Nehemiah 13 Cross References - ISV

¹ Enemies of Israel Excluded
Later that day the book of Moses was read aloud so the people could hear it, and a written command was discovered therein permanently prohibiting the Ammonites and Moabites from coming into the congregation of God ² because they did not greet the Israelis with food and water, but instead hired Balaam to oppose them by cursing them, even though our God turned the curse into a blessing. ³ When they heard the Law, they separated all those of foreign descent from Israel.
⁴ Tobiah Evicted from the TempleNow prior to this, Eliashib the priest, who supervised the store rooms of the Temple of our God and who was related to Tobiah, ⁵ had prepared a great chamber for him, in the place where they used to place the grain offerings, incense, and vessels, along with the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil that was mandated for the descendants of Levi, the singers, the gate keepers, and the priests’ offerings. ⁶ During all of this time, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to the king in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon. After a while I obtained permission from the king ⁷ to return to Jerusalem. I learned of the evil thing that Eliashib had done for Tobiah in furnishing him with a room in the courts of the Temple of God. ⁸ I was greatly upset, so I threw out all of Tobiah’s property from the room. ⁹ I ordered them to purify the chambers, and then they brought back the vessels from the Temple of God, along with the grain offerings and incense.
¹⁰ Neglecting Levitical AllotmentsI also learned that the allotments for the descendants of Levi had not been distributed. As a result, the descendants of Levi and singers who were responsible for the service had each left to go back to their fields. ¹¹ So I confronted the officials and asked, “Why is the Temple of God neglected?” Then I gathered them together and put them back in their places. ¹² Then all of Judah brought the tithe of the grain, the new wine, and the oil into the storerooms. ¹³ I appointed over the storerooms: Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from the descendants of Levi; and next to them Zaccur’s son Hanan, the grandson of Mattaniah, because they had been considered faithful. Their duties were to distribute to their associates.
¹⁴ Remember me, my God, concerning this, and do not erase my faithful deeds that I have undertaken for the Temple of my God, and for its services.
¹⁵ Prohibiting Work on the SabbathAt that time I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the Sabbath, bringing in sacks of grain, loading them onto donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads. They brought them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I rebuked them on the day on which they were selling food. ¹⁶ Furthermore, Tyrians were living there who were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise, selling them to the people of Judah on the Sabbath, even in Jerusalem.
¹⁷ I rebuked the officials of Judah, saying to them, “What’s this evil thing that you’re doing by profaning the Sabbath day? ¹⁸ Didn’t your ancestors do the same? And didn’t our God bring on us and on this city all of this trouble? Now you’re adding to the wrath against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!”
¹⁹ As the Sabbath approached and it began to get dark at the gates of Jerusalem, I gave word to shut the gates, charging that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. I stationed some of my men at the gates to ensure that no loads would be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰ As a result, the merchants and sellers of all sorts of goods remained outside Jerusalem a couple of times. ²¹ I argued with them, “Why are you staying outside the wall? If you do this again, I’ll arrest you.” From that time on, they didn’t come anymore on the Sabbath. ²² Then I commanded the descendants of Levi to purify themselves and to come as gate keepers to sanctify the Sabbath day.
Remember me, my God, and show mercy to me according to the greatness of your gracious love.
²³ Removing Foreign Spouses
At that time I also noticed that Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. ²⁴ Furthermore, their children spoke half of the time in the language of Ashdod, and could not speak in the language of Judah. Instead, they spoke in the languages of various peoples. ²⁵ So I rebuked them, cursed them, struck some of their men, tore out their hair, and made them take this oath in the name of God: “You are not to give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. ²⁶ Didn’t Solomon, king of Israel, sin by doing these things, even though among many nations there was no king like him who was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel? Even so, foreign women caused him to sin. ²⁷ Should we listen to you and do all of this terrible evil by transgressing against our God to marry foreign wives?” ²⁸ One of the sons of Eliashib the high priest’s son Joiada was a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me.
²⁹ Remember them, my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the descendants of Levi.
³⁰ I purified them from everything foreign, arranged duties for the priests and the descendants of Levi, each to his task, ³¹ and I arranged at the appointed time for the supply of wood, and for the first fruits.
Remember me, my God, with favor.

³ “No Ammonite or Moabite may participate in the assembly of the LORD, and none of their descendants shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD, to the tenth generation, ⁴ because they didn’t come to meet you with food and water along the way as you were coming out of Egypt. Instead, they hired Beor’s son Balaam from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you. ⁵ However, the LORD your God didn’t listen to Balaam. The LORD your God turned Balaam’s curse into a blessing, because the LORD your God loves you.

¹¹ when all of Israel comes to appear in the presence of the LORD your God at the place that he’ll choose, read this Law aloud to them. ¹² Gather the people—the men, women, children, and the foreigners that live in your cities—so they may hear and fear the LORD your God, and so they may be careful to obey the words contained in this Law.

² The king went up to the LORD’s Temple, accompanied by all the men of Judah, everyone who lived in Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and everyone—including those who were unimportant and those who were important—and he read to them everything written in the Book of the Covenant that had been discovered in the LORD’s Temple.

¹⁰ Opposition and InspectionBut when Sanballat the Horonite and his servant Tobiah the Ammonite heard of this, they were greatly distressed because someone had come to do good for the Israelis.

¹⁹ Nehemiah Replies to SanballatBut when Sanballat the Horonite, his servant Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they jeered at us and despised us when they said, “What is this thing that you’re doing? You’re rebelling against the king, aren’t you?”

³ Tobiah the Ammonite stood to the side, commenting, “If a fox were to jump onto what they’re building, it would collapse their stone wall!”

³ Ezra read from it, facing the plaza in front of the Water Gate, from early in the morning until mid-day in the presence of the men and women, as well as all who could understand. All the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. ⁴ Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden rostrum erected for that purpose. Beside him to his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maasseiah. Beside him to his left stood Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.
⁵ Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people. Because he was visible above all the people there, as he opened it, all the people stood up. ⁶ Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and with uplifted hands, all the people responded, “Amen! Amen!” They bowed down and worshipped the LORD prostrate on the ground.
⁷ Furthermore, Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the descendants of Levi taught the Law to the people while the people remained standing. ⁸ They read from the Book of the Law of God, distinctly communicating its meaning, so they could understand the reading.

³ While they stood there, they read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for one fourth of the day, and they confessed and worshipped the LORD their God for another fourth of the day.

²³ Removing Foreign Spouses
At that time I also noticed that Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

⁷ Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, and the inhabitants of Tyre. ⁸ Even Assyria joined them to strengthen the descendants of Lot. Interlude ⁹ Deal with them as you did to Midian, Sisera, and Jabin at the Kishon Brook.

¹ Moab’s Pending JudgmentA message concerning Moab: “For Ir in Moab is destroyed in a night, and Moab is ruined! Because Ir in Moab is destroyed in a single night, Moab is ruined! ² He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, to the high places to weep; over Nebo and over Medeba Moab wails. His head is completely bald, and every beard is shaved off. ³ In its streets they wear sackcloth; on its rooftops and in its squares everyone wails and falls down weeping. ⁴ Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, their voices are heard as far as Jahaz; therefore the loins of Moab cry aloud; its heart quakes for itself. ⁵ My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath-shelishiyah. For at the ascent to Luhith they go up weeping; on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction. ⁶ The Nimrim waters are desolate; the grass is withered, its vegetation gone; there is no foliage left. ⁷ Therefore the wealth they have acquired and what they have stored up— they carry them away over the Arab Wadi. ⁸ For the cry has gone out along the border of Moab; her wailing reaches as far as Eglaim, her wailing reaches as far as Beer-elim. ⁹ The Dibon streams are full of blood; but I will bring upon Dibon even more— a lion will pounce upon those of Moab who escape, upon those who remain in the land.”

¹⁶ The Certainty of God’s Deliverance“Study and read from the book of the LORD: And not one will be missing, each will not long for its mate. For it is the mouth of the LORD that has issued the order, and it is his Spirit that has gathered them.

¹ A Prophecy against MoabTo Moab: This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: “How terrible for Nebo, for it’s laid waste. Kiriathaim is put to shame, it’s captured. The fortress is put to shame, it’s shattered. ² The pride of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they plotted evil against her: ‘Come and let’s eliminate her as a nation.’ Madmen will also be silenced, and the sword will pursue you. ³ The sound of crying will come from Horonaim, devastation and great destruction. ⁴ Moab will be destroyed; her little ones will cry out. ⁵ Indeed, at the ascent of Luhith people will go up with bitter weeping. At the descent of Horonaim the anguished cries over the destruction will be heard. ⁶ Flee, save your lives, and you will be like a wild donkey in the desert.

