Study Desk

So now I say to you in front of all these people of Israel, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to do all the Law of the Lord your God. If you obey you will receive the good land and also leave it to your children after you forever.

They were the children of those who were left in the land, whom the people of Israel had not destroyed. Solomon made all of these people do hard work, as they do to this day.

O our God, did You not make the people of this land leave so that Your people Israel could have it and give it to the children of Your friend Abraham forever?

And all the men of Judah were standing before the Lord, with their babies, their wives, and their children.

When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she went and destroyed all the king's children of the family of Judah.

But he did not kill their children. He did what is written in the Law in the book of Moses. The Lord had said in this Law, "Fathers must not be put to death for the children. And children must not be put to death for the fathers. Each must be put to death for his own sin."

Also written down were the names of their little children, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, for all the people. For they were faithful to set themselves apart to be holy.

And the Lord sent an angel who destroyed every powerful soldier and every captain and leader in the camp of the king of Assyria. So Sennacherib returned in shame to his own land. And when he had gone into the house of his god, some of his own children killed him there with the sword.

Now these are the men who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer. But they were not able to show that their fathers and they were children of Israel:

Then I set apart a time there at the river of Ahava when we would not eat any food. This was so we might put away our pride before our God, and pray that He would keep us and our children and all our things safe as we traveled.

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.'

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.

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.

All these had married wives of the other nations, and some of the wives had given birth to children.

Our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers. Our children are like their children. Yet we are made to sell our sons and daughters to work for others. Some of our daughters have already been sold and taken away. We cannot do anything, because our fields and vines belong to others."

Now these were the men who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer. But they were not able to prove their fathers' houses or that they were children of Israel:

The children of Israel separated themselves from all those of other nations. They stood and told their sins and the sins of their fathers to God.

You found his heart faithful to You and made an agreement with him, to give his children and their children's children the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And You have done what You promised, for You are right and good.

These are the leaders of the lands who lived in Jerusalem but in the cities of Judah every one lived on his own land there: Israel, the religious leaders, the Levites, the servants in the house of God, and the children of Solomon's servants.

On that day they gave many good gifts and were glad because God had given them great joy. Even the women and children were filled with joy, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from far away.