25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah (that was the first year of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon), 

2 which the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 

3 For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened. 

4 And though the Lord persistently sent you all his servants the prophets, you have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear 

5 when they said, “Turn now, every one of you, from your evil way and wicked doings, and you will remain upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your ancestors from of old and forever; 

6 do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.” 

7 Yet you did not listen to me, says the Lord, and so you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

8 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 I am going to send for all the tribes of the north, says the Lord, even for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; I will utterly destroy them, and make them an object of horror and of hissing, and an everlasting disgrace. 

10 And I will banish from them the sound of mirth and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 

11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 

12 Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste. 

13 I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 

14 For many nations and great kings shall make slaves of them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.

50 The word that the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the prophet Jeremiah:

2 Declare among the nations and proclaim, set up a banner and proclaim, do not conceal it, say: Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed.Her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed.

3 For out of the north a nation has come up against her; it shall make her land a desolation, and no one shall live in it; both human beings and animals shall flee away.

8 Flee from Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be like male goats leading the flock. 

9 For I am going to stir up and bring against Babylon a company of great nations from the land of the north; and they shall array themselves against her; from there she shall be taken. Their arrows are like the arrows of a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed. 

10 Chaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, says the Lord. 

14 Take up your positions around Babylon,all you that bend the bow;shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord. 

15 Raise a shout against her from all sides, “She has surrendered;her bulwarks have fallen,her walls are thrown down.For this is the vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance on her,do to her as she has done.

17 Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured it, and now at the end King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has gnawed its bones. 

18 Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I punished the king of Assyria.  

51 Thus says the Lord:I am going to stir up a destructive wind against Babylon and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai; 

2 and I will send winnowers to Babylon, and they shall winnow her. They shall empty her land when they come against her from every side on the day of trouble. 3 Let not the archer bend his bow,  and let him not array himself in his coat of mail. Do not spare her young men;  utterly destroy her entire army. 

4 They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and wounded in her streets. 

11 Sharpen the arrows!  Fill the quivers! The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the Lord, vengeance for his temple. 

24 I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the wrong that they have done in Zion, says the Lord. 

28 Prepare the nations for war against her, the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies, and every land under their dominion. 

29 The land trembles and writhes, for the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. 

30 The warriors of Babylon have given up fighting, they remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed,they have become women; her buildings are set on fire, her bars are broken. 

31 One runner runs to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken from end to end: 

32 the fords have been seized, the marshes have been burned with fire, and the soldiers are in panic. 

33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come.

34 “King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me like a monster; he has filled his belly with my delicacies, he has spewed me out. 

35 May my torn flesh be avenged on Babylon,” the inhabitants of Zion shall say. “May my blood be avenged on the inhabitants of Chaldea,” Jerusalem shall say. 

36 Therefore thus says the Lord: I am going to defend your cause and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea and make her fountain dry; 

37 and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, a den of jackals, an object of horror and of hissing, without inhabitant. 49 Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.

54 Listen!—a cry from Babylon! A great crashing from the land of the Chaldeans! 

55 For the Lord is laying Babylon waste, and stilling her loud clamor.Their waves roar like mighty waters, the sound of their clamor resounds; 

56 for a destroyer has come against her, against Babylon; her warriors are taken, their bows are broken; for the Lord is a God of recompense, he will repay in full. 

57 I will make her officials and her sages drunk, also her governors, her deputies, and her warriors; they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and never wake, says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

58 Thus says the Lord of hosts: The broad wall of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground, and her high gates shall be burned with fire.The peoples exhaust themselves for nothing, and the nations weary themselves only for fire.

59 The word that the prophet Jeremiah commanded Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, when he went with King Zedekiah of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. 

60 Jeremiah wrote in a scroll all the disasters that would come on Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 

61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 

62 and say, ‘O Lord, you yourself threatened to destroy this place so that neither human beings nor animals shall live in it, and it shall be desolate forever.’ 

63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it, and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, 

64 and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disasters that I am bringing on her.’”Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. ed the king of Assyria. 

DANIEL 5.THE OLD TESTAMENT.  THE HOLY BIBLE.

Belshazzar’s Feast( 539 B.C.) 5 King Belshazzar made a great festival for a thousand of his lords, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand.

2 Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar commanded that they bring in the vessels of gold and silver that his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. 

3 So they brought in the vessels of gold and silver[a] that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. 

4 They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. The Writing on the Wall 

5 Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the plaster of the wall of the royal palace, next to the lampstand. The king was watching the hand as it wrote.

Daniel brought to interpret the writing.  

25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: mene, mene, tekel, and parsin. 

