Study Desk

"‘Now therefore, our God, great, mighty, fearsome God, who keeps both covenant and grace: let not all this suffering seem little to you that has come on us, our kings, our leaders, our cohanim, our prophets, our ancestors, and on all your people, from the times of the kings of Ashur until this very day.

On the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Isra'el, wearing sackcloth and with dirt on them, assembled for a fast. Those descended from Isra'el separated themselves from all foreigners; then they stood up and confessed their own sins and the iniquities of their ancestors. Standing where they were, they read in the scroll of the Torah of Adonai their God for one-quarter of the day. For another quarter they confessed and prostrated themselves before Adonai their God. On the platform of the L'vi'im stood Yeshua, Bani, Kadmi'el, Sh'vanyah, Buni, Sherevyah, Bani and K'nani; they cried out loudly to Adonai their God. Then the L'vi'im Yeshua, Kadmi'el, Bani, Hashavn'yah, Sherevyah, Hodiyah, Sh'vanyah and P'tachyah said, "Stand up, and bless Adonai your God from everlasting to everlasting; let them say: "‘Blessed be your glorious name, exalted above all blessing and praise! "‘You are Adonai , you alone. You made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their array, the earth and all the things that are in it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you. "‘You are Adonai , the God who chose Avram, brought him out of Ur-Kasdim and gave him the name of Avraham. Finding that he was faithful to you, you made a covenant with him to give the land of the Kena‘ani, the Hitti, Emori and P'rizi, the Y'vusi and the Girgashi, to give it to his descendants; and you have done what you promised, because you are just. "‘You saw the distress of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry by the Sea of Suf. You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his servants and the people of the land; for you knew how arrogantly they treated them; and you won yourself a name which is yours to this day. You divided the sea ahead of them, so that they could pass through the sea on dry land; then you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into turbulent waters. "‘In a column of cloud you led them by day, and by night in a column of fire, so that they would have light ahead of them on the way that they were to go. "‘You descended on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You gave them right rulings and true teachings, good laws and mitzvot. You revealed to them your holy Shabbat and gave them mitzvot, laws and the Torah through Moshe your servant. "‘For their hunger you gave them bread from heaven; for their thirst you brought forth for them water from the rock. You ordered them to enter and possess the land you had sworn with your hand to give them. "‘But they and our ancestors were arrogant; they stiffened their necks and ignored your mitzvot; they refused to listen and paid no attention to the wonders you had done among them. No, they stiffened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a leader to return them to their slavery. But because you are a God of forgiveness, merciful, full of compassion, slow to grow angry and full of grace, you did not abandon them. Even when they cast themselves a metal calf, saying of it, "This is your god that brought you up from Egypt," and committing other gross provocations; still, you, in your great compassion, did not abandon them in the desert. The column of cloud did not leave them by day; it kept leading them along the way. By night the column of fire kept showing them light and the path to take. You also gave your good Spirit to teach them, did not withhold man from their mouths and provided them water to quench their thirst. Yes, forty years you sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing — their clothes did not wear out; their feet did not swell up. "‘You gave them kingdoms and peoples; you even gave them extra land, so that they took possession of the land of Sichon, also the land of the king of Heshbon and the land of ‘Og king of Bashan. You made their children as numerous as the countless stars in the sky. "‘Then you brought them into the land about which you had said to their fathers that they should go in and take possession of it. So the children went in and possessed the land, as you subdued ahead of them the Kena‘ani living in the land, and handed them over to them, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, for them to do with as they wished. They took fortified cities and fertile land, possessed houses full of all kinds of good things, dug-out cisterns, vineyards, olive groves, fruit trees in plenty; so they ate their fill and grew robust, luxuriating in your great goodness. "‘Yet they disobeyed and rebelled against you, throwing your Torah behind their backs. They killed your prophets for warning them that they should return to you and committed other gross provocations. So you handed them over to the power of their adversaries, who oppressed them. Yet in the time of their trouble, when they cried out to you, you heard from heaven, and in keeping with your great compassion, you gave them saviors to save them from the power of their adversaries. But as soon as they had gotten some relief, they went back to do evil before you. So you left them in the power of their enemies, who came down hard on them. Yet when they returned and cried out to you, you heard from heaven many times and saved them, according to your compassion. You warned them, in order to bring them back to your Torah; yet they were arrogant. They paid no attention to your mitzvot, but sinned against your rulings, which, if a person does them, he will have life through them. However, they stubbornly turned their shoulders, stiffened their necks and refused to hear. Many years you extended them mercy and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets; yet they would not listen. Therefore you handed them over to the peoples of the lands. Even so, in your great compassion, you didn't completely destroy them; nor did you abandon them, for you are a compassionate and merciful God. "‘Now therefore, our God, great, mighty, fearsome God, who keeps both covenant and grace: let not all this suffering seem little to you that has come on us, our kings, our leaders, our cohanim, our prophets, our ancestors, and on all your people, from the times of the kings of Ashur until this very day. There is no question that you are just in all that has come upon us; for you have treated us fairly. It is we who have acted wickedly. Our kings, our leaders, our cohanim and ancestors did not keep your Torah, pay attention to your mitzvot or heed the warnings you gave them. Even when they ruled their own kingdom, even when you prospered them greatly, in the great, rich land you gave them, they did not serve you; nor did they turn from their wicked deeds. "‘So here we are today, slaves. Yes, in the land you gave our ancestors, so that they could eat what it produces and enjoy its good — here we are in it, slaves! Its rich yield now goes to the kings you have set over us because of our sins; they have power over our bodies, they can do what they please to our livestock, and we are in great distress!