¹ Prophecies against AmmonTo the people of Ammon:
This is what the LORD says: “Does Israel have no sons? Does he have no heir? Why then has Milcom taken possession of Gad, and his people settled in its towns? ² Therefore, look, the time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I’ll cause a battle cry to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a desolate mound, and its towns will be burned with fire. Israel will take possession of those who possessed him,” says the LORD. ³ “Wail, Heshbon, because Ai is destroyed. Cry out, daughters of Rabbah, put on sackcloth and lament. Run back and forth inside the walls, for Milcom is going into exile along with his priests and his princes. ⁴ Why do you boast in your valleys? Your valley is flowing away, faithless daughter, who trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’ ⁵ Look, I’m bringing terror on you from all around you,” declares the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies. “You will be driven out, fleeing recklessly, and there will be no one to gather the fugitives. ⁶ But afterwards I’ll restore the fortunes of the people of Ammon,” declares the LORD.

¹ A Message Condemning AmmonThis message came to me from the LORD: ² “Son of Man, turn your attention to the descendants of Ammon and rebuke them. ³ Tell the Ammonites: ‘Listen to a message from the Lord GOD! This is what the Lord GOD says: “Because you have said, ‘Aha!’ about my sanctuary when it was desecrated, about the land of Israel when it became desolate, and about the households of Judah when they went into exile, ⁴ therefore you’d better look out! I’m going to turn you over to men from the East, who will dominate you. You will become their property. They will set up military encampments and permanent places in which to live among you, and then they’ll eat your fruit and drink your milk. ⁵ I will turn Rabbah into a pasture for camels, and Ammon will become a resting place for flocks of sheep. That’s how they’ll learn that I am the LORD.”’”
⁶ Why God Condemned Ammon“This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you’ve applauded, stamped your feet, and rejoiced with all sorts of malice in your heart against the land of Israel, ⁷ therefore you’d better watch out! I’m raising a clenched fist in your direction! I’m about to feed you to the surrounding nations as war plunder. I’m going to eliminate you as a nation and kill off those of you who survive to live in other countries. I’m going to destroy you, and that’s how you’ll learn that I am the LORD.’”
⁸ A Message Rebuking Moab and Seir“This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Moab and Seir are claiming, “Judah’s citizens are just like every other nation,” ⁹ therefore you’d better watch out! I’m going to tear open Moab’s flanks, starting with its frontier cities—the very glory of the nation!—including Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim. ¹⁰ I’m going to turn these cities over to men from the East, who will dominate you. You will become their property. As a result, Ammon will be forgotten as a nation. ¹¹ I’m also going to punish Moab, and that’s how they’ll learn that I am the LORD.’”

¹³ A Warning to AmmonThis is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites —and now for a fourth— I will not turn away; because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their national borders.

¹⁶ Jesus is Rejected at Nazareth
Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been raised. As was his custom, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. When he stood up to read, ¹⁷ the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written, ¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has anointed me to tell the good news to the poor. He has sent me to announce release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set oppressed people free, ¹⁹ and to announce the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁶ Jesus answered him, “What is written in the Law? What do you read there?”

¹⁵ After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders asked them, “Brothers, if you have any message of encouragement for the people, you may speak.”

²¹ After all, Moses has had people to proclaim him in every city for generations, and on every Sabbath his books are read aloud in the synagogues.”

³ As a result, Moab greatly feared the people, because they were so numerous. Because a sense of impending doom was afflicting the Moabites as they faced the Israelis, ⁴ the Moabites told the elders of Midian, “This horde of people is about to lick up everything around us, like an ox licks up the green ground.”
At that time, Zippor’s son Balak was the king of Moab. ⁵ He sent messengers to Beor’s son Balaam in Pethor, near the Euphrates River, the land where the descendants of his people originated, to summon his aid. He said, “Look! A group of people have escaped from Egypt. They cover the surface of the whole earth, and are sitting here right in front of me. ⁶ So come right now and curse this people for me, because there are too many of them for me to handle. Perhaps I’ll be able to strike them down and drive them out of the land, since I know that whomever you bless is blessed and whomever you curse is cursed.”
⁷ So the elders of Moab and Midian left to visit Balaam, bringing an honorarium with them, and communicated Balak’s concerns to him. ⁸ In answer, Balaam told them, “Stay here for the night and I’ll bring back a message to you, depending on what the LORD says to me.” So the officers of Moab stayed with Balaam overnight.
⁹ God Forbids Balaam to CooperateGod visited Balaam and asked him, “Who are these men with you?”
¹⁰ Then Balaam told God, “Zippor’s son Balak, king of Moab, sent them to me and said, ¹¹ ‘Look! A group of people have escaped from Egypt. They cover the surface of the whole earth! So come right now and curse them for me. Perhaps I’ll be able to fight against them and drive them out.’”

⁸ But how can I curse those whom God hasn’t cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD hasn’t denounced? ⁹ I saw them from the top of the rocks. I watched them from the hills. Truly this is a people that lives by itself and doesn’t matter among the nations. ¹⁰ Who can count the dust of Jacob? Who can number the dust of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may I end up like him.”
¹¹ “What are you doing to me?” Balak asked Balaam. “I brought you to curse my enemies, not pronounce a blessing!”

¹⁸ Balaam’s Second ProphecyIn response, Balaam uttered this prophetic statement: “Stand up, Balak, and pay attention! Listen to me, you son of Zippor!

⁵ Jacob, your tents are so fine, as well as your dwelling places, O Israel! ⁶ They’re spread out like valleys, like gardens along river banks, like aloe planted by the LORD, or like cedars beside water. ⁷ He will pour water from his buckets, and his descendants will stream forth like abundant water. His king will be more exalted than Agag when he exalts his own kingdom. ⁸ God is bringing them out of Egypt with the strength of an ox. He’ll devour enemy nations, break their bones, and impale them with arrows. ⁹ He crouches, laying low like a lion. Who would awaken him? Those who bless you are blessed, and those who curse you are cursed.”
¹⁰ Balak flew into a rage and he started hitting his fists together. “I called you to curse my enemies,” he yelled at Balaam. “But look here! You’ve blessed them three times!

⁵ However, the LORD your God didn’t listen to Balaam. The LORD your God turned Balaam’s curse into a blessing, because the LORD your God loves you.

⁹ ‘Then Zippor’s son, King Balak of Moab, showed up and fought against Israel. He sent word to Balaam, summoning Beor’s son to put a curse on you. ¹⁰ But I wasn’t willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I delivered you from his control.

²⁸ They will curse, but you will bless. When they attack, they will be humiliated, while your servant rejoices.

⁵ “My people, recall how king Balak of Moab deliberated, and how Beor’s son Balaam counseled him from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may know the righteousness of the LORD.”

⁴⁰ The king will answer them, ‘I tell all of you with certainty, since you did it for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.’

³⁸ A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with a very large number of livestock, including sheep and cattle.

⁴ Meanwhile, certain riff-raff among the people had an insatiable appetite for food. As a result, they wept and turned back, and the Israelis cried out, “If only somebody would feed us some meat!

¹¹ Now confess this to the LORD God of your ancestors, and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from foreign wives.”

² The remnant of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners. Then they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.

²⁸ Commitments of the CovenantThe rest of the people, the priests, the descendants of Levi, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Temple Servants, and everyone who had separated themselves from the peoples of the surrounding lands for the Law of God—their wives, their sons, their daughters, and all who had knowledge and understanding—

⁷ God’s Revelation in the LawThe Law of the LORD is perfect, restoring life. The testimony of the LORD is steadfast, making foolish people wise. ⁸ The precepts of the LORD are upright, making the heart rejoice. The commandment of the LORD is pure, giving light to the eyes. ⁹ The fear of the LORD is clean, standing forever. The judgments of the LORD are true; they are altogether righteous. ¹⁰ They are more desirable than gold, even much fine gold. They are sweeter than honey, even the drippings from a honeycomb. ¹¹ Moreover your servant is warned by them; and there is great reward in keeping them.

⁹ Bet
The Benefits of the WordHow can a young man keep his behavior pure? By guarding it in accordance with your word.

¹¹ I have stored what you have said in my heart, so I won’t sin against you.

²³ Because the command is a lamp and the Law a light, rebukes that discipline are a way of life—

²⁰ Therefore, God will not justify any human being by means of the actions prescribed by the Law, for through the Law comes the full knowledge of sin.

