¹² But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and ^(A)Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

¹² But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and ^(A)Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

²¹ Every man stood in his place around the camp, ^(A)and all the army ran. They cried out and fled.

³ Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—^(A)he is the God who is in Jerusalem. ⁴ And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”

^68 (A)Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site. ⁶⁹ According to their ability they gave to ^(B)the treasury of the work 61,000 darics^[a] of gold, 5,000 minas^[b] of silver, and 100 priests' garments.

^14 (A)And the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, these Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was ^(B)Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor; ¹⁵ and he said to him, “Take these vessels, go and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.”

Opposition to the Work

4 ^[a] Now when ^(A)Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. ² And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of ^(B)Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves?^[b] Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” ^3 (C)Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—^(D)if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” ^4 (E)Hear, O our God, for we are despised. ^(F)Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. ^5 (G)Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.

⁶ So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

^7 [c] But when ^(H)Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. ^8 (I)And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. ⁹ And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

¹⁰ In Judah it was said,^[d] “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” ¹¹ And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” ¹² At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.”^{[e] 13} So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. ¹⁴ And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, ^(J)“Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, ^(K)who is great and awesome, ^(L)and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

The Work Resumes

¹⁵ When our enemies heard that it was known to us ^(M)and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. ¹⁶ From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and ^(N)coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, ¹⁷ who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. ¹⁸ And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. ¹⁹ And I said to ^(O)the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. ²⁰ In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. ^(P)Our God will fight for us.”

²¹ So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. ²² I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” ²³ So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; ^(Q)each kept his weapon at his right hand.^[f]

Ezra Reads the Law

8 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before ^(A)the Water Gate. And they told ^(B)Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. ² So Ezra the priest ^(C)brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, ^(D)on the first day of the seventh month. ^3 (E)And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. ⁴ And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. ⁵ And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles

^5 (A)These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of ^(B)the Samaritans, ^6 (C)but go rather to ^(D)the lost sheep of ^(E)the house of Israel. ⁷ And proclaim as you go, saying, ^(F)‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’^{[a] 8 (G)}Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers,^[b] cast out demons. ^(H)You received without paying; give without pay. ^9 (I)Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, ¹⁰ no bag for your journey, or two tunics^[c] or sandals or a staff, for ^(J)the laborer deserves his food. ¹¹ And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. ¹² As you enter the house, ^(K)greet it. ¹³ And if the house is ^(L)worthy, let ^(M)your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let ^(N)your peace return to you. ¹⁴ And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, ^(O)shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. ¹⁵ Truly, I say to you, ^(P)it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for ^(Q)the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.