Ezra 3-4

New American Standard Bible

Altar and Sacrifices Restored

3 Now when the seventh month came, and ^(A)the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one person to Jerusalem. ²Then ^(B)Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests, and ^(C)Zerubbabel the son ^(D)of Shealtiel and his brothers, rose up and ^(E)built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, ^(F)as it is written in the Law of Moses, the man of God. ³So they set up the altar on its foundation, because ^[a]^(G)they were terrified of the peoples of the lands; and they ^(H)offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening. ⁴They also celebrated the ^(I)Feast of ^[b]Booths, ^(J)as it is written, and offered ^[c]the prescribed number of burnt offerings daily, ^(K)according to the ordinance, ^[d]as each day required; ⁵and afterward there was a ^(L)continual burnt offering, also ^(M)for the new moons and ^(N)for all the appointed festivals of the Lord that were consecrated, and from everyone who offered a ^[e]voluntary offering to the Lord. ⁶From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid. ⁷Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and ^(O)food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians ^(P)to bring cedar wood from Lebanon to the sea at ^(Q)Joppa, according to the permission they had ^[f]from ^(R)Cyrus king of Persia.

Temple Restoration Begun

⁸Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, ^(S)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and ^(T)appointed the Levites who were twenty years old and upward to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. ⁹Then ^(U)Jeshua with his sons and brothers stood united with Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of ^[g]Judah and the sons of Henadad with their sons and brothers the Levites, to oversee the workmen in the temple of God.

¹⁰Now when the builders had ^(V)laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, ^[h]the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord ^(W)according to the ^[i]directions of King David of Israel. ¹¹And ^(X)they sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, “^(Y)For He is good, for His favor is upon Israel forever.” And all the people shouted with a great shout of joy when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. ¹²Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, ^(Z)the old men who had seen the first ^[j]temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, ¹³so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, because the people were shouting with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.

Enemies Hinder the Work

4 Now when ^(AA)the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that ^(AB)the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, ²they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for like you, we seek your God; ^(AC)and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of ^(AD)Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” ³But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “^(AE)You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build for the Lord God of Israel, ^(AF)just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.”

⁴Then ^(AG)the people of the land ^[k]discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, ⁵and bribed advisers against them to frustrate their advice all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

⁶Now in the reign of ^[l]^(AH)Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

⁷And in the days of ^[m]Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the ^[n]text of the letter was written in Aramaic and translated ^(AI)from Aramaic.

The Letter to King Artaxerxes

⁸^[o]Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes, as follows— ⁹^[p]Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and ^(AJ)the rest of their colleagues, the judges and ^(AK)the lesser governors, the officials, the secretaries, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites, ¹⁰and the rest of the nations which the great and honorable ^[q]Osnappar deported and settled in the city of Samaria, and in the rest of the region beyond the Euphrates River. ^(AL)And now ¹¹this is a copy of the letter which they sent to him:

“To King Artaxerxes: Your servants, the men of the region beyond the Euphrates River; and now ¹²let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are rebuilding ^(AM)the rebellious and evil city and ^(AN)are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. ¹³Now let it be known to the king, that if that city is rebuilt and the walls are finished, ^(AO)they will not pay tribute, custom tax, or toll, and it will ^[r]be detrimental to the revenue of the kings. ¹⁴Now because we ^[s]are in the service of the palace, and it is not fitting for us to see the king’s shame, for this reason we have sent word and informed the king, ¹⁵so that a search may be conducted in the record books of your fathers. And you will discover in the record books and learn that that city is a rebellious city and detrimental to kings and provinces, and that they have revolted within it in past days; for this reason that city was laid waste. ¹⁶We are informing the king that if that city is rebuilt and the walls finished, then as a result of this you will have no possession in the province beyond the Euphrates River.”

The King Replies and Work Stops

¹⁷Then the king sent a response to Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their colleagues who live in Samaria and in the rest of the provinces beyond the Euphrates River: “Peace. And now, ¹⁸the document which you sent to us has been ^[t]^(AP)translated and read before me. ¹⁹And a decree has been ^[u]issued by me, and a search has been conducted and it has been discovered that that city has risen up against the kings in past days, and that rebellion and revolt have been perpetrated in it, ²⁰^(AQ)that mighty kings have ^[v]ruled over Jerusalem, governing all the provinces ^(AR)beyond the Euphrates River, and that ^(AS)tribute, custom tax, and toll were paid to them. ²¹Now issue a decree to make those men stop work, so that this city will not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me. ²²And beware of being negligent in carrying out this matter; why should there be great damage, to the detriment of the kings?”

²³Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ decree was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in a hurry to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by military force.

