Plots against Nehemiah

¹Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and the rest of our enemies heard that we had finished building the wall and that there were no gaps left in it, although we still had not set up the gates in the gateways.

²So Sanballat and Geshem sent me a message, suggesting that I meet with them in one of the villages in the Plain of Ono. This was a trick of theirs to try to harm me.

³I sent messengers to say to them, “I am doing important work and can't go down there. I am not going to let the work stop just to go and see you.”

⁴They sent me the same message four times, and each time I sent them the same reply.

⁵Then Sanballat sent one of his servants to me with a fifth message, this one in the form of an unsealed letter.

⁶It read: “Geshem tells me that a rumor is going around among the neighboring peoples that you and the Jewish people intend to revolt and that this is why you are rebuilding the wall. He also says you plan to make yourself king

⁷and that you have arranged for some prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem that you are the king of Judah. His Majesty is certain to hear about this, so I suggest that you and I meet to talk the situation over.”

⁸I sent a reply to him: “Nothing of what you are saying is true. You have made it all up yourself.”

⁹They were trying to frighten us into stopping work. I prayed, “But now, God, make me strong!”

¹⁰About this time I went to visit Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah and grandson of Mehetabel, who was unable to leave his house. He said to me, “You and I must go and hide together in the Holy Place of the Temple and lock the doors, because they are coming to kill you. Any night now they will come to kill you.”

¹¹I answered, “I'm not the kind of person that runs and hides. Do you think I would try to save my life by hiding in the Temple? I won't do it.”

¹²When I thought it over, I realized that God had not spoken to Shemaiah, but that Tobiah and Sanballat had bribed him to give me this warning.

¹³They hired him to frighten me into sinning, so that they could ruin my reputation and humiliate me.

¹⁴I prayed, “God, remember what Tobiah and Sanballat have done and punish them. Remember that woman Noadiah and all the other prophets who tried to frighten me.”

The Conclusion of the Work

¹⁵After fifty-two days of work the entire wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul.

¹⁶When our enemies in the surrounding nations heard this, they realized that they had lost face, since everyone knew that the work had been done with God's help.

¹⁷During all this time the Jewish leaders had been in correspondence with Tobiah.

¹⁸Many people in Judah were on his side because of his Jewish father-in-law, Shecaniah son of Arah. In addition, his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.

¹⁹People would talk in front of me about all the good deeds Tobiah had done and would tell him everything I said. And he kept sending me letters to try to frighten me.

¹And now the wall had been rebuilt, the gates had all been put in place, and the Temple guards, the members of the sacred choir, and the other Levites had been assigned their work.

²I put two men in charge of governing the city of Jerusalem: my brother Hanani and Hananiah, commanding officer of the fortress. Hananiah was a reliable and God-fearing man without equal.

³I told them not to have the gates of Jerusalem opened in the morning until well after sunrise and to have them closed and barred before the guards went off duty at sunset. I also told them to appoint guards from among the people who lived in Jerusalem and to assign some of them to specific posts and others to patrol the area around their own houses.

The List of Those Who Returned from Exile

⁴Jerusalem was a large city, but not many people were living in it, and not many houses had been built yet.

⁵God inspired me to assemble the people and their leaders and officials and to check their family records. I located the records of those who had first returned from captivity, and this is the information I found:

⁶Many of the exiles left the province of Babylon and returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own hometown. Their families had been living in exile in Babylonia ever since King Nebuchadnezzar had taken them there as prisoners.

⁷Their leaders were Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah.

^8-25This is the list of the clans of Israel, with the number of those from each clan who returned from exile: Parosh - 2,172 Shephatiah - 372 Arah - 652 Pahath Moab (descendants of Jeshua and Joab) - 2,818 Elam - 1,254 Zattu - 845 Zaccai - 760 Binnui - 648 Bebai - 628 Azgad - 2,322 Adonikam - 667 Bigvai - 2,067 Adin - 655 Ater (also called Hezekiah) - 98 Hashum - 328 Bezai - 324 Hariph - 112 Gibeon - 95

^26-38People whose ancestors had lived in the following towns also returned: Bethlehem and Netophah - 188 Anathoth - 128 Beth Azmaveth - 42 Kiriath Jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth - 743 Ramah and Geba - 621 Michmash - 122 Bethel and Ai - 123 The other Nebo - 52 The other Elam - 1,254 Harim - 320 Jericho - 345 Lod, Hadid, and Ono - 721 Senaah - 3,930

^39-42This is the list of the priestly clans that returned from exile: Jedaiah (descendants of Jeshua) - 973 Immer - 1,052 Pashhur - 1,247 Harim - 1,017

^43-45Clans of Levites who returned from exile: Jeshua and Kadmiel (descendants of Hodaviah) - 74 Temple musicians (descendants of Asaph) - 148 Temple guards (descendants of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, and Shobai) - 138

^46-56Clans of Temple workers who returned from exile: Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth, Keros, Sia, Padon, Lebana, Hagaba, Shalmai, Hanan, Giddel, Gahar, Reaiah, Rezin, Nekoda, Gazzam, Uzza, Paseah, Besai, Meunim, Nephushesim, Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur, Bazlith, Mehida, Harsha, Barkos, Sisera, Temah, Neziah, and Hatipha.

