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14 All the time that I ruled the land of Judah, I did not eat the government officer's special food. I was the ruler from the 20th year of King Artaxerxes until his 32nd year as king. For all those 12 years, I and my relatives refused to eat the special food. 15 The officers who ruled there before I came made much trouble for the people. They took food and wine from the people, as well as 40 silver coins every day. Their servants also gave the people much trouble. But I did not live like them, because I wanted to please God. 16 I worked hard to help the work on the city's walls. I did not take any land for myself. All my servants also had to join with me in the work.
17 150 Jews and their officers ate meals with me. There were also people who came to visit from countries that were near to us. 18 Every day, my servants cooked one ox, six good sheep and some birds for us to eat. Every ten days they bought for me many different kinds of wine. But I did not ask to receive the extra food that the ruler usually receives. The people were working hard on the wall and I did not want to give them more trouble.
19 My God, please remember the many things that I have done to help my people. Please bless me.
Enemies try to frighten Nehemiah
6 We had finished building the city's wall. There were no holes in it now, but we had not fixed the doors in the gates. Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem (the Arab) and all our enemies heard that we had finished building the wall. 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent this message to me: ‘Come and meet with us in a village on the low land of Ono.’
I realized that they wanted to cause trouble for me. 3 So I sent this message back to them: ‘I am too busy to come and meet you. The work here is too important. I cannot stop the work here to come and meet you.’
4 They sent me the same message four times. Each time, I refused. 5 Then Sanballat sent his officer to me with a fifth message. He carried a letter that was open for anyone to read. 6 This is what the letter said: ‘To Nehemiah. Other nations have heard the news that you and the other Jews have decided to turn against the king. Geshem also says that this is true. This is why you are building the city's wall. People are saying that you want to rule the Jews as their king. 7 You have chosen some prophets to speak your message in Jerusalem. You have told them to say, “There is now a king in Judah!” The king of Persia will surely hear this news. So we must meet together and talk about it.’
8 I sent this reply: ‘What you say is not true. Nothing like that is happening. You are only speaking your own ideas.’
9 All our enemies wanted to frighten us. They thought, ‘The Jews will be so afraid that they will not be able to work well. They will not finish building the wall.’
So I prayed to God, ‘Give me strength to continue the work.’
10 One day I went to Shemaiah's house.[a] He was the son of Delaiah, Mehetabel's son. He could not go out of his house. He said to me, ‘Meet me inside the temple of God. We will close the temple's doors. Our enemies are coming to kill you. One night soon, they will come to kill you.’
11 But I said, ‘I am not a man who would run away to be safe. I will not go into the temple to save my life.’ 12 Then I realized that Shemaiah was not telling me a message from God. I knew that Tobiah and Sanballat had paid him to say this to me. 13 They wanted to frighten me so that I would hide in the temple. My enemies knew that this would be a sin.[b] If I did that, I would be ashamed. People would no longer respect me.
14 My God, please remember all the bad things that Tobiah and Sanballat have done. Also remember the prophetess, Noadiah, and the other prophets who have tried to frighten me.
The wall is finished
15 We finished the city's wall on the 25th day of the month Elul.[c] It had taken 52 days to build the wall again. 16 When our enemies heard this news, they were afraid. The people of all the nations who lived near Jerusalem were very afraid. They knew that our God had helped us to finish this great work.
17 During this time, the leaders in Judah were sending letters to Tobiah. Tobiah was also sending his replies to them. 18 Many people in Judah had promised to obey Tobiah. That was because his wife was the daughter of Arah's son, Shecaniah. Also, his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Berekiah's son, Meshullam.[d] 19 The leaders would often speak about the good things that Tobiah had done. They would then go and tell Tobiah everything that I had said. So Tobiah continued to send letters to frighten me.
