Ezra Sent to Teach the People

7 Now after this, ^(A)in the reign of ^(B)Artaxerxes king of Persia, ^(C)Ezra the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, ² son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, ³ son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, ⁴ son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, ⁵ son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest— ⁶ this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe ^(D)skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, ^(E)for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

⁷ And there went up also to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the people of Israel, and ^(F)some of the priests and ^(G)Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple ^(H)servants. ⁸ And Ezra^[a] came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. ⁹ For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, ^(I)for the good hand of his God was on him. ¹⁰ For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it ^(J)and to ^(K)teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

¹¹ This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a man learned in matters of the commandments of the Lord and his statutes for Israel: ¹² “Artaxerxes, ^(L)king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the ^(M)scribe of the Law of the God of heaven. Peace.^{[b] (N)}And now ^13 (O)I make a decree that anyone of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom, who freely offers to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. ¹⁴ For you are sent by the king ^(P)and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the Law of your God, which is in your hand, ¹⁵ and also to carry the silver and gold that the king ^(Q)and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, ^(R)whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, ^16 (S)with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and ^(T)with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, vowed willingly for the house of their God that is in Jerusalem. ¹⁷ With this money, then, you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and ^(U)you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God that is in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ Whatever seems good to you and your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do, according to the will of your God. ¹⁹ The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem. ²⁰ And whatever else is required for the house of your God, which it falls to you to provide, you may provide it out of the king's treasury.

²¹ “And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence, ²² up to 100 talents^[c] of silver, 100 cors^[d] of wheat, 100 baths^[e] of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. ²³ Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons. ²⁴ We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose ^(V)tribute, custom, or toll on anyone of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.

²⁵ “And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, ^(W)appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God. ^(X)And those who do not know them, you shall teach. ²⁶ Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on him, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.”

^27 (Y)Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, ^(Z)who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, ^28 (AA)and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.

6 ^(A)Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants^[a] regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, ^(B)so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. ² Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are ^(C)brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved.

False Teachers and True Contentment

^(D)Teach and urge these things. ³ If anyone ^(E)teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with ^(F)the sound^[b] words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching ^(G)that accords with godliness, ^4 (H)he is puffed up with conceit and ^(I)understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for ^(J)controversy and for ^(K)quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, ⁵ and constant friction among people ^(L)who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, ^(M)imagining that godliness is a means of gain. ⁶ But ^(N)godliness ^(O)with contentment is great gain, ⁷ for ^(P)we brought nothing into the world, and^[c] we cannot take anything out of the world. ⁸ But ^(Q)if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. ⁹ But ^(R)those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, ^(S)into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that ^(T)plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of ^(U)all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Fight the Good Fight of Faith

¹¹ But as for you, ^(V)O man of God, ^(W)flee these things. ^(X)Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. ^12 (Y)Fight the good fight of the faith. ^(Z)Take hold of the eternal life ^(AA)to which you were called and about which you made ^(AB)the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ^13 (AC)I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, ^(AD)who in his testimony before^[d] Pontius Pilate made ^(AE)the good confession, ¹⁴ to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until ^(AF)the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which he will display ^(AG)at the proper time—he who is ^(AH)the blessed and only Sovereign, ^(AI)the King of kings and Lord of lords, ^16 (AJ)who alone has immortality, ^(AK)who dwells in ^(AL)unapproachable light, ^(AM)whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

¹⁷ As for the rich in ^(AN)this present age, charge them ^(AO)not to be haughty, nor ^(AP)to set their hopes on ^(AQ)the uncertainty of riches, but on God, ^(AR)who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. ¹⁸ They are to do good, ^(AS)to be rich in good works, to be generous and ^(AT)ready to share, ¹⁹ thus ^(AU)storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may ^(AV)take hold of ^(AW)that which is truly life.

²⁰ O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. ^(AX)Avoid the ^(AY)irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” ²¹ for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.

^(AZ)Grace be with you.^[e]

Ezra Sends for Levites

¹⁵ I gathered them to the river that runs to ^(A)Ahava, and there we camped three days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found there ^(B)none of the sons of Levi. ¹⁶ Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and ^(C)Meshullam, leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of insight, ¹⁷ and sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casiphia, telling them what to say to Iddo and his brothers and^[a] the temple servants at the place Casiphia, namely, to send us ministers for the house of our God. ¹⁸ And ^(D)by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of ^(E)Mahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah with his sons and kinsmen, 18; ¹⁹ also ^(F)Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of ^(G)the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, 20; ^20 (H)besides 220 of the temple servants, whom David and his officials had set apart to attend the Levites. These were all ^(I)mentioned by name.

Fasting and Prayer for Protection

^21 (J)Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river ^(K)Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, ^(L)to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. ²² For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, ^(M)“The hand of our God is for good on ^(N)all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” ²³ So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

Priests to Guard Offerings

²⁴ Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: ^(O)Sherebiah, ^(P)Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them. ²⁵ And I weighed out to them the ^(Q)silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his ^(R)counselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered. ^26 (S)I weighed out into their hand 650 talents^[b] of silver, and silver vessels worth 200 talents,^[c] and 100 talents of gold, ²⁷ 20 bowls of gold worth 1,000 darics,^[d] and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold. ²⁸ And I said to them, ^(T)“You are holy to the Lord, and ^(U)the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. ²⁹ Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of fathers' houses in Israel at Jerusalem, ^(V)within the chambers of the house of the Lord.” ³⁰ So the priests and the Levites ^(W)took over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.

³¹ Then we departed from the river Ahava ^(X)on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. ^(Y)The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way. ^32 (Z)We came to Jerusalem, and there we remained three days. ³³ On the fourth day, within the house of our God, the silver and the gold and the vessels were ^(AA)weighed into the hands of ^(AB)Meremoth the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them were the Levites, ^(AC)Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of ^(AD)Binnui. ³⁴ The whole was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded.

³⁵ At that time ^(AE)those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, ^(AF)twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. ^36 (AG)They also delivered the king's commissions to the king's ^(AH)satraps^[e] and to the governors of the province Beyond the River, and they aided the people and the house of God.

Christ's Sacrifice Once for All

10 For since the law has but ^(A)a shadow ^(B)of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, ^(C)it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. ² Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? ³ But ^(D)in these sacrifices ^(E)there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For ^(F)it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵ Consequently, ^(G)when Christ^[a] came into the world, he said,

⁸ When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in ^(I)sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), ⁹ then he added, ^(J)“Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will ^(K)we have been sanctified through the offering of ^(L)the body of Jesus Christ ^(M)once for all.

¹¹ And every priest stands ^(N)daily at his service, ^(O)offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, ^(P)which can never take away sins. ¹² But when Christ^[b] had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he ^(Q)sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ waiting from that time ^(R)until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. ¹⁴ For by a single offering ^(S)he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

¹⁵ And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,

¹⁷ then he adds,

¹⁸ Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.