Verba Nehemiæ filii Helchiæ. Et factum est in mense Casleu, anno vigesimo, et ego eram in Susis castro.

The words of Nehemias the son of Helchias. And it came to pass in the month of Casleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in the castle of Susa,

These are the memoirs of Nehemias, son of Helchias. One day in the month of Casleu, the year, the twentieth of Artaxerxes, in the royal city of Susa,

Et venit Hanani, unus de fratribus meis, ipse et viri ex Juda: et interrogavi eos de Judæis qui remanserant, et supererant de captivitate, et Jerusalem.

That Hanani one of my brethren came, he and some men of Juda; and I asked them concerning the Jews, that remained and were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

I was visited by a kinsman of mine, Hanani, who brought with him certain travellers just come from Juda. So I asked them how it went with Jerusalem, and with the Jews still left there, survivors of the exiles who returned.

Et dixerunt mihi: Qui remanserunt, et relicti sunt de captivitate ibi in provincia, in afflictione magna sunt, et in opprobrio: et murus Jerusalem dissipatus est, et portæ ejus combustæ sunt igni.

And they said to me: They that have remained, and are left of the captivity there in the province, are in great affliction, and reproach: and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire.

Survivors there are, said they, in various parts of the province, left over from the days of the exile. But they are in great distress, and count for nothing; Jerusalem is but broken walls and charred gates.

Cumque audissem verba hujuscemodi, sedi, et flevi, et luxi diebus multis: jejunabam, et orabam ante faciem Dei cæli:

And when I had heard these words, I sat down, and wept, and mourned for many days: and I fasted, and prayed before the face of the God of heaven.

For a long time after hearing this news I kept my house, all tears and lament; I fasted, and sought audience with the God of heaven in prayer.

et dixi: Quæso, Domine Deus cæli fortis, magne atque terribilis, qui custodis pactum et misericordiam cum his qui te diligunt, et custodiunt mandata tua:

And I said: I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, strong, great, and terrible, who keepest covenant and mercy with those that love thee, and keep thy commandments:

Mercy, I cried, thou God of heaven, the strong, the great, the terrible! Thou who ever keepest thy gracious promises to the souls that love thee, and are true to thy commandments!

fiant aures tuæ auscultantes, et oculi tui aperti, ut audias orationem servi tui, quam ego oro coram te hodie nocte et die pro filiis Israël servis tuis: et confiteor pro peccatis filiorum Israël, quibus peccaverunt tibi: ego et domus patris mei peccavimus,

Let thy ears be attentive, and thy eyes open, to hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, night and day, for the children of Israel thy servants: and I confess the sins of the children of Israel, by which they have sinned against thee: I and my father’s house have sinned.

Let thy ears be attentive, thy eyes watching still; listen to the prayer I offer thee now, thy servant, interceding day and night for my fellow-servants, the men of Israel. Listen to the confession I make of our sins; they, the men of Israel, have sinned, I and my father’s race have sinned;

vanitate seducti sumus, et non custodivimus mandatum tuum, et cæremonias, et judicia quæ præcepisti Moysi famulo tuo.

We have been seduced by vanity, and have not kept thy commandments, and ceremonies and judgments, which thou hast commanded thy servant Moses.

led away by false aims, we have neglected decree and observance and award of thine, enjoined on thy servant Moses.

Memento verbi quod mandasti Moysi servo tuo, dicens: Cum transgressi fueritis, ego dispergam vos in populos:

Remember the word that thou commandedst to Moses thy servant, saying: If you shall transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:

But do not forget that this servant of thine, Moses, had a promise of thee too. Far and wide though thou shouldst scatter us among the nations, when we disobeyed thee,

et si revertamini ad me, et custodiatis præcepta mea, et faciatis ea: etiamsi abducti fueritis ad extrema cæli, inde congregabo vos, et reducam in locum quem elegi ut habitaret nomen meum ibi.

But if you return to me, and keep my commandments, and do them, though you should be led away to the uttermost parts of the world, I will gather you from thence, and bring you back to the place which I have chosen for my name to dwell there.

yet if we came back to thee, if we kept thy bidding in mind and performed it, then wouldst thou reunite us, though the furthest corner of earth were our place of banishment, and bring us home to that city which is the chosen shrine of thy name.

Et ipsi servi tui, et populus tuus, quos redemisti in fortitudine tua magna, et in manu tua valida.

And these are thy servants, and thy people: whom thou hast redeemed by thy great strength, and by thy mighty hand.

Are they not thy own servants, thy own people, won for thee by thy great deeds, by thy constraining power?

Obsecro, Domine, sit auris tua attendens ad orationem servi tui, et ad orationem servorum tuorum, qui volunt timere nomen tuum: et dirige servum tuum hodie, et da ei misericordiam ante virum hunc. Ego enim eram pincerna regis.

I beseech thee, O Lord, let thy ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name: and direct thy servant this day, and give him mercy before this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.

Let not thy ears be deaf, Lord, I beseech thee, to thy servant’s prayer, to the prayer of all these servants of thine who love to hold thy name in reverence. Speed thy servant well this day, and win for him the pity of a human heart.It was of the king I spoke; I was the royal cup-bearer.