Ezra 5

New International Version

Tattenai’s Letter to Darius

5 Now Haggai^(A) the prophet and Zechariah^(B) the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied^(C) to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. ²Then Zerubbabel^(D) son of Shealtiel and Joshua^(E) son of Jozadak set to work^(F) to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

³At that time Tattenai,^(G) governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai^(H) and their associates went to them and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?”^(I) ⁴They^[a] also asked, “What are the names of those who are constructing this building?” ⁵But the eye of their God^(J) was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received.

⁶This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates, the officials of Trans-Euphrates, sent to King Darius. ⁷The report they sent him read as follows:

To King Darius:

Cordial greetings.

⁸The king should know that we went to the district of Judah, to the temple of the great God. The people are building it with large stones and placing the timbers in the walls. The work^(K) is being carried on with diligence and is making rapid progress under their direction.

⁹We questioned the elders and asked them, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?”^(L) ¹⁰We also asked them their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.

¹¹This is the answer they gave us:

“We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple^(M) that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished. ¹²But because our ancestors angered^(N) the God of heaven, he gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.^(O)

¹³“However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree^(P) to rebuild this house of God. ¹⁴He even removed from the temple^[b] of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple^[c] in Babylon.^(Q) Then King Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar,^(R) whom he had appointed governor, ¹⁵and he told him, ‘Take these articles and go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the house of God on its site.’

¹⁶“So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God^(S) in Jerusalem. From that day to the present it has been under construction but is not yet finished.”

¹⁷Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives^(T) of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.

Footnotes

Ezra 5:4 See Septuagint; Aramaic We.
Ezra 5:14 Or palace
Ezra 5:14 Or palace

Proverbs 27:14-20

New International Version

¹⁴If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning,
it will be taken as a curse.

¹⁵A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping^(A)
of a leaky roof in a rainstorm;
¹⁶restraining her is like restraining the wind
or grasping oil with the hand.

¹⁷As iron sharpens iron,
so one person sharpens another.

¹⁸The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit,^(B)
and whoever protects their master will be honored.^(C)

¹⁹As water reflects the face,
so one’s life reflects the heart.^[a]

²⁰Death and Destruction^[b] are never satisfied,^(D)
and neither are human eyes.^(E)

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Footnotes

Proverbs 27:19 Or so others reflect your heart back to you
Proverbs 27:20 Hebrew Abaddon

Hebrews 3

New International Version

Jesus Greater Than Moses

3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters,^(A) who share in the heavenly calling,^(B) fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge^(C) as our apostle and high priest.^(D) ²He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.^(E) ³Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses,^(F) just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. ⁴For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.^(G) ⁵“Moses was faithful as a servant^(H) in all God’s house,”^[a]^(I) bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. ⁶But Christ is faithful as the Son^(J) over God’s house. And we are his house,^(K) if indeed we hold firmly^(L) to our confidence and the hope^(M) in which we glory.

Warning Against Unbelief

⁷So, as the Holy Spirit says:^(N)

“Today, if you hear his voice,
⁸    do not harden your hearts^(O)
as you did in the rebellion,
    during the time of testing in the wilderness,
⁹where your ancestors tested and tried me,
    though for forty years they saw what I did.^(P)
¹⁰That is why I was angry with that generation;
    I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
    and they have not known my ways.’
¹¹So I declared on oath in my anger,^(Q)
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ^(R)”^[b]^(S)

¹²See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.^(T) ¹³But encourage one another daily,^(U) as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.^(V) ¹⁴We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold^(W) our original conviction firmly to the very end.^(X) ¹⁵As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.”^[c]^(Y)

¹⁶Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?^(Z) ¹⁷And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness?^(AA) ¹⁸And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest^(AB) if not to those who disobeyed?^(AC) ¹⁹So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.^(AD)