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2 Chronicles 10

Amplified Bible, 2015 (AMP)

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¹ So I said, "What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunting by the [pagan] nations, our enemies?

² And likewise I, my brothers, and my servants are lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop [charging] this interest.

³ Please, give back to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, and also a hundredth part of the money, the grain, the new wine, and the oil that you are lending them."

⁴ Then they said, "We will give it back and not require anything from them. We will do exactly as you say." Then I called the priests and took an oath from them that they would act in accordance with this promise.

⁵ I also[2] shook out the[3] front of my garment and said, "So may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not keep this promise; like this may he be shaken out and emptied." And all the assembly said, "Amen!" And they praised the LORD. Then the people acted in accordance with this promise.

⁶ Moreover, from the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my relatives have eaten the governor's food allowance.

⁷ But the former governors who were [in office] before me put heavy burdens on the people and took food and wine from them in addition to forty shekels of silver [as an excessive monthly salary]; even their servants assumed authority over the people. But I did not do so because of the [reverent] fear of God.

⁸ I also applied myself to the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my servants were gathered together there for the work.

⁹ Moreover, there were at my table a hundred and fifty Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us.

¹⁰ Now the following were prepared for each day: one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls (poultry) were prepared for me; and in intervals of ten days all sorts of wine was provided in abundance. Yet for all this, I did not demand the governor's food allowance, because the servitude was heavy on this people.

¹¹ Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all I have done for this people.

¹² Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there was no breach left in it, although at that time I had not set up doors in the gates,

¹³ Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me, saying, "Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono." But they were planning to harm me.

¹⁴ So I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave to come down to [meet with] you?"

¹⁵ They sent word to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same way.

¹⁶ Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same way the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand.

¹⁷ In it was written, "It is reported among the [neighboring] nations, and Gashmu is saying that you and the Jews are planning to revolt, and that is the reason you are rebuilding the wall. And according to these reports, you are to be their king.

¹⁸ Also [it is reported that] you have appointed prophets to make a proclamation concerning you in Jerusalem, saying, 'There is a king in Judah!' And now these things will be reported to the [Persian] king. So come now, and let us consult together."

¹⁹ I sent a message to him, saying, "Such things as you are saying have not been done; you are inventing them in your own mind."

#	AMP
1	So I said, "What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunting by the [pagan] nations, our enemies?
2	And likewise I, my brothers, and my servants are lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop [charging] this interest.
3	Please, give back to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, and also a hundredth part of the money, the grain, the new wine, and the oil that you are lending them."
4	Then they said, "We will give it back and not require anything from them. We will do exactly as you say." Then I called the priests and took an oath from them that they would act in accordance with this promise.
5	I also[2] shook out the[3] front of my garment and said, "So may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not keep this promise; like this may he be shaken out and emptied." And all the assembly said, "Amen!" And they praised the LORD. Then the people acted in accordance with this promise.
6	Moreover, from the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my relatives have eaten the governor's food allowance.
7	But the former governors who were [in office] before me put heavy burdens on the people and took food and wine from them in addition to forty shekels of silver [as an excessive monthly salary]; even their servants assumed authority over the people. But I did not do so because of the [reverent] fear of God.
8	I also applied myself to the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my servants were gathered together there for the work.
9	Moreover, there were at my table a hundred and fifty Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us.
10	Now the following were prepared for each day: one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls (poultry) were prepared for me; and in intervals of ten days all sorts of wine was provided in abundance. Yet for all this, I did not demand the governor's food allowance, because the servitude was heavy on this people.
11	Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all I have done for this people.
12	Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there was no breach left in it, although at that time I had not set up doors in the gates,
13	Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me, saying, "Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono." But they were planning to harm me.
14	So I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave to come down to [meet with] you?"
15	They sent word to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same way.
16	Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same way the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand.
17	In it was written, "It is reported among the [neighboring] nations, and Gashmu is saying that you and the Jews are planning to revolt, and that is the reason you are rebuilding the wall. And according to these reports, you are to be their king.
18	Also [it is reported that] you have appointed prophets to make a proclamation concerning you in Jerusalem, saying, 'There is a king in Judah!' And now these things will be reported to the [Persian] king. So come now, and let us consult together."
19	I sent a message to him, saying, "Such things as you are saying have not been done; you are inventing them in your own mind."

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