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Then Zerubbabel, and Ieshua, and the rest of the chiefe fathers of Israel, sayde vnto them, It is not for you, but for vs to buyld the house vnto our God: for we our selues together wil buylde it vnto the Lord God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded vs.

But the eye of their God was vpon the Elders of the Iewes, that they coulde not cause them to cease, till the matter came to Darius: and then they answered by letters thereunto.

But they answered vs thus, & sayd, We are the seruants of the God of heauen and earth, and buylde the house that was buylt of olde & many yeeres ago, which a great King of Israel builded, and founded it.

But after that our fathers had prouoked the God of heauen vnto wrath, he gaue them ouer into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babel the Caldean, & he destroyed this house, & caryed the people away captiue vnto Babel.

But in the first yere of Cyrus King of Babel, King Cyrus made a decree to buylde this house of God.

For I was ashamed to require of the King an armie and horsemen, to helpe vs against the enemie in the way, because we had spoken to the King, saying, The hande of our God is vpon all them that seeke him in goodnesse, but his power & his wrath is against all them that forsake him.

But when I heard this saying, I rent my clothes and my garment, and pluckt off the heare of mine head, and of my beard, and sate downe astonied.

For though we were bondmen, yet our God hath not forsaken vs in our bondage, but hath enclined mercy vnto vs in the sight of the Kings of Persia, to giue vs life, & to erect the house of our God, & to redresse the places thereof, and to giue vs a wall in Iudah and in Ierusalem.

And Ezra rose vp from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Iohanan the sonne of Eliashib: he went euen thither, but he did eate neither bread, nor drunke water: for he mourned, because of the transgression of them of the captiuitie.

But the people are many, and it is a raynie weather, and we are not able to stande without, neither is it the worke of one day or two: for we are many that haue offended in this thing.

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.

And the king said vnto me, Why is thy coutenance sad, seeing thou art not sicke? this is nothing, but sorow of heart. Then was I sore afrayd,

But Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah a seruant an Ammonite heard it, and it grieued them sore, that there was come a man which sought the wealth of the children of Israel.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the seruant an Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian heard it, they mocked vs and despised vs, and said, What a thing is this that ye doe? Will ye rebell against the King?

Then answered I them, and sayd to them, The God of heauen, he will prosper vs, and we his seruants will rise vp and buylde: but as for you, ye haue no portion nor right, nor memoriall in Ierusalem.

But the fish port did the sonnes of Senaah buylde, which also layde the beames thereof, and set on the doores thereof, the lockes thereof, and the barres thereof.

And next vnto them fortified the Tekoites: but the great men of them put not their neckes to the worke of their lordes.

But the dung port fortified Malchiah, the sonne of Rechab, the ruler of the fourth part of Beth-haccarem: he built it, and set on the doores thereof, the lockes thereof, & the barres thereof.

But the gate of the fountaine fortified Shallun, the sonne of Col-hozeh, the ruler of the fourth part of Mizpah: he builded it, and couered it, and set on the doores thereof, the lockes thereof, and the barres thereof, and the wall vnto the fishpoole of Shelah by the Kings garden, and vnto the steppes that goe downe from the citie of Dauid.

But when Sanballat, & Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodims heard that the walles of Ierusalem were repayred, (for the breaches began to be stopped) then they were very wroth,