Old/New Testament

The Jews Return to Jerusalem

9 After these things had been done, the leaders came to me, saying, “The people of Israel and the religious leaders and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands. They have followed the sinful ways of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. ² For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons. The holy people have mixed with the peoples of the lands. The leaders and rulers of the government have been the first in this sin.” ³ When I heard this, I tore my clothing and my coat, and pulled hair from my head and face, and sat down filled with much trouble and fear. ⁴ Then everyone who shook with fear at the words of the God of Israel, because of the sin of the Jews who returned from Babylon, gathered around me. And I sat filled with trouble and fear until the time to give the evening gift in worship.

⁵ When the evening gift was given, I rose up from my trouble, with my clothing and coat torn. And I got down on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God. ⁶ I said, “O my God, I am ashamed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our sins have risen above our heads. Our guilt has grown even to the heavens. ⁷ We have been very guilty since the days of our fathers to this day. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our religious leaders have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands. We have been killed by the sword. We have been carried away to a strange land. We have had our things taken from us, and have been put to shame, as it is this day. ⁸ But now for a short time loving-favor has been shown to us from the Lord our God. He has kept some of us alive to return to get a hold on His holy place, that our God may give light to our eyes, and give us some new life while we are under the power of Persia. ⁹ For we are servants, but our God has not left us even while we are servants of another nation. He has shown us loving-kindness in the eyes of the kings of Persia. He has given us new life to set up the house of our God, to build again its parts that have been destroyed, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁰ And now, our God, what should we say after this? For we have turned away from Your Laws, ¹¹ which You have given to us by Your servants who spoke for You, saying, ‘The land which you are going in to take for your own is an unclean land. The peoples of the lands are unclean and have sinful ways, and they have filled it from end to end with their sin. ¹² So do not let your daughters marry their sons, or their daughters marry your sons. Never look for their peace or their well-being, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land, and leave it as a gift to your children forever.’ ¹³ You, our God, have made our punishment less than our sins. You have given us these people who are left of the Jews and who have returned from a strange land. And after all that has come upon us because of our wrong-doing and much guilt, ¹⁴ should we break Your Laws again and marry the peoples who do these sinful things? Would You not be angry with us until we are destroyed and there is no one left? ¹⁵ O Lord God of Israel, You are right and good. For some of us have been left alive to return, as it is this day. See, we are guilty before You. No one can stand before You because of this.”

The Jews Not to Marry People Living in the Land

10 Ezra was praying and telling their sins, and crying and lying on the ground before the house of God. Many people, men, women and children, gathered around him from Israel, for the people cried with many tears. ² Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have not been faithful to our God. We have married strange women from the people of the land. But even so, there is hope for Israel. ³ So let us make an agreement with our God to put away all the wives and their children. Let this be done by the wise words of my lord and of those who shake with fear at the Word of our God. And let it be done by the Law. ⁴ Get up, for this is your duty, but we will be with you. Have strength of heart and do it.” ⁵ So Ezra got up and made the head religious leaders, the Levites and all Israel promise that they would do as he had said, and they promised.

⁶ Then Ezra got up from before the house of God and went into the room of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. He went there, but he did not eat bread or drink water, for he was filled with sorrow because the people who returned had not been faithful to God. ⁷ And it was made known to all the Jews who had returned to Judah and Jerusalem that they should gather together at Jerusalem. ⁸ Whoever would not come within three days, as the leaders had said, would have all he owned taken away from him. He would be sent away from the people who had returned from Babylon.

⁹ So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered together at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the twentieth day of the ninth month. All the people sat in the open space before the house of God, shaking because of this trouble and because of much rain. ¹⁰ Then Ezra the religious leader stood up and said to them, “You have been sinful and have married wives of strange lands, adding to the guilt of Israel. ¹¹ So now tell your sins to the Lord God of your fathers, and do His will. Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from the strange wives.” ¹² Then all the people answered with a loud voice, “That is right! We must do as you have said. ¹³ But there are many people, and there is much rain. We cannot stand in the open. This cannot be done in one or two days, for we have sinned very much. ¹⁴ Let our leaders speak for all the people. Then let all those in our cities who have married strange wives come at certain times, together with the leaders and judges of each city. Let this be done until the anger of our God, because of this sin, is turned away from us.” ¹⁵ Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah were against this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite following them.

