Study Desk

So now do not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and never seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it as a possession to your sons forever.'

So now let us cut a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

Then Ezra arose and made the leading priests, the Levites and all Israel, swear an oath that they would do according to this word; so they swore an oath.

So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and the heavy rain.

So now, make confession to Yahweh, the God of your fathers, and do His will; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives."

Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, "This is so! As you have said, so it is our duty to do.

But the exiles did so. And Ezra the priest separated out men who were heads of fathers' households for each of their father's households, all of them by name. So they convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter.

So the king said to me, "Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart." Then I was very much afraid.

Then the king said to me, "What would you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.

Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, "How long will your journey be, and when will you return?" So it was good to the king to send me, and I gave him a set time.

So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days.

So I went out at night by the Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon's Spring and on to the Dung Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were consumed by fire.

So I went up at night by the ravine and inspected the wall. Then I turned and entered the Valley Gate and turned around.

Then I said to them, "You see the calamity we are in, that Jerusalem lies waste and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach."

And I told them how the hand of my God had been good to me and also about the king's words which he had said to me. Then they said, "Let us arise and build." So they strengthened their hands for the good work.

So I responded to them with a word and said to them, "The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His slaves will arise and build, but you have no portion, right, or remembrance in Jerusalem."

So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, and the people had a heart to work.

So we kept doing the work with half of them holding spears from dawn until the stars came out.

At that time I also said to the people, "Let each man with his young man spend the night within Jerusalem so that they may be a guard for us by night and a worker by day."

So neither I, my brothers, my young men, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us removed our clothes, each took his weapon even to the water.