Emily: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 300 and 50
Many years later, during the reign of King Arteris of Persia,
there was a man named Ezra.
He was the son of Serayah, son of Azariah, son of Kyah, son of Shalom, son of
Zadok, son of Haida, son of Amiah, son of Azariah, son of Morath, son of Zaha,
son of Aai, son of Buckeye, son of Aua.
Son of Phineas, son of Ezer, son of Aaron, the high priest.
This Ezra was a scribe who was well versed in the law of Moses,
which the Lord, the God of Israel had given to the people of Israel.
He came up to Jerusalem from Babylon, and the king gave him everything he
asked for because the gracious hand of the Lord, his God was on him.
Some of the people of Israel, as well as some of the priests, Levites singers,
gatekeepers, and temple servants traveled up to Jerusalem with him in the
seventh year of King Artis X's Reign.
Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in August of that year.
He had arranged to leave Babylon on April 8th, the first day of the new year, and
he arrived at Jerusalem on August 4th.
For the gracious hand of his God was on him.
This was because Ezra had determined to study and obey the law of the
Lord and to teach those decrees and regulations to the people of Israel.
King Artis Xes had given a copy of the following letter to Ezra, the priest
and scribe who studied and taught the commands and decrees of the Lord to
Israel from Artis, Xes, the king of kings, to Ezra, the priest, the teacher
of the law of the God of Heaven.
Greetings.
I decree that any of the people of Israel in my kingdom, including the
priests and Levites, may volunteer to return to Jerusalem with you.
I, in my counsel of seven, hereby instruct you to conduct an inquiry into the
situation in Judah and Jerusalem based on your God's law, which is in your hand.
We also commission you to take with you silver and gold, which we are freely
presenting as an offering to the God of Israel who lives in Jerusalem.
Furthermore, you are to take any silver and gold that you may obtain from the
province of Babylon, as well as the voluntary offerings of the people and
the priests that are presented for the temple of their God in Jerusalem.
These donations are to be used specifically for the purchase of bulls,
rams, male lambs, and the appropriate grain offerings and liquid offerings,
all of which will be offered on the altar of the temple of your God in Jerusalem.
Any silver and gold that is left over may be used in whatever way you and your
colleagues feel is the will of your God.
But as for the cops, we are entrusting to you for the service
of the temple of your God.
Deliver them all to the God of Jerusalem.
If you need anything else for your God's temple or for any similar needs, you
may take it from the Royal Treasury.
I Artis Xerxes, the king hereby send this decree to all the treasurers in the
province west of the Euphrates River.
You are to give Ezra the priest and teacher of the law, of the God of heaven.
Whatever he requests of you, you are to give him up to 7,500 pounds of
silver, 500 bushels of wheat, 550 gallons of wine, 550 gallons of olive
oil, and an unlimited supply of salt.
Be careful to provide whatever the God of heaven demands for his temple.
For.
Why should we risk bringing God's anger against the realm
of the king and his sons?
I also decree that no priest, Levite, singer, gatekeeper, temple, servant,
or other worker in this temple of God will be required to pay tribute,
customs, or tolls of any kind.
And you, Ezra are to use the wisdom your God has given you to appoint magistrates
and judges who know your God's laws to govern all the people in the province
west of the Euphrates River, teach the law to anyone who does not know it.
Anyone who refuses to obey the law of your God and the law of the king
will be punished immediately either by death, banishment, confiscation
of goods, or imprisonment.
Praise the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who made the king want to beautify the
temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and praise him for demonstrating such unfailing love
to me by honoring me before the king, his counsel, and all his mighty nobles,
I felt encouraged because the gracious hand of the Lord, my God was on me.
And I gathered some of the leaders of Israel to return with me to Jerusalem.
Here's a list of the family leaders and the genealogies of those who came
with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artis Xes from the family
of Phineas Gershom from the family of eMAR, Daniel from the family of
David Haddish, a descendant of Shenaya from the family of Pash Zechariah,
and 150 other men were registered from the Family of Pay Path, Moab.
