Through the Bible – Day 166

Bible text(s)

Ezra 6

The temple is dedicated

₁₃Governor Tattenai, Shethar Bozenai, and their advisers carefully obeyed King Darius. ₁₄With great success the Jewish leaders continued working on the temple, while Haggai and Zechariah encouraged them by their preaching. And so, the temple was completed at the command of the God of Israel and by the orders of kings Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes of Persia. ₁₅On the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of the rule of Darius, the temple was finished.

₁₆The people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and everyone else who had returned from exile were happy and celebrated as they dedicated God's temple. ₁₇One hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs were offered as sacrifices at the dedication. Also twelve goats were sacrificed as sin offerings for the twelve tribes of Israel. ₁₈Then the priests and Levites were assigned their duties in God's temple in Jerusalem, according to the instructions Moses had written.

The Passover

₁₉Everyone who had returned from exile celebrated Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. ₂₀The priests and Levites had gone through a ceremony to make themselves acceptable to lead in worship. Then some of them killed Passover lambs for those who had returned, including the other priests and themselves.

₂₁The sacrifices were eaten by the Israelites who had returned and by the neighbouring people who had given up the sinful customs of other nations in order to worship the LORD God of Israel. ₂₂For seven days they celebrated the Festival of Thin Bread. Everyone was happy because the LORD God of Israel had made sure that the king of Assyria would be kind to them and help them build the temple.

Ezra 7

Ezra leads many Jews back to Jerusalem

Ezra comes to Jerusalem

_1-6Much later, when Artaxerxes was king of Persia, Ezra came to Jerusalem from Babylonia. Ezra was the son of Seraiah and the grandson of Azariah. His other ancestors were Hilkiah, Shallum, Zadok, Ahitub, Amariah, Azariah, Meraioth, Zerahiah, Uzzi, Bukki, Abishua, Phinehas, Eleazar, and Aaron, the high priest.

Ezra was an expert in the Law that the LORD God of Israel had given to Moses, and the LORD made sure that the king gave Ezra everything he asked for.

₇Other Jews, including priests, Levites, musicians, the temple guards, and servants, came to Jerusalem with Ezra. This happened during the seventh year that Artaxerxes was king.

_8-9God helped Ezra, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month of that seventh year, after leaving Babylonia on the first day of the first month. ₁₀Ezra had spent his entire life studying and obeying the Law of the LORD and teaching it to others.

Artaxerxes gives a letter to Ezra

₁₁Ezra was a priest and an expert in the laws and commands that the LORD had given to Israel. One day King Artaxerxes gave Ezra a letter which said:

₁₂Greetings from the great King Artaxerxes to Ezra the priest and expert in the teachings of the God of heaven.

_13-14Any of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom may go with you to Jerusalem if they want to. My seven advisers and I agree that you may go to Jerusalem and Judah to find out if the laws of your God are being obeyed.

₁₅When you go, take the silver and gold that I and my advisers are freely giving to the God of Israel, whose temple is in Jerusalem. ₁₆Take the silver and gold that you collect from everywhere in Babylonia. Also take the gifts that your own people and priests have so willingly contributed for the temple of your God in Jerusalem.

₁₇Use the money carefully to buy the best bulls, rams, lambs, grain, and wine. Then sacrifice them on the altar at God's temple in Jerusalem. ₁₈If any silver or gold is left, you and your people may use it for whatever pleases your God. ₁₉Give your God the other articles that have been contributed for use in his temple. ₂₀If you need to get anything else for the temple, you may have the money you need from the royal treasury.

₂₁Ezra, you are a priest and an expert in the laws of the God of heaven, and I order all treasurers in Western Province to do their very best to help you. ₂₂They will be allowed to give as much as 3,400 kilogrammes of silver, 10,000 kilogrammes of wheat, 2,000 litres of wine, 2,000 litres of olive oil, and all the salt you need.

₂₃They must provide whatever the God of heaven demands for his temple, so that he won't be angry with me and with the kings who rule after me. ₂₄We want you to know that no priests, Levites, musicians, guards, temple servants, or any other temple workers will have to pay any kind of taxes.

