The Daily Audio Bible

Ezra Reads the Law to the People

8 All of the people gathered as one to the public square before the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law^[a] of Moses that Yahweh had commanded Israel. ² So Ezra the priest brought the law^[b] before the assembly for each man and woman to hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. ³ He read from it facing the public square before the Water Gate from dawn until noon that day, opposite the men, women, and those with understanding. The ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.^{[c] 4} Then Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden podium that had been made for the occasion. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right. On his left was Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam. ⁵ Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, because he was above all of the people. When he opened it all the people stood up. ⁶ Then Ezra blessed Yahweh the great God, and all of the people answered, “Amen! Amen!” while lifting their hands. Then they bowed down and worshiped Yahweh with their noses to the ground. ⁷ And Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites were teaching the people from the law^[d] while the people were in their places. ⁸ So they read the book from the law^[e] of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that they could understand the reading.

⁹ Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all of the people, “This day is holy to Yahweh your God. Do not mourn nor weep.” For all of the people wept when they heard the words of the law.^{[f] 10} Then he said to them, “Go, eat festive food and drink sweet drinks, and send a share to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our lord. Do not be grieved because the joy of Yahweh is your refuge.” ¹¹ So the Levites silenced all of the people, saying, “Silence, for this day is holy. Do not be grieved.” ¹² All of the people went to eat, to drink, to send a share, and to have great joy because they understood the words that they had made known to them.

Festival of Booths

¹³ On the second day the heads of the families^[g] of all the people, the priests, and the Levites gathered together to Ezra the scribe to study the words of the law.^{[h] 14} They found written in the law,^[i] which Yahweh had commanded by the hand of Moses, that the Israelites^[j] should live in booths during the festival of the seventh month, ¹⁵ and that they should proclaim and give voice in all of their cities in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hill and bring olive tree branches, olive oil wood branches, myrtle shrub branches, palm tree branches, and other leafy tree branches to make booths, as it is written.” ¹⁶ So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, in their courtyards, in the courtyards of the house of God, in the public square of the Water Gate, and in the public square of the Gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷ And all of the assembly of those who returned from captivity made booths and lived in the booths because the Israelites^[k] had not done it from the days of Jeshua son of Nun until that day. And there was very great joy. ¹⁸ And he read from the scroll of the law^[l] of God day by day from the first day up to the last day. They celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day there was an assembly according to the rule.

The Nation Confesses

9 On the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites^[m] gathered in fasting, in sackcloths, and with soil on them. ² Those of the seed of Israel separated themselves from all of the foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.^{[n] 3} They stood up in their place and read from the book of the law^[o] of Yahweh their God for a fourth part of the day, and for a fourth they were confessing and worshiping Yahweh their God. ⁴ Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Kenani stood on the platform of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to Yahweh their God. ⁵ Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, “Stand up, bless Yahweh your God from everlasting until everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name that is being exalted above all blessing and praise!

⁶ “You alone are Yahweh. You alone have made the heavens, the heavens of the heavens, and all of their army, the earth and all that is in it, the waters and all that is in them. You give life to all of them, and the army of the heavens worship you. ⁷ You are Yahweh, the God who chose Abram and brought him from Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham. ⁸ You found his heart faithful before you and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite and the Girgashite—to give it to his seed. And you have kept your word because you are righteous.

⁹ “You saw the misery of our ancestors^[p] in Egypt, and you heard their shout at the Red Sea. ¹⁰ You gave signs and wonders against Pharaoh, all of his servants, and all of the people of his land because you knew that they acted arrogantly against them. You made a name for yourself, as it is this day. ¹¹ And you divided the sea before them, and they passed through the sea on dry ground, but their pursuers you threw into the depths like a stone into mighty waters. ¹² You led them by day with a column of cloud and with a column of fire by night, to give them light on the way that they were to go. ¹³ Then you came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right judgments and true teachings, good regulations and commandments. ¹⁴ You made known your holy Sabbath to them and gave them commandments, regulations, and law^[q] by the hand of your servant Moses. ¹⁵ You gave them bread from heaven for their starvation, and you caused water to go out from a rock for their thirst. You told them to go in order to take into possession the land that you have sworn by your hand to give to them.

¹⁶ “But they and our ancestors^[r] acted arrogantly and stiffened their neck and did not listen to your commandments. ¹⁷ They refused to listen and did not remember your wonders that you did among them. They stiffened their neck and in their rebellion determined^[s] to return to their slavery. But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger,^[t] abundant in loyal love, so you did not abandon them. ¹⁸ Even when they made for themselves a molten idol of a calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you out from Egypt,’ and committed great blasphemies. ¹⁹ But you in your many mercies did not abandon them in the desert. The column of cloud that was over them in the day did not cease to leave them on the way, and the column of fire by night that gave light to them on the way that they went. ²⁰ And you gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. ²¹ Forty years you sustained them in the desert—they were not in need. Their clothing did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

Paul Gives Up His Rights as an Apostle

9 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? ² If to others I am not an apostle, yet indeed I am to you, for you are my seal of apostleship in the Lord. ³ My defense to those who examine me is this: ⁴ Do we not have the right to eat and drink? ⁵ Do we not have the right to take along a sister as wife, like the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? ⁶ Or do only I and Barnabas not have the right to refrain from working^[a]? ⁷ Who ever serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Who^[b] shepherds a flock and does not drink^[c] from the milk of the flock? ⁸ I am not saying these things according to a human perspective. Or does the law not also say these things? ⁹ For in the law of Moses it is written, “You must not muzzle an ox while it^[d] is threshing.”^[e] It is not about oxen God is concerned, is it?^{[f] 10} Or doubtless does he speak for our sake^[g]? For it is written for our sake^[h], because the one who plows ought to plow in hope and the one who threshes ought to do so in hope of a share. ¹¹ If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too great a thing if we reap material things from you? ¹² If others share this right over you, do we not do so even more? Yet we have not made use of this right, but we endure all things, in order that we may not cause any hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

¹³ Do you not know that those performing the holy services eat the things from the temple, and those attending to the altar have a share with the altar? ¹⁴ In the same way also the Lord ordered those who proclaim the gospel to live from the gospel. ¹⁵ But I have not made use of any of these rights. And I am not writing these things in order that it may be thus with me. For it would be better to me rather to die than for anyone to deprive me of my reason for boasting. ¹⁶ For if I proclaim the gospel, it is not to me a reason for boasting, for necessity is imposed on me. For woe is to me if I do not proclaim the gospel. ¹⁷ For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward, but if I do so unwillingly, I have been entrusted with a stewardship. ¹⁸ What then is my reward? That when I^[i] proclaim the gospel, I may offer the gospel free of charge, in order not to make full use of my right in the gospel.