Nehemiah 13:6
During all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon, I had gone back to the king. After some time I had requested leave of the king,
During all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon, I had gone back to the king. After some time I had requested leave of the king,
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1Nehemiah Is Permitted to Go to Jerusalem Then in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought to me, I took the wine and gave it to the king. Previously I had not been depressed in the king’s presence.
2So the king said to me,“Why do you appear to be depressed when you aren’t sick? What can this be other than sadness of heart?” This made me very fearful.
7and I returned to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah by supplying him with a storeroom in the courts of the temple of God.
4The king responded,“What is it you are seeking?” Then I quickly prayed to the God of heaven
5and said to the king,“If the king is so inclined and if your servant has found favor in your sight, dispatch me to Judah, to the city with the graves of my ancestors, so that I can rebuild it.”
6Then the king, with his consort sitting beside him, replied,“How long would your trip take, and when would you return?” Since the king was pleased to send me, I gave him a time.
7I said to the king,“If the king is so inclined, let him give me letters for the governors of Trans-Euphrates that will enable me to travel safely until I reach Judah,
8and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king’s nature preserve, so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, for the good hand of my God was on me.
9Then I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, and I presented to them the letters from the king. The king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.
14From the day that I was appointed governor in the land of Judah, that is, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes– twelve years in all– neither I nor my relatives ate the food allotted to the governor.
15But the former governors who preceded me had burdened the people and had taken food and wine from them, in addition to forty shekels of silver. Their associates were also domineering over the people. But I did not behave in this way, due to my fear of God.
16I gave myself to the work on this wall, without even purchasing a field. All my associates were gathered there for the work.
11Nehemiah Arrives in Jerusalem So I came to Jerusalem. When I had been there for three days,
7In the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, Ezra brought up to Jerusalem some of the Israelites and some of the priests, the Levites, the attendants, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants.
8He entered Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king.
9On the first day of the first month he had determined to make the ascent from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he arrived at Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him.
5He made for himself a large storeroom where previously they had been keeping the grain offering, the incense, and the vessels, along with the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil as commanded for the Levites, the singers, the gate keepers, and the offering for the priests.
15This took place on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month of King Darius’ second year.
1¶ A Prayer of Nehemiah These are the words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah:It so happened that in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year, I was in Susa the citadel.
2Hanani, who was one of my relatives, along with some of the men from Judah, came to me, and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped and had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem.
3They said to me,“The remnant that remains from the exile there in the province are experiencing considerable adversity and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem lies breached, and its gates have been burned down!”
4When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
15I continued up the valley during the night, inspecting the wall. Then I turned back and came to the Valley Gate, and so returned.
16The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had been doing, for up to this point I had not told any of the Jews or the priests or the nobles or the officials or the rest of the workers.
26These all served in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra the priestly scribe.
13The Temple Is Finally Dedicated Then Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues acted accordingly– with precision, just as Darius the king had given instructions.
14The elders of the Jews continued building and prospering, while at the same time Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo continued prophesying. They built and brought it to completion by the command of the God of Israel and by the command of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
15They finished this temple on the third day of the month Adar, which is the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
13But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon, King Cyrus enacted a decree to rebuild this temple of God.
7Leave the work on this temple of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this temple of God in its proper place.
8“I also hereby issue orders as to what you are to do with those elders of the Jews in order to rebuild this temple of God. From the royal treasury, from the taxes of Trans-Euphrates the complete costs are to be given to these men, so that there may be no interruption of the work.
11Artaxerxes Gives Official Endorsement to Ezra’s Mission What follows is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priestly scribe. Ezra was a scribe in matters pertaining to the commandments of the LORD and his statutes over Israel:
12“Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven:
13I have now issued a decree that anyone in my kingdom from the people of Israel– even the priests and Levites– who wishes to do so may go up with you to Jerusalem.
3In the first year of his reign, King Cyrus gave orders concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:‘Let the temple be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be set in place. Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety feet,
3So I sent messengers to them saying,“I am engaged in an important work, and I am unable to come down. Why should the work come to a halt when I leave it to come down to you?”
2in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, came to understand from the sacred books that the number of years for the fulfilling of the desolation of Jerusalem, which had come as the LORD’s message to the prophet Jeremiah, would be 70 years.
8In the second year after they had come to the temple of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak initiated the work, along with the rest of their associates, the priests and the Levites, and all those who were coming to Jerusalem from the exile. They appointed the Levites who were at least twenty years old to take charge of the work on the LORD’s temple.
21“I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue orders to all the treasurers of Trans-Euphrates, that you precisely execute all that Ezra the priestly scribe of the law of the God of heaven may request of you–
28He has also conferred his favor on me before the king, his advisers, and all the influential leaders of the king. I gained strength as the hand of the LORD my God was on me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.
9Then I gave instructions that the storerooms should be purified, and I brought back the equipment of the temple of God, along with the grain offering and the incense.
10Then I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel. He was confined to his home. He said,“Let’s set up a time to meet in the house of God, within the temple. Let’s close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. It will surely be at night that they will come to kill you.”
11But I replied,“Should a man like me run away? Would someone like me flee to the temple in order to save his life? I will not go!”
30So I purified them of everything foreign, and I assigned specific duties to the priests and the Levites.
15The Exiles Travel to Jerusalem I had them assemble at the canal that flows toward Ahava, and we camped there for three days. I observed that the people and the priests were present, but I found no Levites there.
1Opposition to the Rebuilding Efforts Continues When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and no breach remained in it(even though up to that time I had not positioned doors in the gates),
15The Rebuilding of the Wall Is Finally Completed So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in just fifty-two days.
22Then I directed the Levites to purify themselves and come and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.For this please remember me, O my God, and have pity on me in keeping with your great love.
31On the twelfth day of the first month we began traveling from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from our enemy and from bandits along the way.