Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy {endureth} for ever:

This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he {was} a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.

For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.

Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This {is} the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. {might: or, army}

And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.

Ye looked for much, and, lo, {it came} to little; and when ye brought {it} home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that {is} waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. {blow...: or, blow it away}

Now this {is} the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, {even} a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of his statutes to Israel.

And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; {and} break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: {trodden...: Heb. for a treading}

And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. {fenced: or, made a wall about} {made: Heb. hewed}

And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished {it}, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. {commandment: Chaldee, decree}

Behold, we {are} servants this day, and {for} the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we {are} servants in it:

Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.

Know therefore and understand, {that} from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince {shall be} seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. {be built...: Heb. return and be built} {wall: or, breach, or, ditch} {troublous: Heb. strait of}

Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;

Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. {rolls: Chaldee, books} {laid up: Chaldee, made to descend}

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and {put it} also in writing, saying, {made...: Heb. caused a voice to pass}

And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which {was} in the seventh year of the king.

For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, {then} shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for {such} a time as this? {enlargement: Heb. respiration}

And hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the LORD my God {was} upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.

Behold, we {are} servants this day, and {for} the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we {are} servants in it:

He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.

Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? {lawful...: Heb. captivity of the just}

And had a wall great and high, {and} had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are {the names} of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

For Israel {hath} not {been} forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.

They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

And now for a little space grace hath been {shewed} from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. {space: Heb. moment} {a nail: or, a pin: that is, a constant and sure abode}