Study Desk

And, the utensils which are freely given to thee for the service of the house of thy God, put thou back, before the God of Jerusalem.

Whatsoever is due to an edict of the God of the heavens, let it be done diligently, for the house of the God of the heavens, - for wherefore should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?

So I sent for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men, - also for Joiarib and for Elnathan, teachers.

And I sent them forth unto Iddo the chief, at the place Casiphia, - and I put into their mouth words, to speak unto Iddo and his brethren the Nethinim, at the place Casiphia, to bring unto us attendants for the house of our God.

and, of the Nethinim whom David and the rulers had given for the service of the Levites, Nethinim, two hundred and twenty, - all of them, expressed by name.

Then proclaimed I there a fast, by the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, - to seek of him a smooth way, for us and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

For I was ashamed to ask of the king, a band of soldiers and horsemen, to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God, is upon all who seek him, for good, But, his power and his anger, are against all who forsake him.

and weighed unto them, the silver and the gold, and the utensils, - the heave-offering for the house of our God, which the king and his counselors and his rulers and all Israel who were present, had offered:

They who came in out of the captivity, Sons of the Exile, offered as ascending-sacrifices unto the God of Israel - bullocks twelve for all Israel, rams ninety-six, young sheep seventy-seven, he-goats for bearing sin, twelve, - the whole, as an ascending-sacrifice unto Yahweh.

for they have taken of their daughters, for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have intermingled themselves among the peoples of the lands, - and, the hand of the rulers and the deputies, hath, in this unfaithfulness, been, foremost.

and said, O my God, I turn pale and am ashamed, to lift up, O my God, my face unto thee, - for, our iniquities, have multiplied above the head, and our guilt hath magnified itself unto the heavens.

Since the days of our fathers, we, have been in great guilt, until this day, - and, for our iniquities, have we been given up - we, our kings, our priests, - into the hand of the kings of the lands, by sword and by captivity and by spoiling and by a turning pale of face, as at this day.

And, now, for a very little moment, hath come favour from Yahweh our God, in leaving to us a remnant to escape, and in giving to us a nail in his holy place, - that our God may enlighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

For, bondmen, we are, but, in our bondage, hath our God not forsaken us, - but extended unto us lovingkindness before the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up on high the house of our God, to raise up the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

But, now, what can we say, O our God, after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

which thou didst command by the hand of thy servants the prophets, saying, As for the land which, ye, are entering to possess, an impure land, it is, with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, - with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to the other, with their uncleanness.

Now, therefore, your daughters, do not ye give to their sons, and, their daughters, do not ye take for your sons, neither shall ye seek their prosperity nor their pleasure unto times age-abiding, - to the end ye may become strong, and may eat the good of the land, and may suffer your children to possess I, unto times age-abiding.

And, after all that hath come upon us, for our wicked doings, and for our great guilt - For, thou, O our God, hast spared us, punishing us less than our iniquities deserved, and hast given us a deliverance such as this,

O Yahweh, God of Israel, righteous thou art, for we have had left us a deliverance as at this day, - here we are, before thee, in our guilty deeds, for there is no standing before thee, because of this thing!

Now, when Ezra had prayed and when he had made confession, weeping and casting himself down, before the house of God, there gathered unto him out of Israel, an exceeding large convocation - men and women and children, for the people wept with a very bitter weeping.