Victory over the World

5 If we believe Jesus is truly Christ, we are God's children. Everyone who loves the Father will also love his children. ² If we love and obey God, we know we will love his children. ^3 (A) We show our love for God by obeying his commandments, and they are not hard to follow.

⁴ Every child of God can defeat the world, and our faith is what gives us this victory. ⁵ No one can defeat the world without having faith in Jesus as the Son of God.

Who Jesus Is

⁶ Water and blood came out from the side of Jesus Christ. It wasn't just water, but water and blood.^[a] The Spirit tells about this, because the Spirit is truthful. ⁷ In fact, there are three who tell about it. ⁸ They are the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and they all agree.

⁹ We believe what people tell us. But we can trust what God says even more, and God is the one who has spoken about his Son. ¹⁰ If we have faith in God's Son, we have believed what God has said. But if we don't believe what God has said about his Son, it is the same as calling God a liar. ^11 (B) God has also said he gave us eternal life and this life comes to us from his Son. ¹² And so, if we have God's Son, we have this life. But if we don't have the Son, we don't have this life.

Knowing about Eternal Life

¹³ All of you have faith in the Son of God, and I have written to let you know you have eternal life. ¹⁴ We are certain God will hear our prayers when we ask for what pleases him. ¹⁵ And if we know God listens when we pray, we are sure our prayers have already been answered.

¹⁶ Suppose you see one of our people commit a sin that isn't a deadly sin. You can pray, and this person will be given eternal life. But the sin must not be one that is deadly. ¹⁷ Everything that is wrong is sin, but not all sins are deadly.

¹⁸ We are sure God's children do not keep on sinning. God's own Son protects them, and the devil cannot harm them.

¹⁹ We are certain we come from God and the rest of the world is under the power of the devil.

²⁰ We know that Jesus Christ the Son of God has come and has shown us the true God. And because of Jesus, we now belong to the true God who gives eternal life.

²¹ Children, you must stay away from idols.

The First Offering on the New Altar

3 During the seventh month^[a] of the year, the Israelites who had settled in their towns went to Jerusalem. ^2 (A) The priest Joshua son of Jozadak, together with the other priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his relatives rebuilt the altar of Israel's God. Then they were able to offer sacrifices there by following the instructions God had given to Moses, the man of God. ^3 (B) And they built the altar where it had stood before,^[b] even though they were afraid of the people who were already living around there. Then every morning and evening they burned sacrifices and offerings to the Lord.

^4 (C) The people followed the rules for celebrating the Festival of Shelters and offered the proper sacrifices each day. ^5 (D) They offered sacrifices to please the Lord,^[c] sacrifices at each New Moon Festival, and sacrifices at the rest of the Lord's festivals. Every offering the people had brought voluntarily was also presented to the Lord.

⁶ Although work on the temple itself had not yet begun, the people started offering sacrifices on the Lord's altar on the first day of the seventh month of that year.

The Rebuilding of the Temple Begins

⁷ King Cyrus of Persia had said the Israelites could have cedar trees brought from Lebanon to Joppa by sea. So they sent grain, wine, and olive oil to the cities of Tyre and Sidon as payment for these trees, and they gave money to the stoneworkers and carpenters.

⁸ During the second month^[d] of the second year after the people had returned from Babylonia, they started rebuilding the Lord's temple. Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the priests, the Levites, and everyone else who had returned started working. Every Levite over 20 years of age was put in charge of some part of the work. ⁹ The Levites in charge of the whole project were Joshua and his sons and relatives and Kadmiel and his sons from the family of Hodaviah.^[e] The family of Henadad worked along with them.

^10 (E) When the builders had finished laying the foundation of the temple, the priests put on their robes and blew trumpets in honor of the Lord, while the Levites from the family of Asaph praised God with cymbals. All of them followed the instructions given years before by King David.^{[f] 11 (F)} They praised the Lord and gave thanks as they took turns singing:

Everyone started shouting and praising the Lord because work on the foundation of the temple had begun. ^12 (G) Many of the older priests and Levites and the heads of families wept bitterly because they remembered seeing the first temple years before. But others were so happy that they celebrated with joyful shouts. ¹³ Their shouting and crying were so noisy that it all sounded alike and could be heard a long way off.

Foreigners^[g] Want To Help Rebuild the Temple

4 The enemies of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people had come back to rebuild the temple of the Lord God of Israel. ^2 (H) So they went to Zerubbabel and to the family leaders and said, “Let us help! Ever since King Esarhaddon of Assyria^[h] brought us here, we have worshiped your God and offered sacrifices to him.”

³ But Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the family leaders answered, “You cannot take part in building a temple for the Lord our God! We will build it ourselves, just as King Cyrus of Persia commanded us.”

⁴ Then the neighboring people began to do everything possible to frighten the Jews^[i] and to make them stop building. ⁵ During the time that Cyrus was king and even until Darius^[j] became king, they kept bribing government officials to slow down the work.

Trouble Rebuilding Jerusalem^[k]

^6 (I) In the first year that Xerxes was king,^[l] the neighboring people brought written charges against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

⁷ Later, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and their advisors got together and wrote a letter to Artaxerxes when he was king of Persia.^[m] It was written in Aramaic and had to be translated.^[n]

^8-10 [o] A letter was also written to Artaxerxes about Jerusalem by Governor Rehum, Secretary Shimshai, and their advisors, including the judges, the governors, the officials, and the local leaders. They were joined in writing this letter by people from Erech and Babylonia, the Elamites from Susa,^[p] and people from other foreign nations that the great and famous Ashurbanipal^[q] had forced to settle in Samaria and other parts of Western Province.^[r]

¹¹ This letter said:

Your Majesty King Artaxerxes, we are your servants from everywhere in Western Province, and we send you our greetings.

¹² You should know that the Jews who left your country have moved back to Jerusalem and are now rebuilding that rebellious city. In fact, they have almost finished rebuilding the walls and repairing the foundations. ¹³ You should also know that if the walls are completed and the city is rebuilt, the Jews won't pay any kind of taxes, and there will be less money in your treasury.

¹⁴ We are telling you this, because you have done so much for us, and we want everyone to respect you. ¹⁵ If you look up the official records of your ancestors, you will find that Jerusalem has constantly rebelled and has led others to rebel against kings and provinces. That's why the city was destroyed in the first place. ¹⁶ If Jerusalem is rebuilt and its walls completed, you will no longer have control over Western Province.

¹⁷ King Artaxerxes answered:

Greetings to Governor Rehum, Secretary Shimshai, and to your advisors in Samaria and other parts of Western Province.

¹⁸ After your letter was translated and read to me, ¹⁹ I had the old records checked. It is true that for years Jerusalem has rebelled and caused trouble for other kings and nations. ²⁰ And powerful kings have ruled Western Province from Jerusalem and have collected all kinds of taxes.

²¹ I want you to command the people to stop rebuilding the city until I give further notice. ²² Do this at once, so that no harm will come to the kingdom.

²³ As soon as this letter was read, Governor Rehum, Secretary Shimshai, and their advisors went to Jerusalem and forced everyone to stop rebuilding the city.

Work on the Temple Starts Again

^24 (J) The Jews were forced to stop work on the temple and were not able to do any more building until the year after Darius became king of Persia.^[s]

(A psalm and a song for the Sabbath.)

Sing Praises to the Lord