by Septuagint
[9] And Neemias, and Esdras the priest and scribe, and the Levites, and they that instructed the people, spoke and said to all the people, It is a holy day to the Lord our God; do not mourn, nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. [10] And the governor said to them, Go, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to them that have nothing; for the day is holy to our Lord: and faint not, for the Lord is our strength. [11] And the Levites caused all the people to be silent, saying, Be silent, for it is a holy day, and despond not. [12] So all the people departed to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, for they understood the words which he made known to them.
[13] And on the second day the heads of families assembled with all the people, also the priests and Levites, to Esdras the scribe, to attend to all the words of the law. [14] And they found written in the law which the Lord commanded Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths, in the feast in the seventh month: [15] and that they should sound with trumpets in all their cities, and in Jerusalem. And Esdras said, Go forth to the mountain, and bring branches of olive, and branches of cypress trees, and branches of myrtle, and branches of palm trees, and branches of every thick tree, to make booths, according to that which was written. [16] And the people went forth, and brought them, and made booths for themselves, each one upon his roof, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the streets of the city, and as far as the gate of Ephraim. [17] And all the congregation who had returned from the captivity, made booths, and dwelt in booths: for the children of Israel had not done so from the days of Jesus the son of Naue until that day: and there was great joy.
[18] And Esdras read in the book of the law of God daily, from the first day even to the last day: and they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.
Chapter 9
[1] Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel assembled with fasting, and in sackcloths, and with ashes on their head. [2] And the children of Israel separated themselves from every stranger, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. [3] And they stood in their place, and read in the book of the law of the Lord their god: and they confessed their sins to the Lord, and worshipped the Lord their God. [4] And there stood upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jesus, and the sons of Cadmiel, Sechenia the son of Sarabia, sons of Choneni; and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. [5] And the Levites, Jesus and Cadmiel, said, Rise up, bless the Lord our God forever and ever: and let them bless thy glorious name, and exalt it with all blessing and praise.
[6] And Esdras said, Thou art the only true Lord; thou madest the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, and all their array, the earth, and all things that are in it, the seas, and all things in them; and thou quickenest all things, and the hosts of heaven worship thee.
[7] Thou art the Lord God, thou didst choose Abram, and broughtest him out of the land of the Chaldeans, and gavest him the name of Abraam: [8] and thou foundest his heart faithful before thee, and didst make a covenant with him to give to him and to his seed the land of the Chananites, and the Chettites, and Amorites, and Pherezites, and Jebusites, and Gergesites; and thou hast confirmed thy words, for thou art righteous.
[9] And thou sawest the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and thou heardest their cry at the Red Sea. [10] And thou shewedst signs and wonders in Egypt, on Pharao and all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knowest that they behaved insolently against them: and thou madest thyself a name, as at this day. [11] And thou didst cleave the sea before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea on dry land; and thou didst cast into the deep them that were about to pursue them, as a stone in the mighty water.
[12] And thou guidedst them by day by a pillar of cloud, and by night by a pillar of fire, to enlighten for them the way wherein they should walk. [13] Also thou camest down upon mount Sina, and thou spakest to them out of heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and laws of truth, ordinances, and good commandments. [14] And thou didst make known to them thy holy sabbath; thou didst enjoin upon them commandments, and ordinances, and a law, by the hand of thy servant Moses. [15] And thou gavest them bread from heaven for their food, and thou broughtest them forth water from a rock for their thirst; and thou badest them go in to inherit the land over which thou stretchedst out thy hand to give it them.
[16] But they and our fathers behaved proudly, and hardened their neck, and did not hearken to thy commandments, [17] and refused to listen, and remembered not thy wonders which thou wroughtest with them; and they hardened their neck, and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt: but thou, O God, art merciful and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and thou didst not forsake them. [18] And still farther they even made to themselves a molten calf, and said, These are the gods that brought us up out of Egypt: and they wrought great provocations.
[19] Yet thou in thy great compassions didst not forsake them in the wilderness: thou didst not turn away from them the pillar of the cloud by day, to guide them in the way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to enlighten for them the way wherein they should walk. [20] And thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them, and thou didst not withhold thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water in their thirst. [21] And thou didst sustain them forty years in the wilderness; thou didst not allow anything to fail them: their garments did not wax old, and their feet were not bruised.