²⁴Then work on the house of God in Jerusalem was discontinued, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Footnotes

Ezra 3:3 Lit terror was upon them from
Ezra 3:4 Or Tabernacles
Ezra 3:4 Lit by number
Ezra 3:4 Lit a day’s word on its day
Ezra 3:5 Or freewill offering
Ezra 3:7 Lit of
Ezra 3:9 In Ezra 2:40, Hodaviah; in Neh 7:43, Hodevah
Ezra 3:10 As in LXX and some mss; MT they set the priests
Ezra 3:10 Lit hands
Ezra 3:12 Lit house
Ezra 4:4 Lit slackened the hands of
Ezra 4:6 Or Xerxes; Heb Ahash-verosh
Ezra 4:7 Heb Artah-shashta
Ezra 4:7 Lit writing
Ezra 4:8 Chs 4:8-6:18 are in Aram
Ezra 4:9 Uncertain, MT Then Rehum
Ezra 4:10 I.e., prob. Ashurbanipal
Ezra 4:13 Or certainly be...to the kings
Ezra 4:14 Lit eat the salt of
Ezra 4:18 Lit clearly read
Ezra 4:19 Lit put forth
Ezra 4:20 Lit been

Psalm 92

New American Standard Bible

Praise for the Lord’s Goodness.

A Psalm, a Song for the Sabbath day.

92 It is ^(A)good to give thanks to the Lord
And to ^(B)sing praises to Your name, Most High;
²To ^(C)declare Your goodness in the morning
And Your ^(D)faithfulness by ^[a]night,
³^[b]With the ^(E)ten-stringed lute and ^[c]with the ^(F)harp,
^[d]With resounding music on the ^(G)lyre.
⁴For You, Lord, have made me joyful by ^[e]what You ^(H)have done,
I will ^(I)sing for joy over the ^(J)works of Your hands.

⁵How ^(K)great are Your works, Lord!
Your ^[f]^(L)thoughts are very ^(M)deep.
⁶A ^(N)stupid person has no knowledge,
Nor does a ^(O)foolish person understand this:
⁷When the wicked ^(P)sprouted up like grass
And all ^(Q)who did injustice flourished,
It was only that they might be ^(R)destroyed forevermore.
⁸But You, Lord, are ^(S)on high forever.
⁹For, behold, Your enemies, Lord,
For, behold, ^(T)Your enemies will perish;
All who do injustice will be ^(U)scattered.

¹⁰But You have exalted my ^(V)horn like that of the wild ox;
I have ^[g]been ^(W)anointed with fresh oil.
¹¹And my eye has ^(X)looked at my enemies,
My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me.
¹²The ^(Y)righteous person will ^[h]flourish like the palm tree,
He will grow like a ^(Z)cedar in Lebanon.
¹³^(AA)Planted in the house of the Lord,
They will flourish ^(AB)in the courtyards of our God.
¹⁴They will still ^[i]^(AC)yield fruit in advanced age;
They will be ^[j]full of sap and very green,
¹⁵To ^[k]declare that ^(AD)the Lord is just;
He is my ^(AE)rock, and there is ^(AF)no malice in Him.

Footnotes

Psalm 92:2 Lit nights
Psalm 92:3 Lit Upon
Psalm 92:3 Lit Upon
Psalm 92:3 Lit Upon
Psalm 92:4 Lit Your working
Psalm 92:5 Or purposes
Psalm 92:10 Or become moist
Psalm 92:12 Lit sprout
Psalm 92:14 Or thrive in
Psalm 92:14 Lit fat and
Psalm 92:15 Or show forth

1 John 1

New American Standard Bible

The Incarnate Word

1 What was ^(A)from the beginning, what we have ^(B)heard, what we have ^(C)seen with our eyes, what we ^(D)have looked at and ^(E)touched with our hands, concerning the ^(F)Word of Life— ²and ^(G)the life was revealed, and we have ^(H)seen and ^(I)testify and proclaim to you ^(J)the eternal life, which was ^(K)with the Father and was ^(L)revealed to us— ³what we have ^(M)seen and ^(N)heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our ^(O)fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. ⁴^(P)These things we write, so that our ^(Q)joy may be made complete.

God Is Light

⁵^(R)This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that ^(S)God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. ⁶^(T)If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we ^(U)lie and ^(V)do not practice the truth; ⁷but if we ^(W)walk in the Light as ^(X)He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and ^(Y)the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸^(Z)If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the ^(AA)truth is not in us. ⁹^(AB)If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and ^(AC)cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰^(AD)If we say that we have not sinned, we ^(AE)make Him a liar and ^(AF)His word is not in us.