁰ When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard this, it distressed them exceedingly that a man had come to inquire for and require the good and prosperity of the Israelites.

¹¹ So I came to Jerusalem and had been there three days.

¹² Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. No beast was with me except the one I rode.

¹³ I went out by night by the Valley Gate toward the Dragon’s Well and to the Dung Gate and inspected the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire.

¹⁴ I passed over to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.

¹⁵ So [gradually] I went up by the brook [Kidron] in the night and inspected the wall; then I turned back and entered [the city] by the Valley Gate, and so returned.

¹⁶ And the magistrates knew not where I went or what I did; nor had I yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest who did the work.

¹⁷ Then I said to them, You see the bad situation we are in—how Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a disgrace.

¹⁸ Then I told them of the hand of my God which was upon me for good, and also the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise up and build! So they strengthened their hands for the good work.

¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed us to scorn and despised us and said, What is this thing you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?

²⁰ I answered them, The God of heaven will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or memorial in Jerusalem.