40 Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, [1] 41 Azareel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah, 42 Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph. 43 Of the sons of Nebo; Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jadau, and Joel, Benaiah. 44 All these had taken foreign wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children.
Nehemiah.
Before
CHRIST,
446.
CHAP. 1.
1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,
2 That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
3 And they said to me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.
4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
5 And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:
6 Let thy ear now be attentive, and thy eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned.
7 We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou didst command thy servant Moses.
8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou didst command thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:
9 But if ye turn to me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you driven to the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen to set my name there.
10 Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.
11 O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thy ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.
CHAP. 2.
1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not in times past been sad in his presence.
2 Therefore the king said to me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was very greatly afraid,
3 And said to the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and its gates are consumed with fire?
4 Then the king said to me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
5 And I said to the king, If it should please the king, and if thy servant hath found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.
6 And the king said to me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. [2]
7 Moreover I said to the king, If it should please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may let me pass through till I come into Judah;
8 And a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber
