Ezra 3

³²The multitude of believers was one in heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they owned.

²⁴“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly announced by trumpet blasts.

¹⁰I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree together, so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be united in mind and conviction.

⁷³So the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, and temple servants, along with some of the people and the rest of the Israelites, settled in their own towns. And by the seventh month the Israelites had settled in their towns.

⁴⁶With one accord they continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread from house to house, sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart,

¹Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the Lord at Mizpah.

²⁷the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,

¹In the second year of the reign of Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, stating

²accompanied by Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. This is the count of the men of Israel:

¹⁷The descendants of Jeconiah the captive: Shealtiel his son,

²⁴You are to make for Me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and cattle. In every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

²⁵Now if you make an altar of stones for Me, you must not build it with stones shaped by tools; for if you use a chisel on it, you will defile it.

¹²After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

¹³Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor.

²“Command the Israelites and say to them: See that you present to Me at its appointed time the food for My food offerings, as a pleasing aroma to Me.

³And tell them that this is the food offering you are to present to the Lord as a regular burnt offering each day: two unblemished year-old male lambs.

⁴Then the people of the land set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to build.

³⁸This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar, each day: two lambs that are a year old.

³⁹Offer one lamb in the morning and the other at twilight.

¹He made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.

²¹And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.

²²For I was ashamed to ask the king for an escort of soldiers and horsemen to protect us from our enemies on the road, since we had told him, “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek Him, but His great anger is against all who forsake Him.”

¹¹(This is the text of the letter they sent to him.) To King Artaxerxes, From your servants, the men west of the Euphrates:

¹²Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came from you to us have returned to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are restoring its walls and repairing its foundations.

¹⁶You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field.

¹²On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work, and you shall observe a feast to the Lord for seven days.

¹³As a pleasing aroma to the Lord, you are to present a food offering, a burnt offering of thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished,

¹⁴And they found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month,

¹⁵and that they should proclaim this message and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hill country and bring back branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.”

¹⁶Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

¹⁷And should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, then the rain will not fall on them.

³⁷On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

³⁸This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar, each day: two lambs that are a year old.

³⁹You are to present these offerings to the Lord at your appointed times, in addition to your vow and freewill offerings, whether burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, or peace offerings.”

¹⁹Present to the Lord a food offering, a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old, all unblemished.

⁸Present as a pleasing aroma to the Lord a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old, all unblemished,

¹⁷Within your gates you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts.

²As a pleasing aroma to the Lord, you are to present a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old, all unblemished,

³If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to present an unblemished male. He must bring it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for its acceptance before the Lord.

⁶Now therefore, order that cedars of Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants whatever wages you set, for you know that there are none among us as skilled in logging as the Sidonians.”

²⁰Now Herod was in a furious dispute with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they convened before him. Having secured the support of Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their region depended on the king’s country for food.

³⁶In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated as Dorcas), who was always occupied with works of kindness and charity.

³Jonah, however, got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard to sail for Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

⁹My servants will haul the logs from Lebanon to the Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate the logs, and you can take them away. And in exchange, you can meet my needs by providing my household with food.”

¹⁰So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted,

¹⁷Judah and the land of Israel traded with you; they exchanged wheat from Minnith, cakes and honey, oil and balm for your merchandise.

³But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other heads of the families of Israel replied, “You have no part with us in building a house for our God, since we alone must build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as Cyrus king of Persia has commanded us.”

⁴“Of these,” said David, “24,000 are to oversee the work of the house of the Lord, 6,000 are to be officers and judges,

²⁴These were the descendants of Levi by their families—the heads of families, registered individually by name—those twenty years of age or older who worked in the service of the house of the Lord.

²⁵For David had said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, has given rest to His people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem forever.

³men from thirty to fifty years old—everyone who is qualified to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.

⁴⁰The Levites: the descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel (through the line of Hodaviah), 74.

⁴³The Levites: the descendants of Jeshua (through Kadmiel, through the line of Hodevah), 74.

⁸In the second month of the second year after they had arrived at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, and the rest of their associates including the priests, the Levites, and all who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity, began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years of age or older to supervise the construction of the house of the Lord.

¹Additionally, David and the commanders of the army set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to prophesy with the accompaniment of lyres, harps, and cymbals. The following is the list of the men who performed this service:

²From the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah. These sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king.

¹⁰For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven eyes of the Lord, which scan the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”

⁴David appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to celebrate, to give thanks, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁵Asaph was the chief, Zechariah was second, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel. They were to play the harps and lyres, while Asaph sounded the cymbals

³¹These are the men David put in charge of the music in the house of the Lord after the ark rested there.

³²They ministered with song before the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. And they performed their duties according to the regulations given them.

²⁷Now David was dressed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, as well as the singers and Chenaniah, the director of music for the singers. David also wore a linen ephod.

²⁴The leaders of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel, along with their associates, who stood across from them to give praise and thanksgiving as one section alternated with the other, as prescribed by David the man of God.

²⁵Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the storerooms at the gates.

¹Hallelujah! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.

³⁴Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.

¹Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.

¹⁷But from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion of the Lord extends to those who fear Him, and His righteousness to their children’s children—

¹Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.

¹¹the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the Lord, saying: ‘Give thanks to the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is good; His loving devotion endures forever.’ For I will restore the land from captivity as in former times, says the Lord.

³‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not appear to you like nothing in comparison?’

⁸Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, including the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor. They will return as a great assembly!

⁹They will come with weeping, and by their supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk beside streams of waters, on a level path where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.”

³¹He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in his field.

³²Although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

²²The least of you will become a thousand, and the smallest a mighty nation. I am the Lord; in its time I will accomplish it quickly.

³⁴As you watched, a stone was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them.

³⁵Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were shattered and became like chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

⁷Though your beginnings were modest, your latter days will flourish.

³⁷And as He approached the descent from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to praise God joyfully in a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen:

³⁸“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

⁵When the ark of the covenant of the Lord entered the camp, all the Israelites raised such a great shout that the ground shook.

⁴⁵Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon, and they have gone up from there with rejoicing that rings out in the city. That is the noise you hear.

¹¹the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the Lord, saying: ‘Give thanks to the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is good; His loving devotion endures forever.’ For I will restore the land from captivity as in former times, says the Lord.

¹A Psalm of thanksgiving. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

²Serve the Lord with gladness; come into His presence with joyful songs.

¹¹But let all who take refuge in You rejoice; let them ever shout for joy. May You shelter them, that those who love Your name may rejoice in You.