(To the nations.) Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the

earth,

Make music unto the Lord,

That bestrideth the heavens, the heavens of yore ;

Behold, He uttereth His voice, a mighty voice.

Ascribe ye strength unto God over Israel,

Whose majesty and might are in the skies.

(Answer of the nations.)

from Thy sanctuary ;

Israel's God.

Terrible art Thou, O God,

(Israel.) He giveth His people power and strength;

Blessed be God.

CHAPTER XI.

EXODUS, xiii., xxiii. LEVITICUS, vi., xxiii., xxv., xxvii. NUMBERS, xvii. DEUTERONOMY, XV., xxxi. NEHEMIAH, v., vii., viii., x.-xiii.

THE REFORMATION.

Agrarian Troubles-Complaint of the Poor-Remission of DebtsGenerosity of Nehemiah-Ezra Reads the Law-Feast of Trumpets-Feast of Tabernacles-Living in Huts-A Great Assembly -Religious History of Israel-Repeated Defection-The Mercy of God-Present Conditions-Subscribing to the Law-Year of Rest and Release—Temple Tax-Wood Offering-First-Fruits— Firstborn-Tithes-Priests' Portion-Temple Regulations-Peopling Jerusalem-Nehemiah's Absence-General Defection-Eliashib and Tobiah-Unpaid Levites-Purging the Temple-Levites Restored-Sabbath Breaking-Action of Nehemiah-Foreign Wives-Purifying the Priesthood.

Now while the walls were building, there arose a great cry of the people and their wives against their brethren the Jews. And some said: We are mortgaging our sons and our daughters to get grain, that we may eat and live. And some said: We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses, to get grain in the dearth. And some said: We have borrowed money for the king's tribute upon our fields and our vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and, lo, we are humbling our sons and our daughters into slaves; yea, some of our daughters are enslaved; and we are powerless, for others have our fields and our vineyards.

And I was very angry when I heard them crying these

things. And I consulted with myself, and rebuked the nobles and the rulers, and said to them: Ye are exacting usury, every one of his brother. And I held a great assembly against them. And I said to them: We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, who were sold unto the Gentiles; but ye do sell your brethren, and they must sell themselves unto us. And they held their peace, and found no answer. And I said: That which ye do is not good. Ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies? As for me, my brethren and my servants, we lend them money and grain without usury. Let us now leave off this usury. Restore to them this day their fields, their vineyards, their olive-yards, and their houses, and remit the hundredth part of the money, the grain, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them. Then said they: We will restore them; and we will not require it of them. We will do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, to do according to this promise. Moreover, I shook out the folds of my garment, and said: So God shake out every man from His house, and from His labor, that performeth not this promise; even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised Jehovah. And the people did according to this promise.

Now from the time that I was appointed to be governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year unto the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, I and my brethren ate not the bread of the governor. But the former governors that were before me had burdened the people, and taken of them for bread and wine more than forty shekels of silver daily; moreover, their servants oppressed the people. But I did not do so, because

EZRA READS THE LAW.

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of the fear of God. Moreover, I laid hold of this work of the wall; neither bought we any land; and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work. And there were at my table of the Jews and the rulers an hundred and fifty men, beside those that came unto us from among the nations that were round about us. And that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and abundance of all sorts of wine. Nevertheless I demanded not the bread of the governor, because the service was heavy upon this people.

And it came to pass, after the walls were built, on the first day of the seventh month (which is the Feast of Trumpets), that all the people gathered together as one man into the square that was before the water gate; and they bade Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which Jehovah had commanded to Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both men and women, and all that could hear with understanding. And he read therein from sunrise until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and all the people listened to the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood six priests on his right hand, and seven priests on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people (for he was above all the people); and when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed Jehovah, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up of their hands; and they bowed themselves, and worshipped Jehovah with their faces to the ground. And certain of the Levites instructed the people in the law, the people

being in their place. And they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly, and expounded the sense. And all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then Nehemiah, that is the governor, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said to all the people: This day is holy unto Jehovah your God; mourn not, nor weep. And they

said to them: Go, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy unto Jehovah. And sorrow not; for the joy of Jehovah is your strength. And the Levites stilled all the people, saying: Hush, for the day is holy; sorrow not. So all the people went to eat and drink, and send portions, and make great mirth, when they understood the words that were declared unto them.

And on the second day the heads of families of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, gathered unto Ezra the scribe, and studied the words of the law. And they found written in the law which Jehovah had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in huts in the feast of the seventh month; and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth to the mountains, and fetch olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thickleaved trees, to make huts, as it is written: On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruits of the land, ye shall keep the feast of Jehovah seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. And ye shall take on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick-leaved trees, and poplars of the valley; and ye shall rejoice before