[22] Moreover, thou gavest them kingdoms, and didst divide nations to them: and they inherited the land of Seon king of Esebon, and the land of Og king of Basan. [23] And thou didst multiply their children as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land of which thou spokest to their fathers; [24] And they inherited it: and thou didst destroy from before them the dwellers in the land of the Chananites, and thou gavest into their hands them and their kings, and the nations of the land, to do unto them as it pleased them. [25] And they took lofty cities, and inherited houses full of all good things, wells dug, vineyards, and oliveyards, and every fruit tree in abundance: so they ate, and were filled, and grew fat, and rioted in thy great goodness. [26] But they turned, and revolted from thee, and cast thy law behind their backs; and they slew thy prophets, who testified against them to turn them back to thee, and they wrought great provocations. [27] Then thou gavest them into the hand of them that afflicted them, and they did afflict them: and they cried to thee in the time of their affliction, and thou didst hear them from thy heaven, and in thy great compassions gavest them deliverers, and didst save them from the hand of them that afflicted them.
[28] But when they rested, they did evil again before thee: so thou leftest them in the hands of their enemies, and they ruled over them: and they cried again to thee, and thou heardest them from heaven, and didst deliver them in thy great compassions. [29] And thou didst testify against them, to bring them back to thy law: but they hearkened not, but sinned against thy commandments and thy judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them; and they turned their back, and hardened their neck, and heard not. [30] Yet thou didst bear long with them many years, and didst testify to them by thy Spirit by the hand of thy prophets: but they hearkened not; so thou gavest them into the hand of the nations of the land. [31] But thou in thy many mercies didst not appoint them to destruction, and didst not forsake them; for thou art strong, and merciful, and pitiful.
[32] And now, O our God, the powerful, the great, the mighty, and the terrible, keeping thy covenant and thy mercy, let not all the trouble seem little in thy sight which has come upon us, and our kings, and our princes, and our priests, and our prophets, and our fathers, and upon all thy people, from the days of the kings of Assur even to this day. [33] But thou art righteous in all the things that come upon us; for thou hast wrought faithfully, but we have greatly sinned. [34] And our kings, and our princes, and our priests, and our fathers, have not performed thy law, and have n
ot given heed to thy commandments, and have not kept thy testimonies which thou didst testify to them. [35] And they did not serve thee in thy kingdom, and in thy great goodness which thou gavest to them, and in the large and fat land which thou didst furnish before them, and they turned not from their evil devices. [36] Behold, we are servants this day, and as for the land which thou gavest to our fathers to eat the fruit of it and the good things of it, behold, we are servants upon it: [37] and its produce is abundant for the kings whom thou didst appoint over us because of our sins; and they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, as it pleases them, and we are in great affliction.
[38] And in regard to all these circumstances we make a covenant, and write it, and our princes, our Levites, and our priests, set their seal to it.
Chapter 10
[1] And over them that sealed were Neemias the Artasastha, son of Achalia, and Zedekias, [2] the son of Araea, and Azaria, and Jeremia, [3] Phasur, Amaria, Melchia, [4] Attus, Sebani, Maluch, [5] Iram, Meramoth, Abdia, [6] Daniel, Gannathon, Baruch, [7] Mesulam, Abia, Miamin, [8] Maazia, Belgai, Samaia; these were priests.
[9] And the Levites; Jesus the son of Azania, Banaiu of the sons of Enadad, Cadmiel [10] and his brethren, Sabania, Oduia, Calitan, Phelia, Anan, [11] Micha, Roob, Asebias, [12] Zacchor, Sarabia, Sebania, [13] Odum, the sons of Banuae.
[14] The heads of the people; Phoros, Phaath Moab, Elam, Zathuia, [15] the sons of Bani, Asgad, Bebai, [16] Adania, Bagoi, Hedin [17] Ater, Ezekia, Azur, [18] Oduia, Esam, Besi, [19] Ariph, Anathoth, Nobai, [20] Megaphes, Mesullam, Ezir, [21] Mesozebel, Saduc, Jeddua, [22] Phaltia, Anan, Anaea, [23] Osee, Anania, Asub, [24] Aloes, Phalai, Sobec, [25] Reum, Essabana, Maasia, [26] and Aia, Ænan, Enam, [27] Maluch, Eram, Baana.
