Study Desk

For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were heads of the singers and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.

At that time the book of Moses was read publicly to the people. The command was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,

because they did not meet the Israelites with food and water. Instead, they hired Balaam against them to curse them, but our God turned the curse into a blessing.

Now before this, the priest Eliashib had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was a relative of Tobiah

I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God restored there, along with the grain offering and frankincense.

Therefore, I rebuked the officials, asking, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” I gathered the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts.

Remember me for this, my God, and don’t erase the deeds of faithful love I have done for the house of my God and for its services.

Didn’t your ancestors do the same, so that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city? And now you are rekindling his anger against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!”

I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or yourselves!

Didn’t King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin.

Why then should we hear about you doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”

Remember them, my God, for defiling the priesthood as well as the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

There was a man in the country of Uz named Job. He was a man of complete integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil.

Whenever a round of banqueting was over, Job would send for his children and purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned, having cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.”

Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing?

Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.

One day the sons of God came again to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before the Lord.

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited me against him, to destroy him for no good reason.”