Ezra 5-6
Christian Standard Bible
5 But when the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo(A) prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them, 2 Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak(B) began to rebuild God’s house in Jerusalem. The prophets of God(C) were with them, helping them.
3 At that time Tattenai the governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues(D) came to the Jews and asked, “Who gave you the order to rebuild this temple and finish this structure?” [a](E) 4 They also asked them, “What are the names of the workers[b] who are constructing this building?” 5 But God was watching[c] over(F) the Jewish elders. These men wouldn’t stop them until a report was sent to Darius, so that they could receive written instructions about this matter.
The Letter to Darius
6 This is the text of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues, the officials in the region, sent to King Darius. 7 They sent him a report, written as follows:
To King Darius:
All greetings.
8 Let it be known to the king that we went to the house of the great God in the province of Judah. It is being built with cut[d] stones, and its beams are being set in the walls. This work is being done diligently and succeeding through the people’s efforts.(G) 9 So we questioned the elders and asked, “Who gave you the order to rebuild this temple and finish this structure?” 10 We also asked them for their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.
11 This is the reply they gave us:
We are the servants of the God of the heavens and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.(H) 12 But since our ancestors angered the God of the heavens, he handed them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.(I) 13 However, in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon, he issued a decree to rebuild the house of God.(J) 14 He also took from the temple in Babylon the gold and silver articles of God’s house that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and carried them to the temple in Babylon.(K) He released them from the temple in Babylon to a man named Sheshbazzar, the governor by the appointment of King Cyrus.(L) 15 Cyrus told him, “Take these articles, put them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its original site.”(M) 16 Then this same Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundation of God’s house in Jerusalem.(N) It has been under construction from that time until now,(O) but it has not been completed.
17 So if it pleases the king, let a search of the royal archives[e] in Babylon be conducted to see if it is true that a decree was issued by King Cyrus to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem.(P) Let the king’s decision regarding this matter be sent to us.(Q)
Darius’s Search
6 King Darius gave the order, and they searched(R) in the library of Babylon in the archives.[f](S) 2 But it was in the fortress of Ecbatana in the province of Media(T) that a scroll was found with this record written on it:
3 In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued a decree(U) concerning the house of God in Jerusalem:
Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its original foundations be retained.[g] Its height is to be ninety feet[h] and its width ninety feet,(V) 4 with three layers of cut[i] stones and one of timber.(W) The cost is to be paid from the royal treasury.[j](X) 5 The gold and silver articles of God’s house that Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon must also be returned. They are to be brought to the temple in Jerusalem where they belong[k] and put into the house of God.(Y)
Darius’s Decree
6 Therefore, you must stay away from that place, Tattenai governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and your[l] colleagues, the officials in the region.(Z) 7 Leave the construction of the house of God alone. Let the governor(AA) and elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its original site.
8 I hereby issue a decree concerning what you are to do, so that the elders of the Jews can rebuild the house of God:
The cost is to be paid in full to these men out of the royal revenues(AB) from the taxes of the region west of the Euphrates River, so that the work will not stop. 9 Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of the heavens, or wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—let it be given to them every day without fail,(AC) 10 so that they can offer sacrifices of pleasing aroma to the God of the heavens and pray for the life of the king and his sons.(AD)
11 I also issue a decree concerning any man who interferes with this directive:
Let a beam be torn from his house and raised up; he will be impaled on it, and his house will be made into a garbage dump because of this offense.(AE) 12 May the God who caused his name to dwell there(AF) overthrow any king or people who dares[m] to harm or interfere with this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree. Let it be carried out diligently.
