All the men of Judah and Benjamin were gathered in Jerusalem within the three days.(It was in the ninth month, on the twentieth day of that month.) All the people sat in the square at the temple of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the rains.
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1The Altar is Rebuilt When the seventh month arrived and the Israelites were living in their towns, the people assembled in Jerusalem.
13However, the people are numerous and it is the rainy season. We are unable to stand here outside. Furthermore, this business cannot be resolved in a day or two, for we have sinned greatly in this matter.
14Let our leaders take steps on behalf of all the assembly. Let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at an appointed time, and with them the elders of each town and its judges, until the hot anger of our God is turned away from us in this matter.”
5So Ezra got up and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath to carry out this plan. And they all took a solemn oath.
6Then Ezra got up from in front of the temple of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While he stayed there, he did not eat food or drink water, for he was in mourning over the infidelity of the exiles.
7A proclamation was circulated throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the exiles were to be assembled in Jerusalem.
8Everyone who did not come within three days would thereby forfeit all his property, in keeping with the counsel of the officials and the elders. Furthermore, he himself would be excluded from the assembly of the exiles.
16So the exiles proceeded accordingly. Ezra the priest separated out by name men who were leaders in their family groups. They sat down to consider this matter on the first day of the tenth month,
17and on the first day of the first month they finished considering all the men who had married foreign wives.
1The People Acknowledge Their Sin before God On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust.
2Those truly of Israelite descent separated from all the foreigners, standing and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.
3For one-fourth of the day they stood in their place and read from the book of the law of the LORD their God, and for another fourth they were confessing their sins and worshiping the LORD their God.
4Then the Levites– Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Kenani– stood on the steps and called out loudly to the LORD their God.
1The People Confess Their Sins While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself to the ground before the temple of God, a very large crowd of Israelites– men, women, and children alike– gathered around him. The people wept loudly.
2Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, addressed Ezra:“We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the local peoples. Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard.
3Therefore let us enact a covenant with our God to send away all these women and their offspring, in keeping with your counsel, my lord, and that of those who respect the commandments of our God. And let it be done according to the law.
1The People Respond to the Reading of the Law When the seventh month arrived and the Israelites were settled in their cities, all the people gathered together in the plaza which was in front of the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had commanded Israel.
2So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly which included men and women and all those able to understand what they heard.(This happened on the first day of the seventh month.)
3So he read it before the plaza in front of the Water Gate from dawn till noon before the men and women and those children who could understand. All the people were eager to hear the book of the law.
16So the people went out and brought these things back and constructed temporary shelters for themselves, each on his roof and in his courtyard and in the courtyards of the temple of God and in the plaza of the Water Gate and the plaza of the Ephraim Gate.
17So all the assembly which had returned from the exile constructed temporary shelters and lived in them. The Israelites had not done so from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day. Everyone experienced very great joy.
18Ezra read in the book of the law of God day by day, from the first day to the last. They observed the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day they held an assembly as was required.
10Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them,“You have behaved in an unfaithful manner by taking foreign wives! This has contributed to the guilt of Israel.
11Now give praise to the LORD God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the local residents and from these foreign wives.”
9On the first day of the first month he had determined to make the ascent from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he arrived at Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him.
4Everyone who held the words of the God of Israel in awe gathered around me because of the unfaithful acts of the people of the exile. Devastated, I continued to sit there until the evening offering.
13On the second day of the month the family leaders met with Ezra the scribe, together with all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to consider the words of the law.
4When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
15This took place on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month of King Darius’ second year.
3All the men of Israel assembled before the king during the festival in the seventh month.
9Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priestly scribe, and the Levites who were imparting understanding to the people said to all of them,“This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the law.
9All the people living in Jerusalem and all the people who came into Jerusalem from the towns of Judah came to observe a fast before the LORD. The fast took place in the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah.
25The celebration included the entire assembly of Judah, the priests, the Levites, the entire assembly of those who came from Israel, the resident foreigners who came from the land of Israel and those who were residents of Judah.
1The Jews Prevail over Their Enemies In the twelfth month(that is, the month of Adar), on its thirteenth day, the edict of the king and his law were to be executed. It was on this day that the enemies of the Jews had supposed that they would gain power over them. But contrary to expectations, the Jews gained power over their enemies.
2The Jews assembled themselves in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to strike out against those who were seeking their harm. No one was able to stand before them, for dread of them fell on all the peoples.
1A Prayer of Ezra Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said,“The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the local residents who practice detestable things similar to those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
73The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all the rest of Israel lived in their cities.
9Although we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our servitude. He has extended kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, in that he has revived us to restore the temple of our God and to raise up its ruins and to give us a protective wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
5The Exiles Prepare to Return to Jerusalem Then the leaders of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and the Levites– all those whose mind God had stirred– got ready to go up in order to build the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem.
8In the second year after they had come to the temple of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak initiated the work, along with the rest of their associates, the priests and the Levites, and all those who were coming to Jerusalem from the exile. They appointed the Levites who were at least twenty years old to take charge of the work on the LORD’s temple.
15The Exiles Travel to Jerusalem I had them assemble at the canal that flows toward Ahava, and we camped there for three days. I observed that the people and the priests were present, but I found no Levites there.
28“Now the rest of the people– the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple attendants, and all those who have separated themselves from the neighboring peoples because of the law of God, along with their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all of whom are able to understand–
29hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders and enter into a curse and an oath to adhere to the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, along with his ordinances and his statutes.
12He has carried out his threats against us and our rulers who were over us by bringing great calamity on us– what has happened to Jerusalem has never been equaled under all heaven!
18The Origins of the Feast of Purim But the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth days, and rested on the fifteenth, making it a day for banqueting and happiness.
1King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege to it. The siege began in the tenth month of the ninth year that Zedekiah ruled over Judah.
2Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech and their companions to seek the LORD’s favor
3by asking both the priests of the temple of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies and the prophets,“Should we weep in the fifth month, fasting as we have done over the years?”