Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.
This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.
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.