The Daily Audio Bible

3 When the seventh month arrived, after the people of Isra’el had resettled in the towns, the people gathered with one accord in Yerushalayim. ² Then Yeshua the son of Yotzadak with his fellow cohanim, and Z’rubavel the son of Sh’alti’el with his kinsmen, organized rebuilding the altar of the God of Isra’el; so that they could offer burnt offerings on it, as is written in the Torah of Moshe the man of God. ³ They set up the altar on its former bases. Despite feeling threatened by the peoples of the [surrounding] countries; they offered on it burnt offerings to Adonai, the morning and evening burnt offerings.

⁴ They observed the festival of Sukkot as written, offering daily the number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day, ⁵ and afterwards the regular burnt offering, the offerings for Rosh-Hodesh and those for all the designated times set apart for Adonai, as well as those of everyone who volunteered a voluntary offering to Adonai. ⁶ From the first day of the seventh month, they began offering burnt offerings to Adonai, even though the foundation of Adonai’s temple had not yet been laid. ⁷ They also gave money for the stone-workers and carpenters, as well as food, drink and olive oil for the people of Tzidon and Tzor bringing cedar logs from the L’vanon to the sea and on to Yafo, in accordance with the authorization granted by Koresh king of Persia.

⁸ In the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Yerushalayim, in the second month, Z’rubavel the son of Sh’alti’el, Yeshua the son of Yotzadak, the rest of their kinsmen the cohanim and L’vi’im, and all who had come out of exile to Yerushalayim began the project. They appointed the L’vi’im aged twenty and up to direct work in the house of Adonai. ⁹ Yeshua and his sons and brothers, Kadmi’el and his sons, and Y’hudah’s sons together directed the workers in the house of God; also the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their kinsmen the L’vi’im.

¹⁰ When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Adonai, the cohanim in their robes, with trumpets, and the L’vi’im the sons of Asaf, with cymbals, took their places to praise Adonai, as David king of Isra’el had instructed. ¹¹ They sang antiphonally, praising and giving “thanks to Adonai, for he is good, for his grace continues forever” toward Isra’el. All the people raised a great shout of praise to Adonai, because the foundation of the house of Adonai had been laid. ¹² But many of the cohanim, L’vi’im and heads of fathers’ clans, the old men who had seen the first house standing on its foundation, wept out loud when they saw this house; while others shouted out loud for joy — ¹³ so that the people couldn’t distinguish the noise of the joyful shouting from the noise of the people’s weeping; for the people were shouting so loudly that the noise could be heard at a great distance.

4 When the enemies of Y’hudah and Binyamin heard that the people from the exile were building a temple to Adonai the God of Isra’el, ² they approached Z’rubavel and the heads of fathers’ clans and said to them, “Let us build along with you; for we seek your God, just as you do; and we have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esar-Hadon king of Ashur, who brought us here.” ³ But Z’rubavel, Yeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ clans in Isra’el answered them, “You and we have nothing in common that you should join us in building a house for our God. We will build by ourselves for Adonai the God of Isra’el, as Koresh king of Persia ordered us to do.”

⁴ Then the people of the land began discouraging the people of Y’hudah, in order to make them afraid to build. ⁵ They also bribed officials to frustrate their plan throughout the lifetime of Koresh king of Persia and on into the reign of Daryavesh king of Persia. ⁶ During the reign of Achashverosh, at the beginning of his reign, they brought a charge in writing against the people living in Y’hudah and Yerushalayim. ⁷ Then, during the time of Artach’shashta, Bishlam, Mitr’dat, Tav’el and their other colleagues wrote Artach’shashta; the letter was written in Aramaic, using Aramaic script. ⁸ Rechum the district governor and Shimshai the secretary wrote a letter against Yerushalayim to Artach’shashta the king as follows:

⁹ “From Rechum the district governor, Shimshai the secretary, their other colleagues, the judges, the officials, the Dina’im, the Afarsat’khim, the Tarp’lim, the Afarsim, the Ark’vim, the Bavlim, the Shushan’kayim, the Dehayim, the ‘Elma’im, ¹⁰ the other nations whom the great and noble Asnapar deported and settled in Shomron, and the others who remain in the country beyond the [Euphrates] River.”

¹¹ (This is the text of the letter they sent him.)

“To Artach’shashta the king from his servants the people beyond the River:

¹⁷ The king sent this answer:

“To Rechum the district governor, Shimshai the secretary, their other colleagues living in Shomron, and the rest beyond the River:

“Shalom!

⁶ Yet there is a wisdom that we are speaking to those who are mature enough for it. But it is not the wisdom of this world or of this world’s leaders, who are in the process of passing away. ⁷ On the contrary, we are communicating a secret wisdom from God which has been hidden until now but which, before history began, God had decreed would bring us glory. ⁸ Not one of this world’s leaders has understood it; because if they had, they would not have executed the Lord from whom this glory flows. ⁹ But, as the Tanakh says,

¹⁰ It is to us, however, that God has revealed these things. How? Through the Spirit. For the Spirit probes all things, even the profoundest depths of God. ¹¹ For who knows the inner workings of a person except the person’s own spirit inside him? So too no one knows the inner workings of God except God’s Spirit. ¹² Now we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God, so that we might understand the things God has so freely given us. ¹³ These are the things we are talking about when we avoid the manner of speaking that human wisdom would dictate and instead use a manner of speaking taught by the Spirit, by which we explain things of the Spirit to people who have the Spirit. ¹⁴ Now the natural man does not receive the things from the Spirit of God — to him they are nonsense! Moreover, he is unable to grasp them, because they are evaluated through the Spirit. ¹⁵ But the person who has the Spirit can evaluate everything, while no one is in a position to evaluate him.

But we have the mind of the Messiah!

3 As for me, brothers, I couldn’t talk to you as spiritual people but as worldly people, as babies, so far as experience with the Messiah is concerned. ² I gave you milk, not solid food, because you were not yet ready for it. But you aren’t ready for it now either! ³ For you are still worldly! Isn’t it obvious from all the jealousy and quarrelling among you that you are worldly and living by merely human standards? ⁴ For when one says, “I follow Sha’ul” and another, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you being merely human?