whose sight I brought them out. Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness. But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.

ADDITIONAL READING.

1st AND 2nd CHAPTERS OF NEHEMIAH.

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, 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. 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. 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, 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: 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. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandest thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: 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. Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. 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.
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.
sad in his presence.
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, 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? Then
the king said unto me, For what dost thou make
request ? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
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. 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. 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; 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,

Now I had not been beforetime
Wherefore the king said

according to the good hand of my God upon me. 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 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.

me.

So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Then I told them of the hand of my God which

Y

as good upon me; as also the king's words th e had spoken unto me. And they said, Let

se up and build.

So they strengthened th

ands for this good work.

PORTION (AMMOR).

CHAPTER XXIII.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Spea nto the children of Israel, and say unto ther Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye sha roclaim to be holy convocations, even these a ny feasts. Six days shall work be done: but th eventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy conv ation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sal ath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These a he feasts of the Lord, even holy convocation hich ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In th ourteenth day of the first month at even is th Lord's passover. And on the fifteenth day of th ame month is the feast of unleavened bread unt he Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavene read. In the first day ye shall have an holy con ocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. Bu e shall offer an offering made by fire unto th ord seven days: in the seventh day is an holy onvocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speal nto the children of Israel, and say unto them