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¹ The wordes of Nehemiah the sonne of Hachalia. In the moneth Chisleu, in the twentie yere, as I was in the castell at Susan,² Came Hanani, one of my brethren, he and the men of Iuda: and I asked them howe the Iewes dyd that were deliuered and escaped from the captiuitie, and howe it went at Hierusalem.³ And they sayde vnto me: The remnaunt that are left of the captiuitie there in the lande, are in great affliction and rebuke: the wall of Hierusalem also is broken downe, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire.⁴ And when I hearde these wordes, I sat downe and wept, and mourned certayne dayes, and fasted and prayed before the God of heauen,

⁵ And sayde: O Lorde God of heauen, thou great and terrible God, thou that kepest couenaunt and mercie for them that loue thee & obserue thy commaundementes:⁶ Let thyne eares hearken I beseche thee, and let thyne eyes be open, that thou mayest heare the prayer of thy seruaunt, whiche I pray nowe before thee day and night for the children of Israel thy seruauntes, and knowledge the sinnes of the children of Israel which we haue sinned against thee: I and my fathers house haue sinned,⁷ We haue greeuously sinned against thee, and haue not kept thy commaundementes, statutes, and iudgementes, whiche thou commaundedst thy seruaunt Moyses.⁸ I beseche thee call to remembraunce the worde that thou commaundedst thy seruaunt Moyses, and saydest, Ye will transgresse, and I will scatter you abrode among the nations:⁹ But if ye turne vnto me, and kepe my commaundementes, & do them: though ye were cast out vnto the vttermost part of heauen, yet wil I gather you from thence, and will bring you vnto the place that I haue chosen, to set my name there.¹⁰ They are thy seruauntes and thy people, whom thou hast deliuered through thy great power, and in thy mightie hande.¹¹ O Lorde I besech thee, let thyne eare hearken to the prayer of thy seruaunt, and to the prayer of thy seruauntes, whose desire is to feare thy name: and let thy seruaunt prosper this day, and graunt him mercie in the sight of this man. For I was the kinges butler.