¹⁶ But the other people who had returned from Babylon agreed to do this. Ezra the religious leader chose men who were leaders of family groups for each of their fathers’ houses. Each of them were chosen by name. So they met together on the first day of the tenth month to look into the problem. ¹⁷ And by the first day of the first month, they finished finding the names of all the men who had married wives from the other nations.

¹⁸ Of the sons of the religious leaders who had married strange wives were found the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. ¹⁹ They promised to put away their wives, and because they were guilty, they gave a ram of the flock for their sin. ²⁰ And there were Hanani and Zebadiah of the sons of Immer, ²¹ and Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah, of the sons of Harim, ²² and Elionai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah, of the sons of Pashur. ²³ Of the Levites there were Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

²⁴ Of the singers there was Eliashib. Of the gate-keepers there were Shallum, Telem, and Uri.

²⁵ Of Israel, there were Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah, and Benaiah, of the sons of Parosh. ²⁶ There were Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah, of the sons of Elam. ²⁷ There were Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza, of the sons of Zattu. ²⁸ There were Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai, of the sons of Bebai. ²⁹ There were Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeramoth, of the sons of Bani. ³⁰ There were Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh, of the sons of Pahath-moab. ³¹ Of the sons of Harim, there were Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, ³² Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah. ³³ There were Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei, of the sons of Hashum. ³⁴ Of the sons of Bani, there were Maadai, Amram, Uel, ³⁵ Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, ³⁶ Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, ³⁷ Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu, ³⁸ Bani, Binnui, Shimei, ³⁹ Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, ⁴⁰ Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, ⁴¹ Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, ⁴² Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph. ⁴³ And there were Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah, of the sons of Nebo. ⁴⁴ All these had married wives of the other nations, and some of the wives had given birth to children.

Luke Writes to Theophilus

1 Dear Theophilus, in my first writings I wrote about all the things Jesus did and taught from the beginning ² until the day He went to heaven. He spoke to the missionaries through the Holy Spirit. He told those whom He had chosen what they should do. ³ After He had suffered much and then died, He showed Himself alive in many sure ways for forty days. He told them many things about the holy nation of God.

Jesus Speaks Before He Goes to Be with the Father

⁴ As they were gathered together with Him, He told them, “Do not leave Jerusalem. Wait for what the Father has promised. You heard Me speak of this. ⁵ For John the Baptist baptized with water but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

⁶ Those who were with Him asked, “Lord, is this the time for You to give the nation back to the Jews?” ⁷ He said, “It is not for you to know the special days or the special times which the Father has put in His own power.

⁸ “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes into your life. You will tell about Me in the city of Jerusalem and over all the countries of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus Goes to Be with the Father

⁹ When Jesus had said this and while they were still looking at Him, He was taken up. A cloud carried Him away so they could not see Him. ¹⁰ They were still looking up to heaven, watching Him go. All at once two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹ They said, “You men of the country of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus Who was taken from you into heaven will return in the same way you saw Him go up into heaven.”

Matthias Is Chosen to Take the Place of Judas

¹² The followers went back to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is close to Jerusalem. ¹³ When they came into the city, they went up to a room on the second floor where they stayed. The followers were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas the brother of James. ¹⁴ These all agreed as they prayed together. The women and Mary the mother of Jesus and His brothers were there.

¹⁵ On one of those days Peter got up in front of the followers. (There were about 120 people there.) He said, ¹⁶ “Men and brothers, it happened as the Holy Writings said it would happen which the Holy Spirit spoke through David. They told about Judas who would hand Jesus over to those who wanted to take Him. ¹⁷ Judas was one of our group and had a part in our work. ¹⁸ This man bought a field with the money he received for his sin. And falling down head first, his body broke open and his insides ran out. ¹⁹ All the people of Jerusalem knew about this. They called the place Field of Blood. ²⁰ For it is written in the Book of Psalms, ‘Let his place of living be empty and let no one live there,’ and, ‘Let another person take over his work.’ ^(A)

²¹ “The man to take the place of Judas should be one of these men who walked along with us when the Lord Jesus was with us. ²² He must have been with Jesus from the day He was baptized by John to the day He was taken up from us. So one of these should be added to our group who will tell others that he saw Jesus raised from the dead.”

²³ They brought two men in front of them. They were Joseph, also called Barsabbas Justus, and Matthias. ²⁴ Then the followers prayed, saying, “Lord, You know the hearts of all men. Show us which of these two men You have chosen. ²⁵ He is to take the place of Judas in this work and be a missionary. Judas lost his place and went where he belonged because of sin.” ²⁶ Then they drew names and the name of Matthias was chosen. He became one with the eleven missionaries.