Today's Reading

¹Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the archives, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.

²There was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of Media, a scroll, and therein was thus written for a record:

³In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree: Concerning God's house at Jerusalem, let the house be built, the place where they offer sacrifices, and let its foundations be strongly laid; its height sixty cubits, and its breadth sixty cubits;

⁴with three courses of great stones, and a course of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house.

⁵Also let the gold and silver vessels of God's house, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be restored, and brought again to the temple which is at Jerusalem, everyone to its place; and you shall put them in God's house.

⁶Now therefore, Tattenai, governor beyond the River, Shetharbozenai, and your companions the Apharsachites, who are beyond the River, you must stay far from there.

⁷Leave the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in its place.

⁸Moreover I make a decree what you shall do to these elders of the Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the River, expenses be given with all diligence to these men, that they be not hindered.

⁹That which they have need of, both young bulls, and rams, and lambs, for burnt offerings to the God of heaven; also wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests who are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail;

¹⁰that they may offer sacrifices of pleasant aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.

¹¹Also I have made a decree, that whoever shall alter this word, let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and fastened thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this:

¹²and the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow all kings and peoples who shall put forth their hand to alter the same, to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with all diligence.

¹³Then Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, Shetharbozenai, and their companions, because Darius the king had sent a decree, did accordingly with all diligence.

¹⁴The elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

¹⁵This house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

¹⁶The children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy.

¹⁷They offered at the dedication of this house of God one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁸They set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses.

¹⁹The children of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

²⁰For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were pure: and they killed the Passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brothers the priests, and for themselves.

²¹The children of Israel who had come again out of the captivity, and all such as had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek the Lord, the God of Israel, ate,

²²and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the Lord had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of God's house, the God of Israel.

¹Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,

²the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,

³the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,

⁴the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,

⁵the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest;

⁶this Ezra went up from Babylon: and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given; and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God on him.

⁷There went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinim, to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.

⁸He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.

⁹For on the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon; and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God on him.

¹⁰For Ezra had set his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances.

¹¹Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even the scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord, and of his statutes to Israel:

¹²Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect and so forth.

¹³I make a decree, that all those of the people of Israel, and their priests and the Levites, in my realm, who are minded of their own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with you.

¹⁴Because you are sent of the king and his seven counselors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your God which is in your hand,

¹⁵and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem,

¹⁶and all the silver and gold that you shall find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem;

¹⁷therefore you shall with all diligence buy with this money bulls, rams, lambs, with their meal offerings and their drink offerings, and shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.

¹⁸Whatever shall seem good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, do that after the will of your God.

¹⁹The vessels that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver before the God of Jerusalem.

²⁰Whatever more shall be needful for the house of your God, which you shall have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure house.

²¹I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers who are beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done with all diligence,

²²to one hundred talents of silver, and to one hundred measures of wheat, and to one hundred baths of wine, and to one hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.

²³Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done exactly for the house of the God of heaven; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?

²⁴Also we inform you, that touching any of the priests and Levites, the singers, porters, Nethinim, or servants of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll, on them.

²⁵You, Ezra, after the wisdom of your God who is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people who are beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God; and teach him who doesn't know them.

²⁶Whoever will not do the law of your God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed on him with all diligence, whether it be to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.

²⁷Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem;

²⁸and has extended loving kindness to me before the king, and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty princes. I was strengthened according to the hand of the Lord my God on me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.

¹Now these are the heads of their fathers' households, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king:

²Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush.

³Of the sons of Shecaniah, of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah; and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males one hundred fifty.

⁴Of the sons of Pahathmoab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah; and with him two hundred males.

⁵Of the sons of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel; and with him three hundred males.

⁶Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan; and with him fifty males.

⁷Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah; and with him seventy males.

⁸Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael; and with him eighty males.

⁹Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel; and with him two hundred and eighteen males.

¹⁰Of the sons of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah; and with him one hundred sixty males.

¹¹Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai; and with him twenty-eight males.

¹²Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan; and with him one hundred ten males.

¹³Of the sons of Adonikam, who were the last; and these are their names: Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah; and with them sixty males.

¹⁴Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud; and with them seventy males.

