God

One day, when I went to the house of Sh'ma'yah the son of D'layah, the son of M'heitav'el, where he was confined, he said, "Let's meet together in the house of God, inside the temple, and let's shut the doors of the temple. For they are going to come and try to assassinate you; yes, they will come at night to kill you."

Then I realized that God had not sent him, that he was making this prophecy against me, and that Toviyah and Sanvalat had bribed him to say it.

My God, remember Toviyah and Sanvalat according to their deeds, also the prophet No'adyah and the other prophets trying to intimidate me.

When all our enemies heard about it and the surrounding nations became afraid, our enemies' self-esteem fell severely; because they realized that this work had been accomplished by our God.

I put my kinsman Hanani in charge of Yerushalayim, along with Hananyah the commander of the citadel. For he was a faithful man, and he feared God more than most.

My God put it in my heart to assemble the nobles, the leaders and the people, so that they could be registered according to their genealogies. I located the record of the genealogies of those who had come up at the beginning and found written in it:

When the seventh month arrived, after the people of Isra'el had resettled in their towns, all the people gathered with one accord in the open space in front of the Water Gate and asked 'Ezra the Torah-teacher to bring the scroll of the Torah of Moshe, which ADONAI had commanded Isra'el.

'Ezra blessed ADONAI, the great God; and all the people answered, "Amen! Amen!" as they lifted up their hands, bowed their heads and fell prostrate before ADONAI with their faces to the ground.

They read clearly from the scroll, in the Torah of God, translated it, and enabled them to understand the sense of what was being read.

Nechemyah the Tirshata, 'Ezra the cohen and Torah-teacher and the L'vi'im who taught the people said to all the people, "Today is consecrated to ADONAI your God; don't be mournful, don't weep." For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the Torah.

Then he said to them, "Go, eat rich food, drink sweet drinks, and send portions to those who can't provide for themselves; for today is consecrated to our Lord. Don't be sad, because the joy of ADONAI is your strength."

They found written in the Torah that ADONAI had ordered through Moshe that the people of Isra'el were to live in sukkot during the feast of the seventh month;

So the people went out, brought them and made sukkot for themselves, each one on the roof of his house, also in their courtyards, in the courtyards of the house of God, in the open space by the Water Gate and in the open space by the Efrayim Gate.

Also they read every day, from the first day until the last day, in the scroll of the Torah of God. They kept the feast for seven days; then on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

Standing where they were, they read in the scroll of the Torah of ADONAI their God for one-quarter of the day. For another quarter they confessed and prostrated themselves before ADONAI their God.

On the platform of the L'vi'im stood Yeshua, Bani, Kadmi'el, Sh'vanyah, Buni, Sherevyah, Bani and K'nani; they cried out loudly to ADONAI their God.

Then the L'vi'im Yeshua, Kadmi'el, Bani, Hashavn'yah, Sherevyah, Hodiyah, Sh'vanyah and P'tachyah said, "Stand up, and bless ADONAI your God from everlasting to everlasting; let them say: "'Blessed be your glorious name, exalted above all blessing and praise!

"'You are ADONAI, you alone. You made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their array, the earth and all the things that are in it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you.

"'You are ADONAI, the God who chose Avram, brought him out of Ur-Kasdim and gave him the name of Avraham.

Finding that he was faithful to you, you made a covenant with him to give the land of the Kena'ani, the Hitti, Emori and P'rizi, the Y'vusi and the Girgashi, to give it to his descendants; and you have done what you promised, because you are just.

You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his servants and the people of the land; for you knew how arrogantly they treated them; and you won yourself a name which is yours to this day.

You divided the sea ahead of them, so that they could pass through the sea on dry land; then you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into turbulent waters.

"'In a column of cloud you led them by day, and by night in a column of fire, so that they would have light ahead of them on the way that they were to go.

You revealed to them your holy Shabbat and gave them mitzvot, laws and the Torah through Moshe your servant.

"'For their hunger you gave them bread from heaven; for their thirst you brought forth for them water from the rock. You ordered them to enter and possess the land you had sworn with your hand to give them.