Study Desk

Ezra said to them, "Go, eat and drink what you enjoy, and give some to him who has nothing ready. For this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be sad for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

So the Levites made all the people quiet, saying, "Be quiet, for this is a holy day. Do not be sad."

So the people went out and brought them and made tents for themselves, each on his roof. And they made tents in their open spaces, in the open spaces of the house of God, in the place by the Water Gate, and in the place by the Gate of Ephraim.

While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the Law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day. And for another fourth they told their sins and worshiped the Lord their 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.

Then You made special things to see and did powerful works against Pharaoh, against all his servants and all the people of his land. For You knew that they were proud and made it hard for our fathers. And You made a name for Yourself, as it is this day.

You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger. You brought them water from a rock for their thirst. And You told them to go in to take for their own the land You promised to give them.

For forty years You kept them alive in the desert and gave them everything they needed. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not become sore.

You gave them nations and peoples, and You gave them every part. For their own they took the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan.

You made their sons as many as the stars of heaven. And You brought them into the land which You had told their fathers to go into and take for their own.

So You gave them into the hand of those who made it hard for them. But when they cried to You in the time of their trouble, You heard from heaven. And by Your great loving-kindness You sent men to save them from those who made it hard for them.

But You did not give up taking care of them for many years. You spoke sharp words to them by Your Spirit through the men who tell what will happen. Yet they would not listen. So You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

But in Your great loving-kindness, You did not make an end of them or leave them for You are a kind and loving God.

Yet You have been right and fair in all that has come upon us. For You have been faithful, but we have sinned.

We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the people of the land, or take their daughters for our sons.

We also promise to give one-third part of a piece of silver each year for the work of the house of our God.

This will be for the holy bread, the grain and burnt gifts that must be given, for gifts on the Days of Rest, the new moon, and the special times, for the holy gifts, and for the sin gifts to pay for the sins of Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.

We drew names among the religious leaders, the Levites and the people, by our family groups, for the wood to be brought to the house of our God at certain times each year. It is to be burned on the altar of the Lord our God as it is written in the Law.

We promise to bring to the house of our God the first-born of our sons, animals, cattle and flocks, as it is written in the Law, for the religious leaders who are working in the house of our God.

We will bring the first of our grain, our gifts, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the oil to the religious leaders in the rooms of the house of our God. And we will bring a tenth part of what we get from our ground to the Levites. For the Levites are the ones who receive a tenth part from all the farming towns.