Study Desk

Some of the family heads gave 20,000 gold coins and 2,200 silver minas to the treasury for the project.

The scribe Ezra stood on a high wooden platform made for this purpose. Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah stood beside him on his right; to his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law.

The people went out, brought back branches, and made shelters for themselves on each of their rooftops and courtyards, the court of the house of God, the square by the Water Gate, and the square by the Ephraim Gate.

Ezra read out of the book of the law of God every day, from the first day to the last. The Israelites celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day there was an assembly, according to the ordinance.

While they stood in their places, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day and spent another fourth of the day in confession and worship of the Lord their God.

Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the raised platform built for the Levites and cried out loudly to the Lord their God.

You found his heart faithful in your sight,and made a covenant with himto give the land of the Canaanites,Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites,Jebusites, and Girgashites—to give it to his descendants.You have fulfilled your promise,for you are righteous.

You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,all his officials, and all the people of his land,for you knew how arrogantly they treated our ancestors.You made a name for yourselfthat endures to this day.

You provided bread from heaven for their hunger;you brought them water from the rock for their thirst.You told them to go in and possess the landyou had sworn to give them.

You sent your good Spirit to instruct them.You did not withhold your manna from their mouths,and you gave them water for their thirst.

You provided for them in the wilderness forty years,and they lacked nothing.Their clothes did not wear out,and their feet did not swell.

You gave them kingdoms and peoplesand established boundaries for them.They took possessionof the land of King Sihon of Heshbonand of the land of King Og of Bashan.

You were patient with them for many years,and your Spirit warned them through your prophets,but they would not listen.Therefore, you handed them over to the surrounding peoples.

However, in your abundant compassion,you did not destroy them or abandon them,for you are a gracious and compassionate God.

We will not give our daughters in marriage to the surrounding peoples and will not take their daughters as wives for our sons.

the bread displayed before the Lord, the daily grain offering, the regular burnt offering, the Sabbath and New Moon offerings, the appointed festivals, the holy things, the sin offerings to atone for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.

We have cast lots among the priests, Levites, and people for the donation of wood by our ancestral families at the appointed times each year. They are to bring the wood to our God’s house to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the law.

We will bring a loaf from our first batch of dough to the priests at the storerooms of the house of our God. We will also bring the firstfruits of our grain offerings, of every fruit tree, and of the new wine and fresh oil. A tenth of our land’s produce belongs to the Levites, for the Levites are to collect the one-tenth offering in all our agricultural towns.

For the Israelites and the Levites are to bring the contributions of grain, new wine, and fresh oil to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are kept and where the priests who minister are, along with the gatekeepers and singers. We will not neglect the house of our God.