Study Desk

So he read in the book of the law of God, day by day, from the first day unto the last day, and they kept the festival seven days, and, on the eighth day, a closing feast, according to the regulation.

So they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of Yahweh their God, a fourth part of the day, - and, a fourth part, they were making confession and bowing themselves down, unto Yahweh their God.

Then stood up on the platform of the Levites, Jeshua and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, Chenani, - and made outcry, with a loud voice, unto Yahweh their God.

Then said the Levites - Jeshua and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, Pethahiah, Stand up, bless Yahweh your God, from age to age, - Yea let them bless thy glorious Name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

Thou, art Yahweh, God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, - and madest his name Abraham;

but refused to hearken, neither kept in mind thy wonders which thou hadst done with them, but they hardened their neck, and appointed a head that they might return to their servitude, in their perverseness. But, thou, art a God of forgivenesses, gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness, and didst not forsake them.

Yea, although they made them a molten calf, and said, This, is thy God, that brought thee up out of Egypt, - and wrought great insults,

Yet, in thine abounding compassions, thou didst not make of them an end, neither didst thou forsake them, - for, a GOD gracious and full of compassion, thou art.

Now, therefore, O our God - the GOD great, mighty, and fearful - keeping the covenant and the lovingkindness, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, which hath come upon us - on our kings, on our rulers, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, - from the days of the kings of Assyria, until this day.

And, the rest of the people - the priests, the Levites, the doorkeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters, - every one having knowledge and understanding,

were holding fast unto their distinguished brethren, and were entering into a curse and into an oath, to walk in the law of God, which was given through Moses the servant of God, - and to observe and do, all the commandments of Yahweh our Lord, and his regulations, and his statutes;

And we laid on ourselves charges, appointing for ourselves the third of a shekel, yearly, - for the service of the house of our God:

for the bread to set in array, and the continual meal-offering, and for the continual ascending-sacrifice, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the appointed feasts, and for things hallowed, and for victims bearing sin, to put a propitiatory-covering over Israel, - and for all the work of the house of our God.

Also, lots, did we cast, concerning the offering of wood among the priests, the Levites, and the people, to bring it unto the house of our God, by our ancestral houses, at times arranged, year by year, - to burn upon the altar of Yahweh our God, as it is written in the law.

also that, the firstborn of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, - and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks, we would bring in unto the house of our God, unto the priests who should be in attendance in the house of our God;

and, the first part of our meal and our heave-offerings and the fruit of all trees, new wine and oil, would we bring in unto the priests, into the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithe of our ground unto the Levites, - the Levites themselves, taking the tithes in all our cities of agriculture.

And the priest the son of Aaron should be with the Levites, when the Levites should take the tithes, - and the Levites, should bring up the tithe of the tithe, unto the house of our God, into the chambers pertaining unto the treasure-house.

For, into the chambers, should the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi bring in the heave-offering of the corn, the new wine and the oil, since, there, are the utensils of the sanctuary, and the priests who are in attendance, and the doorkeepers, and the singers, - so would we not neglect the house of our God.

Seraiah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, chief ruler of the house of God;

and Shabbethai and Jozabad, over the outside business of the house of God, of the chiefs of the Levites;