Study Desk

For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking, "Their hands will become limp in doing the work, and it will not be done." But now, O God, strengthen my hands.

Now I entered the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined at home, and he said, "Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you, and they are coming to kill you at night."

Then I recognized that surely God had not sent him, but he spoke his prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who were trying to make me afraid.

Now it happened that when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, their confidence fell. And they knew that it was from our God that this work had been accomplished.

that I commanded Hanani my brother and Hananiah the commander of the fortress, to be over Jerusalem, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many.

Then my God put it into my heart, and I gathered the nobles, the officials, and the people to be recorded by genealogies. Then I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up first, and in it I found written:

Then Ezra blessed Yahweh the great God. And all the people answered, "Amen, Amen!" while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground.

They read from the book, from the law of God, explaining and giving insight, and they provided understanding of the reading.

Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites, who provided the people with understanding, said to all the people, "This day is holy to Yahweh your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.

So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim.

And he read from the book of the law of God daily, from the first day to the last day. And they celebrated the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the legal judgment.

And they rose up in their place and read from the book of the law of Yahweh their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they were confessing and worshiping Yahweh their God.

Then Jeshua rose up on the Levites' platform, along with Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and they cried out with a loud voice to Yahweh their God.

And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, "Rise up, bless Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting!O may Your glorious name be blessedAnd exalted above all blessing and praise!

You are Yahweh God,Who chose AbramAnd brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees,And gave him the name Abraham.

They refused to listen,And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You did among them;So they became stiff‑necked and gave themselves a chief to return to their slavery in Egypt.But You are a God of lavish forgiveness,Gracious and compassionate,Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness;And You did not forsake them.

Nevertheless, in Your abundant compassion You did not make a complete destruction of them or forsake them,For You are a gracious and compassionate God.

"So now, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness,Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You,Which has found us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all Your people,From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day.

Now the rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters—all those who had knowledge and understanding,