²⁷ A religion that is pure and stainless according to God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows who are suffering, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

¹⁷ Meanwhile, at that time the nobles of Judah continued to send many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah kept sending letters to them. ¹⁸ For many Judeans had sworn allegiance to him, since he was son-in-law to Arah’s son Shecaniah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Berechiah’s son Meshullam.

¹⁰ Jeshua fathered Joiakim, Joiakim fathered Eliashib, and Eliashib fathered Joiada.

⁴⁴ Also at that time men were appointed over the storerooms for the contributions, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, so those portions required by the Law could be gathered from the fields adjacent to the towns to benefit the priests and descendants of Levi, for the people of Judah rejoiced over the priests and the descendants of Levi who were serving.

²⁸ One of the sons of Eliashib the high priest’s son Joiada was a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me.

²¹ As to the descendants of Levi, certainly I’ve given all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for their services that they perform at the Tent of Meeting. ²² Therefore, the Israelis need no longer come to the Tent of Meeting, so they won’t suffer the consequences of their sin and die. ²³ The descendants of Levi are to perform the service of the Tent of Meeting and they are to bear their iniquity. This is to be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that they are not to receive an inheritance among the Israelis, ²⁴ because I’ve given to the descendants of Levi the tithes that the Israelis bring to the LORD as raised offering. Therefore I told them that, unlike the Israelis, they won’t receive an inheritance.”

¹¹ They, in turn, paid the carpenters and builders to purchase quarried stone and timber for binders and beams for the buildings that previous kings of Judah had let deteriorate.

³⁸ “And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, will be with the descendants of Levi when the descendants of Levi receive tithes, and the descendants of Levi will bring the tithe of the tithes into the store rooms of the Temple of our God.

¹ Aaron Makes the Golden CalfWhen the people saw that Moses took a long time to come down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and told him, “Come here and make us a god who will go before us, because, as for this fellow Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”

¹⁷ But after Jehoiada had died, officials from Judah came, bowed down to the king, and the king listened to what they had to say. ¹⁸ They abandoned the LORD’s Temple and the God of their fathers, and they served Asherim and idols. As a result this guilt of theirs resulted in wrath coming upon Judah and Jerusalem.

²² Then they observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, because the LORD had made them glad, turning the heart of the king of Assyria toward them and strengthening them for their work on the Temple of God, the God of Israel.

¹ Nehemiah’s Conversation with the KingIt came about in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, during the month of Nissan, the king was about to drink some wine that I was preparing for him. Now I had never looked troubled in his presence.

⁵ and I replied to the king, “If it seems good to you, and if your servant has found favor with you, would you send me to Judah, to the city where my ancestral sepulchers are located, so I can rebuild it?”
⁶ With his queen seated beside him, the king asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” The king thought it was a good idea to send me, so I presented him with a prepared plan.

¹⁴ Nehemiah Refuses the Governor’s AllotmentIn addition, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah (that is, during the twelve years from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes), neither I nor my relatives relied on the provisions allotted to the governor.

²⁵ While people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.

¹ Ezra’s Reaction to Foreign Marriages
After these things occurred, certain officials approached me and said “The people of Israel, the priests, and the descendants of Levi have not separated themselves from the people of the lands or from the detestable behavior of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites,

¹ Enemies of Israel Excluded
Later that day the book of Moses was read aloud so the people could hear it, and a written command was discovered therein permanently prohibiting the Ammonites and Moabites from coming into the congregation of God

⁵ had prepared a great chamber for him, in the place where they used to place the grain offerings, incense, and vessels, along with the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil that was mandated for the descendants of Levi, the singers, the gate keepers, and the priests’ offerings.

¹⁰ The adversary seized in his hands everything she valued. She watched the nations enter her sanctuary; those you forbade to enter your place of meeting.

¹² Confrontation in the Temple over Money
Then Jesus went into the Temple, threw out everyone who was selling and buying in the Temple, and overturned the moneychangers’ tables and the chairs of those who sold doves. ¹³ He told them, “It is written, ‘My house is to be called a house of prayer,’ but you are turning it into a hideout for bandits!”

²⁸ yelling, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere to turn against our people, the Law, and this place. More than that, he has even brought Greeks into the Temple and desecrated this Holy Place.” ²⁹ For they had earlier seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and assumed that Paul had taken him into the Temple.

¹¹ My brothers, some members of Chloe’s family have made it clear to me that there are quarrels among you.

³ When I heard this, I tore both my garment and robe, plucked hair from both my head and my beard, and collapsed in shock! ⁴ Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered together as a group because of the sin committed by those who had been led astray. As for me, I remained seated, in shock, until the evening sacrifice.

¹ The People Gather with EzraNow while Ezra was praying and confessing in tears, having prostrated himself to the ground before the Temple of God, a very large crowd of Israelis—men, women, and children—gathered around him. Indeed, the people were crying bitterly.

⁹ Zeal for your house consumes me, and the mockeries of those who insult you fall on me.

¹⁵ Confrontation in the Temple over Money
When they came to Jerusalem, he went into the Temple and began to throw out those who were selling and those who were buying in the Temple. He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and the chairs of those who sold doves. ¹⁶ He wouldn’t even let anyone carry a vessel through the Temple. ¹⁷ Then he began to teach them: “It is written, is it not, ‘My house is to be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you’ve turned it into a hideout for bandits!”

¹³ Confrontation in the Temple over Money
The Jewish Passover was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the Temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as moneychangers sitting at their tables. ¹⁵ After making a whip out of cords, he drove all of them out of the Temple, including the sheep and the cattle. He scattered the coins of the moneychangers and knocked over their tables.
¹⁶ Then he told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

⁵ and told them, “Pay attention to me, you descendants of Levi! Consecrate yourselves and the Temple of the LORD God of your ancestors by taking out from the Holy Place whatever is unclean.

¹⁵ They also brought together their brothers, consecrated themselves, and proceeded to cleanse the LORD’s Temple, just as the king had ordered in accordance with what the LORD had told him. ¹⁶ The priests entered the inner courts of the LORD’s Temple to cleanse it, and they brought out everything unclean that they found there to the outer court of the LORD’s Temple. Then the descendants of Levi carried everything from there out to the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷ They began their consecration duties on the first day of the first month and finished at the LORD’s outer vestibule on the eighth day of the month. Another eight days was used to consecrate the LORD’s Temple, so they completed the work on the sixteenth day of the first month.
¹⁸ After this, they went to King Hezekiah and told him, “We have cleansed all of the LORD’s Temple, including the altar for burnt offerings, all of its utensils, the table of showbread, and all of its utensils. ¹⁹ In addition, we have prepared and rededicated all of the utensils that King Ahaz threw away during his unfaithful reign, and now they’re back in service at the LORD’s altar.”

⁴⁵ They carried out their service obligations to their God and their service obligations of purification according to what David and his son Solomon had commanded.

² “Instruct the Israelis to set aside a portion of their inheritance for the descendants of Levi to live in, along with grazing land surrounding their towns.

¹⁹ Be careful not to forget the descendant of Levi while you live in the land.

³⁷ We also determined to present the first fruits of our ground grain, our offerings, the fruit of all kinds of trees, wines, and oil to the priests, to the chambers of the Temple of our God, and the tithes of our land to the descendants of Levi, so those descendants of Levi could collect the tithes in all the towns where we worked:

²⁸ So the descendants of the singers gathered themselves together from the region surrounding Jerusalem, from the villages of Netophathi, ²⁹ from Beth-gilgal, and from the area of Geba and Azmaveth, because the singers had built villages for themselves in the vicinity of Jerusalem.

⁴⁷ All Israel in the time of Zerubbabel and in the time of Nehemiah gave allotments to each of the singers and gate keepers on a daily basis, setting them apart to benefit the descendants of Levi. And the descendants of Levi set them apart to benefit the descendants of Aaron.