Aliya Hona, son of Ra, Haya, and 200 other men from the family of Za, AYA,
son of Jaha, and 300 other men from the family of Aiden, Eid, son of Jonathan,
and 50 other men from the family of Elam, eaa, son of Aliah, and 70 other
men from the family of Aya Zebediah, son of Michael and 80 other men.
From the family of Joab Obadiah, son of Jaha and 218 other men from the
family of Be Nai Shalom, son of Chaiya and 160 other men from the family of
Biba Zechariah, son of Biba, and 28 other men from the family of Asgard,
Johannan, son of Haan, and 110 other men.
From the family of Nycu who came later, Ette, Juel, Shama, and 60
other men from the family of Big vii, Phi Zacker, and 70 other men.
I assembled the exiles at the A Hava Canal and we camped there for three days while I
went over the lists of the people and the priests who had arrived, I found that not
one Levite had volunteered to come along.
So I sent for Elzer, Ariel, Shama, El Nathan Jareb, El Nathan, Nathan Zechariah,
and Chulo, who were leaders of the people.
I also sent for Joya Rib and El Nathan, who were men of discernment.
I sent them to Ito, the leader of the levies at Cassia, to ask him
and his relatives and the temple servants to send us ministers for
the Temple of God at Jerusalem.
Since the gracious hand of our God was on us, they sent us a man named Sherab Baah,
along with 18 of his sons and brothers.
He was a very astute man and a descendant of Mala, who was the
descendant of Levi's son of Israel.
They also sent hash shabiah together with EAA from the descendants
of Morra and 20 of his sons and brothers, and 220 temple servants.
The temple servants were assistances to the Levites, a group of temple
workers first instituted by King David and his officials.
They were all listed by name and thereby the Ahava Canal.
I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God.
We prayed that he would give us a safe journey and protect us, our
children, and our goods as we traveled.
For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and
protect us from enemies along the way.
After all, we had told the king, our god's hand of protection is on all
who worship him, but his fierce anger rages against those who abandon him.
So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care
of us, and he heard our prayer.
I appointed 12 leaders of the priests, Sherab, Baah, pa, shabiah, and 10
other priests to be in charge of transporting the silver, the gold, the
gold bowls, and the other items that the king, his counsel, his officials,
and all the people of Israel had presented for the temple of God.
I weighed the treasure as I gave it to them and found the totals to
be as follows, 24 tons of silver.
7,500 pounds of silver articles, 7,500 pounds of gold, 20 gold bowls
equal in value to 1000 gold coins.
Two fine articles of polished bronze, as precious as gold.
And I said to these priests, you and these treasures have been
set apart as holy to the Lord.
This silver and gold is a voluntary offering to the
Lord, the God of our ancestors.
Guard these treasures well until you present them to the leading priests,
the Levites and the leaders of Israel, who will weigh them at the store rooms
of the Lord's temple in Jerusalem.
So the priests and the Levites accepted the task of transporting
these treasures of silver and gold to the temple of our God and Jerusalem.
We broke camp at the Ahava Canal on April 19th and started off to Jerusalem.
The gracious hand of our God protected us and saved us from
enemies and bandits along the way.
So we arrived safely in Jerusalem where we rested for three days.
On the fourth day after our arrival, the silver, gold and other valuables
were weighed at the temple of our God and entrusted to Marath, son of
Uriah, the priest, and to Zer son of Finns, along with Zeba, son of je.
And Noah Dia son, a binui, both of whom were Levites.
Everything was accounted for by number and weight, and the total
weight was officially recorded.
Then the exiles who had come out of captivity sacrificed burnt
offerings to the God of Israel.
They presented 12 bulls for all the people of Israel, as well
as 96 rams and 77 male lambs.
They also offered 12 male goats as a sin offering.
All this was given as a burnt offering to the Lord.
The king's decrees were delivered to his highest officers and the governors
of the province, west of the Euphrates River, who then cooperated by supporting
the people and the temple of God.