13 Then Tattenai governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues(AG) diligently carried out what King Darius had decreed. 14 So the Jewish elders continued successfully with the building under the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo.(AH) They finished the building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus,(AI) Darius, and King Artaxerxes(AJ) of Persia. 15 This house was completed on the third day of the month of Adar(AK) in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
Temple Dedication and the Passover
16 Then the Israelites, including the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles, celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. 17 For the dedication of God’s house they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs, as well as twelve male goats(AL) as a sin offering for all Israel—one for each Israelite tribe. 18 They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the book of Moses.(AM)
19 The exiles(AN) observed the Passover(AO) on the fourteenth day of the first month. 20 All of the priests and Levites were ceremonially clean, because they had purified themselves. They killed the Passover lamb for themselves, their priestly brothers, and all the exiles.(AP) 21 The Israelites who had returned from exile(AQ) ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the Gentiles of the land[n](AR) in order to worship the Lord, the God of Israel. 22 They observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days(AS) with joy, because the Lord had made them joyful, having changed the Assyrian king’s attitude toward them, so that he supported them[o] in the work on the house of the God of Israel.(AT)
Footnotes
- 5:3 Or finish its furnishings, also in v. 9
- 5:4 One Aramaic ms, LXX, Syr; MT reads Then we told them exactly what the names of the men were
- 5:5 Lit But the eye of their God was
- 5:8 Or huge
- 5:17 Lit treasure house
- 6:1 Lit Babylon where the treasures were stored
- 6:3 Lit be brought forth
- 6:3 Lit 60 cubits
- 6:4 Or huge
- 6:4 Lit the king’s house
- 6:5 Lit Jerusalem, to its place,
- 6:6 Lit their
- 6:12 Lit who stretches out its hand
- 6:21 Lit land to them
- 6:22 Lit strengthened their hands
Psalm 137
Christian Standard Bible
Psalm 137
Lament of the Exiles
1 By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion.(A)
2 There we hung up our lyres
on the poplar trees,(B)
3 for our captors there asked us for songs,
and our tormentors, for rejoicing:
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”(C)
4 How can we sing the Lord’s song
on foreign soil?(D)
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.(E)
6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!(F)
7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites said
that day[a] at Jerusalem:
“Destroy it! Destroy it
down to its foundations!” (G)
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who pays you back
what you have done to us.(H)
9 Happy is he who takes your little ones
and dashes them against the rocks.(I)
Footnotes
- 137:7 The day Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC
Haggai 1-2
Christian Standard Bible
Command to Rebuild the Temple
1 In the second year of King Darius,[a](A) on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet(B) Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,(C) the governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:(D)
2 “The Lord of Armies says this: These people say: The time has not come for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.”(E)
3 The word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses,(F) while this house[b] lies in ruins?” 5 Now, the Lord of Armies says this: “Think carefully(G) about[c] your ways:
6 You have planted much
but harvested little.
You eat
but never have enough to be satisfied.
You drink
but never have enough to be happy.
You put on clothes
but never have enough to get warm.
The wage earner puts his wages
into a bag with a hole in it.”(H)
7 The Lord of Armies says this: “Think carefully about your ways. 8 Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house; and I will be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined[d] it. Why?” This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. “Because my house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.
10 So on your account,[e]
the skies have withheld the dew
and the land its crops.(I)
11 I have summoned a drought
on the fields and the hills,
on the grain, new wine, fresh oil,
and whatever the ground yields,
on people and animals,
and on all that your hands produce.”
The People’s Response
12 Then Zerubbabel(J) son of Shealtiel, the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the entire remnant of the people(K) obeyed the Lord their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. So the people feared the Lord.(L)
13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, delivered the Lord’s message to the people: “I am with you(M)—this is the Lord’s declaration.”
14 The Lord roused the spirit(N) of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, the spirit of the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. They began work on the house of the Lord of Armies, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.
Encouragement and Promise
2 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month,(O) the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 2 “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and to the remnant of the people: 3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it seem to you like nothing by comparison?(P) 4 Even so, be strong, Zerubbabel—this is the Lord’s declaration.(Q) Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land—this is the Lord’s declaration. Work! For I am with you(R)—the declaration of the Lord of Armies. 5 This is the promise I made to you when you came out of Egypt,(S) and my Spirit is present among you; don’t be afraid.’”
6 For the Lord of Armies says this: “Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth,(T) the sea and the dry land.(U) 7 I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,”(V) says the Lord of Armies. 8 “The silver and gold belong to me”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. 9 “The final glory of this house[f] will be greater than the first,”(W) says the Lord of Armies. “I will provide peace in this place”(X)—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
From Deprivation to Blessing
10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai: 11 “This is what the Lord of Armies says: Ask the priests for a ruling.(Y) 12 If a man is carrying consecrated meat in the fold of his garment, and it touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any other food, does it become holy?” (Z)
The priests answered, “No.”
13 Then Haggai asked, “If someone defiled by contact with a corpse touches any of these, does it become defiled?” (AA)
The priests answered, “It becomes defiled.”
14 Then Haggai replied, “So is this people, and so is this nation before me—this is the Lord’s declaration. And so is every work of their hands; even what they offer there is defiled.
15 “Now from this day on, think carefully: Before one stone was placed on another in the Lord’s temple, 16 what state were you in?[g] When someone came to a grain heap of twenty measures, it only amounted to ten; when one came to the winepress to dip fifty measures from the vat, it only amounted to twenty. 17 I struck you—all the work of your hands—with blight, mildew,(AB) and hail,(AC) but you didn’t turn to me—this is the Lord’s declaration. 18 From this day on, think carefully;(AD) from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid; think carefully. 19 Is there still seed left in the granary? The vine, the fig, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yet produced. But from this day on I will bless you.”(AE)
Promise to Zerubbabel
20 The word of the Lord came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month: 21 “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah: I am going to shake the heavens and the earth.(AF) 22 I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the Gentile kingdoms.(AG) I will overturn chariots and their riders. Horses and their riders will fall, each by his brother’s sword. 23 On that day”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—“I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and make you like my signet ring,(AH) for I have chosen you.”(AI) This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
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