Study Desk

Then I called for a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a direct journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.

For I was ashamed to ask from the king for a military force and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, "The hand of our God is upon all those who seek Him, for their good, but His strength and His anger are against all those who forsake Him."

So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He was moved by our entreaty.

and I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the utensils, the contribution for the house of our God which the king and his counselors and his princes and all Israel present there had offered.

Then I said to them, "You are holy to Yahweh, and the utensils are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to Yahweh, the God of your fathers.

So the priests and the Levites accepted the weighed out silver and gold and the utensils, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.

Then we set out from the river Ahava on the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the way.

On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the utensils were weighed out in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them were the Levites, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui.

The exiles who had come from the captivity brought burnt offerings near to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, 12 male goats for a sin offering, all as a burnt offering to Yahweh.

Then they gave the king's edicts to the king's satraps and to the governors in the provinces beyond the River, and they supported the people and the house of God.

Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering.

But at the evening offering I arose from my affliction, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to Yahweh my God;

and I said, "O my God, I am ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have multiplied above our heads and our guilt has become great even to the heavens.

But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from Yahweh our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our slavery.

For we are slaves; yet in our slavery our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us before the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its waste places, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

"So now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments,

After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us an escaped remnant as this,

O Yahweh, the God of Israel, You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this."

Now while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women, and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly.

And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, "We have been unfaithful to our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.