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¹ The words of Nehemiah the sonne of Hachaliah. In ye moneth Chisleu, in the twentieth yeere, as I was in the palace of Shushan,² Came Hanam, one of my brethren, he and the men of Iudah, & I asked them concerning the Iewes that were deliuered, which were of the residue of the captiuitie, and concerning Ierusalem.³ And they sayde vnto me, The residue that are left of the captiuitie there in the prouince, are in great affliction and in reproche, & the wall of Ierusalem is broken downe, & the gates thereof are burnt with fire.⁴ And when I heard these wordes, I sate downe and wept, and mourned certeine dayes, & I fasted and prayed before the God of heauen,

⁵ And sayde, O Lorde God of heauen, the great and terrible God, that keepeth couenant and mercy for them that loue him, and obserue his commandements,⁶ I pray thee, let thine eares be attet, & thine eies open, to heare the praier of thy seruat, which I pray before thee dayly, day & night for ye childre of Israel thy seruats, & confesse the sinnes of the children of Israel, which we haue sinned against thee, both I and my fathers house haue sinned:⁷ We haue grieuously sinned against thee, and haue not kept the commandements, nor the statutes, nor the iudgements, which thou commandedst thy seruant Moses.⁸ I beseeche thee, remember the worde that thou commandedst thy seruant Moses, saying, Ye wil transgresse, and I will scatter you abroade among the people.⁹ But if ye turne vnto me, & keepe my commandements, and doe them, though your scattering were to the vttermost part of the heauen, yet will I gather you from thence, and will bring you vnto the place that I haue chosen to place my Name there.¹⁰ Now these are thy seruants and thy people, whome thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy mightie hand.¹¹ O Lord, I beseech thee, let thine eare now hearken to the prayer of thy seruant, and to the prayer of thy seruants, who desire to feare thy Name, & I pray thee, cause thy seruant to prosper this day, and giue him fauour in the presence of this man: for I was the Kings butler.