26 This is the interpretation of the matter: mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; 

27 tekel, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; 

28 peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”   

Daniel. 6.The plot against Daniel.
6 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred twenty satraps, stationed throughout the whole kingdom, 

2 and over them three presidents, including Daniel; to these the satraps gave account, so that the king might suffer no loss. 

3 Soon Daniel distinguished himself above all the other presidents and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king planned to appoint him over the whole kingdom. 

4 So the presidents and the satraps tried to find grounds for complaint against Daniel in connection with the kingdom. But they could find no grounds for complaint or any corruption, because he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption could be found in him. 

5 The men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.” 

6 So the presidents and satraps conspired and came to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! 

7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an interdict, that whoever prays to anyone, divine or human, for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into a den of lions. 

8 Now, O king, establish the interdict and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 

9 Therefore King Darius signed the document and interdict. Daniel in the Lions’ Den 

10 Although Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he continued to go to his house, which had windows in its upper room open toward Jerusalem, and to get down on his knees three times a day to pray to his God and praise him, just as he had done previously. 

11 The conspirators came and found Daniel praying and seeking mercy before his God. 

12 Then they approached the king and said concerning the interdict, “O king! Did you not sign an interdict, that anyone who prays to anyone, divine or human, within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be thrown into a den of lions?” The king answered, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 

13 Then they responded to the king, “Daniel, one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the interdict you have signed, but he is saying his prayers three times a day.” 

14 When the king heard the charge, he was very much distressed. He was determined to save Daniel, and until the sun went down he made every effort to rescue him. 

15 Then the conspirators came to the king and said to him, “Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no interdict or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.” 

16 Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!”  

17 A stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, so that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. 

18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no food was brought to him, and sleep fled from him. Daniel Saved from the Lions 

19 Then, at break of day, the king got up and hurried to the den of lions. 

20 When he came near the den where Daniel was, he cried out anxiously to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you faithfully serve been able to deliver you from the lions?” 

21 Daniel then said to the king, “O king, live forever! 

22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no wrong.” 

23 Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. 

24 The king gave a command, and those who had accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions, they, their children, and their wives. Before they reached the bottom of the den the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces. 

25 Then King Darius wrote to all peoples and nations of every language throughout the whole world: “May you have abundant prosperity! 

26 I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: For he is the living God, enduring forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion has no end. 

27 He delivers and rescues, he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth; for he has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.” 

28 So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.  

Daniel 11. 1 As for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to support and strengthen him  

 Daniel 14 

33 Now the prophet Hab′akkuk was in Judea. He had boiled pottage and had broken bread into a bowl, and was going into the field to take it to the reapers. 

34 But the angel of the Lord said to Hab′akkuk, “Take the dinner which you have to Babylon, to Daniel, in the lions’ den.” 

35 Hab′akkuk said, “Sir, I have never seen Babylon, and I know nothing about the den.” 

36 Then the angel of the Lord took him by the crown of his head, and lifted him by his hair and set him down in Babylon, right over the den, with the rushing sound of the wind itself. 

37 Then Hab′akkuk shouted, “Daniel, Daniel! Take the dinner which God has sent you.” 38 And Daniel said, “Thou hast remembered me, O God, and hast not forsaken those who love thee.” 

39 So Daniel arose and ate. And the angel of God immediately returned Hab′akkuk to his own place.  

1 There was a man living in Babylon whose name was Joakim. 

2 He married the daughter of Hilkiah, named Susanna, a very beautiful woman and one who feared the Lord. 

3 Her parents were righteous, and had trained their daughter according to the law of Moses. 

4 Joakim was very rich, and had a fine garden adjoining his house; the Jews used to come to him because he was the most honored of them all.

5 That year two elders from the people were appointed as judges. Concerning them the Lord had said: “Wickedness came forth from Babylon, from elders who were judges, who were supposed to govern the people.” 

6 These men were frequently at Joakim’s house, and all who had a case to be tried came to them there.

7 When the people left at noon, Susanna would go into her husband’s garden to walk. 

8 Every day the two elders used to see her, going in and walking about, and they began to lust for her. 

15 Once, while they were watching for an opportune day, she went in as before with only two maids, and wished to bathe in the garden, for it was a hot day. 16 No one was there except the two elders, who had hidden themselves and were watching her. 

17 She said to her maids, “Bring me olive oil and ointments, and shut the garden doors so that I can bathe.” 

18 They did as she told them: they shut the doors of the garden and went out by the side doors to bring what they had been commanded; they did not see the elders, because they were hiding.

19 When the maids had gone out, the two elders got up and ran to her. 

20 They said, “Look, the garden doors are shut, and no one can see us. We are burning with desire for you; so give your consent, and lie with us. 

