One Kingdom, One King

¹⁵ Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁶ “As for you, son of man, ^(A)take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for ^(B)the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ ¹⁷ Then ^(C)join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.

¹⁸ “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ^(D)‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’— ^19 (E)say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take ^(F)the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’ ²⁰ And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand ^(G)before their eyes.

²¹ “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely ^(H)I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; ²² and ^(I)I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and ^(J)one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. ^23 (K)They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but ^(L)I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

^24 (M)“David My servant shall be king over them, and ^(N)they shall all have one shepherd; ^(O)they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. ^25 (P)Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, ^(Q)forever; and ^(R)My servant David shall be their prince forever. ²⁶ Moreover I will ^[a]make ^(S)a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and ^(T)multiply them, and I will set My ^(U)sanctuary in their midst forevermore. ^27 (V)My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be ^(W)their God, and they shall be My people. ^28 (X)The nations also will know that I, the Lord, ^(Y)sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” ’ ”

Nehemiah Prays for His People

1 The words of ^(A)Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah.

It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the ^(B)twentieth year, as I was in ^(C)Shushan^[a] the ^[b]citadel, ² that ^(D)Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. ³ And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the ^(E)province are there in great distress and ^(F)reproach. ^(G)The wall of Jerusalem ^(H)is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”

⁴ So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

⁵ And I said: “I pray, ^(I)Lord God of heaven, O great and ^(J)awesome God, ^(K)You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love ^[c]You and observe ^[d]Your commandments, ⁶ please let Your ear be attentive and ^(L)Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and ^(M)confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. ^7 (N)We have acted very corruptly against You, and have ^(O)not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. ⁸ Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ^(P)‘If you ^[e]are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; ^9 (Q)but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, ^(R)though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ ^10 (S)Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. ¹¹ O Lord, I pray, please ^(T)let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who ^(U)desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”

For I was the king’s ^(V)cupbearer.

Christ Is Preached

¹² But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, ¹³ so that it has become evident ^(A)to the whole ^[a]palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; ¹⁴ and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

¹⁵ Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: ^16 [b]The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; ¹⁷ but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁸ What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.

To Live Is Christ

¹⁹ For I know that ^(B)this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, ²⁰ according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but ^(C)with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life ^(D)or by death. ²¹ For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²² But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I ^[c]cannot tell. ^23 [d]For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a ^(E)desire to depart and be with Christ, which is ^(F)far better. ²⁴ Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. ²⁵ And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, ²⁶ that ^(G)your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.

Striving and Suffering for Christ

²⁷ Only ^(H)let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, ^(I)with one mind ^(J)striving together for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸ and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but ^[e]to you of salvation, and that from God. ²⁹ For to you ^(K)it has been granted on behalf of Christ, ^(L)not only to believe in Him, but also to ^(M)suffer for His sake, ^30 (N)having the same conflict ^(O)which you saw in me and now hear is in me.