Through the Bible – Day 172

₁Many priests and Levites had returned from Babylonia with Zerubbabel and Joshua as their leaders. Those priests were Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, ₂Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, ₃Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, ₄Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, ₅Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, ₆Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, ₇Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and another Jedaiah. These were the leading priests and their assistants during the time of Joshua.

₈The Levites who returned were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah. They and their assistants were responsible for the songs of praise, ₉while Bakbukiah and Unno, together with their assistants, were responsible for the choral responses.

₁₀Joshua was the father of Joiakim, the grandfather of Eliashib, and the great-grandfather of Joiada. ₁₁Joiada was the father of Jonathan and the grandfather of Jaddua.

₁₂When Joiakim was high priest, the following priests were leaders of their clans: Meraiah of the Seraiah clan, Hananiah of Jeremiah, ₁₃Meshullam of Ezra, Jehohanan of Amariah, ₁₄Jonathan of Malluchi, Joseph of Shebaniah, ₁₅Adna of Harim, Helkai of Meraioth, ₁₆Zechariah of Iddo, Meshullam of Ginnethon, ₁₇Zichri of Abijah, Piltai of Moadiah, ₁₈Shammua of Bilgah, Jehonathan of Shemaiah, ₁₉Mattenai of Joiarib, Uzzi of Jedaiah, ₂₀Kallai of Sallai, Eber of Amok, ₂₁Hashabiah of Hilkiah, and Nethanel of Jedaiah.

₂₂During the time of the high priests Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, and including the time that Darius was king of Persia, a record was kept of the heads of the Levite and priestly families. ₂₃However, no official record was kept of the heads of the Levite clans after the death of Johanan, the grandson of Eliashib.

₂₄Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua son of Kadmiel, and their assistants organized two choirs of Levites to offer praises to God, just as King David, the man of God, had commanded.

₂₅Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were responsible for guarding the storerooms near the temple gates.

₂₆All these men lived during the time of Joiakim and during the time that I was governor and Ezra, a teacher of the Law of Moses, was priest.

₂₇When the city wall was dedicated, Levites from everywhere in Judah were invited to join in the celebration with songs of praise and with the music of cymbals, small harps, and other stringed instruments. _28-29The Levite singers lived in villages around Jerusalem, and so they came from there, as well as from the villages around Netophah, Beth-Gilgal, Geba, and Azmaveth. ₃₀The priests and Levites held special ceremonies to make themselves holy, and then they did the same for the rest of the people and for the gates and walls of the city.

₃₁I brought the leaders of Judah to the top of the city wall and put them in charge of the two groups that were to march around on top of the wall, singing praises to God. One group marched to the right in the direction of Rubbish Gate. ₃₂Hoshaiah and half of the leaders followed them. ₃₃Then came the priests Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ₃₄Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, ₃₅all of them blowing trumpets. Next, there was Zechariah of the Asaph clan ₃₆and his relatives, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani. They played musical instruments like those that had been played by David, the man of God. And they marched behind Ezra, the teacher of the Law. ₃₇When they reached Fountain Gate, they climbed the steps to David's City and went past his palace, before stopping at the Water Gate near the eastern wall of the city.

₃₈The second group of singers marched along the wall in the opposite direction, and I followed them, together with the other half of the leaders of Judah. We went past Oven Tower, Broad Wall, ₃₉Ephraim Gate, Old Gate, Fish Gate, Hananel Tower, Hundred Tower, and on to Sheep Gate. Finally, we stopped at Gate of the Guard, ₄₀where we stood in front of the temple with the other group, praising God. In the group with me were half of the leaders, ₄₁as well as the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, who were blowing trumpets. ₄₂Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer also stood there, as Jezrahiah led the singers. ₄₃God had made the people very happy, and so on that day they celebrated and offered many sacrifices. The women and children joined in the festivities, and joyful shouts could be heard far from the city of Jerusalem.

