The Daily Audio Bible
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1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the fortress,
2 that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and [certain] men of Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
3 And they said to me, Those who remain, that are left of the captivity there in the province, are in great affliction and reproach; and the wall of Jerusalem is in ruins, and its gates are burned with fire.
4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat and wept, and mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of the heavens,
5 and said, I beseech thee, Jehovah, God of the heavens, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and keep his commandments.
6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, to hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, confessing the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.
7 We have acted very perversely against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances that thou commandedst thy servant Moses.
8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the peoples;
9 but if ye return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.
10 And they are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand.
11 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 mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was the king's cupbearer.
2 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, [that] wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence.
2 And the king said to me, Why is thy face sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sadness of heart. And I was very sore afraid.
3 And I said to the king, Let the king live for ever! Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lies waste, and its gates are consumed with fire?
4 And the king said to me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of the heavens.
5 And I said to the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.
6 And the king said to me—the queen also sitting by him,—For how long shall thy journey be, and when wilt thou return? And it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
7 And I said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may set me forward till I come into Judah;
8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which [appertains] to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.
9 And I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of a force and horsemen with me.
10 And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobijah the servant, the Ammonite, heard [of it], it grieved them exceedingly that there had come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
11 And I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me—but I told no man what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem—and there was no beast with me, except the beast that I rode upon.
13 And I went out by night by the valley-gate, even toward the jackal-fountain, and to the dung-gate; and I viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were in ruins, and its gates were consumed with fire.
14 And I went on to the fountain-gate, and to the king's pool; and there was no place for the beast under me to pass.
15 And I went up in the night through the valley, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the valley-gate and returned.
16 And the rulers did not know whither I went or what I did, for I had not as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.
17 And I said to them, Ye see the distress that we are in, that Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.
18 And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me; as also of the king's words which he had said unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. And they strengthened their hands for the good [work].
19 And Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobijah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it; and they mocked us and despised us, and said, What is this thing which ye do? will ye rebel against the king?
20 And I answered them, and said to them, The God of the heavens, he will prosper us, and we his servants will arise and build; but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem.
3 And Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they built the sheep-gate. They hallowed it, and set up its doors; and they hallowed it even to the tower of Meah, to the tower of Hananeel.
2 And next to them built the men of Jericho. And next to them built Zaccur the son of Imri.
3 And the fish-gate did the sons of Senaah build: they laid its beams, and set up its doors, its locks and its bars.
4 And next to them repaired Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of Koz. And next to them repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabeel. And next to them repaired Zadok the son of Baana.
5 And next to them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord.
6 And the gate of the old [wall] repaired Jehoiada the son of Paseah, and Meshullam the son of Besodiah; they laid its beams, and set up its doors, and its locks, and its bars.
7 And next to them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, to the seat of the governor on this side the river.
8 Next to them repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths; and next to him repaired Hananiah of the perfumers, and they left Jerusalem [in its state] as far as the broad wall.
9 And next to them repaired Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem.
10 And next to them repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, even over against his house. And next to him repaired Hattush the son of Hashabniah.
11 Malchijah the son of Harim and Hasshub the son of Pahath-Moab repaired a second piece, and the tower of the furnaces.
12 And next to them repaired Shallum the son of Hallohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters.
13 The valley-gate repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and set up its doors, its locks and its bars, and a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the dung-gate.
14 And the dung-gate repaired Malchijah the son of Rechab, the chief of the district of Beth-haccerem; he built it, and set up its doors, its locks and its bars.
7 But concerning the things of which ye have written [to me]: [It is] good for a man not to touch a woman;
2 but on account of fornications, let each have his own wife, and each [woman] have her own husband.
3 Let the husband render her due to the wife, and in like manner the wife to the husband.
4 The wife has not authority over her own body, but the husband: in like manner also the husband has not authority over his own body, but the wife.
5 Defraud not one another, unless, it may be, by consent for a time, that ye may devote yourselves to prayer, and again be together, that Satan tempt you not because of your incontinency.
6 But this I say, as consenting [to], not as commanding [it].
7 Now I wish all men to be even as myself: but every one has his own gift of God: one man thus, and another thus.
8 But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, It is good for them that they remain even as I.
9 But if they have not control over themselves, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn.
10 But to the married I enjoin, not *I*, but the Lord, Let not wife be separated from husband;
11 (but if also she shall have been separated, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband;) and let not husband leave wife.
12 But as to the rest, *I* say, not the Lord, If any brother have an unbelieving wife, and *she* consent to dwell with him, let him not leave her.
13 And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to dwell with her, let her not leave [her] husband.
14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the brother; since [otherwise] indeed your children are unclean, but now they are holy.
15 But if the unbeliever go away, let them go away; a brother or a sister is not bound in such [cases], but God has called us in peace.
16 For what knowest thou, O wife, if thou shalt save thy husband? or what knowest thou, O husband, if thou shalt save thy wife?
17 However, as the Lord has divided to each, as God has called each, so let him walk; and thus I ordain in all the assemblies.
18 Has any one been called circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised: has any one been called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised.
19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but keeping God's commandments.
20 Let each abide in that calling in which he has been called.
21 Hast thou been called [being] a bondman, let it not concern thee; but and if thou canst become free, use [it] rather.
22 For the bondman that is called in [the] Lord is the Lord's freedman; in like manner [also] the freeman being called is Christ's bondman.
23 Ye have been bought with a price; do not be the bondmen of men.
24 Let each, wherein he is called, brethren, therein abide with God.
19 [Oh] how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, [which] thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee, before the sons of men!
20 Thou keepest them concealed in the secret of thy presence from the conspiracies of man; thou hidest them in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be Jehovah; for he hath shewn me wondrously his loving-kindness in a strong city.
22 As for me, I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes; nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.
23 Love Jehovah, all ye his saints. Jehovah preserveth the faithful, and plentifully requiteth the proud doer.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all ye that hope in Jehovah.
4 Lofty eyes, and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin.
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