¹⁵I gathered them together to the river that runs to Ahava; and there we encamped three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi.

¹⁶Then sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, who were teachers.

¹⁷I sent them forth to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia; and I told them what they should tell Iddo, and his brothers the Nethinim, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.

¹⁸According to the good hand of our God on us they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brothers, eighteen;

¹⁹and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty;

²⁰and of the Nethinim, whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim: all of them were mentioned by name.

²¹Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a straight way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

²²For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, "The hand of our God is on all those who seek him, for good; but his power and his wrath is against all those who forsake him."

²³So we fasted and begged our God for this: and he was entreated of us.

²⁴Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, even Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them,

²⁵and weighed to them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering for the house of our God, which the king, and his counselors, and his princes, and all Israel there present, had offered:

²⁶I weighed into their hand six hundred fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels one hundred talents; of gold one hundred talents;

²⁷and twenty bowls of gold, of one thousand darics; and two vessels of fine bright brass, precious as gold.

²⁸I said to them, "You are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.

²⁹Watch, and keep them, until you weigh them before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites, and the princes of the fathers' households of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the rooms of the house of the Lord."

³⁰So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.

³¹Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the bandit by the way.

³²We came to Jerusalem, and stayed there three days.

³³On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest; and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them was Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, the Levite;

³⁴the whole by number and by weight: and all the weight was written at that time.

³⁵The children of the captivity, who had come out of exile, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve male goats for a sin offering: all this was a burnt offering to the Lord.

³⁶They delivered the king's commissions to the king's satraps, and to the governors beyond the River: and they furthered the people and God's house.

¹So let a man think of us as Christ's servants, and stewards of God's mysteries.

²Here, moreover, it is required of stewards, that they be found faithful.

³But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man's judgment. Yes, I do not judge my own self.

⁴For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord.

⁵Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.

⁶Now these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to go beyond the things which are written, that none of you be puffed up against one another.

⁷For who makes you different? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

⁸You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you did reign, that we also might reign with you.

⁹For, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men.

¹⁰We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor.

¹¹Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place.

¹²We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure.

¹³Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.

¹⁴I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

¹⁵For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News.

¹⁶I beg you therefore, be imitators of me.

¹⁷Because of this I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church.

¹⁸Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you.

¹⁹But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing. And I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power.

²⁰For the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.

²¹What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

¹By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

²On the willows in its midst, we hung up our harps.

³For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

⁴How can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?

⁵If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.

⁶Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you; if I do not prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.

⁷Remember, Lord, against the children of Edom, the day of Jerusalem; who said, "Raze it! Raze it even to its foundation!"

⁸Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, he will be happy who rewards you, as you have served us.

⁹Happy shall he be, who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.

¹A wise son listens to his father's instruction, but a scoffer doesn't listen to rebuke.

²By the fruit of his lips, a man enjoys good things; but the unfaithful crave violence.

³He who guards his mouth guards his soul. One who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

⁴The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing, but the desire of the diligent shall be fully satisfied.

⁵A righteous man hates lies, but a wicked man brings shame and disgrace.

⁶Righteousness guards the way of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

⁷There are some who pretend to be rich, yet have nothing. There are some who pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.

⁸The ransom of a man's life is his riches, but the poor hear no threats.

⁹The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.

¹⁰Pride only breeds quarrels, but with ones who take advice is wisdom.

¹¹Wealth gained dishonestly dwindles away, but he who gathers by hand makes it grow.

¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.

¹³Whoever despises instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command will be rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a spring of life, to turn from the snares of death.

¹⁵Good understanding wins favor; but the way of the unfaithful is hard.

¹⁶Every prudent man acts from knowledge, but a fool exposes folly.

¹⁷A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy gains healing.

¹⁸Poverty and shame come to him who refuses discipline, but he who heeds correction shall be honored.

¹⁹Longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but fools detest turning from evil.

²⁰One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

²¹Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous.

²²A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored for the righteous.

²³An abundance of food is in poor people's fields, but injustice sweeps it away.

²⁴One who spares the rod hates his son, but one who loves him is careful to discipline him.

²⁵The righteous one eats to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked goes hungry.