Old/New Testament
So moved by the instructions Ezra reads in the book of the law, the Jews cannot help but respond to them. After honoring God with a lavish feast—the Festival of Booths—acknowledging His role in liberating the Hebrews from Egypt and the Jews from Persia, everyone confesses God’s greatness and their own people’s shortcomings. Ezra has reminded them that God is fair; He gives them the law to warn them of and protect them from His judgments. And even when they break that law, He is unendingly merciful and faithful. God always remembers His people, rescues them, and begins fresh relationships with them. It is no wonder that everyone is so eager and joyous to sign a renewed covenant with Him.
10 The covenant was signed and sealed with the following names: Nehemiah (the governor and son of Hacaliah), Zedekiah, 2 Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, 3 Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, 4 Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, 5 Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, 6 Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, 7 Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, 8 Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah. These were the priests. 9 The Levites listed were Jeshua (Azaniah’s son), Binnui (one of Henadad’s sons), Kadmiel; 10 also their brothers: Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, 11 Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, 12 Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 13 Hodiah, Bani, and Beninu. 14 The leaders of the people listed were Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, 15 Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 16 Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, 17 Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, 18 Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, 19 Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, 20 Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, 21 Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, 22 Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, 23 Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, 24 Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, 25 Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, 26 Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, 27 Malluch, Harim, and Baanah.
28 Everyone else—the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, temple servants, and all those who separated themselves from their foreign neighbors in order to obey God’s law, along with all their wives and sons and daughters who are old enough to understand— 29 everyone joins with their leaders and relatives and binds himself with an oath and a curse to carefully observe and obey the way God has placed before us through His servant Moses—with all its commands, rules, and decrees. These are the Eternal Lord’s laws and judgments:
30 Our daughters will not be married to the sons of any of our foreign neighbors. We will not allow our sons to marry their daughters.
31 If any of our foreign neighbors come to sell their goods, their grain, or their produce on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them then or on any holy day.
Every seven years, every Jew everywhere will allow the land to rest for one year. We will not work on it; we will not make it work. We will also cancel all outstanding debts, freeing any Israelite who has become enslaved to a creditor.
32 We are committing to tax ourselves as well. Every year each man will pay eight ounces of silver to care for God’s temple. 33 This tax will pay for bread for the table; for the daily grain and burnt offerings; for offerings made on Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and all other yearly feasts; it will pay for the holy offerings and for the sin offerings to cover Israel’s sins. We are obligating ourselves to provide for everything that is necessary for the working of the temple of our God.
34 The priests, the Levites, and the people have drawn lots to decide which ancestral family will be responsible for bringing the wood that burns on the Eternal’s altar in God’s temple. Each family will be appointed times of the year, in every year, to fill this need as the law says it should be done.[a]
35 It is also our responsibility to support the temple workers through our offerings. We will bring to the temple the first part of every crop, grain from the earth and fruit from the tree alike, every year. 36 We will also bring all of our firstborns and give them to the priests working at the temple—our firstborn sons and cattle, our firstborn from our flocks and our herds—as the law of God says.[b] 37-38 We will bring to the priests the best of our coarse meal[c] (which is a sacred contribution), the fruit of our trees, and our new wine and oil—to be placed in the storerooms of our God’s temple instead of used in the sanctuary. One-tenth of our crops will go for the Levites. When the Levites come to our towns to collect our offerings, we will make sure there is also a priest from Aaron’s house with them who will bring the tithes to the house of the Eternal and its storehouse. 39 The Levites and the Israelites must bring the offerings of grain, new wine, and olive oil to the storerooms of the temple where the sacred containers are kept, where the working priests, the gatekeepers, and the singers gather.
We all agree—we will not neglect the temple of our God.
11 The leaders of the people lived in the holy city of Jerusalem. The rest of the population drew lots, and one out of every ten of them came to live in Jerusalem also. The other nine-tenths stayed in their towns.
Living in Jerusalem at this time is not ideal for raising a family. Jerusalem in every way is the target of opposition, both from foreign nations and domestic enemies.
2 So when others decided, on their own, to settle in Jerusalem willingly, the people were grateful, blessing and thanking them.
3 These are the leaders of the provinces who came to live in Jerusalem. (Most of the people of Israel—common folk, priests, Levites, servants in the temple, and those who were descendants of Solomon’s servants—continued to live in their own homes in towns around Judah, 4 though some of the people from Judah and Benjamin decided to settle in Jerusalem.)
From Judah’s tribe: Athaiah, Uzziah’s son—who is the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel—the family line of Perez; 5 Maaseiah, Baruch’s son—who is the son of Col-hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of a Shilonite. 6 There were 468 descendants of Perez who lived in Jerusalem, all of them courageous soldiers.
7 From Benjamin’s tribe: Sallu, Meshullam’s son—who is the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah; 8 Gabbai and Sallai followed him. There were 928 men from the tribe of Benjamin. 9 They were led by Joel, Zichri’s son. Judah, Hassenuah’s son, was second in command over the city.
