Protection of God Invoked

²¹ Then I proclaimed ^(A)a fast there at ^(B)the river of Ahava, to ^(C)humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him a ^[a]safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions. ²² For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to ^[b]protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, “^(D)The hand of our God is ^[c]favorably disposed to all who seek Him, but ^(E)His power and His anger are against all those who ^(F)abandon Him.” ²³ So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He ^[d](G)listened to our pleading.

²⁴ Then I selected twelve of the leading priests: ^(H)Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brothers; ²⁵ and I ^(I)weighed out to them ^(J)the silver, the gold, and the utensils, the offering for the house of our God which the king, ^(K)his counselors, his officials, and all Israel who were present there had contributed. ^26 (L)So I weighed into their hands ^[e]650 talents of silver, and silver utensils worth ^[f]a hundred talents, and a hundred gold talents, ²⁷ and twenty gold bowls worth a thousand ^[g]darics, and two utensils of fine shiny bronze, precious as gold. ²⁸ Then I said to them, “^(M)You are holy to the Lord, and the ^(N)utensils are holy; and the silver and the gold are a ^[h]voluntary offering to the Lord God of your fathers. ²⁹ Watch and keep them ^(O)until you weigh them before the leading priests, the Levites, and the leaders of the fathers’ households of Israel in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the Lord.” ³⁰ So the priests and the Levites ^(P)accepted the weight of silver and gold and the utensils, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.

³¹ Then we journeyed from ^(Q)the river Ahava on ^(R)the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and ^(S)the hand of our God was upon us, and He rescued us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the road. ^32 (T)So we came to Jerusalem and remained there for three days.

Treasure Placed in the Temple

³³ And on the fourth day the silver, the gold, and the utensils ^(U)were weighed out in the house of our God into the hand of ^(V)Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them were the Levites, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui. ³⁴ A notation was made for everything by number and weight, and all the weight was recorded at that time.

^35 (W)The exiles who had come from the captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: ^(X)twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, twelve male goats for a sin offering, all as a burnt offering to the Lord. ³⁶ Then ^(Y)they delivered the king’s edicts to ^(Z)the king’s satraps and the governors in the provinces beyond the Euphrates River, and they supported the people and the house of God.

Mixed Marriages

9 Now when these things had been completed, the officials approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not ^(AA)separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, ^(AB)as to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. ² For ^(AC)they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that ^(AD)the holy ^[i]race has ^(AE)intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the officials and the leaders have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness.” ³ When I heard about this matter, I ^(AF)tore my garment and my robe, and pulled out some of the hair from my head and my beard, and ^(AG)sat down ^[j]appalled. ⁴ Then ^(AH)everyone who was frightened by the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat ^[k]appalled until ^(AI)the evening offering.

Prayer of Confession

⁵ But at the evening offering I stood up from my ^[l]humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I bowed down on my knees and ^(AJ)spread out my ^[m]hands to the Lord my God; ⁶ and I said, “My God, I am ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God, for our wrongful deeds have ^[n]risen above our heads, and our ^(AK)guilt has grown even to the heavens. ^7 (AL)Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and because of our wrongful deeds we, our kings, and our priests have been handed over to the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to ^[o](AM)open shame, as it is this day. ⁸ But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God, ^(AN)to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a ^[p](AO)peg in His holy place, so that our God may ^(AP)enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. ^9 (AQ)For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not abandoned us, but ^(AR)has extended favor to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to erect the house of our God, to restore its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁰ “And now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have abandoned Your commandments, ¹¹ which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end, and ^(AS)with their impurity. ¹² So now do not ^(AT)give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons, and ^(AU)never seek their peace or their prosperity, so that you may be strong and may eat the good things of the land, and ^(AV)leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’ ¹³ And after everything that has come upon us for our evil deeds and ^(AW)our great guilt, since You our God have spared us by inflicting less than our wrongdoing deserves, and have given us such ^(AX)an escaped remnant as this, ^14 (AY)shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples ^[q]who commit these abominations? ^(AZ)Would You not be angry with us ^[r]to the point of destruction, until there would be no remnant nor any who would escape? ¹⁵ Lord God of Israel, ^(BA)You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in ^(BB)our guilt, for ^(BC)no one can stand before You because of this.”

Sexual Immorality Rebuked

5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and sexual immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, namely, that someone has ^(A)his father’s wife. ^2 [a]You ^(B)have become ^[b]arrogant and ^[c]have not ^(C)mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be ^(D)removed from your midst.

³ For I, on my part, though ^(E)absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. ^4 (F)In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and ^[d]I with you in spirit, ^(G)with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ I have decided ^[e]to ^(H)turn such a person over to ^(I)Satan for the destruction of his ^[f]body, so that his spirit may be saved on ^(J)the day of the ^[g]Lord.

^6 (K)Your boasting is not good. ^(L)Do you not know that ^(M)a little ^[h]leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? ⁷ Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our ^(N)Passover also has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore let’s celebrate the feast, ^(O)not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter ^(P)not to associate with sexually immoral people; ¹⁰ I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with ^(Q)idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world. ¹¹ But ^[i]actually, I ^[j]wrote to you not to associate ^[k]with any so-called ^(R)brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or ^(S)an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person. ¹² For what business of mine is it to judge ^(T)outsiders? ^(U)Do you not judge those who are within the church? ¹³ But those who are outside, God ^[l]judges. ^(V)Remove the evil person from among yourselves.

A Psalm of Complaint and of Praise.

For the music director. A Psalm of David.

On Life and Conduct