^57-59Clans of Solomon's servants who returned from exile: Sotai, Sophereth, Perida, Jaalah, Darkon, Giddel, Shephatiah, Hattil, Pochereth Hazzebaim, and Amon.

⁶⁰The total number of descendants of the Temple workers and of Solomon's servants who returned from exile was 392.

^61-62There were 642 belonging to the clans of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda who returned from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer; but they could not prove that they were descendants of Israelites.

^63-64The following priestly clans could find no record to prove their ancestry: Hobaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai. (The ancestor of the priestly clan of Barzillai had married a woman from the clan of Barzillai of Gilead and taken the name of his father-in-law's clan.) Since they were unable to prove who their ancestors were, they were not accepted as priests.

⁶⁵The Jewish governor told them that they could not eat the food offered to God until there was a priest who could use the Urim and Thummim.

^66-69Total number of exiles who returned - 42,360. Their male and female servants - 7,337 Male and female musicians - 245 Horses - 736 Mules - 245 Camels - 435 Donkeys - 6,720

^70-72Many of the people contributed to help pay the cost of restoring the Temple: The governor 270 ounces of gold 50 ceremonial bowls 530 robes for priests Heads of clans 337 pounds of gold 3,215 pounds of silver The rest of the people 337 pounds of gold 2,923 pounds of silver 67 robes for priests

⁷³The priests, the Levites, the Temple guards, the musicians, many of the ordinary people, the Temple workers—all the people of Israel—settled in the towns and cities of Judah.

Haman Plots to Destroy the Jews

¹Some time later King Xerxes promoted a man named Haman to the position of prime minister. Haman was the son of Hammedatha, a descendant of Agag.

²The king ordered all the officials in his service to show their respect for Haman by kneeling and bowing to him. They all did so, except for Mordecai, who refused to do it.

³The other officials in the royal service asked him why he was disobeying the king's command;

⁴day after day they urged him to give in, but he would not listen to them. “I am a Jew,” he explained, “and I cannot bow to Haman.” So they told Haman about this, wondering if he would tolerate Mordecai's conduct.

⁵Haman was furious when he realized that Mordecai was not going to kneel and bow to him,

⁶and when he learned that Mordecai was a Jew, he decided to do more than punish Mordecai alone. He made plans to kill every Jew in the whole Persian Empire.

⁷In the twelfth year of King Xerxes' rule, in the first month, the month of Nisan, Haman ordered the lots to be cast (“purim,” they were called) to find out the right day and month to carry out his plot. The thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, was decided on.

⁸So Haman told the king, “There is a certain race of people scattered all over your empire and found in every province. They observe customs that are not like those of any other people. Moreover, they do not obey the laws of the empire, so it is not in your best interests to tolerate them.

⁹If it please Your Majesty, issue a decree that they are to be put to death. If you do, I guarantee that I will be able to put 375 tons of silver into the royal treasury for the administration of the empire.”

¹⁰The king took off his ring, which was used to stamp proclamations and make them official, and gave it to the enemy of the Jewish people, Haman son of Hammedatha, the descendant of Agag.

¹¹The king told him, “The people and their money are yours; do as you like with them.”

¹²So on the thirteenth day of the first month Haman called the king's secretaries and dictated a proclamation to be translated into every language and system of writing used in the empire and to be sent to all the rulers, governors, and officials. It was issued in the name of King Xerxes and stamped with his ring.

¹³Runners took this proclamation to every province of the empire. It contained the instructions that on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, all Jews—young and old, women and children—were to be killed. They were to be slaughtered without mercy and their belongings were to be taken.

¹⁴The contents of the proclamation were to be made public in every province, so that everyone would be prepared when that day came.

¹⁵At the king's command the decree was made public in the capital city of Susa, and runners carried the news to the provinces. The king and Haman sat down and had a drink while the city of Susa was being thrown into confusion.

¹The Lord controls the mind of a king as easily as he directs the course of a stream.

²You may think that everything you do is right, but remember that the Lord judges your motives.

³Do what is right and fair; that pleases the Lord more than bringing him sacrifices.

⁴Wicked people are controlled by their conceit and arrogance, and this is sinful.