katapi New Study Bible: Holy Bible with URL bible reference links.

- katapi - New Study Bible ... by URL bible references - | DB1 | New Jerusalem Bible

Ezra 7:1-8:36

EZRA arrives in Jerusalem. (Ez.7.1-10)

7¹After these events, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, ²son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, ³son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, ⁴son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, ⁵son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of the chief priest Aaron- ⁶this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a scribe versed in the Law of Moses, which Yahweh, God of Israel, had given. The king gave him everything that he asked for, since the hand of Yahweh his God was over him. ⁷A number of Israelites, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers and temple slaves went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of the reign of King Artaxerxes. ⁸Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month, in the seventh year of the king's reign; ⁹for he had ordered the departure from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, since the kindly hand of his God was over him. ¹⁰For Ezra had devoted himself to studying the Law of Yahweh so as to put into practice and teach its statutes and rulings.

The Proclamation of Artaxerxes. (Ez.7.11-26)

¹¹This is the text of the document which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra, the priest-scribe, a student of matters pertaining to Yahweh's commandments and statutes relating to Israel: ¹²'Artaxerxes, king of kings, to the priest Ezra, Secretary of the Law of the God of heaven: greetings! ¹³'Now here are my orders. All members of the people of Israel in my kingdom, including their priests and Levites, who freely choose to go to Jerusalem, may go with you, ¹⁴for you are being sent by the king and his seven counsellors to investigate how the Law of your God, in which you are expert, is being applied in Judah and Jerusalem, ¹⁵and to transport the silver and gold which the king and his counsellors have voluntarily offered to the God of Israel who resides in Jerusalem, ¹⁶as well as all the silver and gold which you receive throughout the province of Babylon and the voluntary offerings freely contributed by the people and the priests for the Temple of their God in Jerusalem. ¹⁷'This money you will punctiliously use for the purchase of bulls, rams, lambs and the materials for the oblations and libations which go with them, offering these on the altar of the Temple of your God in Jerusalem, ¹⁸and using the remainder of the silver and gold in accordance with the will of your God as you and your brothers may think fit. ¹⁹'You will deliver the articles which have been given you for the ministry of the Temple of your God, to the God of Jerusalem, ²⁰and whatever else is needed and you are obliged to supply for the Temple of your God, you will supply from the royal treasury. ²¹'I, King Artaxerxes, have issued the following instruction to all the treasurers of Transeuphrates: Whatever the priest Ezra, Secretary of the Law of the God of heaven, may request of you is to be punctiliously complied with: ²²up to one hundred talents of silver, one hundred kor of wheat, one hundred bat of wine, one hundred bat of oil, and unlimited salt. ²³Whatever the God of heaven demands for the Temple of the God of heaven must be diligently 'provided; why should retribution come on the realm of the king and of his sons? ²⁴You are further informed that it is against the law to impose tribute, tax or toll on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple slaves or other servants of this temple of God. ²⁵'And you, Ezra, by virtue of the wisdom of your God, which you possess, are to appoint magistrates and scribes to administer justice for the whole people of Transeuphrates, that is, for all who know the Law of your God; and you are to teach it to those who do not know it. ²⁶And on anyone who will not comply with the Law of your God and the Law of the king let sentence be swiftly executed, whether it be death, banishment, fine or imprisonment.'

Ezra praises the LORD. (Ez.7.27-28)

²⁷Blessed be Yahweh, God of our ancestors, who moved the king's heart in this way to restore the beauty of the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem, ²⁸won for me the faithful love of the king, his counsellors and all the most powerful of the king's officials! Taking heart since the hand of Yahweh my God was over me, I assembled those Israelite heads of families who were to go with me.