[28] And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nathinim, and every one who drew off from the nations of the land to the law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, every one who had knowledge and understanding, [29] were urgent with their brethren, and bound them under a curse, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in the law of God, which was given by the hand of Moses, the servant of God; to keep and to do all the commandments of the Lord, and his judgments, and his ordinances; [30] and that we will not, they said,give our daughters to the people of the land, nor will we take their daughters to our sons. [31] And as for the people of the land who bring wares and all manner of merchandise to sell on the sabbath-day, we will not buy of them on the sabbath or on the holy day: and we will leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.
[32] And we will impose ordinances upon ourselves, to levy on ourselves the third part of a didrachm yearly for the service of the house of our God; [33] the shewbread, and the continual meat-offering, and for the continual whole-burnt-offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moon, for the feast, and for the holy things, and the sin-offerings, to make atonement for Israel, and for the works of the house of our God.
[34] And we cast lots for the office of wood-bearing, we the priests, and the Levites, and the people, to bring wood into the house of our God, according to the house of our families, at certain set times, year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the law: [35] and to bring the first-fruits of our land, and the first-fruits of the fruit of every tree, year by year, into the house of the Lord: [36] the first-born of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the first-born of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our God, for the priests that minister in the house of our God. [37] And the first-fruits of our corn, and the fruit of every tree, of wine, and of oil, will we bring to the priests to the treasury of the house of God; and a tithe of our land to the Levites: for the Levites themselves shall receive tithes in all the cities of the land we cultivate. [38] And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites in the tithe of the Levite: and the Levites shall bring up the tenth part of their tithe to the house of our God, into the treasuries of the house of God. [39] For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring into the treasuries the first-fruits of the corn, and wine, and oil; and there are the holy vessels, and the priests, and the ministers, and the porters, and the singers: and we will not forsake the house of our God.
Chapter 11
[1] And the chiefs of the people dwelt in Jerusalem: and the rest of the people cast lots, to bring one of every ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts in the other cities. [2] And the people blessed all the men that volunteered to dwell in Jerusalem.
[3] Now these are the chiefs of the province who dwelt in Jerusalem, and in the cities of Juda; every man dwelt in his possession in their cities: Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the Nathinim, and the children of the servants of Solomon.
[4] And there dwelt in Jerusalem some of the children of Juda, and of the children of Benjamin. Of the children of Juda; Athaia son of Azia, the son of Zacharia, the son of Samaria, the son of Saphatia, the son of Maleleel, and some of the sons of Phares; [5] and Maasia son of Baruch, son of Chalaza, son of Ozia, son of Adaia, son of Joarib, son of Zacharias, son of Seloni. [6] All the sons of Phares who dwelt in Jerusalem were four hundred and sixty-eight men of might. [7] And these were the children of Benjamin; Selo son of Mesulam, son of Joad, son of Phadaia, son of Coleia, son of Maasias, son of Ethiel, son of Jesia. [8] And after him Gebe, Seli, nine hundred and twenty-eight. [9] And Joel son of Zechri was overseer over them: and Juda son of Asana was second in the city.
[10] Of the priests: both Jadia son of Joarib, and Jachin. [11] Saraia, son of Elchia, son of Mesulam, son of Sadduc, son of Marioth, son of Ætoth, was over the house of God. [12] And their brethren doing the work of the house were eight hundred and twenty-two: and Adaia son of Jeroam, son of Phalalia, son of Amasi, son of Zacharia, son of Phassur, son of Melchia, [13] and his brethren, chiefs of families, two hundred and forty-two: and Amasia son of Esdriel, son of Mesarimith, son of Emmer, [14] and his brethren, mighty men of war, a hundred and twenty-eight: and their overseer was Badiel son of one of the great men.
[15] And of the Levites; Samaia, son of Esricam, [16] 17 Matthanias son of Micha, and Jobeb son of Samui, [18] two hundred and eighty-four.
[19] And the porters; Acub, Telamin, and their brethren, a hundred and seventy-two.
