1The words of Nehemiah the sonne of Hachaliah. In ye moneth Chisleu, in the twentieth yeere, as I was in the palace of Shushan,
2Came Hanam, one of my brethren, he and the men of Iudah, and I asked them concerning the Iewes that were deliuered, which were of the residue of the captiuitie, and concerning Ierusalem.
3And they sayde vnto me, The residue that are left of the captiuitie there in the prouince, are in great affliction and in reproche, and the wall of Ierusalem is broken downe, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire.
4And when I heard these wordes, I sate downe and wept, and mourned certeine dayes, and I fasted and prayed before the God of heauen,
5And 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,
6I 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:
7We haue grieuously sinned against thee, and haue not kept the commandements, nor the statutes, nor the iudgements, which thou commandedst thy seruant Moses.
8I beseeche thee, remember the worde that thou commandedst thy seruant Moses, saying, Ye wil transgresse, and I will scatter you abroade among the people.
9But 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.
10Now these are thy seruants and thy people, whome thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy mightie hand.
11O 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.