10 From the priests: Jedaiah, Joiarib’s son; Jachin; 11 Seraiah, Hilkiah’s son—the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub (who was supervisor of God’s temple). 12 There were 822 of their relatives who ran the temple. Also Adaiah, Jeroham’s son—the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah, 13 and his relatives who were also the heads of families. They numbered 242 men. Amashsai, Azarel’s son—the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer, 14 and their relatives. There were 128 courageous warriors, led by Zabdiel, Haggedolim’s son.
15 From the Levites: Shemaiah, Hasshub’s son—the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni; 16 Shabbethai and Jozabad, the Levite leaders who were responsible for the work being done on the outside of God’s temple; 17 Mattaniah, Mica’s son—the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph. Mattaniah was the worship leader who would lead us in thanksgiving prayers. His assistant was Bakbukiah; also Abda, Shammua’s son—the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun. 18 There were 284 Levites in the holy city of Jerusalem.
19 From the gatekeepers: Akkub, Talmon, and the rest of their relatives who watched over the gates were 172 men. 20 All of the rest of the Israelites, priests, and Levites lived on their family’s land in Judah. 21 The temple servants lived on the hill of Ophel. Ziha and Gishpa were their leaders.
22 The leader of the Levites living in Jerusalem was Uzzi, Bani’s son—the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica. Uzzi was a descendant of Asaph, who led the singers in worship in the temple. 23 The singers answered directly to Judah’s king before the conquest, and he gave them their responsibilities day to day. 24 Now, Pethahaiah, Meshezabel’s son—a descendant of Zerah, Judah’s son—advised the king in Persia about the concerns the people had in Jerusalem.
25 The returning Israelites lived in Jerusalem’s surrounding cities, near their farms. Some of the descendants of Judah lived in Kiriath-arba and its villages, Dibon and its villages, Jekabzeel and its villages. 26 They also lived in Jeshua, Moladah, Beth-pelet, 27 Hazar-shual, Beersheba and its villages, 28 Ziklag, Meconah and its villages, 29 En-rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth, 30 Zanoah, Adullam and its towns, Lachish and its farms, Azekah and its villages. Their settlement stretched from Beersheba all the way to the valley of Hinnom, covering the area God had given to Judah and his descendants.
31 The Benjaminites lived in Geba, Michmash, Aija, Bethel and its villages, 32 Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, 33 Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim, 34 Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat, 35 Lod, Ono, and in the valley of the craftsmen. 36 Some of the Levites from Judah were sent to live in Benjamin’s settlements.
4 The conversation continued for a few hours there in Solomon’s porch. Suddenly, the head of the temple police and some members of the Sadducean party interrupted Peter and John. 2 They were annoyed because Peter and John were enthusiastically teaching that in Jesus, resurrection of the dead is possible—an idea the Sadducees completely rejected. 3 So they arrested Peter, John, and the man who was healed and kept them in jail overnight. 4 But during these few afternoon hours between the man’s miraculous healing and their arrest, Peter and John already had convinced about 5,000 more people to believe their message about Jesus!
5 The next morning, the Jewish leaders—their officials, elders, and scholars—called a meeting in Jerusalem 6 presided over by Annas (the patriarch of the ruling priestly clan), along with Caiaphas (his son-in-law), John, Alexander, and other members of their clan. 7 They made their prisoners stand in the middle of the assembly and questioned them.
Jewish Leaders: Who gave you the authority to create that spectacle in the temple yesterday?
Peter (filled with the Spirit): 8 Rulers and elders of the people, 9 yesterday a good deed was done. Someone who was sick was healed. If you’re asking us how this happened, 10 I want all of you and all of the people of Israel to know this man standing in front of you—obviously in good health—was healed by the authority of Jesus of Nazareth, the Anointed One. This is the same Jesus whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead. 11 He is “the stone that you builders rejected who has become the very stone that holds together the entire foundation”[a] on which a new temple is being built. 12 There is no one else who can rescue us, and there is no other name under heaven given to any human by whom we may be rescued.
13 Now the leaders were surprised and confused. They looked at Peter and John and realized they were typical peasants—uneducated, utterly ordinary fellows—with extraordinary confidence. The leaders recognized them as companions of Jesus, 14 then they turned their attention to the third man standing beside them—recently lame, now standing tall and healthy. What could they say in response to all this?
15 Because they were at a loss about what to do, they excused the prisoners so the council could deliberate in private.
Jewish Leaders: 16 What do we do with these fellows? Anyone who lives in Jerusalem will know an unexplainable sign has been performed through these two preachers. We can’t deny their story. 17 The best we can do is try to keep it from spreading. So let’s warn them to stop speaking to anybody in this name.
18 The leaders brought the prisoners back in and prohibited them from doing any more speaking or teaching in the name of Jesus. 19 Peter and John listened quietly and then replied,
Peter and John: You are the judges here, so we’ll leave it up to you to judge whether it is right in the sight of God to obey your commands or God’s. 20 But one thing we can tell you: we cannot possibly restrain ourselves from speaking about what we have seen and heard with our own eyes and ears.
21-22 The council threatened them again, but finally let them go because public opinion strongly supported Peter and John and this man who had received this miraculous sign. He was over 40 years old, so his situation was known to many people, and they couldn’t help but glorify God for his healing.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.