10I then discovered that the portions of the Levites had not been contributed, and that the Levites and the singers who performed the [temple] service had made off, each to his fields. 11I censured the prefects, saying, “How is it that the House of God has been neglected?’’ Then I recalled [the Levites] and installed them again in their posts; 12and all Judah brought the tithes of grain, wine, and oil into the treasuries. 13I put the treasuries in the charge of the priest Shelemiah, the scribe Zadok, and Pedaiah of the Levites; and assisting them was Hanan son of Zaccur son of Mattaniah—for they were regarded as trustworthy persons, and it was their duty to distribute the portions to their brothers.
14O my God, remember me favorably for this, and do not blot out the devotion I showed toward the House of my God and its attendants.
15At that time I saw men in Judah treading winepresses on the sabbath, and others bringing heaps of grain and loading them onto asses, also wine, grapes, figs, and all sorts of goods, and bringing them into Jerusalem on the sabbath. I admonished them there and then for selling provisions. 16Tyrians who lived there brought fish and all sorts of wares and sold them on the sabbath to the Judahites in Jerusalem. 17I censured the nobles of Judah, saying to them, “What evil thing is this that you are doing, profaning the sabbath day! 18This is just what your ancestors did, and for it God brought all this misfortune on this city; and now you give cause for further wrath against Israel by profaning the sabbath!’’
19When shadows filled the gateways of Jerusalem at the approach of the sabbath, I gave orders that the doors be closed, and ordered them not to be opened until after the sabbath. I stationed some of my servants at the gates, so that no goods should enter on the sabbath. 20Once or twice the merchants and the vendors of all sorts of wares spent the night outside Jerusalem, 21but I warned them, saying, “What do you mean by spending the night alongside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands upon you!’’ From then on they did not come on the sabbath. 22I gave orders to the Levites to purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to preserve the sanctity of the sabbath.
This too, O my God, remember to my credit, and spare me in accord with your abundant faithfulness.
23Also at that time, I saw that Jews had married Ashdodite, Ammonite, and Moabite women; 24a good number of their children spoke the language of Ashdod and the language of those various peoples, and did not know how to speak Judean. 25I censured them, cursed them, flogged them, tore out their hair, and adjured them by God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, or take any of their daughters for your sons or yourselves. 26It was just in such things that King Solomon of Israel sinned! Among the many nations there was not a king like him, and so well loved was he by his God that God made him king of all Israel, yet foreign wives caused even him to sin. 27How, then, can we acquiesce in your doing this great wrong, breaking faith with our God by marrying foreign women?’’ 28One of the sons of Joiada son of the high priest Eliashib was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite; I drove him away from me.
29Remember to their discredit, O my God, how they polluted the priesthood, the covenant of the priests and Levites. 30I purged them of every foreign element, and arranged for the priests and the Levites to work each at his task by shifts, 31and for the wood offering [to be brought] at fixed times and for the first fruits.
O my God, remember it to my credit!
a I.e., of King Artaxerxes; cf. 2.1.
b Lit. sky.’’ a Lit.record.’’
a Lit. him.’’ b Lit.them.’’
c-c Lit. bring their neck into.’’ d-d Lit.of the throne’’; meaning of Heb. uncertain.
e Lit. son of,’’ i.e., member of the guild of. f I.e., the charmer. g Following Kimhi; cf. Mishnaic Heb. bet hashelahin, irrigated field. a I.e., the workers on the walls. b I.e., the foes. c-c Lit.ten times.’’
d-d Heb. seems to be abbreviated; a possible restoration of the sentence, with the missing elements enclosed in brackets, is: [of their evil plan; and we would say to them,] From all the places where [you get such information] you shall come back to us [and convey it].’’ e-e Meaning of Heb. uncertain. a-a Lit.our flesh is as good as the flesh of.’’
b Lit. after’’; meaning of Heb. uncertain. a Heb. Gashmu. b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain. c Lit.his.’’
a Lit. sun.’’ b-b Lit.while they are still standing.’’
c Vv. 6–43 appear as Ezra 2 with variations in the names and numbers.
d Lit. their.’’ e A Persian title. f-f These words are missing in some mss. and editions; but cf. Ezra 2.66. a Meaning of Heb. uncertain. b Heb. Jeshua. a Lit.the heavens of the.’’
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a Heb. plural.
b-b For this sense of `abodah, service,’’ cf. 5.18. a Lit.towns.’’
a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a I.e., Tobiah.
Chronicles I
1 Adam, Seth, Enosh; 2Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared; 3Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech; 4Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
5aThe sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 6The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Diphath, and Togarmah. 7The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.
8The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 9The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 10Cush begot Nimrod; he was the first mighty one on earth.
11Mizraim begot the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim, 12the Pathrusim, the Casluhim (whence the Philistines came forth), and the Caphtorim.
13Canaan begot Sidon his first-born, and Heth, 14and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 15the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 16the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites.
17The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, Aram, Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech. 18Arpachshad begot Shelah; and Shelah begot Eber. 19Two sons were born to Eber: the name of the one was Peleg (for in his days the earth was divided), and the name of his brother Joktan. 20Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 21Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 22Ebal, Abimael, Sheba, 23Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.
24Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah; 25Eber, Peleg, Reu; 26Serug, Nahor, Terah; 27Abram, that is, Abraham.
28bThe sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael. 29This is their line: The first-born of Ishmael, Nebaioth; and Kedar, Abdeel, Mibsam, 30Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, 31Jetur, Naphish, and Kedmah. These are the sons of Ishmael. 32The sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: she bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan. 33The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Enoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the descendants of Keturah.
34Abraham begot Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel. 35The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. 36The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zephi, Gatam, Kenaz, Timna, and Amalek. 37The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.
38The sons of Seir: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. 39The sons of Lotan: Hori and Homam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna. 40The sons of Shobal: Alian, Manahath, Ebal, Shephi, and Onam. The sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. 41The sons of Anah: Dishon. The sons of Dishon: Hamran, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. 42The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Jaakan. The sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.
43cThese are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites: Bela son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. 44When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah succeeded him as king. 45When Jobab died, Husham of the land of the Temanites succeeded him as king. 46When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated the Midianites in the country of Moab, succeeded him as king, and the name of his city was Avith. 47When Hadad died, Samlah of Masrekah succeeded him as king. 48When Samlah died, Saul of Rehoboth-on-the-River succeeded him as king. 49When Saul died, Baalhanan son of Achbor succeeded him as king. 50When Baalhanan died, Hadad succeeded him as king; and the name of his city was Pai, and his wife’s name Mehetabel daughter of Matred daughter of Me-zahab. 51And Hadad died.
The clans of Edom were the clans of Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 52Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 53Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 54Magdiel, and Iram; these are the clans of Edom.
2These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, 2Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 3The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah; these three, Bath-shua the Canaanite woman bore to him. But Er, Judah’s first-born, was displeasing to the LORD, and He took his life. 4His daughter-in-law Tamar also bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah’s sons were five in all.
5The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. 6The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara, five in all. 7The sons of Carmi: Achar, the troubler of Israel, who committed a trespass against the proscribed thing; 8and Ethan’s son was Azariah.
9The sons of Hezron that were born to him: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai. 10Ram begot Amminadab, and Amminadab begot Nahshon, prince of the sons of Judah. 11Nahshon was the father of Salma, Salma of Boaz, 12Boaz of Obed, Obed of Jesse. 13Jesse begot Eliab his first-born, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third, 14Nethanel the fourth, Raddai