⁶ God’s Second Complaint: Against His Priests—A Despised Offering“A son honors his father and a servant his master. So if I’m a father, where is my honor? And if I’m a master, where is my respect?” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies to you priests who are despising my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised your name?’ ⁷ By presenting defiled food on my altar. And you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ By saying, ‘The Table of the LORD is contemptible.’ ⁸ When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Offer that to your governor—would he be pleased with you or receive you favorably?” asks the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. ⁹ “And now, go ahead and implore God by saying, ‘Be gracious to us.’ Will he receive you favorably and accept offerings like that from your hand?” asks the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.
¹⁰ Useless Offerings and Useless Altar Fires“Oh, that one of you would shut the Temple doors and not light useless fires on the altar! I’m not pleased with you,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and I’ll accept no offerings from you. ¹¹ Even so, from where the sun rises to where it sets my name will be great among the Gentiles. Incense will be brought to me everywhere, along with pure offerings, because my name will be great among the Gentiles,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. ¹² “But you are profaning my name by saying that the Table of the LORD is defiled and that its fruit and its food are contemptible.
¹³ “And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and sniff contemptuously at it,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “when you present maimed, crippled, and diseased animals, and when you bring the offering. Should I accept this from your hand?” asks the LORD. ¹⁴ “Cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock, and vows to give it, but sacrifices a mutilated one to the LORD. Indeed, I am a great king,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and my name is feared among the Gentiles.”

⁸ “Will a person rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “By the tithe and the offering.

¹⁷ Elders and Their DutiesElders who handle their duties well should be considered worthy of double compensation, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. ¹⁸ For the Scripture says, “You must not muzzle an ox while it is treading out grain,” and, “A worker deserves his pay.”

¹⁷ By doing this, the sin of the young men was very serious in the LORD’s sight because the men despised the LORD’s offering.

⁶ I became very livid when I heard their complaining and these charges. ⁷ So after thinking it over carefully, I accused the officials and nobles openly, “Every one of you is charging your fellow countrymen interest!” So I opened a public investigation against them.
⁸ I accused them, “To the best of our ability, we’ve been buying back our fellow Jews who had been sold to foreigners. Even now you’re selling your fellow countrymen, only for them to be sold back to us!” They kept quiet and never spoke a word.
⁹ So I said, “What you’re doing isn’t right! Shouldn’t you live in the fear of our God to avoid shame from our foreign enemies? ¹⁰ I’m also lending money and grain, as are my fellow-Jews and my servants, but let’s not charge interest. ¹¹ So today please restore to them their fields, vineyards, olive orchards, and homes, along with the one percent interest charge that you’ve assessed them on the grain, wine, and oil.”
¹² They responded, “We will restore these things, and will assess no interest charges against them. We will do what you are requesting!”
So I called the priests and made them take an oath to fulfill this promise. ¹³ I also shook my robes, and said, “May God shake out every man from his house and his possessions who does not keep this promise. May he be emptied out and shaken just like this.”
All the assembly said, “Amen!” and praised the LORD. And the people kept their promise.

³⁹ For the Israelis and the descendants of Levi will bring the grain offering, the wine, and the oil into the chambers where the vessels of the sanctuary are, along with the ministering priests, the porters, and the singers. We will not neglect the Temple of our God.”

¹⁷ I rebuked the officials of Judah, saying to them, “What’s this evil thing that you’re doing by profaning the Sabbath day?

²⁵ So I rebuked them, cursed them, struck some of their men, tore out their hair, and made them take this oath in the name of God: “You are not to give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

³⁴ Have I feared large crowds? Has my family’s contempt ever terrified me so that I remained silent and wouldn’t go outside?”

⁴ Those who forsake the Law praise the wicked, but whoever keeps it fights them.

⁸ “Will a person rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “By the tithe and the offering. ⁹ You are cursed under the curse—the entire nation—because you are robbing me!
¹⁰ “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. So put me to the test in this right now,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and see if I won’t throw open the windows of heaven for you and pour out on you blessing without measure. ¹¹ And I’ll prevent the devourer from harming you, so that he does not destroy the crops of your land. Nor will the vines in your fields drop their fruit,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

³⁰ “Any tithes of the land—from grain grown on the land or from fruit grown on the trees—belong to the LORD. They are sacred to the LORD.

²⁰ Land Prohibited to Descendants of LeviThen the LORD instructed Aaron, “You are not to have any inheritance in the land, nor are you to have any portion among the people. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelis. ²¹ As to the descendants of Levi, certainly I’ve given all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for their services that they perform at the Tent of Meeting. ²² Therefore, the Israelis need no longer come to the Tent of Meeting, so they won’t suffer the consequences of their sin and die. ²³ The descendants of Levi are to perform the service of the Tent of Meeting and they are to bear their iniquity. This is to be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that they are not to receive an inheritance among the Israelis, ²⁴ because I’ve given to the descendants of Levi the tithes that the Israelis bring to the LORD as raised offering. Therefore I told them that, unlike the Israelis, they won’t receive an inheritance.”
²⁵ Offerings Given to the Descendants of LeviThen the LORD instructed Moses, ²⁶ “Tell the descendants of Levi that when they receive tithes from the Israelis (the tithes that I’ve given you from them as an inheritance), you are to offer a tenth of it as a raised offering for the LORD.

²² Remember to Tithe“Be sure to tithe annually from everything you plant that yields a harvest in the field.

³⁷ We also determined to present the first fruits of our ground grain, our offerings, the fruit of all kinds of trees, wines, and oil to the priests, to the chambers of the Temple of our God, and the tithes of our land to the descendants of Levi, so those descendants of Levi could collect the tithes in all the towns where we worked: ³⁸ “And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, will be with the descendants of Levi when the descendants of Levi receive tithes, and the descendants of Levi will bring the tithe of the tithes into the store rooms of the Temple of our God. ³⁹ For the Israelis and the descendants of Levi will bring the grain offering, the wine, and the oil into the chambers where the vessels of the sanctuary are, along with the ministering priests, the porters, and the singers. We will not neglect the Temple of our God.”

¹⁰ “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. So put me to the test in this right now,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and see if I won’t throw open the windows of heaven for you and pour out on you blessing without measure.

¹⁵ Furthermore, they required no accounting from the men into whose hand they had paid the money to do the work, because the workers acted in good faith.

⁷ But you won’t need to force them to be accountable for money already paid to them, since they’re faithful.”

¹² They faithfully brought in the gifts, tithes, and consecrated materials, and Conaniah the descendant of Levi was placed in charge of them. His brother Shimei was second in command, ¹³ Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah served as supervisors under Conaniah and his brother Shimei, who had been appointed by King Hezekiah. Azariah served as senior officer of God’s Temple. ¹⁴ Imnah the descendant of Levi’s son Kore, keeper of the eastern gate, was in charge of voluntary offerings to God, apportioning contributions for the LORD and the most holy things. ¹⁵ Under his authority, Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah served in the priestly cities, making sure contributions were distributed faithfully to their relatives division by division, no matter how large or how small,

³⁰ Next to him, Shelemiah’s son Hananiah and Zalaph’s sixth son Hanun repaired another section. Next to him, Berechiah’s son Meshullam carried on repairs up to his chamber.

² I appointed my brother Hanani and fortress commander Hananiah to be over Jerusalem, since he was a faithful person who revered God more than many others did.

⁴ Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden rostrum erected for that purpose. Beside him to his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maasseiah. Beside him to his left stood Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

¹² Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah,

²² The overseer of the descendants of Levi at Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica. Singers from the descendants of Asaph oversaw the work of the Temple of God.

³⁵ Some of the priests’ sons were trumpeters, including Zechariah son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph,

⁴² The Lord said, “Who, then, is the faithful and careful servant manager whom his master will put in charge of giving all his other servants their share of food at the right time?

¹⁰ Whoever is faithful with very little is also faithful with a lot, and whoever is dishonest with very little is also dishonest with a lot. ¹¹ So if you haven’t been faithful with unrighteous wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? ¹² And if you haven’t been faithful with what belongs to foreigners, who will give you what is your own?

³⁵ and lay it at the apostles’ feet. Then it was distributed to anyone who needed it.

¹ Seven Men are Chosen to Help the ApostlesIn those days, as the number of the disciples was growing larger and larger, a complaint was made by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.

³ Therefore, brothers, appoint seven men among you who have a good reputation, who are full of the Spirit and wisdom, and we’ll put them in charge of this work.

² Now it is required of servant managers that each one should prove to be trustworthy.

¹² I thank the Messiah Jesus, our Lord, who gives me strength, that he has considered me faithful and has appointed me to his service.

¹⁰ But they must first be tested. Then, if they prove to be blameless, they may become ministers.

³ “In addition to everything that I have supplied for the Temple, it pleases me to provide my own treasure of gold and silver, so because of my love for the Temple of my God I hereby give to the Temple of my God the following:

¹⁶ He was buried in the City of David among the graves of the kings, because he had accomplished many good things in Israel on behalf of God and his Temple.

