let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open, to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have committed against You; I and my father’s house have sinned.

Do not forgive their guilt and do not let their sin be wiped out before You, for they have demoralized the builders.

Nehemiah’s Example

Furthermore, since the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my kinsmen have eaten the governor’s food allowance.

He was hired for this reason, that I would become frightened and act accordingly and sin, so that they might have an evil report in order that they could taunt me.

Census of First Returned Exiles

Now when the wall was rebuilt and I had installed the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites were appointed,

The singers: the sons of Asaph, 148.

besides their male slaves and their female slaves, of whom there were 7,337; and they had 245 male and female singers.

Now the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel lived in their cities. And when the seventh month came, the sons of Israel were in their cities.

The entire assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths. Indeed, the sons of Israel had not done so since the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day. And there was very great rejoicing.

The People Confess Their Sin

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them.

The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the wrongdoings of their fathers.

Then You came down on Mount Sinai, And spoke with them from heaven; You gave them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments.

And admonished them in order to turn them back to Your Law. Yet they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances, Which, if a person follows them, then he will live by them. And they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.

And its abundant produce is for the kings Whom You have set over us because of our sins; They also rule over our bodies And over our cattle as they please, So we are in great distress.

Obligations of the Document

Now the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding,

for the showbread, for the continual grain offering, for the continual burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, for the appointed times, for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God.

For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine, and the oil to the chambers; the utensils of the sanctuary, the priests who are ministering, the gatekeepers, and the singers are there. So we will not neglect the house of our God.

Now the overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica, from the sons of Asaph, who were the singers for the service of the house of God.

For there was a commandment from the king concerning them and a royal command for the singers day by day.

So the sons of the singers were assembled from the territory around Jerusalem, and from the villages of the Netophathites,

from Beth-gilgal and from their fields in Geba and Azmaveth, because the singers had built themselves villages around Jerusalem.

and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang, with Jezrahiah their leader,

For they performed the worship of their God and the service of purification, together with the singers and the gatekeepers in accordance with the command of David and of his son Solomon.

For in the days of David and Asaph, in ancient times, there were leaders of the singers, songs of praise and songs of thanksgiving to God.

So all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah gave the portions due the singers and the gatekeepers as each day required, and they set apart the consecrated portion for the Levites, and the Levites set apart the consecrated portion for the sons of Aaron.