21 If you refuse, we will testify against you that a young man was with you, and this was why you sent your maids away.”

22 Susanna groaned and said, “I am completely trapped. For if I do this, it will mean death for me; if I do not, I cannot escape your hands. 23 I choose not to do it; I will fall into your hands, rather than sin in the sight of the Lord.”

24 Then Susanna cried out with a loud voice, and the two elders shouted against her.

36 The elders said, “While we were walking in the garden alone, this woman came in with two maids, shut the garden doors, and dismissed the maids. 37 Then a young man, who was hiding there, came to her and lay with her. 38 We were in a corner of the garden, and when we saw this wickedness we ran to them. 39 Although we saw them embracing, we could not hold the man, because he was stronger than we, and he opened the doors and got away. 40 We did, however, seize this woman and asked who the young man was, 41 but she would not tell us. These things we testify.”

Because they were elders of the people and judges, the assembly believed them and condemned her to death.

 45 Just as she was being led off to execution, God stirred up the holy spirit of a young lad named Daniel, 

46 and he shouted with a loud voice, “I want no part in shedding this woman’s blood!”

 51 Daniel said to them, “Separate them far from each other, and I will examine them.”

52 When they were separated from each other, he summoned one of them and said to him, “You old relic of wicked days, your sins have now come home, which you have committed in the past,

54 Now then, if you really saw this woman, tell me this: Under what tree did you see them being intimate with each other?” He answered, “Under a mastic tree.  56 Then, putting him to one side, he ordered them to bring the other 

58 Now then, tell me: Under what tree did you catch them being intimate with each other?” He answered, “Under an evergreen oak.” 

59 Daniel said to him, “Very well! This lie has cost you also your head, for the angel of God is waiting with his sword to split[e] you in two, so as to destroy you both.”

60 Then the whole assembly raised a great shout and blessed God, who saves those who hope in him. 

61 And they took action against the two elders, because out of their own mouths Daniel had convicted them of bearing false witness; they did to them as they had wickedly planned to do to their neighbor. 

62 Acting in accordance with the law of Moses, they put them to death. Thus innocent blood was spared that day. 

1 When King Astyages was laid to rest with his ancestors, Cyrus the Persian succeeded to his kingdom. 

2 Daniel was a companion of the king, and was the most honored of all his Friends.

3 Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and every day they provided for it twelve bushels of choice flour and forty sheep and six measures of wine. 

6 The king said to him, “Do you not think that Bel is a living god? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day?” 

7 And Daniel laughed, and said, “Do not be deceived, O king, for this thing is only clay inside and bronze outside, and it never ate or drank anything.”

8 Then the king was angry and called the priests of Bel and said to them, “If you do not tell me who is eating these provisions, you shall die. 

9 But if you prove that Bel is eating them, Daniel shall die, because he has spoken blasphemy against Bel.” Daniel said to the king, “Let it be done as you have said.”

10 Now there were seventy priests of Bel, besides their wives and children. So the king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel. 

11 The priests of Bel said, “See, we are now going outside; you yourself, O king, set out the food and prepare the wine, and shut the door and seal it with your signet. 

12 When you return in the morning, if you do not find that Bel has eaten it all, we will die; otherwise Daniel will, who is telling lies about us.” 

13 They were unconcerned, for beneath the table they had made a hidden entrance, through which they used to go in regularly and consume the provisions. 14 After they had gone out, the king set out the food for Bel. Then Daniel ordered his servants to bring ashes, and they scattered them throughout the whole temple in the presence of the king alone. Then they went out, shut the door and sealed it with the king’s signet, and departed. 

15 During the night the priests came as usual, with their wives and children, and they ate and drank everything.

16 Early in the morning the king rose and came, and Daniel with him. 

17 The king said, “Are the seals unbroken, Daniel?” He answered, “They are unbroken, O king.” 

18 As soon as the doors were opened, the king looked at the table, and shouted in a loud voice, “You are great, O Bel, and in you there is no deceit at all!”

19 But Daniel laughed and restrained the king from going in. “Look at the floor,” he said, “and notice whose footprints these are.” 

20 The king said, “I see the footprints of men and women and children.”

21 Then the king was enraged, and he arrested the priests and their wives and children. They showed him the secret doors through which they used to enter to consume what was on the table. 

22 Therefore the king put them to death, and gave Bel over to Daniel, who destroyed it and its temple.

7 In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head as he lay in bed. Then he wrote down the dream:

 2 I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea, 

3 and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. 

4 The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then, as I watched, its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a human being; and a human mind was given to it. 

5.Another beast appeared, a second one, that looked like a bear. It was raised up on one side, had three tusks[c] in its mouth among its teeth and was told, “Arise, devour many bodies!” 