²⁰ Hezekiah did this throughout all of Judah, and he acted well, doing what the LORD his God considered to be right and true. ²¹ Everything that Hezekiah began in the service of God’s Temple was done according to the Law and to the commandments as he sought his God, worked with all of his heart, and became successful.

²⁰ Furthermore, provide from the royal treasury whatever else may be needed for the Temple of your God.

²⁴ Furthermore, we decree that with respect to any of the priests, descendants of Levi, singers, gatekeepers, Temple Servants, or other servants of this Temple of God, it is not to be lawful to impose any tribute, tax, or toll on them.

²⁷ Ezra’s Response to the LetterBlessed be the LORD God of our ancestors, who placed this decree into the king’s heart to beautify the Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem

¹⁹ “Remember me with favor, my God, for everything I’ve done for this people.”

²² Then I commanded the descendants of Levi to purify themselves and to come as gate keepers to sanctify the Sabbath day.
Remember me, my God, and show mercy to me according to the greatness of your gracious love.

³¹ and I arranged at the appointed time for the supply of wood, and for the first fruits.
Remember me, my God, with favor.

⁶ Pray for peace for Jerusalem: “May those who love you be at peace! ⁷ May peace be within your ramparts, and prosperity within your fortresses.” ⁸ For the sake of my relatives and friends I will now say, “May there be peace within you.” ⁹ For the sake of the Temple of the LORD our God, I will seek your welfare.

¹⁰ For God is not so unjust as to forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have ministered to the saints and continue to minister to them.

⁵ The person who conquers in this way will wear white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the Book of Life. I will acknowledge his name in the presence of my Father and his angels.

⁸ “Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy. ⁹ You are to labor and do all your work during six days, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You are not to do any work—neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your livestock, nor the alien who is within your gates— ¹¹ because the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them, in six days, then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.ה

²¹ “For six days you are to work, but on the seventh day you are to rest; even during plowing time and harvest you are to rest.

² For six days work is to be done, but on the seventh day you are to have a holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest in dedication to the LORD. Anyone who does work on that day is to be executed.

³² As it was when the Israelis were in the wilderness, they found a man who was gathering wood on the Sabbath day. ³³ The ones who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and all the people. ³⁴ Then they confined him until it could be declared what should be done to him. ³⁵ Then the LORD told Moses, “The man is certainly to die. The entire community is to stone him to death outside the camp.” ³⁶ So the whole community brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones so that he died, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

¹² “‘You are to keep the Sabbath day holy, just as the LORD your God commanded. ¹³ Six days you are to labor and do all your work, ¹⁴ but the seventh day is a Sabbath for the LORD your God. You are not to do any work—neither you, your children, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys, nor any of your livestock—as well as any of the foreigners who live among you, so that your male and female servants may rest as you do.

¹⁹ If you neglect the LORD your God, follow other gods, and serve and worship them, I testify to you today that you will certainly be destroyed.

¹⁹ Nevertheless, God sent prophets among them to bring them back to the LORD.

²⁹ You admonished them to return to your Law, but they acted arrogantly, and would not listen to your commands. They sinned against your regulations, which if anyone obeys, he will live by them. They turned away, being stubborn and stiff-necked, and they did not listen.

³¹ As for the people of the land who bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. We will forego planting crops, and we will cancel debts during every seventh year.”

²¹ I argued with them, “Why are you staying outside the wall? If you do this again, I’ll arrest you.” From that time on, they didn’t come anymore on the Sabbath.

⁷ “Listen, my people, for I am making a pronouncement: Israel, I, God, your God, am testifying against you.

¹³ “If you keep your feet from trampling the Sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable; and if you honor it by not going your own ways and seeking your own pleasure or speaking merely idle words,

²¹ This is what the LORD says: “Be careful! On the Sabbath day, don’t carry any load or bring anything through the gates of Jerusalem. ²² Don’t bring any load out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor are you to do any work. You are to consecrate the Sabbath day, just as I commanded your ancestors.

²⁴ If you listen to me carefully,” declares the LORD, “and don’t bring a load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, and you consecrate the Sabbath day and don’t do any work on it,

²⁷ But if you don’t listen to me, to consecrate the Sabbath day and not carry any load as you enter the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I’ll start a fire in its gates. It will consume the palaces of Jerusalem and won’t be extinguished.”’”

¹⁹ The LORD has told you, remnant of Judah, ‘Don’t go to Egypt!’ So be fully aware that I’ve warned you, today,

¹³ Israel Rebels in the Wilderness“But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn’t live by my statutes. They despised my ordinances, which if a person observes, he’ll live by them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my anger on them and bring them to an end in the wilderness.

³ “My people, what have I done to you, and how have I offended you? Answer me!

⁴⁰ Using many different expressions, Peter continued to testify and to plead: “Be saved,” he urged them, “from this corrupt generation!”

²¹ I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus.

³ Again, I insist that everyone who allows himself to be circumcised is obligated to obey the entire Law.

¹⁷ The Old Life and the NewTherefore, I tell you and insist on in the Lord not to live any longer like the gentiles live, thinking worthless thoughts.

⁶ Furthermore, you must never take advantage of or exploit a brother in this regard, because the Lord avenges all these things, just as we already told you and warned you.

¹⁸ Concluding WarningI warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy in this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will strike him with the plagues that are written in this book. ¹⁹ If anyone takes away any words from the book of this prophecy, God will take away his portion of the tree of life and the holy city that are described in this book.

¹² You are to do your work for six days, but on the seventh day you are to refrain from work so that your ox and donkey may rest, and so the son of your maidservant and the alien may be refreshed.

¹⁴ but the seventh day is a Sabbath for the LORD your God. You are not to do any work—neither you, your children, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys, nor any of your livestock—as well as any of the foreigners who live among you, so that your male and female servants may rest as you do.

⁷ So after thinking it over carefully, I accused the officials and nobles openly, “Every one of you is charging your fellow countrymen interest!” So I opened a public investigation against them.

¹¹ So I confronted the officials and asked, “Why is the Temple of God neglected?” Then I gathered them together and put them back in their places.

¹ A Psalm of Asaph
Asking God for Justice God takes his stand in the divine assembly; among the divine beings he renders judgment: ² “How long will you judge partially by showing favor on the wicked? Interlude

¹⁰ “Listen to what the LORD says, you rulers of Sodom, and pay attention to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

⁵ Let me go to the leaders and speak to them. For they know the LORD’s way, the requirement of their God.”
The LORD Answers “But they, all together, have broken the yoke and torn off the restraints.

¹⁸ Say to the king and the queen mother, “Come take a lowly seat, because your beautiful crowns have fallen off your heads.”

² ‘Listen to this message from the LORD, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David—you, your officials, and your people who enter these gates. ³ This is what the LORD says: “Uphold justice and righteousness. Deliver from their oppressor those who have been robbed. Don’t mistreat or do violence to the alien, the orphan, or the widow, or shed the blood of innocent people in this place. ⁴ Rather, carefully obey this message, and then kings sitting for David on his throne and riding in chariots and on horses will enter the gates of this house. The king will enter along with his officials and his people. ⁵ But if you don’t listen to these words, I swear,” declares the LORD, “that this house will become a ruin.”’” ⁶ For this is what the LORD says about the house of the king of Judah, “You are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon. Yet I’ll surely make you a desert, towns where no one lives. ⁷ I’ll appoint people to destroy you— men with their weapons.They’ll cut down some of your choice cedars and incinerate them.
⁸ “Many nations will pass by this city and say to one another, ‘Why did the LORD do this to this great city?’ ⁹ Then people will respond, ‘It is because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have bowed down to other gods and served them.’ ¹⁰ “Don’t cry for the dead or grieve for them. Weep bitterly for the one going away, because he won’t return again nor see the land of his birth.
¹¹ “For this is what the LORD says about Josiah’s son Shallum, king of Judah, who reigned in place of his father Josiah: ‘He went out from this place and won’t return to it again. ¹² He will die in the place where they exiled him, and he won’t ever see this land again.’”
¹³ An Oracle against Jehoiakim“How terrible for him who builds his house without righteousness, and its upper rooms without justice, who makes his neighbor work for nothing, and does not pay him his wage. ¹⁴ How terrible for him who says, ‘I’ll build a large house for myself with spacious upper rooms, who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it red.’ ¹⁵ Are you a king because you try to outdo everyone with cedar? Your father ate and drank and upheld justice and righteousness, did he not? And then it went well for him. ¹⁶ He judged the case of the poor and needy. And then it went well for him. Isn’t this what it means to know me? ¹⁷ But your eyes and heart are on nothing but your dishonest gain, shedding the blood of innocent people, and practicing oppression and extortion.”
¹⁸ Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Josiah’s son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, “They won’t lament for him with these words: ‘How terrible, my brother, How terrible, my sister!’ They won’t lament for him with these words: ‘How terrible, lord, How terrible, your majesty!’ ¹⁹ He will receive a donkey’s burial, dragged out and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.”
²⁰ An Oracle against JerusalemGo up to Lebanon and cry out, to Bashan and lift up your voice. Cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed. ²¹ I spoke to you when you were secure, but you said, “I won’t listen!” This has been your way since your youth, for you haven’t obeyed me. ²² The wind will shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into exile. Indeed, you will then be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness. ²³ You who live in Lebanon, who build your nest in the cedars, how you will groan when pains come upon you, pain like that of a woman giving birth.