₂₅Ezra, use the wisdom God has given you and choose officials and leaders to govern the people of Western Province. These leaders should know God's laws and have them taught to anyone who doesn't know them. ₂₆Everyone who fails to obey God's Law or the king's law will be punished without pity. They will be executed or put in prison or forced to leave their country, or have all they own taken away.

Ezra praises God

₂₇Because King Artaxerxes was so kind, Ezra said:

Praise the LORD God of our ancestors! He made sure that the king honoured the LORD's temple in Jerusalem. ₂₈God has told the king, his advisers, and his powerful officials to treat me with kindness. The LORD God has helped me, and I have been able to bring many Jewish leaders back to Jerusalem.

Ezra 8

The families who came back with Ezra

₁Artaxerxes was king of Persia when I led the following chiefs of the family groups from Babylonia to Jerusalem:

_2-14

Gershom of the Phinehas family;

Daniel of the Ithamar family;

Hattush son of Shecaniah of the David family;

Zechariah and 150 other men of the Parosh family, who had family records;

Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah with 200 men of the Pahath Moab family;

Shecaniah son of Jahaziel with 300 men of the Zattu family;

Ebed son of Jonathan with 50 men of the Adin family;

Jeshaiah son of Athaliah with 70 men of the Elam family;

Zebadiah son of Michael with 80 men of the Shephatiah family;

Obadiah son of Jehiel with 218 men of the Joab family;

Shelomith son of Josiphiah with 160 men of the Bani family;

Zechariah son of Bebai with 28 men of the Bebai family;

Johanan son of Hakkatan with 110 men of the Azgad family;

Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah who returned some time later with 60 men of the Adonikam family;

Uthai and Zaccur with 70 men of the Bigvai family.

Ezra finds Levites for the temple

₁₅I brought everyone together by the river that flows to the town of Ahava where we camped for three days. Not one Levite could be found among the people and priests. ₁₆So I sent for the leaders Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam. I also sent for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were very wise. ₁₇Then I sent them to Iddo, the leader at Casiphia, and I told them to ask him and his temple workers to send people to serve in God's temple.

₁₈God was kind to us and made them send a skilful man named Sherebiah, who was a Levite from the family of Mahli. Eighteen of his relatives came with him. ₁₉We were also sent Hashabiah and Jeshaiah from the family of Merari along with twenty of their relatives. ₂₀In addition, 220 others came to help the Levites in the temple. The ancestors of these workers had been chosen years ago by King David and his officials, and they were all listed by name.

Ezra 6:13-8:20CEVOpen in Bible reader

Acts 2

The coming of the Holy Spirit

₁On the day of Pentecost all the Lord's followers were together in one place. ₂Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. ₃Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. ₄The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak.

₅Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem. ₆And when they heard this noise, a crowd gathered. But they were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own languages. ₇They were excited and amazed, and said:

Don't all these who are speaking come from Galilee? ₈Then why do we hear them speaking our very own languages? ₉Some of us are from Parthia, Media, and Elam. Others are from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, ₁₀Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya near Cyrene, Rome, ₁₁Crete, and Arabia. Some of us were born Jews, and others of us have chosen to be Jews. Yet we all hear them using our own languages to tell the wonderful things God has done.

₁₂Everyone was excited and confused. Some of them even kept asking each other, “What does all this mean?”

₁₃Others made fun of the Lord's followers and said, “They are drunk.”

Peter speaks to the crowd

₁₄Peter stood with the eleven apostles and spoke in a loud and clear voice to the crowd:

Friends and everyone else living in Jerusalem, listen carefully to what I have to say! ₁₅You are wrong to think that these people are drunk. After all, it is only nine o'clock in the morning. ₁₆But this is what God led the prophet Joel to say,

₁₇“When the last days come,

I will give my Spirit

to everyone.

Your sons and daughters

will prophesy.

Your young men

will see visions,

and your old men

will have dreams.

₁₈In those days I will give

my Spirit to my servants,

both men and women,

and they will prophesy.

₁₉I will perform miracles

in the sky above

and wonders

on the earth below.

There will be blood and fire

and clouds of smoke.

₂₀The sun will turn dark,

and the moon

will be as red as blood

before the great

and wonderful day

of the Lord appears.

₂₁Then the Lord

will save everyone

who asks for his help.”

Acts 2:1-21CEVOpen in Bible reader