Open your eyes, and pay close attention with your ears to what I, your servant, am praying. I am praying to you day and night about your servants the Israelites. I confess the sins that we Israelites have committed against you as well as the sins that my father’s family and I have committed.

But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, they were very upset that someone had come to give the people of Israel so much assistance.

They went with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah.

Families Listed by Ancestor

This is the number of Israelite men from the people in exile:

Those of Unknown Origin

The following people came from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but they couldn’t prove they were Israelites on the basis of their father’s family or their genealogy:

These priests couldn’t prove they were Israelites: the descendants of Hobaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai (who had married one of the daughters of Barzillai from Gilead and took that family name).

The priests, Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and the rest of Israel settled in their own cities. When the seventh month came, the people of Israel were in their own cities.

The Public Reading of Moses’ Teachings

When the seventh month came, all the people gathered together in the courtyard in front of Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of Moses’ Teachings, which Yahweh had commanded Israel to follow.

They found written in the Teachings that Yahweh had given an order through Moses that the people of Israel should live in booths during a festival in the seventh month.

The whole assembly that had come back from exile made booths and lived in them. From the time of Jeshua (son of Nun) to that day, the people of Israel had not done this. There was a big, joyful celebration.

A Day of Fasting and Confession

When the Israelites assembled on the twenty-fourth day of this month, they fasted, wore sackcloth, and threw dirt on their heads.

Those who were descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood and confessed their sins as well as the wicked things their ancestors had done.

Conquest of Canaan

You gave kingdoms and nations to the Israelites and assigned them their boundaries. So they took possession of the land of Sihon, the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of King Og of Bashan.

The Israelites captured fortified cities and a rich land. They took possession of houses filled with all sorts of good things, cisterns, vineyards, olive trees, and plenty of fruit trees. So they ate and were satisfied and grew fat. They enjoyed the vast supply of good things you gave them.

Israel’s Rebellion

But they were defiant and rebelled against you. They threw your teachings over their shoulders and killed your prophets who warned them to turn back to you. They committed outrageous sins.

for rows of the bread of the presence, and for the daily grain offerings and daily burnt offerings, on the weekly days of worship, and on the New Moon Festivals, and at the appointed annual festivals, for the holy gifts and offerings for sin that make peace with God for Israel, and for all the other work in the temple of our Elohim.

The Israelites and the Levites should bring into the storerooms their contributions of grain, new wine, and olive oil. They should bring these products to the place where the utensils of the holy place are and where the priests who serve and the gatekeepers and the singers are. We won’t neglect our Elohim’s temple.

These were the officials of the province who settled in Jerusalem. Some Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants, and descendants of Solomon’s servants settled in the cities of Judah. They lived on their own property in their own cities.

The rest of the Israelites, priests, and Levites lived in all the cities of Judah. Everyone lived on his own inherited property.

At the time of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, all the Israelites were giving gifts for the daily support of the singers and the gatekeepers. They set aside holy gifts for the daily support of the Levites, and the Levites set aside holy gifts for support of Aaron’s descendants.

(After all, they didn’t welcome the Israelites with food and water. Instead, they hired Balaam to curse the Israelites. But our Elohim turned the curse into a blessing.)

After the people heard this Teaching, they separated the non-Israelites from the Israelites.

Isn’t this what your ancestors did, with the results that our Elohim brought all these evils on us and on this city? Now you’re making him even more angry with Israel by treating the day of worship as unholy.”

I said, “Wasn’t it because of marriages like these that King Solomon of Israel sinned? There wasn’t a king like him among all nations. Elohim loved him, and Elohim made him king of all Israel. But his non-Israelite wives led him to sin.

Should we follow your example, commit such a serious crime against our Elohim, and be unfaithful to him by marrying non-Israelite women?”