God

Let our rulers stand therefore before all the Congregation, and let all them which haue taken strange wiues in our cities, come at the time appoynted, and with them the Elders of euery citie and the Iudges thereof, til the fierce wrath of our God for this matter turne away from vs.

And when I heard these wordes, I sate downe and wept, and mourned certeine dayes, and I fasted and prayed before the God of heauen,

And sayde, O Lord God of heauen, the great and terrible God, that keepeth couenant and mercy for them that loue him, and obserue his commandements,

I pray thee, let thine eares be attet, and thine eies open, to heare the praier of thy seruat, which I pray before thee dayly, day and night for ye childre of Israel thy seruats, and confesse the sinnes of the children of Israel, which we haue sinned against thee, both I and my fathers house haue sinned:

We haue grieuously sinned against thee, and haue not kept the commandements, nor the statutes, nor the iudgements, which thou commandedst thy seruant Moses.

I beseeche thee, remember the worde that thou commandedst thy seruant Moses, saying, Ye wil transgresse, and I will scatter you abroade among the people.

But if ye turne vnto me, and keepe my commandements, and doe them, though your scattering were to the vttermost part of the heauen, yet will I gather you from thence, and will bring you vnto the place that I haue chosen to place my Name there.

Now these are thy seruants and thy people, whome thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy mightie hand.

O Lord, I beseech thee, let thine eare now hearken to the prayer of thy seruant, and to the prayer of thy seruants, who desire to feare thy Name, and I pray thee, cause thy seruant to prosper this day, and giue him fauour in the presence of this man: for I was the Kings butler.

And the King said vnto me, For what thing doest thou require? Then I prayed to the God of heauen,

And letters vnto Asaph the keeper of the Kings parke, that hee may giue me timber to buylde the gates of the palace (which apperteined to the house) and for the walles of the citie, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the King gaue me according to the good hand of my God vpon me.

And I rose in the night, I, and a fewe men with me: for I told no man, what God had put in mine heart to do at Ierusalem, and there was not a beast with me, saue the beast whereon I rode.

Then I tolde them of the hande of my God, (which was good ouer me) and also of the Kings wordes that he had spoken vnto me. And they sayd, Let vs rise, and buyld. So they strengthened their hand to good.

Then answered I them, and sayd to them, The God of heauen, he will prosper vs, and we his seruants will rise vp and buylde: but as for you, ye haue no portion nor right, nor memoriall in Ierusalem.

And next vnto them fortified the Tekoites: but the great men of them put not their neckes to the worke of their lordes.

Heare, O our God (for we are despised) and turne their shame vpon their owne head, and giue them vnto a pray in the lande of their captiuitie,

The we prayed vnto our God, and set watchmen by them, day and night, because of them.

Then I behelde, and rose vp, and said vnto the Princes, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not afrayde of them: remember the great Lord, and fearefull, and fight for your brethren, your sonnes, and your daughters, your wiues, and your houses.

And when our enemies heard that it was knowen vnto vs, then God brought their counsell to nought, and we turned all againe to the wall, euery one vnto his worke.

In what place therefore ye heare the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither vnto vs: our God shall fight for vs.

I said also, That which ye do, is not good. Ought ye not to walke in the feare of our God, for the reproche of the heathen our enemies?

So I shooke my lappe, and said, So let God shake out euery man that wil not perfourme this promise from his house, and from his labour: euen thus let him be shaken out, and emptied. And all the Cogregation said, Amen, and praised the Lord: and the people did according to this promise.

For the former gouernours that were before me, had bene chargeable vnto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, besides fourtie shekels of siluer: yea, and their seruants bare rule ouer the people: but so did not I, because of the feare of God.

Remember me, O my God, in goodnesse, according to all that I haue done for this people.

For all they afrayed vs, saying, Their handes shalbe weakened from the worke, and it shall not be done: nowe therefore incourage thou me.