¹ “He will say, ‘Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you officials of the house of Israel! You should know justice, should you not?—

⁹ Please listen to this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you officials of the house of Israel, you who hate administering justice, who pervert the very meaning of equity,

¹⁸ “If, despite all of this, you still don’t listen to me, then I’ll punish you seven times more on account of your sins.

²⁸ I’ll oppose you with vicious rage. Indeed, I myself will punish you seven fold on account of your sins.

¹⁴ And now, look! You’re acting just like your ancestors, like a brood of sinful men, who are provoking the fierce anger of the LORD against the Israelis one step at a time.

¹⁷ Isn’t the evil that happened at Peor enough for us, from which we have yet to be completely cleansed even to this point, and because of which a plague came upon the community of the LORD? ¹⁸ Now then, are you turning away from following the LORD today? If you rebel against the LORD today, by tomorrow he will be angry with the entire community of Israel.

¹³ “After all that has happened to us because of our evil behavior, and because of our great sin—considering that you our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us this deliverance— ¹⁴ should we violate your commandments by intermarrying with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you had consumed us, with not even a remnant surviving to escape? ¹⁵ LORD God of Israel, you are just: As a result, we remain here today delivered. Look at us! Because of our sin, we cannot stand in your presence as a result of everything that has happened.”

²¹ This is what the LORD says: “Be careful! On the Sabbath day, don’t carry any load or bring anything through the gates of Jerusalem. ²² Don’t bring any load out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor are you to do any work. You are to consecrate the Sabbath day, just as I commanded your ancestors. ²³ But they didn’t listen, nor did they pay attention. They were determined not to listen and not to accept instruction.

⁹ Have you forgotten the evil deeds of your ancestors, the evil deeds of the kings of Judah, the evil deeds of their wives, your evil deeds, and the evil deeds of your wives, that they did in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem?

²² The LORD could no longer bear it because of your evil deeds and the repulsive things that you did. So your land has become a ruin and an object of horror and ridicule without an inhabitant, as is the case today.

⁸ She never abandoned the immorality that she practiced in Egypt during her youth, where they laid down with her and fondled her virgin breasts, lavishing her with all kinds of favors.

²⁶ They’ll strip off your clothes and confiscate your jewelry.

⁴ Don’t be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed: ‘This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: “It’s time to turn from your evil lifestyles and from your evil actions,” ‘but they would neither listen nor pay attention to me,’” declares the LORD.’ ⁵ “Your ancestors—where are they? And the prophets—do they live forever? ⁶ But my words and my statutes that I gave as commands to my servants the prophets—did they not overwhelm your ancestors? And they returned to me: ‘The LORD of the Heavenly Armies acted toward us just as he planned to do—in keeping with our lifestyles and in keeping with our actions.’”

¹⁴ You are to observe the Sabbath, because it’s holy for you. Whoever profanes it is certainly to die; indeed, whoever does work on it is to be cut off from among his people. ¹⁵ Work may be done for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does work on the Sabbath is certainly to die. ¹⁶ The Israelis are to keep the Sabbath to make the Sabbath observance a perpetual covenant from generation to generation. ¹⁷ It is a sign forever between me and the Israelis, because the LORD made the heavens and the earth in six days, but on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”

²² Furthermore, when you harvest the produce of your land, you are not to harvest all the way to the corners of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and resident alien. I am the LORD your God.”

³² It’s a Sabbath of rest for you on which you are to humble yourselves starting the evening of the ninth day of the month. You are to observe your Sabbath from evening to evening.”

³ I charged them, “Do not open the gates of Jerusalem until mid-day. Until then, let everyone stand watch, keeping the gates shut and locked. Appoint security watches from those who live in Jerusalem. Everyone should maintain his own watch near his house.”

¹⁹ A Test Case: Keeping the SabbathThe LORD told me, “Go, stand in the gate of the people, where the kings of Judah come in and go out, and in the other gates of Jerusalem as well. ²⁰ Say to them, ‘Kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the residents of Jerusalem entering these gates, hear this message from the LORD.

²⁶ Whoever refuses to practice the law of your God and the law of the king is to see judgment executed quickly, whether to death, banishment, confiscation of goods, or imprisonment.

¹⁵ Prohibiting Work on the SabbathAt that time I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the Sabbath, bringing in sacks of grain, loading them onto donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads. They brought them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I rebuked them on the day on which they were selling food.

³ For the authorities are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you like to live without being afraid of the authorities? Then do what is right, and you will receive their approval. ⁴ For they are God’s servants, working for your good.
But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for it is not without reason that they bear the sword. Indeed, they are God’s servants to administer punishment to anyone who does wrong.

¹⁴ or to governors who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.

¹² “‘You are to keep the Sabbath day holy, just as the LORD your God commanded.

⁴ Josiah Abolishes IdolatryThe king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the secondary order, and the doorkeepers to take out of the LORD’s Temple all of the implements that had been crafted for Baal, for Asherah, and for every star in the heavens. Then he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried the ashes to Bethel.

¹² and addressed them: “As leaders of your Levitical families, set yourselves apart, both you and your relatives, so you can be qualified to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel to the place I’ve prepared for it. ¹³ Because you didn’t carry it from the very first, the LORD our God attacked us, since we didn’t care for it appropriately.” ¹⁴ So the priests and descendants of Levi set themselves apart to carry the ark of the LORD God of Israel.

⁴ Then he brought in the priests and descendants of Levi, gathered them into the square in the eastern part of the Temple, ⁵ and told them, “Pay attention to me, you descendants of Levi! Consecrate yourselves and the Temple of the LORD God of your ancestors by taking out from the Holy Place whatever is unclean.

²⁴ and then the priests slaughtered them and purged the altar with their blood as a sin offering to atone for all Israel, because the king ordered that the burnt offering and the sin offering be made for all Israel.

²⁷ Hezekiah gave a command to offer burnt offerings on the altar, and when the burnt offerings began, a song to the LORD also began with trumpets sounding and with the instruments that King David of Israel had crafted.

³⁰ King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the descendants of Levi to sing praises to the LORD based on psalms that had been written by David and Asaph the seer. So they all joyfully sang praises, bowed low, and worshipped.

⁶⁴ These people searched for their ancestral records, but they couldn’t be located. Accordingly, they were considered disqualified from the priesthood. ⁶⁵ The governor ordered them not to eat anything holy until a priest would be installed with Urim and Thummim.

³⁰ The priests and the descendants of Levi purified themselves, and also purified the people, the gates, and the wall.

¹⁴ Remember me, my God, concerning this, and do not erase my faithful deeds that I have undertaken for the Temple of my God, and for its services.

⁷ But I, because of the abundance of your gracious love, may come into your house. In awe of you, I will worship in your holy Temple.

⁶ Remember, LORD, your tender mercies and your gracious love; indeed, they are eternal! ⁷ Do not remember my youthful sins and transgressions; but remember me in light of your gracious love, in light of your goodness, LORD.

¹ To the Director: A Davidic Psalm. When the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
A Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon Have mercy, God, according to your gracious love, according to your unlimited compassion, erase my transgressions.

³ LORD, if you were to record iniquities, Lord, who could remain standing? ⁴ But with you there is forgiveness, so that you may be feared.

⁷ Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is gracious love, along with abundant redemption.

¹ A Song of Ascents
The LORD Lives in Zion LORD, remember in David’s favor all of his troubles; ² how he swore an oath to the LORD, vowing to the Mighty One of Jacob, ³ “I will not enter my house, or lie down on my bed, ⁴ or let myself go to sleep or even take a nap, ⁵ until I locate a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

¹ A Davidic Song
Longing for God LORD, hear my prayer; pay attention to my request, because you are faithful; answer me in your righteousness. ² Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no living person is righteous in your sight.

