15th November

¹ The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,² That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.³ And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.⁴ And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,⁵ And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:⁶ Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.⁷ We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.⁸ Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:⁹ But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.¹⁰ Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.¹¹ O LORD, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

¹ And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.² Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,³ And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?⁴ Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.⁵ And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.⁶ And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.⁷ Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;⁸ And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.⁹ Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.¹⁰ When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.¹¹ So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.¹² And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.¹³ And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.¹⁴ Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.¹⁵ Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.¹⁶ And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.¹⁷ Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.¹⁸ Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?²⁰ Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

¹ Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.² The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.³ He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:⁴ Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us;⁵ Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.⁶ Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment and wait on thy God continually.⁷ He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.⁸ And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.⁹ And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.¹⁰ I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.¹¹ Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.¹² And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.¹³ And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.¹⁴ Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his LORD return unto him.

¹ If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.² Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.³ For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.⁴ When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.⁵ Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:⁶ For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:⁷ In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.⁸ But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.⁹ Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;¹⁰ And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:¹¹ Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.¹² Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;¹³ Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.¹⁴ And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.¹⁵ And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.¹⁷ And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.¹⁸ Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.²⁰ Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.²¹ Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.²² Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God;²³ And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;²⁴ Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.²⁵ But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

¹ Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.² Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;³ Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:⁴ That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.⁵ Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.⁶ Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.⁷ All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord:⁸ Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts;⁹ With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here.¹⁰ Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;)¹¹ And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me.¹² Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.¹³ For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis.¹⁴ Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.¹⁵ Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.¹⁶ And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.¹⁷ And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.¹⁸ The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.