In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.". . . We assume the responsibility for carrying out the commands to give a third of a shekel each year for the service of the house of our God . . . Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of...  Read More

On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of t...  Read More

They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, "This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of th...  Read More

When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel.So on the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women a...  Read More

So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God…After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the Levites were appointed. I put in ch...  Read More

One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, "Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you -- by night they are coming to kill you."But I said, "Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go...  Read More