When Nehemiah finished praying, he set everything  in a right good order at Jerusalem.

The leaders lived at Jerusalem; and they drew names to see who else would live at Jerusalem so the city would be full.

 

 

The people were happy and gave good blessing to all the people who just wanted to live in Jerusalem without being picked to live there.

 

 

 

 

The priests kept right lists of all the names of the leaders and helpers and all the families of Israel and what village they lived in.

 

 

 

They kept lists of the names of the people and families that did the work at the house of God and who took care of the business at the house of God.

 

 

 

 

Food was given to the workers and the singers at the house of God each day,

 

 

 

 

 

 

so that songs of joy and thanks were always going up to heaven.

All the priests names were written down with the names of their fathers and children.

 

 

 

 

 

And everything was set up to be done at God’s house the way David planned it.

 

 

 

When the children of Israel finished building the wall at Jerusalem

 

 

 

they called all the sons of Levi to come to Jerusalem to join in a big party to God.

The family of Levi were the ones that the Lord God made special and set to do parts of the work at His house because they were very faithful to Him when some of the people were bowing down to bad ones.

They got ready, and then lots and lots of them went up and stood on the wall to sing to the Lord God and make music to Him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They gave God many presents

 

 

 

and were very happy because God gave them great joy.

 

On that day they read God’s book and found that the family of Moab couldn’t come celebrate God with Israel, ever,

 

 

 

because they tried to destroy Israel when the Lord God brought them out of Egypt instead of helping them by bringing them food and water.

 

 

 

But God turned their bad into good for His children.

 

 

When the people heard this they took out the ones from that family.

Then there was a man in charge of the rooms where they kept the food and wine and oil that people brought to God. The man took the room and made it into a bedroom for a leader from another country, a bad one, a bedroom at God’s house.

 

Also Nehemiah saw people doing work on God’s rest day,

 

 

 

 

and people coming into the city to sell their stuff.

 

 

Nehemiah came and argued with the leaders at God’s house to stop doing the wrong things.

He set guards at the gate to stop the sellers from coming in and warned them that he would arrest them if they didn’t stop coming to sell on God’s rest day.

Also Nehemiah saw men who had married women who bowed down to the bad ones and their children couldn’t even speak the language of the children of Israel anymore.

 

 

He warned them too, and said, Didn’t Solomon, who was greatly loved by God, do this bad thing too,

 

but these women from other countries caused him to do bad things?

 

He said to God, Please remember me, O my God, and do not let the good things I have done for the house of My God be ruined. Remember all the good things I did and hold them up and do good to me.