³ “Please, LORD,” he said, “Remember how I have walked before you faithfully and with a true heart, and I have done what pleases you.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

²³ “Oh, yes! Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens will be your nursing mothers. They will bow to you with their faces to the ground, and lick the dust from your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.

⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous person his thoughts. Let him return to the LORD, So he’ll have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he’ll pardon abundantly.

¹² Paul’s Reason for BoastingFor this is what we boast about: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world with pure motives and godly sincerity, without earthly wisdom but with God’s grace—especially toward you.

⁷ I have fought the good fight. I have completed the race. I have kept the faith. ⁸ The victor’s crown of righteousness is now waiting for me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on the day that he comes, and not only to me but also to all who eagerly wait for his appearing.

¹ The Philistines’ Troubles because of the ArkThe Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

¹ Ezra’s Reaction to Foreign Marriages
After these things occurred, certain officials approached me and said “The people of Israel, the priests, and the descendants of Levi have not separated themselves from the people of the lands or from the detestable behavior of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites, ² because they and their sons have married foreign women. As a result, the holy people have mingled themselves among the peoples of these lands. As a matter of fact, the senior officials and the rulers have been foremost in this sin.”

¹¹ that you gave in the writings of your servants, the prophets: ‘The land you are entering to possess is a morally unclean land due to the moral uncleanness of the peoples of the lands—along with their abominations—that has filled it from one end to the other with their impurities. ¹² So, therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor marry their daughters to your sons, and under no circumstances are you to seek their well-being or their wealth, so that you may remain strong, enjoying the best things the land has to give, and so that you may establish an inheritance for your children forever.’

¹⁰ Ezra the priest stood up and spoke to them, “You have sinned by marrying foreign wives, thereby increasing the transgressions of Israel.

⁴⁴ All of these had married foreign wives, and some of them had children by them.

⁷ Sanballat Reacts to the ProgressBut when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repair work on the Jerusalem wall was progressing and that its breaches were being repaired, they flew into a rage.

³⁰ “We will not give our daughters in marriage to the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons.

¹⁴ Relating with UnbelieversStop becoming unevenly yoked with unbelievers. What partnership can righteousness have with lawlessness? What fellowship can light have with darkness?

⁹ Indeed, then I will return my people to a pure language so that they all may call upon the name of the LORD, serving him with a united will.

¹⁶ “You are not to take any of their daughters for your sons. Otherwise, when their daughters prostitute themselves with their gods, they may cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods.

¹³ Fear the LORD your God, serve him, and make your oaths in his name.

³ You are not to intermarry with them. You are not to give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons,

² If the guilty person deserves a beating, the judge will make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of lashes fit for his crime. ³ But he must not be beaten more than 40 lashes, because if he receives more than 40 lashes, your brother will be humiliated in your eyes.

¹⁴ The descendants of Levi are to declare in a loud voice to every Israeli: ¹⁵ “‘Cursed is the one who makes a sculptured or cast image—a detestable thing to the LORD, the work of a craftsman—and sets it up secretly.’“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁶ “Cursed is the one who treats his father and mother with dishonor.’“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁷ “‘Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s boundary stone.’“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁸ “‘Cursed is the one who misleads a blind person on the road.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁹ “‘Cursed is the one who perverts justice due the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow.’“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ²⁰ “Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his father’s wife, because he has disgraced his father.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ²¹ “‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with any animal.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ²² “‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his sister, the daughter of his father or mother.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ²³ “‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his mother-in-law.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ²⁴ “‘Cursed is one who strikes his neighbor secretly.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ²⁵ “‘Cursed is one who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ²⁶ “‘Cursed is the one who doesn’t uphold the words of this Law and observe them.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’”

¹² They also entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their ancestors with all their heart and soul, ¹³ and they further agreed that whoever would refuse to seek the LORD God of Israel was to be executed, whether important or unimportant, man or woman. ¹⁴ They also made a vow to the LORD with loud voices, shouting, trumpets, and horns. ¹⁵ Everybody in Judah was very glad to make their oath, because they had made their vow with all their heart and had sought him with all of their might, and they found him! The LORD also gave them rest in their surrounding lands.

⁵ The People Agree to Dissolve Their MarriagesSo Ezra got up and made the chief priests, the descendants of Levi, and all of Israel vow to carry out everything they promised. And so they agreed.

¹³ I also shook my robes, and said, “May God shake out every man from his house and his possessions who does not keep this promise. May he be emptied out and shaken just like this.”
All the assembly said, “Amen!” and praised the LORD. And the people kept their promise.

²⁹ joined with their relatives and their leaders. They entered into an oath—enforced by a curse—to walk in God’s Law that was given through God’s servant Moses, and to be careful to obey all of the commands of the LORD, our Lord, as well as his regulations and statutes: ³⁰ “We will not give our daughters in marriage to the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons.

⁴ The one who despises those who are utterly wicked, but who honors the one who fears the LORD, who keeps his word even when it hurts and does not change,

⁶ I gave my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not turn away my face from insults and spitting.

⁴⁵ Then one of the experts in the Law told him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us, too.”
⁴⁶ Jesus said, “How terrible it will be for you experts in the Law, too! You load people with burdens that are hard to carry, yet you don’t even lift a finger to ease those burdens.

²⁴ The Birth of SolomonThen David consoled his wife Bathsheba. He went in and had sex with her, and she bore a son whom he named Solomon. The LORD loved him, ²⁵ and sent a message written by Nathan the prophet to call his name Jedidiah, for the Lord’s sake.

¹³ I’m also giving you what you haven’t requested: both riches and honor, so that no other king will be comparable to you during your lifetime.

¹ Solomon’s Forbidden Marriages and Idolatry
But King Solomon married many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh: women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidonia, along with Hittite women, too, ² all of them from nations that the LORD had ordered the Israelis, “You are not to associate with them and they are not to associate with you, because they will most certainly turn your affections away to follow their gods.” Solomon became deeply attached to them by falling in love. ³ He had 700 princess wives and 300 mistresses who turned his heart away from the LORD, ⁴ because as Solomon grew older, his wives turned his affections away after other gods, and his heart was not fully as devoted to the LORD his God as his father David’s heart had been. ⁵ Solomon pursued Astarte, the Sidonian goddess, and Milcom, that detestable Ammonite idol. ⁶ Solomon practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by not fully following the LORD, as had his father David. ⁷ Later, Solomon even constructed a high place on the mountain east of Jerusalem that was dedicated to Chemosh, that detestable Moabite idol, and to Molech, the detestable Ammonite idol. ⁸ Solomon did this for all of his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their own gods.

¹² wisdom and knowledge have been granted to you. Furthermore, I will give you riches, wealth, and honor—such as none of the kings owned who lived before you and none after you are to ever attain their equal.”

²² As a result, King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in regards to wealth and wisdom.

²⁶ I discovered for myself a bitterness that surpasses that of death: the woman whose heart is full of snares and nets, whose hands are chains of bondage. Whoever pleases God will escape from her, but the transgressor will be trapped by her.

²⁴ Who will listen to you in this matter? Indeed, the share of those who went down into battle and the share of those who stayed with the supplies will be the same. They’ll share alike.”

² Jehiel’s son Shecaniah, one of Elam’s descendants, responded to Ezra: “We have sinned against our God by marrying foreign wives from the people of the land, but even now there is hope in Israel, despite this.

¹ Those who Worked on the WallSo Eliashib the high priest came forward, along with his fellow priests, and reconstructed the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and installed its doors. They also consecrated the wall as far as the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel.

¹⁷ Meanwhile, at that time the nobles of Judah continued to send many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah kept sending letters to them. ¹⁸ For many Judeans had sworn allegiance to him, since he was son-in-law to Arah’s son Shecaniah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Berechiah’s son Meshullam. ¹⁹ Furthermore, they kept reporting Tobiah’s good deeds to me, and kept repeating what I told him. Tobiah kept sending letters to intimidate me.

²² When Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua were serving, the descendants of Levi were recorded as heads of their ancestors’ houses, as were the priests during the reign of Darius the Persian.

⁴ Tobiah Evicted from the TempleNow prior to this, Eliashib the priest, who supervised the store rooms of the Temple of our God and who was related to Tobiah, ⁵ had prepared a great chamber for him, in the place where they used to place the grain offerings, incense, and vessels, along with the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil that was mandated for the descendants of Levi, the singers, the gate keepers, and the priests’ offerings.