7 When we had built the wall, we fixed the doors in their places. We chose men to be guards for the city's gates. We also chose singers and Levites to serve God. 2 I gave authority over Jerusalem to my brother Hanani and to Hananiah. Hananiah was the leader of the men in Jerusalem's strong building. He was a faithful man who respected God more than many men do. 3 I said to them, ‘Do not open Jerusalem's gates until the sun is high in the sky. Shut the gates and lock them while the guards are still there. Choose people who live in Jerusalem to be guards for the city. Some guards must stand at the city's gates. Other guards must stand near their own houses.’
People who came back from the exile
4 Jerusalem was a large city, but not many people lived in it. We had not yet built many houses. 5 It was not easy to keep the city safe. Then God put an idea in my mind. I called the leaders, the officers and the other people to meet together. I wanted to check the lists of their families. I found the list of those people who had first returned to Jerusalem.[e]
6 This is the list of the Jews who returned to Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah. King Nebuchadnezzar had taken them away as prisoners to Babylon. Now each of them had returned to live in his own town. 7 These people came from Babylon with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum and Baanah.
This is a list of the number of men in each Israelite clan who returned:
8 The clan of Parosh: 2,172.
9 The clan of Shephatiah: 372.
10 The clan of Arah: 652.
11 The clan of Pahath-Moab (descendants of Jeshua and Joab): 2,818.
12 The clan of Elam: 1,254.
13 The clan of Zattu: 845.
14 The clan of Zaccai: 760.
15 The clan of Binnui: 648.
16 The clan of Bebai: 628.
17 The clan of Azgad: 2,322.
18 The clan of Adonikam: 667.
19 The clan of Bigvai: 2,067.
20 The clan of Adin: 655.
21 The clan of Ater (descendants of Hezekiah): 98.
22 The clan of Hashum: 328.
23 The clan of Bezai: 324.
24 The clan of Hariph: 112.
25 The clan of Gibeon: 95.
26 The number of men who belonged to these towns:
Bethlehem and Netophah: 188.
27 Anathoth: 128.
28 Beth Azmaveth: 42.
29 Kiriath-Jearim, Kephirah and Beeroth: 743.
30 Ramah and Geba: 621.
31 Michmash: 122.
32 Bethel and Ai: 123.
33 The other Nebo: 52.
34 The other Elam: 1,254.
35 Harim: 320.
36 Jericho: 345.
37 Lod, Hadid and Ono: 721.
38 Senaah: 3,930.
39 These priests also returned:
The clan of Jedaiah (descendants of Jeshua): 973.
40 The clan of Immer: 1,052.
41 The clan of Pashhur: 1,247.
42 The clan of Harim: 1,017.
43 These Levites also returned:
The clans of Jeshua and Kadmiel (descendants of Hodaviah): 74.
44 Singers who were descendants of Asaph: 148.
45 Temple guards who were descendants of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita and Shobai: 138.
46 These were the families of the temple servants who returned:
Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,
47 Keros, Sia, Padon,
48 Lebana, Hagaba, Shalmai,
49 Hanan, Giddel, Gahar,
50 Reaiah, Rezin, Nekoda,
51 Gazzam, Uzza, Paseah,
52 Besai, Meunim, Nephussim,
53 Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur,
54 Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha,
55 Barkos, Sisera, Temah,
56 Neziah and Hatipha.
57 These were the servants of King Solomon whose descendants returned:
Sotai, Sophereth, Perida,
58 Jaala, Darkon, Giddel,
59 Shephatiah, Hattil, Pokereth-Hazzebaim and Amon.
60 The temple servants and the descendants of Solomon's servants were 392 men.
61 There were some people who came from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon and Immer. But they had no lists to show that they belonged to Israelite families.