6 After this, as I watched, another appeared, like a leopard. The beast had four wings of a bird on its back and four heads; and dominion was given to it. 

7 After this I saw in the visions by night a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth and was devouring, breaking in pieces, and stamping what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that preceded it, and it had ten horns. 

8 I was considering the horns, when another horn appeared, a little one coming up among them; to make room for it, three of the earlier horns were plucked up by the roots. There were eyes like human eyes in this horn, and a mouth speaking arrogantly.

Comment: This vision of Daniel pertains to that of  the four great empires, those of Nebuchadnezar, Persians, Greeks and the Romans.

1 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia so that he sent a herald throughout all his kingdom, and also in a written edict declared:

2 “Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah. 

3 Any of those among you who are of his people—may their God be with them!—are now permitted to go up to Jerusalem in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem; 

4 and let all survivors, in whatever place they reside, be assisted by the people of their place with silver and gold, with goods and with animals, besides freewill offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem.”

5 The heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites—everyone whose spirit God had stirred—got ready to go up and rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. 

6 All their neighbors aided them with silver vessels, with gold, with goods, with animals, and with valuable gifts, besides all that was freely offered. 

7 King Cyrus himself brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 

8 King Cyrus of Persia had them released into the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 

9 And this was the inventory: gold basins, thirty; silver basins, one thousand; knives,[a] twenty-nine; 

10 gold bowls, thirty; other silver bowls, four hundred ten; other vessels, one thousand; 

11 the total of the gold and silver vessels was five thousand four hundred. All these Sheshbazzar brought up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

2 Now these were the people of the province who came from those captive exiles whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had carried captive to Babylonia; they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, all to their own towns.

 64 The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty, 65 besides their male and female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven; and they had two hundred male and female singers. 66 They had seven hundred thirty-six horses, two hundred forty-five mules, 67 four hundred thirty-five camels, and six thousand seven hundred twenty donkeys.  

68 As soon as they came to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, some of the heads of families made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site. 69 According to their resources they gave to the building fund sixty-one thousand darics of gold, five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priestly robes. 

6 Then King Darius made a decree, and they searched the archives where the documents were stored in Babylon. 

2 But it was in Ecbatana, the capital in the province of Media, that a scroll was found on which this was written: “A record. 

3 In the first year of his reign, King Cyrus issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices are offered and burnt offerings are brought;[a] its height shall be sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits, 

4 with three courses of hewn stones and one course of timber; let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. 

5 Moreover, let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple in Jerusalem, each to its place; you shall put them in the house of God.”

6 “Now you, Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and you, their associates, the envoys in the province Beyond the River, keep away; 

7 let the work on this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site. 

8 Moreover I make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the rebuilding of this house of God: the cost is to be paid to these people, in full and without delay, from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province Beyond the River. 

9 Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests in Jerusalem require—let that be given to them day by day without fail, 

10 so that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his children. 

11 Furthermore I decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of the house of the perpetrator, who then shall be impaled on it. The house shall be made a dunghill. 

12 May the God who has established his name there overthrow any king or people that shall put forth a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, make a decree; let it be done with all diligence.”

13 Then, according to the word sent by King Darius, Tattenai, the governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates did with all diligence what King Darius had ordered. 

14 So the elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of the prophet Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished their building by command of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus, Darius, and King Artaxerxes of Persia; 

15 and this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

11 1 As for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to support and strengthen him.

1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capital, 2 one of my brothers, Hanani, came with certain men from Judah; and I asked them about the Jews that survived, those who had escaped the captivity, and about Jerusalem. 3 They replied, “The survivors there in the province who escaped captivity are in great trouble and shame; the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been destroyed by fire.”

4 When I heard these words I sat down and wept, and mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

2 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence before. 

2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This can only be sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 

3 I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors’ graves, lies waste, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” 

4 Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 

5 Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ graves, so that I may rebuild it.” 

6 The king said to me (the queen also was sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a date. 

7 Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may grant me passage until I arrive in Judah; 

8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, directing him to give me timber to make beams for the gates of the temple fortress, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the gracious hand of my God was upon me.

11 So I came to Jerusalem and was there for three days. 

12 Then I got up during the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal I took was the animal I rode. 

13 I went out by night by the Valley Gate past the Dragon’s Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. 

14 Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool; but there was no place for the animal I was riding to continue. 

15 So I went up by way of the valley by night and inspected the wall. Then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. 

16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest that were to do the work.

17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace.” 

18 I told them that the hand of my God had been gracious upon me, and also the words that the king had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us start building!” So they committed themselves to the common good.