cannot come down: why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you?
4 Yet they sent to me four times in this way; and I answered them after the same manner.
5 Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand;
6 In which was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words. [1]
7 And thou hast also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.
8 Then I sent to him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou maketh up them out of thy own heart.
9 For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it may not be done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.
10 Afterward I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.
11 And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.
12 And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
13 Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for a bad report, that they might reproach me.
14 My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.
15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.
16 And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard of it, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought by our God.
17 Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came to them. [2]
18 For there were many in Judah sworn to him, because he was the son in law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah.
19 Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear. [3]
CHAP. 7.
1 Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed,
2 That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.
3 And I said to them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun shall be hot; and while they stand by, let them shut the doors, and bar them : and appoint soldiers of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one to be opposite his house.
4 Now the city was large and great: but the people in it were few, and the houses were not built. [4]
5 And my God put into my heart to gather the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a family record of the genealogy of them who came up at the first, and found written in it,
6 These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one to his city;
7 Who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number, I say, of the men of the people of Israel was this ; [5]
8 The children of Parosh, two thousand an hundred and seventy and two.
9 The children of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy and two.
10 The children of Arah, six hundred and fifty and two.
11 The children of Pahathmoab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand and eight hundred and eighteen.
12 The children of Elam, a thousand two hundred and fifty and four.
13 The children of Zattu, eight hundred and forty and five.
14 The children of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty.
15 The children of Binnui, six hundred and forty and eight. [6]
16 The children of Bebai, six hundred and twenty and eight.
17 The children of Azgad, two thousand three hundred and twenty and two.
18 The children of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty and seven.