The rest of the people, the cohanim, the L'vi'im, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants and all who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Torah of God, along with their wives, sons and daughters, everyone capable of knowing and understanding,

joined their kinsmen and their leaders in swearing an oath, accompanied by a curse [in case of noncompliance], as follows: "We will live by God's Torah, given by Moshe the servant of God, and will perform and obey all the mitzvot, rulings and laws of Adonai our Lord.

"We will impose on ourselves a yearly tax of one-third of a shekel [one-seventh of an ounce of silver] for the service of the house of our God,

for the showbread, for the regular grain offering, for the regular burnt offering, for [the offerings] on Shabbat, on Rosh-Hodesh, at the designated times and at other holy times, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Isra'el, and for all the work connected with the house of our God.

"We, the cohanim, the L'vi'im and the people, will cast lots in connection with the wood offering, so that it will be brought to the house of our God according to our fathers' clans, at specified times, year by year, and then be burned on the altar of Adonai our God, as prescribed in the Torah.

"We will also bring the firstborn of our sons and of our livestock, as prescribed in the Torah, and the firstborn of our herds and flocks, to the house of our God, to the cohanim ministering in the house of our God.

"We will bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every kind of tree, wine and olive oil to the cohanim in the storerooms of the house of our God, along with the tenths from our land for the L'vi'im; since they, the L'vi'im, take the tenths in all the cities where we farm.

The cohen the descendant of Aharon is to be with the L'vi'im when the L'vi'im take tenths. The L'vi'im will bring the tenth of the tenth to the house of our God, to the storerooms for supplies. For the people of Isra'el and the descendants of Levi are to bring the contribution of grain, wine and olive oil to the rooms where the equipment for the sanctuary, the ministering cohanim, the gatekeepers and the singers are. We will not abandon the house of our God."

S'rayah the son of Hilkiyah, the son of Meshulam, the son of Tzadok, the son of M'rayot, the son of Achituv, the supervisor of the house of God,

and Shabtai and Yozavad, from the leaders of the L'vi'im, who were in charge of external affairs for the house of God;

The overseer of the L'vi'im in Yerushalayim was ‘Uzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashavyah, the son of Matanyah, the son of Mikha, from the descendants of Asaf the singers; [he was] in charge of the work of the house of God.

The chiefs of the L'vi'im were Hashavyah, Sherevyah and Yeshua the son of Kadmi'el, with their kinsmen in an antiphonal choir, to praise and give thanks, in accordance with the order of David the man of God, choir opposite choir.

and his kinsmen, Sh'ma‘yah, ‘Azar'el, Milalai, Gilalai, Ma‘ai, N'tan'el, Y'hudah and Hanani, who had the musical instruments of David the man of God. ‘Ezra the Torah-teacher led them.

Thus stood the two choirs of those giving thanks in the house of God, with myself and half of the leaders with me.

With joy they offered great sacrifices that day, for God had made them celebrate with great joy. The women and children too rejoiced, so that the celebrating in Yerushalayim could be heard far off.

carrying out the duties of their God and the duties of purification, as also did the singers and gatekeepers, in accordance with the order of David and of Shlomo his son.

For back in the days of David and Asaf, there had been leaders for those singing the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.

It was also at that time, when they were reading in the scroll of Moshe, that it was found written that no ‘Amoni or Mo'avi may ever enter the assembly of God,