₄₄On that same day, some leaders were appointed to be responsible for the safekeeping of gifts for the temple and to be in charge of receiving the first part of the harvest and the ten per cent of the crops and livestock that was offered to God. These same leaders also collected the part of crops that the Law of Moses taught was to be given to the Levites.

Everyone was pleased with the work of the priests and Levites, ₄₅when they performed the ceremonies to make people acceptable to worship God. And the singers and the temple guards did their jobs according to the instructions given by David and his son Solomon. ₄₆In fact, ever since the days of David and Asaph, there had been song leaders and songs of praise and worship. ₄₇During the time when Zerubbabel and I were in charge, everyone in Israel gave what they were supposed to give for the daily needs of the singers and temple guards from the Levi tribe. Then the Levites would give the priests their share from what they had received.

₁On that day when the Law of Moses was read aloud to everyone, it was discovered that Ammonites and Moabites were forbidden to belong to the people of God. ₂This was because they had refused to give food and water to Israel and had hired Balaam to call down a curse on them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing. ₃Following the reading of the Law of Moses, the people of Israel started sending away anyone who had any foreign ancestors.

₄The priest Eliashib was a relative of Tobiah and had earlier been put in charge of the temple storerooms. ₅So he let Tobiah live in one of these rooms, where all kinds of things had been stored—the grain offerings, incense, utensils for the temple, as well as the tenth of the grain, wine, and olive oil that had been given for the use of the Levites, singers, and temple guards, and the gifts for the priests.

₆This happened in the thirty-second year that Artaxerxes ruled Babylonia. I was away from Jerusalem at the time, because I was visiting him. Later I received permission from the king ₇to return to Jerusalem. Only then did I find out that Eliashib had done this terrible thing of letting Tobiah have a room in the temple. ₈It upset me so much that I threw out every bit of Tobiah's furniture. ₉Then I ordered the room to be cleaned and the temple utensils, the grain offerings, and the incense to be brought back into the room.

₁₀I also found out that the temple singers and several other Levites had returned to work on their farms, because they had not been given their share of the harvest. ₁₁I called the leaders together and angrily asked them, “Why is the temple neglected?” Then I told them to start doing their jobs. ₁₂After this, everyone in Judah brought a tenth of their grain, wine, and olive oil to the temple storeroom. ₁₃Finally, I appointed three men with good reputations to be in charge of what was brought there and to distribute it to the others. They were Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the teacher of the Law, and Pedaiah the Levite. Their assistant was Hanan, the son of Zaccur and the grandson of Mattaniah.

₁₄I pray that my God will remember these good things that I have done for his temple and for those who worship there.

₁₅I also noticed what the people of Judah were doing on the Sabbath. Not only were they trampling grapes to make wine, but they were harvesting their grain, grapes, figs, and other crops, and then loading these on donkeys to sell in Jerusalem. So I warned them not to sell food on the Sabbath. ₁₆People who had moved to Jerusalem from the city of Tyre were bringing in fish and other things to sell there on the Sabbath. ₁₇I got angry and said to the leaders of Judah, “This evil you are doing is an insult to the Sabbath! ₁₈Didn't God punish us and this city because our ancestors did these very same things? And here you are, about to make God furious again by disgracing the Sabbath!”

₁₉I ordered the gates of Jerusalem to be closed on the eve of the Sabbath and not to be opened until after the Sabbath had ended. Then I put some of my own men in charge of the gates to make certain that nothing was brought in on the Sabbath. ₂₀Once or twice some merchants spent the night outside Jerusalem with their goods. ₂₁But I warned them, “If you do this again, I'll have you arrested.” From then on, they did not come on the Sabbath. ₂₂I ordered the Levites to make themselves holy and to guard the gates on the Sabbath, so that it would be kept holy.

God is truly merciful, and I pray that he will treat me with kindness and bless me for doing this.

₂₃I discovered that some Jewish men had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. ₂₄About half of their children could not speak Hebrew—they spoke only the language of Ashdod or some other foreign language. ₂₅So in my anger, I called down curses on those men. I had them beaten and even pulled out the hair of some of them. Then I made them promise:

₂₈Jehoiada, the son of the high priest Eliashib, had a son who had married a daughter of Sanballat from Horon, and I forced his son to leave.