[20] 21 [22] And the overseer of the Levites was the son of Bani, son of Ozi, son of Asabia, the son of Micha. Of the sons of Asaph the singers some were over the house of God, [23] For so was the king’s commandment concerning them.
[24] And Phathaia son of Baseza was in attendance on the king in every matter for the people, [25] and with regard to villages in their country district: and some of the children of Juda dwelt in Cariatharboc, [26] and in Jesu, [27] and in Bersabee: [28] 29 [30] And their villages were Lachis and her hands: and they pitched their tents in Bersabee. [31] And the children of Benjamin dwelt from Gabaa to Machmas. [32] 33 [34] 35 [36] And of the Levites there were divisions to Juda and to Benjamin.
Chapter 12
[1] Now these are the priests and the Levites that went up with Zorobabel the son of Salathiel and Jesus: Saraia, Jeremia, Esdra, [2] Amaria, Maluch, [3] Sechenia. [4] 5 [6] 7 These were the chiefs of the priests, and their brethren in the days of Jesus.
[8] And the Levites were, Jesus, Banui, Cadmiel, Sarabia, Jodae, Matthania: he was over the bands, [9] (8A) and his brethren were appointed to the daily courses. [10] And Jesus begot Joakim, and Joakim begot Eliasib, and Eliasib begot Jodae, [11] and Jodae begot Jonathan, and Jonathan begot Jadu. [12] And in the days of Joakim, his brethren the priests and the heads of families were, belonging to Saraia, Amaria; to Jeremia, Anania; [13] to Esdra, Mesulam; to Amaria, Joanan; [14] to Amaluch, Jonathan; to Sechenia, Joseph; [15] to Are, Mannas; to Marioth, Elcai; [16] to Adadai, Zacharia; to Ganathoth, Mesolam; [17] to Abia, Zechri; to Miamin, Maadai; to Pheleti, one; [18] to Balgas, Samue; to Semia, Jonathan; [19] to Joarib, Matthanai; to Edio, Ozi; [20] to Salai, Callai; to Amec, Abed; [21] to Elkia, Asabia
s; to Jedeiu, Nathanael.
[22] The Levites in the days of Eliasib, Joada, and Joa, and Joanan, and Idua, were recorded heads of families: also the priests, in the reign of Darius the Persian. [23] And the sons of Levi, heads of families, were written in the book of the chronicles, even to the days of Joanan son of Elisue. [24] And the heads of the Levites were Asabia, and Sarabia, and Jesu: and the sons of Cadmiel, and their brethren over against them, were to sing hymns of praise, according to the commandment of David the man of God, course by course.
[25] When I gathered the porters, [26] it was in the days of Joakim son of Jesus, son of Josedec, and in the days of Neemia: and Esdras the priest was scribe.
[27] And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep a feast of dedication and gladness with thanksgiving, and they sounded cymbals with songs, and had psalteries and harps. [28] And the sons of the singers were assembled both from the neighbourhood round about to Jerusalem, and from the villages, [29] and from the country: for the singers built themselves villages by Jerusalem. [30] And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people, and the porters, and the wall.
[31] And they brought up the princes of Juda on the wall, and they appointed two great companies for thanksgiving, and they passed on the right hand on the wall of the dung-gate. [32] And after them went Osaia, and half the princes of Juda, [33] and Azarias, and Esdras, and Mesollam, [34] and Juda, and Benjamin, and Samaias and Jeremia. [35] And some of the sons of the priest with trumpets, Zacharias son of Jonathan, son of Samaias, son of Matthania, son of Michaia, son of Zacchur, son of Asaph: [36] and his brethren, Samaia, and Oziel, Gelol, Jama, Aia, Nathanael, and Juda, Anani, to praise with the hymns of David the man of God; (37) and Esdras the scribe was before them, [37] at the gate, to praise before them, and they went up by the steps of the city of David, in the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, even to the water-gate [38] 39 of Ephraim, and to the fish-gate, and by the tower of Anameel, and as far as the sheep-gate. [40] 41 [42] And the singers were heard, and were numbered. [43] And in that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced; for God had made them very joyful: and their wives and their children rejoiced: and the joy in Jerusalem was heard from afar off.
