I arose up from afflicting myself; and sons,―nor seek peace with them or having rent my garment and my man- their goodwill for ever; so that ye tle, I fell upon my knees, and spread may be strong, and eat the good of out my hands unto the Eternal my the land, and leave it for an inheritGod, and said, O my God, I am ance to your children for ever. ashamed and blush to lift up my face 6 And after all that is come upon us to thee, my God; for our iniquities for our evil deeds, and for our great are increased over our head, and our guilt, seeing that thou our God hast guilt is grown unto heaven. Since punished us less than our iniquities the days of our fathers have we been deserve, and hast given us such deliverin great guilt unto this day; and for ance as this; should we again break our iniquities have we, our kings, and thy commandments, and join in marour priests, been delivered into the riage with the peoples of these abominhand of the kings of the lands, to the ations? Wouldest not thou be angry sword, to captivity, and to plunder, with us till thou hadst consumed us, so and to confusion of face, as it is this that there should be no remnant nor day. escaping? O Eternal God of Israel, thou art righteous; for we are left the escaped, as it is this day. Behold, we are before thee in our guilt; for we cannot stand before thee because of this.

4 And now for a little moment grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a tent-pin in his Holy Place, that our God may give light to our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. For we were bondservants; yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage, but extended kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the House of our God, and to repair the ruins thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

5 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this ? For we have forsaken the commands, which thou hast commanded by the hand of thy servants and the prophets [Deut. vii. 1, xxiii. 6], saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land, with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from end to end with their filthiness. Now therefore give not your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters to your

CHAPTER X.

NOW when Ezra had prayed, and

when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the House of God, there gathered themselves to him out of Israel a very great assembly "of men and women and children; for the people wept a great weeping.

2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, and the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken foreign women of the peoples of the land to dwell with us. Yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.

3 Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the command of our God; and let it

be done according to the Law. Arise; for this matter belongeth to thee; we also will be with thee; be of good courage, and do it.

4 Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware. 5 Then Ezra rose up from before the House of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib; and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water; for he mourned over the transgression of them that had been in captivity.

and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do. But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand outside, neither is this a work of one day or two; for we are many that have transgressed in this thing. 10 Let now our rulers be set over all the assembly, and let all them that have taken foreign women to dwell with them in our cities, come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until, the fierce wrath of our God for this matter he turned from us. 6 And they made_proclamation 11 So Jonathan the son of Asahel throughout Judah and Jerusalem un- and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were to all the children of the captivity, set over this matter; and Meshullam that they should gather themselves and Shabbetheel the Levite helped together to Jerusalem; and that who-them.

soever would not come within three 12 And the children of the captivity days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the assembly of those that had been in captivity.

7 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, and the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the Broad Place of the House of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.

8 And Ezra the Priest rose up, and said to them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken foreign women to dwell with you, to increase the guilt of Israel. Now therefore make a confession unto the LORD the God of our fathers, and do his pleasure; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from your foreign wives. 9 Then all the assembly answered

did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names were separated, and sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. 13 And by the first day of the first month they made an end of the mat ter with all the men that had taken foreign women to dwell with them.

14 And among the sons of the Priests there were found some that had taken foreign women to dwell with them; namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedelijah. And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they gave a ram of the flock for their guilt.

15 Also some of the Levites, of the Singers and of the Israelites had taken foreign wives; and some of them had wives by whom they had children.

THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH.

CHAPTER I.

THE WORDS OF NEHEMIAH the son

of Hachaliah.

5 We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgment, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

Now it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year [of Ar6 Remember, I beseech thee, the taxerxes Longimanus, B. C. 445] as word that thou commandedst thy servI was in Susa the royal city, that ant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, Hanani, one of my brethren came, he I will scatter you abroad among the and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 2 And they said to me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the Province [of Judah] are in great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates are burned with

fire.

3 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned some days; and I fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven, and said, I beseech thee, O Eternal God of heaven, O great and terrible God, that keepest cove nant and kindness for them that love him and observe his commandments: 4 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hearken to the prayer of thy servant which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and I confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee. Both I and my father's house have sinned.

peoples; but if ye turn to me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though some of you be cast out unto the uttermost part of the heavens yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them to the Place that I have chosen to cause my name to dwell there.

7 Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou didst redeem by the great power, and thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name; and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him to find mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

CHAPTER II.

AND it came to pass in the month of

Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes that wine was before him; and I took up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been before time sad in his presence.

2 Therefore the king said to me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing

thou art not sick? This is nothing to seek the welfare of the children of else but sorrow of heart. Then I was Israel. So I came to Jerusalem, and very sore afraid, and said to the king, was there three days. Let the king live for ever. Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the house of my father's sepulchres, lieth waste, and its gates are consumed with fire ?

3 Then the king said to me, For what then dost thou make request? night by So I prayed to the God of heaven. the Valley Gate, and to the front of And I said to the king, If it please the Dragon Well, and to the Dung Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed with fire.