⁸ Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land, eliminating everyone who practices iniquity from the LORD’s city.

⁸ A king sits on a throne of justice, sifting out all sorts of evil with his glance.

²⁶ A wise king sifts the wicked, crushing them with the threshing wheel.

¹ Priestly HolinessThe LORD told Moses, “Speak to the priests, Aaron’s sons, and tell them that no priest is to defile himself on account of the dead among his people, ² except his close relatives—his mother, father, son, daughter, brother, or ³ virgin sister (who is a near relative of him and did not have a husband— he may defile himself for her). ⁴ Because he is a husband among his people, he is not to defile himself, thereby polluting himself.
⁵ “They are not to cut their hair in ritualistic patterns on their heads, deface the edges of their beards, or make incisions in their flesh. ⁶ They are to be holy to their God. They are not to defile the name of their God, because they’re the ones who bring the offerings of the LORD made by fire—the food of their God—so they are to be holy.
⁷ “They are not to marry a prostitute or a woman who has been dishonored or who was divorced from her husband, because the priest is holy to his God.

⁹ Is it such an insignificant thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelis to draw you to himself, appointing you to do the work of the tent of the LORD and to stand before the community to minister to them? ¹⁰ He brought you near, along with all of your relatives, the descendants of Levi. Are you also seeking the priesthood?

¹² Therefore, I’m certainly going to be giving him my covenant of peace, ¹³ for him and for his descendants after him, too, a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelis.”

³⁰ “Therefore, the LORD God of Israel has declared, ‘I did, in fact, say that your family and your ancestor’s family would walk before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares, ‘Far be it from me! The one who honors me I’ll honor, and the one who despises me is to be treated with contempt.

¹⁴ “Remember me, my God, and take note of what Tobiah and Sanballat are doing. Also take note of the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who intend to make me afraid.”

⁵ You, LORD God of the Heavenly Armies, God of Israel, stir yourself up to punish all the nations. Show no mercy to those wicked transgressors. Interlude ⁶ At night they return like howling dogs; they prowl around the city. ⁷ Look what pours out of their mouths! They use their lips like swords, saying “Who will hear us?” ⁸ But you, LORD, will laugh at them; you will mock all the nations. ⁹ My Strength, I will watch for you, for God is my fortress. ¹⁰ My God of Gracious Love will meet me; God will enable me to see what happens to my enemies. ¹¹ Don’t kill them! Otherwise, my people may forget. By your power make them stumble around; bring them down low, Lord, our Shield. ¹² The sin of their mouth is the word on their lips. They will be caught in their own conceit; for they speak curses and lies. ¹³ Go ahead and destroy them in anger! Wipe them out, and they will know to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob. Interlude

⁴ “You will know that I sent this commandment to you in order to continue my covenant with Levi,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. ⁵ “My covenant with him was for life and peace, and I gave the commandments to him so he would fear me. He did fear me as he stood in my presence. ⁶ True teachings were in his mouth, and falsehood was not found on his lips. He walked with me peacefully and righteously, and he turned many from sin. ⁷ For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he’s the messenger of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.
⁸ “But you priests turned aside from the way, and by your teaching you caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

¹⁰ A Plea and a Prayer from MalachiDo we not have one father? Has not one God created us? Why does each of us act deceitfully, each man against his own brother, to profane the covenant of our ancestors? ¹¹ Judah has become unfaithful, and a detestable thing was committed in Israel and Jerusalem. Indeed, Judah profaned the Holy Place of the LORD, which he loves, and married a daughter of a foreign god. ¹² May the LORD exclude from the community of Jacob any man who does this, whoever he may be, even though he brings offerings to the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

¹⁴ Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will pay him back for what he did.

¹ The Levitical DivisionsAfter David had reached old age, and had completed his reign, he set his son Solomon as king over Israel. ² David then gathered together all of the leaders of Israel, including the priests and descendants of Levi. ³ descendants of Levi 30 years old and above were counted for a total of 38,000. ⁴ “24,000 of these,” David said, “are to be set in charge of the work of the Temple of the LORD, with 6,000 serving as officers and judges, ⁵ with 4,000 gatekeepers, and with 4,000 offering praises to the LORD with the musical instruments that I have had crafted.”
⁶ David divided them into divisions based on Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, Levi’s sons.
⁷ An Abbreviated Genealogy of Levi’s SonsThe descendants of Gershon were Ladan and Shimei. ⁸ The three descendants of Ladan included Jehiel (their chief), Zetham, and Joel. ⁹ The three descendants of Shimei included Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran. These were the heads of families of Ladan.
¹⁰ The descendants of Shimei included Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These four were sons of Shimei. ¹¹ Jahath served as chief and Zizah was second in rank, but since Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, they were enrolled as a single family unit.
¹² The four descendants of Kohath included Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ¹³ The descendants of Amram included Aaron and Moses. Aaron had been set apart to consecrate the most holy things, with the intent that he and his sons should present offerings in the LORD’s presence forever, ministering to him and pronouncing blessings in his name forever.
¹⁴ Meanwhile, as for Moses the man of God, his sons were considered among the tribe of Levi. ¹⁵ The descendants of Moses included Gershom and Eliezer. ¹⁶ The descendants of Gershom included Shebuel as their chief.
¹⁷ The descendants of Eliezer included Rehabiah as their chief. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had many descendants.
¹⁸ The descendants of Izhar included Shelomith their chief.
¹⁹ The descendants of Hebron included Jeriah their chief, Amariah their second in rank, Jahaziel their third, and Jekameam their fourth.
²⁰ The descendants of Uzziel included Micah their chief and Isshiah their second in rank.
²¹ The descendants of Merari included Mahli and Mushi. The descendants of Mahli included Eleazar and Kish, ²² but Eleazar died having no sons, but only daughters. Their relatives (the descendants of Kish) married them. ²³ The three descendants of Mushi included Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth.
²⁴ These were the descendants of Levi according to their ancestral households, with family heads documented according to the names of persons 20 years and older who were appointed to perform work in service to the Temple of the LORD.
²⁵ For David had said “The LORD God of Israel has granted rest to his people, and he has taken Israel as his eternal residence. ²⁶ Therefore the descendants of Levi are no longer to carry the Tent or its service implements.”

¹ Priests and Descendants of Levi
These are the priests and descendants of Levi who had returned with Shealtiel’s son Zerubbabel and with Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, ² Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, ³ Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, ⁴ Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, ⁵ Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, ⁶ Shemaih, Joiarib, Jedaiah, ⁷ Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the leaders of the priests and their associates in the time of Jeshua.
⁸ The descendants of Levi included Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who with his associates was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving. ⁹ Bakbukiah and Unni and their associates stood opposite them in the service. ¹⁰ Jeshua fathered Joiakim, Joiakim fathered Eliashib, and Eliashib fathered Joiada. ¹¹ Joiada fathered Jonathan and Jonathan fathered Jaddua.
¹² These were the priests and heads of their ancestors’ houses in the time of Joiakim: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah; ¹³ of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan; ¹⁴ of Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph; ¹⁵ of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai; ¹⁶ of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam; ¹⁷ of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai; ¹⁸ of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan; ¹⁹ of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi; ²⁰ of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; ²¹ of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.
²² When Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua were serving, the descendants of Levi were recorded as heads of their ancestors’ houses, as were the priests during the reign of Darius the Persian. ²³ The leaders of the ancestors of Levi were written in the Book of Annals until the time of Eliashib’s son Johanan.
²⁴ The leaders of the descendants of Levi were: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Kadmiel’s son Jeshua, along with their associates who served opposite them to give praise and thanks, division by division, according to the commands given by David the man of God. ²⁵ Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the store houses of the gates. ²⁶ These were at the time of Jeshua’s son Joiakim, the grandson of Jozadak, and in the time of Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe.

³⁴ We—the priests, the descendants of Levi, and the people—cast lots to determine when to bring the wood offering into the Temple of our God, just as our ancestors’ families were appointed annually to maintain the altar fire of the LORD our God, as recorded in the Law.

⁷ Do not remember my youthful sins and transgressions; but remember me in light of your gracious love, in light of your goodness, LORD.

⁸ LORD, I love the dwelling place that is your house, the place where your glory resides. ⁹ Do not group me with sinners, nor include me with men who shed blood.

⁴ Remember me, LORD, when you show favor to your people. Visit us with your deliverance,

⁴² Then he went on to plead, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom!”