Study Desk

Then the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Stand up. Blessed be the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting.”

You, the Lord,are the God who chose Abramand brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans,and changed his name to Abraham.

They refused to listenand did not remember your wondersyou performed among them.They became stiff-necked and appointed a leaderto return to their slavery in Egypt.But you are a forgiving God,gracious and compassionate,slow to anger and abounding in faithful love,and you did not abandon them.

Even after they had cast an image of a calffor themselves and said,“This is your god who brought you out of Egypt,”and they had committed terrible blasphemies,

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

So now, our God—the great, mighty,and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant—do not view lightly all the hardships that have afflicted us,our kings and leaders,our priests and prophets,our ancestors and all your people,from the days of the Assyrian kings until today.

The rest of the people—the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, and temple servants, along with their wives, sons, and daughters, everyone who is able to understand and who has separated themselves from the surrounding peoples to obey the law of God—

join with their noble brothers and commit themselves with a sworn oath to follow the law of God given through God’s servant Moses and to obey carefully all the commands, ordinances, and statutes of the Lord our Lord.

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 also bring the firstborn of our sons and our livestock, as prescribed by the law, and will bring the firstborn of our herds and flocks to the house of our God, to the priests who serve in our God’s house.

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.

A priest from Aaron’s descendants is to accompany the Levites when they collect the tenth, and the Levites are to take a tenth of this offering to the storerooms of the treasury in the house of our God.

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.

and Shabbethai and Jozabad, from the heads of the Levites, who supervised the work outside the house of God;

The heads of the Levites—Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel, along with their relatives opposite them—gave praise and thanks, division by division, as David the man of God had prescribed.

as well as his relatives—Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David, the man of God. Ezra the scribe went in front of them.

The two thanksgiving processions stood in the house of God. So did I and half of the officials accompanying me,

On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy. The women and children also celebrated, and Jerusalem’s rejoicing was heard far away.

They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers, as David and his son Solomon had prescribed.