The Daily Audio Bible

Rebuilding the Altar

3 When the seventh month had come, the children of Israel had resettled in their cities, and the people gathered themselves together, as one man, to Jerusalem. ² Then Joshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests stood up, along with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and they built the altar of the God of Israel in order to offer burnt offerings on it, as it had been written in the Law of Moses, the man of God. ³ They set the altar upon its foundations and, because they were living in fear of some of the peoples of the region, they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord—morning and evening. ⁴ They also kept the Feast of Tabernacles, as it had been written, and offered the daily burnt offerings in accordance with the daily schedule, according to each day’s custom. ⁵ Thereafter, observance of the burnt offering became a perpetual sacrifice with regard to the New Moon sacrifices and all of the appointed feasts of the Lord that had been consecrated, and all of the voluntary freewill offerings to the Lord. ⁶ From the first day of the seventh month they had begun to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid.

Rebuilding the Temple

⁷ They gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and to the people of Tyre so that they would bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, at Joppa, according to the grant they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

⁸ Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Joshua the son of Jozadak, along with the remnant of their brothers the Levitical priests and all who had come out of captivity back to Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites twenty years old and older to supervise the work on the house of the Lord. ⁹ Then Joshua with his sons and brothers, and Kadmiel with his sons, who are the sons of Judah, along with the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brothers—all Levites—stood together to supervise the workers on the house of God.

¹⁰ When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their apparel stood with trumpets and, from the Levites, the sons of Asaph stood with cymbals to praise the Lord, following the example of David king of Israel. ¹¹ They sang responsively, praising and giving thanks unto the Lord,

And all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. ¹² Now many of the older Levitical priests and chiefs of the fathers’ households who had seen the first temple wept with a loud voice as the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes, though many others shouted exuberantly for joy. ¹³ As a result, the people could not distinguish the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people since the people had raised such a loud noise that could be heard from afar off.

Resistance to Rebuilding

4 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity built the temple unto the Lord God of Israel, ² they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chiefs of the fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”

³ But Zerubbabel, and Joshua, and the rest of the chiefs of the fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “This is not for you! It is for us to build the temple of our God, so we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

⁴ Then the people of the land demoralized the people of Judah and terrified them while building, ⁵ and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

⁶ In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

The Letter to Artaxerxes

⁷ In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia, and the writing of the letter was written in Aramaic, and interpreted in Aramaic.

⁸ Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this manner:

⁹ (Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues, the judges, the officials, the officers, the Persians, the men of Uruk, and of Babylon, and of Susa—that is, the Elamites— ¹⁰ and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Ashurbanipal deported and settled in the city of Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River—and now ¹¹ this is the copy of the letter that they sent to him)—

“To Artaxerxes the king:

“Your servants the men of the province Beyond the River, and so forth.

¹² “May it be known to the king, that the Jews who came from you have come near to us at Jerusalem and that they are building the rebellious and evil city, restoring its walls, and repairing the foundations.

¹³ “Be it known now to the king, that, if this city is rebuilt and the walls set up again, then they will not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and the revenue of the kings will be impacted. ¹⁴ Now because we are under obligation to the king’s palace, and it was not appropriate for us to see the king’s dishonor, therefore we have sent and notified the king, ¹⁵ so that a search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. There you will find in the book of the records and realize that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they have incited revolt within it in former times—for which cause this city was destroyed. ¹⁶ We notify the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls repaired by this means the portion Beyond the River will no longer be yours.”

¹⁷ The king sent an answer:

“To Rehum the commander, to Shimshai the scribe, to the rest of their companions that dwell in Samaria, and to the remainder Beyond the River:

“Peace, and so forth.

¹⁸ “The letter which you sent to us has been translated and read before me. ¹⁹ I commanded, and a search has been made, and it is found that this city has in the past made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and revolt have occurred there. ²⁰ There have also been mighty kings over Jerusalem, who have ruled over the whole province Beyond the River, and toll, tribute, and custom was paid to them. ²¹ Command these men to cease now, so that this city is not built unless I give the command. ²² Take heed now that you do not fail to do this. Why should damage increase to the hurt of the king?”

²³ Now when the copy of the letter by King Artaxerxes was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and made them cease by force and power.

The Revelation by God’s Spirit

⁶ Yet we speak wisdom among those who are mature, although not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷ But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the ages for our glory. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age knew it. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ But as it is written,

¹⁰ But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit.

For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. ¹¹ For what man knows the things of a man, except the spirit of man which is in him? Likewise, no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, so that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. ¹³ These things also we proclaim, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. ¹⁴ But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ But he who is spiritual judges all things. Yet he himself is not judged by anyone. ¹⁶ For

But we have the mind of Christ.

Fellow Servants of God

3 Brothers, I could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to worldly, even as to babes in Christ. ² I have fed you with milk and not with solid food. For to this day you were not able to endure it. Nor are you able now, ³ for you are still worldly. Since there is envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not worldly and behaving as mere men? ⁴ For while one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not worldly?

Psalm 28

A Psalm of David.