Census - Those who returned with Ezra. (Ez.8.1-14)

8¹These, with their genealogies, were the heads of families who set out from Babylon with me in the reign of King Artaxerxes: ²Of the sons of Phinehas: Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar: Daniel; of the sons of David: Hattush ³son of Shechaniah; of the sons of Parosh: Zechariah, and with him a hundred and fifty males officially registered; ⁴of the sons of Pahath-Moab: Elioenai son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males; ⁵of the sons of Zattu: Shechaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males; ⁶of the sons of Adin: Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males; ⁷of the sons of Elam: Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males; ⁸of the sons of Shephatiah: Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him eighty males; ⁹of the sons of Joab: Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males; ¹⁰of the sons of Bani: Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him a hundred and sixty males; ¹¹of the sons of Bebai: Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight males; ¹²of the sons of Azgad: Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him a hundred and ten males; ¹³of the sons of Adonikam: the younger sons, whose names are: Eliphelet, Jeiel and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males; ¹⁴and of the sons of Bigvai: Uthai son of Zabud, and with him seventy males.

Ezra finds Levites for the temple. (Ez.8.15-20)

¹⁵I assembled them near the canal which runs to Ahava, where we camped for three days. I noticed laymen and priests, but I could not discover any Levites there. ¹⁶I then sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshullam, judicious men, ¹⁷and sent them to Iddo, the leading man of a place called Casiphia; I told them what they were to say to Iddo and his kinsmen, living at the place called Casiphia, that is, to provide us with people to serve the Temple of our God. ¹⁸And because the hand of God was good to us, they sent us a wise man of the sons of Mahli son of Levi, son of Israel, a certain Sherebiah with his sons and kinsmen: eighteen men; ¹⁹also Hashabiah and with him his brother Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari with his kinsmen and sons: twenty men; ²⁰and two hundred and twenty temple slaves—descendants of the temple slaves whom David and the princes had assigned to serve the Levites—all of them designated by name.

Ezra leads the people in fasting & prayer. (Ez.8.21-23)

²¹There, beside the Ahava Canal, I then proclaimed a fast, to humble ourselves before our God and to pray to him for a successful journey for us, our dependants and all our belongings. ²²For I should have been ashamed to ask the king for a company of cavalry to protect us from hostile people on our road, as we had already said to the king, 'The hand of our God is over all who seek him for their protection, but his mighty retribution befalls all those who forsake him.' ²³So we fasted and pleaded with our God about this, and he heard us.

Gifts for the temple. (Ez.9.24-30)

²⁴I next chose twelve of the leading priests, and also Sherebiah and Hashabiah with ten of their kinsmen. ²⁵To them I weighed out the silver, the gold and the utensils, the contributions which the king, his counsellors, his notables and all the Israelites there present had made for the Temple of our God. ²⁶To them I weighed out and handed over six hundred and fifty talents of silver, one hundred utensils of silver valued at two talents, one hundred talents of gold, ²⁷twenty golden bowls valued at a thousand darics and two utensils of fine burnished copper as precious as gold. ²⁸I said to them, 'You are consecrated to Yahweh; these utensils are consecrated too; the silver and gold are a voluntary offering to Yahweh, God of your ancestors. ²⁹Guard them carefully until you weigh them out to the leading priests, the Levites, and the heads of families of Israel in Jerusalem in the rooms of the Temple of Yahweh.' ³⁰The priests and Levites then took charge of the silver, the gold and the utensils thus weighed, to bring them to Jerusalem to the Temple of our God.

The return to Jerusalem. (Ez.8.31-36)

³¹On the twelfth day of the first month we left the Ahava Canal to make our way to Jerusalem; the hand of our God was over us and protected us from enemies and surprise attacks on our way. ³²When we arrived in Jerusalem, we rested for three days. ³³On the fourth day the silver, the gold and the utensils were weighed in the Temple of our God and handed over to the priest Meremoth son of Uriah and, with him, Eleazar son of Phinehas; with them were the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui. ³⁴By number and weight all was there. The total weight was recorded at the same time. ³⁵When the exiles arrived from their captivity, they offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel—twelve bulls on behalf of all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-two lambs, and as a sin offering twelve he-goats: the whole of this as a burnt offering to Yahweh. ³⁶They also delivered the king's instructions to the king's satraps and the governors of Transeuphrates, who then supported the people and the Temple of God.