₂₉I pray that God will punish them for breaking their priestly vows and disgracing the Levi tribe.

₃₀Then I made sure that the people were free from every foreign influence, and I assigned duties for the priests and Levites. ₃₁I also arranged for the people to bring firewood to the altar each day and for them to bring the first part of their harvest to the temple.

I pray that God will bless me for the good I have done.

₁Ananias and his wife Sapphira also sold a piece of property. ₂But they agreed to cheat and keep some of the money for themselves.

So when Ananias took the rest of the money to the apostles, ₃Peter said, “Why has Satan made you keep back some of the money from the sale of the property? Why have you lied to the Holy Spirit? ₄The property was yours before you sold it, and even after you sold it, the money was still yours. What made you do such a thing? You didn't lie to people. You lied to God!”

₅As soon as Ananias heard this, he dropped dead, and everyone who heard about it was frightened. ₆Some young men came in and wrapped up his body. Then they took it out and buried it.

₇Three hours later Sapphira came in, but she did not know what had happened to her husband. ₈Peter asked her, “Tell me, did you sell the property for this amount?”

“Yes,” she answered, “that's the amount.”

₉Then Peter said, “Why did the two of you agree to test the Lord's Spirit? The men who buried Ananias are by the door, and they will carry you out!” ₁₀At once she fell at Peter's feet and died.

When the young men came back in, they found Sapphira lying there dead. So they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ₁₁The church members were afraid, and so was everyone else who heard what had happened.

₁₂The apostles performed many miracles and wonders among the people. All the Lord's followers often met in the part of the temple known as Solomon's Porch. ₁₃No one outside their group dared join them, even though everyone liked them very much.

₁₄Many men and women started having faith in the Lord. ₁₅Then sick people were brought out to the road and placed on stretchers and mats. It was hoped that Peter would walk by, and his shadow would fall on them and heal them. ₁₆A lot of people living in the towns near Jerusalem brought those who were sick or troubled by evil spirits, and they were all healed.

₁₇The high priest and all the other Sadducees who were with him became jealous. ₁₈They arrested the apostles and put them in the city jail. ₁₉But that night an angel from the Lord opened the doors of the jail and led the apostles out. The angel said, ₂₀“Go to the temple and tell the people everything about this new life.” ₂₁So they went into the temple before sunrise and started teaching.

The high priest and his men called together their council, which included all Israel's leaders. Then they ordered the apostles to be brought to them from the jail. ₂₂The temple police who were sent to the jail did not find the apostles. They returned and said, ₂₃“We found the jail locked tight and the guards standing at the doors. But when we opened the doors and went in, we didn't find anyone there.” ₂₄The captain of the temple police and the chief priests listened to their report, but they did not know what to think about it.

₂₅Just then someone came in and said, “Now those men you put in jail are in the temple, teaching the people!” ₂₆The captain went with some of the temple police and brought the apostles back. But they did not use force. They were afraid that the people might start throwing stones at them.

₂₇When the apostles were brought before the council, the high priest said to them, ₂₈“We told you plainly not to teach in the name of Jesus. But look what you have done! You have been teaching all over Jerusalem, and you are trying to blame us for his death.”

₂₉Peter and the apostles replied:

₃₃When the council members heard this, they became so angry that they wanted to kill the apostles. ₃₄But one of the members was the Pharisee Gamaliel, a highly respected teacher. He ordered the apostles to be taken out of the room for a little while. ₃₅Then he said to the council:

The council members agreed with what he said, ₄₀and they called the apostles back in. They had them beaten with a whip and warned them not to speak in the name of Jesus. Then they let them go.

₄₁The apostles left the council and were happy, because God had considered them worthy to suffer for the sake of Jesus. ₄₂Every day they spent time in the temple and in one home after another. They never stopped teaching and telling the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.