And God said, Let there that thatbe light: And there was light. and God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
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And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken. Amon was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned two years in Jerusalem. Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the of Azaliah, and Masseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. And when they brought out the many that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Car-chemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out agaisnt him. Jehoikim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jeru-salem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, 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, Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. The priests: the children of Jediah, of the house of Jeshua, mine hundred seventy and three. The Levites: the children of Jeshua and Kadiel, of the children of Hodaviah, seventy and four. The Nethinims: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth, The children of Solomon's servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Peruda, And these were they which went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsa, Cherub, Addan, and Immer: but they could not shew their fathers' house, and their seed, whether they were of Israel: The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore, And some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the Lord which is at Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to set it up in his place: Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Joz-adak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of the Lord. Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter agaisnt Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort: Then sent the king an answer unto Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their companions that dwell in Samaria, and unto the rest beyond the river: Peace, and at such a time. Now when the copy of king Artaxerxers' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. At the same time came to them Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shethar-bozhai, and their companions, and said thus unto them, Who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up this wall? In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the hosue be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits; Then Tatnai, governor on this side the rvier, She-thar-boznai, and their companions, according to that which Darius the king had sent, so they did speedily. And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time. Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem: And I gathered them together to the river that run-neth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the of Levi. Then I separated twelve of the chief of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiahk, and ten of their brethren with them, Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the ahdn of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way. Then all the men of Judah and Benejamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain. And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah. Also of the Levites; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah, ( the same is Kelita,) Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. Moreover of Israel: of the sons of Parosh; Ramiah, and Jeziah, and Malchiah, and Miamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah. Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the kings letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and To-biah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ash-dodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the brethrens began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor. So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by geneology. And I found a register of the geneology of them which came up at the first, and found written therein, These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city; The children of Parosh, two thousand an hundred seventy and two. The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy and three. The Levites: the children of Jeshua, of Kadimiel, and of the children of Hadevah, seventy and four. The Nethininims: the children of Ziha, the children of Hashupha, the children of Tabbaoth, The children of Solomon's servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Perida, And these were they which went up also from Tel-melah, Tel-haresha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer: but they could not shew their fathers' house, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel. The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore, And some of the chief of the fathers gave unto the work. The Tirshatha gave to the treasure a thousand drams of gold, fifty basons, five hundred and thiry priests' governors garments. And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshathai, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. FOr all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.