Study Desk

Lord God of Israel, you have been more than fair by letting a few of us survive. But once again, our sins have made us ashamed to face you.

Shecaniah son of Jehiel from the family of Elam said: Ezra, we have disobeyed God by marrying these foreign women. But there is still hope for the people of Israel,

if we follow your advice and the advice of others who truly respect the laws of God. We must promise God that we will divorce our foreign wives and send them away, together with their children.

Now you must confess your sins to the Lord God of your ancestors and obey him. Divorce your foreign wives and don't have anything to do with the rest of the foreigners who live around here.

Why can't our officials stay on in Jerusalem and take care of this for us? Let everyone who has sinned in this way meet here at a certain time with leaders and judges from their own towns. If we take care of this problem, God will surely stop being so terribly angry with us.

Lord God of heaven, you are great and fearsome. And you faithfully keep your promises to everyone who loves you and obeys your commands.

The king asked, "What do you want me to do?" I prayed to the God who rules from heaven.

I will need timber to rebuild the gates of the fortress near the temple and more timber to construct the city wall and to build a place for me to live. And so, I would appreciate a letter to Asaph, who is in charge of the royal forest." God was good to me, and the king did everything I asked.

I got up during the night and left my house. I took some men with me, without telling anyone what I thought God wanted me to do for the city. The only animal I took was the donkey I rode on.

Then I told them how kind God had been and what the king had said. Immediately, they replied, "Let's start building now!" So they got everything ready.

I answered, "We are servants of the God who rules from heaven, and he will make our work succeed. So we will start rebuilding Jerusalem, but you have no right to any of its property, because you have had no part in its history."

But I prayed, "Our God, these people hate us and have wished horrible things for us. Please answer our prayers and make their insults fall on them! Let them be the ones to be dragged away as prisoners of war.

But we kept on praying to our God, and we also stationed guards day and night.

Our enemies found out that we knew about their plot against us, but God kept them from doing what they had planned. So we went back to work on the wall.

If you hear the sound of the trumpet, come quickly and gather around me. Our God will help us fight."

I continued, "What you have done is wrong! We must honor our God by the way we live, so the Gentiles can't find fault with us.

Then I emptied my pockets and said, "If you don't keep your promise, that's what God will do to you. He will empty out everything you own, even taking away your houses." The people answered, "We will keep our promise." Then they praised the Lord and did as they had promised.

Each governor before me had been a burden to the people by making them pay for his food and wine and by demanding forty silver coins a day. Even their officials had been a burden to the people. But I respected God, and I didn't think it was right to be so hard on them.

I pray that God will bless me for everything I have done for my people.

Our enemies were trying to frighten us and to keep us from our work. But I asked God to give me strength.