Study Desk

Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, "We have not been faithful to our God. We have married strange women from the people of the land. But even so, there is hope for Israel.

So let us make an agreement with our God to put away all the wives and their children. Let this be done by the wise words of my lord and of those who shake with fear at the Word of our God. And let it be done by the Law.

So Ezra got up and made the head religious leaders, the Levites and all Israel promise that they would do as he had said, and they promised.

So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered together at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the twentieth day of the ninth month. All the people sat in the open space before the house of God, shaking because of this trouble and because of much rain.

So now tell your sins to the Lord God of your fathers, and do His will. Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from the strange wives."

But the other people who had returned from Babylon agreed to do this. Ezra the religious leader chose men who were leaders of family groups for each of their fathers' houses. Each of them were chosen by name. So they met together on the first day of the tenth month to look into the problem.

So the king said to me, "Why is your face so sad when you are not sick? It must be that you are sad in your heart." Then I was very much afraid.

Then the king said to me, "What are you asking for?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.

The king said to me, with the queen sitting beside him, "How long will you be gone, and when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time.

So I went up in the night by the valley and looked at the wall. Then I went in through the Valley Gate again and returned.

I told them how the hand of my God had brought good to me, and the words that the king had spoken to me. Then they said, "Let us get up and build." So they put their hands to the good work.

I answered them, "The God of heaven will make it go well for us. So we His servants will get up and build. But you have no share or right or anything to be remembered in Jerusalem."

So in Judah it was said, "Those who carry the loads are becoming weaker, and there is much dust. We are not able to work on the wall."

So I put men in the lowest parts of the places behind the wall, in the open places. I put the people in place by their families with their swords, spears and bows.

So we did the work with half of them holding spears from sunrise until the stars came out.

At that time I also said to the people, "Let every man and his servant spend the night within Jerusalem so they may watch for us during the night and work during the day."

So none of us, I, my brothers, my servants, or the soldiers who followed me, took off our clothes. Each man kept something to fight with in his hand, even when he went to wash.

I thought about it, and spoke sharp words to the rulers and leaders. I said to them, "You are making the people pay back more money than you give them to use!" So I gathered many people together against them.

So I said, "What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God to stop the nations who hate us from putting us to shame?

Then they said, "We will give these back and will ask nothing from them. We will do just as you say." So I called the religious leaders, and had them promise that they would keep their word.