The Daily Audio Bible

Worship at the Temple Site Begins Again

3 When the seventh month came, the people gathered together in Jerusalem. (The Israelites had already settled in their cities.) ² Then Jozadak’s son Jeshua and his relatives ⌞who were⌟ priests and Shealtiel’s son Zerubbabel and his relatives built an altar for the God of Israel. They built it in order to sacrifice burnt offerings. They ⌞followed the directions⌟ written in Moses’ Teachings. (Moses was a man of God). ³ So they rebuilt the altar on its original site, though they were afraid of the people in the neighboring regions. They sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord every morning and evening.

⁴ Following the written directions, they celebrated the Festival of Booths. Each day they sacrificed the required number of burnt offerings. ⁵ After that, they sacrificed the daily burnt offerings, the offerings for the New Moon Festival and all the other holy festivals of the Lord, and all the freewill offerings brought to the Lord. ⁶ They started to bring these burnt offerings to the Lord on the first day of the seventh month, even though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid.

Work on the Temple Begins

⁷ So they gave money to the stonecutters and carpenters. Then they gave food, drink, and olive oil to the men from Sidon and Tyre in exchange for cedar, which the men would bring by sea from Lebanon to Joppa as King Cyrus of Persia had authorized them to do.

⁸ Zerubbabel (who was Shealtiel’s son), Jeshua (who was Jozadak’s son), and the rest of the Jews, (the priests, Levites, and all the others who had come back from exile to Jerusalem) began to rebuild the temple. This happened in the second month of the second year following their return to ⌞the site⌟ of God’s house in Jerusalem. They began by appointing the Levites who were at least 20 years old to direct the work on the Lord’s house. ⁹ Then Jeshua with his sons and relatives and Kadmiel with his sons who were Judah’s descendants joined Henadad’s family and their sons and relatives, the Levites, in directing those working on God’s house.

A Celebration After the Laying of the Temple’s Foundation

¹⁰ The builders laid the foundation of the Lord’s temple. Then the priests who were dressed in their robes took their places with trumpets, and the Levites who were Asaph’s descendants took their places with cymbals to praise the Lord according to the instructions of King David of Israel. ¹¹ As they praised and gave thanks to the Lord, they sang antiphonally:

Then all the people shouted, “Praise the Lord,” because the foundation for the house of the Lord had been laid.

¹² But many of the priests, Levites, and the heads of the families who were old enough to have seen the first temple with their own eyes began to sob when they saw the foundation of this temple. Many others shouted for joy. ¹³ No one could distinguish between the joyful shouts and the loud sobbing because the people were shouting so loudly. The noise was heard from far away.

The Samaritans Stop the Work

4 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people who returned from exile were building a temple for the Lord God of Israel, ² they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the families. They told them, “We want to help you build because we worship the same God you worship. We have been sacrificing to him ^[a] since the time of King Esarhaddon of Assyria, who brought us here.”

³ But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of Israel’s families told them, “It isn’t right for your people and our people to build a temple for our God together. We must build it alone for the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus of Persia ordered us to do.”

⁴ Then the people of that region discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to continue building. ⁵ They bribed officials to keep the people of Judah from carrying out their plans throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia until the reign of King Darius of Persia.

⁶ When Xerxes began to rule, the enemies of Judah and Jerusalem wrote a letter in which they made an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

⁷ Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their group wrote to him when Artaxerxes was king of Persia. The letter was written with the Aramaic script and translated into the Aramaic language.

⁸ Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote another letter against ⌞the people of⌟ Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes. ⁹ At that time, Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe were with the others of their group—the people from Denya, Partakka, Tarpel, Persia, Erech, Babylon, Susa, (that is, those of Elam), ¹⁰ and the rest of the people whom the great and noble Assurbanipal deported. (Assurbanipal settled them in the cities of Samaria and the rest of the lands west of the Euphrates River.) ¹¹ This is the copy of the letter they sent to him:

To King Artaxerxes,

From your servants, the people west of the Euphrates:

¹² Your Majesty, you should know that the Jews who came to us from you are now in Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are close to finishing the walls. The foundations are already in place. ¹³ You should also know that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are finished, the Jews will no longer pay taxes, fees, and tolls.

Ultimately, this will hurt the king’s income. ¹⁴ Now, because we are paid by your palace, it isn’t right for us to watch something happen that will dishonor the king. So we are sending this letter to inform you ¹⁵ that you should search the official records of your predecessors. You will find in those official records that this city has been rebellious and has been a threat to kings and provinces. This city has a history of rebelliousness. That’s why this city was destroyed. ¹⁶ We want the king to know that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are finished, you will have nothing left ⌞of your province⌟ west of the Euphrates River.

¹⁷ Then the king sent this reply:

To Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their group living in Samaria, and to others west of the Euphrates River: I wish you peace and prosperity!

¹⁸ The letter you sent me has been read word for word in my presence. ¹⁹ I gave the order, and a search was made. I discovered that this city has a long history of uprisings against kings. Its inhabitants are guilty of treason and rebellion. ²⁰ Jerusalem has had powerful kings who have ruled the whole ⌞province⌟ west of the Euphrates. Taxes, fees, and tolls were paid to them. ²¹ So order these men to stop rebuilding. Keep this city from being rebuilt until I give the order. ²² Be careful not to neglect your duty in this matter. Why should I, the king, suffer any more harm?

²³ Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and their group hurried to Jerusalem after hearing a copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter. They forced the Jews to stop rebuilding.

⁶ However, we do use wisdom to speak to those who are mature. It is a wisdom that doesn’t belong to this world or to the rulers of this world who are in power today and gone tomorrow. ⁷ We speak about the mystery of God’s wisdom. It is a wisdom that has been hidden, which God had planned for our glory before the world began. ⁸ Not one of the rulers of this world has known it. If they had, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ But as Scripture says:

¹⁰ God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, especially the deep things of God. ¹¹ After all, who knows everything about a person except that person’s own spirit? In the same way, no one has known everything about God except God’s Spirit. ¹² Now, we didn’t receive the spirit that belongs to the world. Instead, we received the Spirit who comes from God so that we could know the things which God has freely given us. ¹³ We don’t speak about these things using teachings that are based on intellectual arguments like people do. Instead, we use the Spirit’s teachings. We explain spiritual things to those who have the Spirit.^[a]

¹⁴ A person who isn’t spiritual doesn’t accept the teachings of God’s Spirit. He thinks they’re nonsense. He can’t understand them because a person must be spiritual to evaluate them. ¹⁵ Spiritual people evaluate everything but are subject to no one’s evaluation.

However, we have the mind of Christ.

You Belong to Christ

3 Brothers and sisters, I couldn’t talk to you as spiritual people but as people still influenced by your corrupt nature. You were infants in your faith in Christ. ² I gave you milk to drink. I didn’t give you solid food because you weren’t ready for it. Even now you aren’t ready for it ³ because you’re still influenced by your corrupt nature.

When you are jealous and quarrel among yourselves, aren’t you influenced by your corrupt nature and living by human standards? ⁴ When some of you say, “I follow Paul” and others say, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting like ⌞sinful⌟ humans?

By David.