62 There were from the clans of Delaiah, Tobiah and Nekoda: 642.
63 There were also some priests from the clans of Hobaiah, Hakkoz and Barzillai. (Barzillai was a man who had married a daughter of Barzillai, who came from Gilead. So he took Barzillai's name for himself.) 64 These people could not find any lists to show who their ancestors were. Because of this, they could not serve God as priests.[f] 65 The officer who ruled in Judah said that they must not eat the priests' special food. They must wait until there was a priest who could use the Urim and Thummim to decide the right thing to do.[g]
66 The number of all the people who returned to Judea was 42,360. 67 There were also 7,337 male and female servants, as well as 245 male and female singers. 68 They had 736 horses and 245 mules, 69 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys.[h]
70 Some of the family leaders gave money to help build the wall. The officer who ruled there gave 8.5 kilograms of gold, 50 bowls and 530 sets of special clothes for the priests. 71 Some family leaders gave 170 kilograms of gold and 1,300 kilograms of silver. 72 The rest of the people gave 170 kilograms of gold and 1,300 kilograms of silver. They also gave 67 sets of special clothes for the priests.
73 The priests, the Levites, the temple guards, the singers and the temple servants now lived in towns near Jerusalem. The other people also lived in the towns of Judah. When the seventh month of the year arrived, all the Israelite people were living in their towns and cities.
About food that people offer to idols
8 You asked me a question about food that people have offered to idols. You say, ‘We all know about these things.’ We know that is true. But when you know about something, that can make you proud. Love is better. Love helps people to become strong. 2 Some people may think that they know everything. People like that do not know as much as they ought to know. 3 But if somebody loves God, he is God's friend. God knows that person.
4 So think about food that people have offered to idols. You ask, ‘Should Christians eat that food?’ We know that no idol is really alive. We also know that there is only one God. 5 It is true that people call many things their gods. Those are things both in heaven and on earth. Those people have many gods and many lords. 6 But for us there is only one God, who is the Father. All things come from him. We live to serve him. For us, there is only one Lord, who is Jesus Christ. All things are there because of him. And we ourselves live because of him.
7 But not everyone understands properly about idols. Before they believed in Christ, some people worshipped idols for many years. So if they eat food that people have offered to an idol, they become afraid. They think that the food belongs to a real god. Their thoughts are weak. They think that they are doing something wrong. 8 But the food that we eat will not help us to please God. If we do not eat certain food, that will not make us worse. If we do eat that food, it will not make us better.
9 You are free to eat any kind of food. You understand that. But other Christians do not understand so well. So you must be careful. Do not cause them to do something that they think is wrong. 10 You may be eating food in a place where people worship idols. Then another Christian sees you there. You know that the idols are not real gods. But the other Christian may have weak thoughts about this. So, because he sees you, he may think that he can eat that food too. 11 Because you understand properly, you are hurting someone who does not understand so well. In that way, the life of your Christian friend has become completely spoiled. Remember that Christ died to save that friend. 12 If you do that kind of bad thing to hurt your Christian friends, you are hurting Christ himself. You are causing them to do something which they think is wrong. 13 I do not want to hurt any of my Christian friends. So, if the food that I eat causes them to do something wrong, I will never eat meat again.
Praise the Lord![a]
33 You righteous people,
sing to praise the Lord,
and be happy!
It is right for good, honest people to do that.
2 Pick up your harp
and praise the Lord!
Make music for him
with a lyre that has ten strings.
3 Sing to him a new song!
Make beautiful music,
as you sing aloud to praise him.
4 Yes! The Lord's message is true.
We can always trust him to do what is right.
5 He loves everything that is right and fair.
The world is full of his faithful love.
6 The word of the Lord made the heavens.
When he spoke,
all the stars in the sky appeared.
7 He put the water of the sea together in a heap.
He made the deep seas stay in their right places.
8 Everyone who lives on the earth should respect the Lord.
They should bend down to worship him.
9 The Lord spoke,
and the world began!
He spoke his command,
and everything became fixed in its place.[b]
10 Nations decide what they want to do,
but the Lord causes their plans to be useless.
11 But whatever the Lord decides to do
will always happen.
His thoughts will not change
from one century to the next.
8 Guilty people are always going the wrong way.
Good people keep on the right way.
9 It is better to live on the roof of your house
than to live with a wife who always argues.
10 Evil things are the food that wicked people eat to live.
They are not kind to anyone, even their friends.
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