WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.910 Emily: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience. 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:04.360 Day 300 and 50 00:00:04.758 --> 00:00:08.478 Many years later, during the reign of King Arteris of Persia, 00:00:09.108 --> 00:00:10.908 there was a man named Ezra. 00:00:11.988 --> 00:00:19.038 He was the son of Serayah, son of Azariah, son of Kyah, son of Shalom, son of 00:00:19.038 --> 00:00:27.978 Zadok, son of Haida, son of Amiah, son of Azariah, son of Morath, son of Zaha, 00:00:28.758 --> 00:00:32.808 son of Aai, son of Buckeye, son of Aua. 00:00:33.708 --> 00:00:39.498 Son of Phineas, son of Ezer, son of Aaron, the high priest. 00:00:40.608 --> 00:00:44.118 This Ezra was a scribe who was well versed in the law of Moses, 00:00:44.598 --> 00:00:48.198 which the Lord, the God of Israel had given to the people of Israel. 00:00:49.098 --> 00:00:52.758 He came up to Jerusalem from Babylon, and the king gave him everything he 00:00:52.758 --> 00:00:56.898 asked for because the gracious hand of the Lord, his God was on him. 00:00:57.708 --> 00:01:02.598 Some of the people of Israel, as well as some of the priests, Levites singers, 00:01:02.598 --> 00:01:06.708 gatekeepers, and temple servants traveled up to Jerusalem with him in the 00:01:06.713 --> 00:01:09.078 seventh year of King Artis X's Reign. 00:01:10.398 --> 00:01:13.128 Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in August of that year. 00:01:13.698 --> 00:01:19.008 He had arranged to leave Babylon on April 8th, the first day of the new year, and 00:01:19.008 --> 00:01:21.198 he arrived at Jerusalem on August 4th. 00:01:21.798 --> 00:01:24.198 For the gracious hand of his God was on him. 00:01:24.903 --> 00:01:28.923 This was because Ezra had determined to study and obey the law of the 00:01:28.923 --> 00:01:33.123 Lord and to teach those decrees and regulations to the people of Israel. 00:01:34.443 --> 00:01:38.973 King Artis Xes had given a copy of the following letter to Ezra, the priest 00:01:38.973 --> 00:01:42.393 and scribe who studied and taught the commands and decrees of the Lord to 00:01:42.483 --> 00:01:49.413 Israel from Artis, Xes, the king of kings, to Ezra, the priest, the teacher 00:01:49.413 --> 00:01:51.093 of the law of the God of Heaven. 00:01:51.783 --> 00:01:52.293 Greetings. 00:01:53.463 --> 00:01:57.273 I decree that any of the people of Israel in my kingdom, including the 00:01:57.273 --> 00:02:01.263 priests and Levites, may volunteer to return to Jerusalem with you. 00:02:02.133 --> 00:02:06.873 I, in my counsel of seven, hereby instruct you to conduct an inquiry into the 00:02:06.873 --> 00:02:12.333 situation in Judah and Jerusalem based on your God's law, which is in your hand. 00:02:13.293 --> 00:02:17.463 We also commission you to take with you silver and gold, which we are freely 00:02:17.463 --> 00:02:20.793 presenting as an offering to the God of Israel who lives in Jerusalem. 00:02:22.053 --> 00:02:25.923 Furthermore, you are to take any silver and gold that you may obtain from the 00:02:25.923 --> 00:02:30.093 province of Babylon, as well as the voluntary offerings of the people and 00:02:30.093 --> 00:02:34.173 the priests that are presented for the temple of their God in Jerusalem. 00:02:35.163 --> 00:02:38.793 These donations are to be used specifically for the purchase of bulls, 00:02:39.273 --> 00:02:44.313 rams, male lambs, and the appropriate grain offerings and liquid offerings, 00:02:44.793 --> 00:02:48.813 all of which will be offered on the altar of the temple of your God in Jerusalem. 00:02:49.773 --> 00:02:54.213 Any silver and gold that is left over may be used in whatever way you and your 00:02:54.213 --> 00:02:56.403 colleagues feel is the will of your God. 00:02:57.393 --> 00:03:00.153 But as for the cops, we are entrusting to you for the service 00:03:00.153 --> 00:03:01.413 of the temple of your God. 00:03:02.193 --> 00:03:04.233 Deliver them all to the God of Jerusalem. 00:03:04.633 --> 00:03:09.903 If you need anything else for your God's temple or for any similar needs, you 00:03:09.903 --> 00:03:11.673 may take it from the Royal Treasury. 00:03:12.528 --> 00:03:17.538 I Artis Xerxes, the king hereby send this decree to all the treasurers in the 00:03:17.538 --> 00:03:19.308 province west of the Euphrates River. 00:03:20.148 --> 00:03:24.018 You are to give Ezra the priest and teacher of the law, of the God of heaven. 00:03:24.618 --> 00:03:29.928 Whatever he requests of you, you are to give him up to 7,500 pounds of 00:03:29.928 --> 00:03:37.818 silver, 500 bushels of wheat, 550 gallons of wine, 550 gallons of olive 00:03:37.823 --> 00:03:40.278 oil, and an unlimited supply of salt. 00:03:41.328 --> 00:03:44.808 Be careful to provide whatever the God of heaven demands for his temple. 00:03:45.378 --> 00:03:45.558 For. 00:03:45.558 --> 00:03:48.618 Why should we risk bringing God's anger against the realm 00:03:48.618 --> 00:03:49.908 of the king and his sons? 00:03:51.018 --> 00:03:55.848 I also decree that no priest, Levite, singer, gatekeeper, temple, servant, 00:03:55.878 --> 00:03:59.838 or other worker in this temple of God will be required to pay tribute, 00:04:00.108 --> 00:04:02.448 customs, or tolls of any kind. 00:04:03.588 --> 00:04:08.718 And you, Ezra are to use the wisdom your God has given you to appoint magistrates 00:04:08.718 --> 00:04:13.218 and judges who know your God's laws to govern all the people in the province 00:04:13.218 --> 00:04:18.288 west of the Euphrates River, teach the law to anyone who does not know it. 00:04:19.368 --> 00:04:23.058 Anyone who refuses to obey the law of your God and the law of the king 00:04:23.448 --> 00:04:28.488 will be punished immediately either by death, banishment, confiscation 00:04:28.488 --> 00:04:30.588 of goods, or imprisonment. 00:04:31.998 --> 00:04:37.578 Praise the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who made the king want to beautify the 00:04:37.578 --> 00:04:43.008 temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and praise him for demonstrating such unfailing love 00:04:43.008 --> 00:04:48.888 to me by honoring me before the king, his counsel, and all his mighty nobles, 00:04:49.908 --> 00:04:54.198 I felt encouraged because the gracious hand of the Lord, my God was on me. 00:04:55.008 --> 00:04:58.728 And I gathered some of the leaders of Israel to return with me to Jerusalem. 00:05:00.318 --> 00:05:03.768 Here's a list of the family leaders and the genealogies of those who came 00:05:03.768 --> 00:05:09.828 with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artis Xes from the family 00:05:09.833 --> 00:05:16.068 of Phineas Gershom from the family of eMAR, Daniel from the family of 00:05:16.073 --> 00:05:22.758 David Haddish, a descendant of Shenaya from the family of Pash Zechariah, 00:05:22.998 --> 00:05:28.278 and 150 other men were registered from the Family of Pay Path, Moab. 00:05:28.913 --> 00:05:36.003 Aliya Hona, son of Ra, Haya, and 200 other men from the family of Za, AYA, 00:05:36.123 --> 00:05:42.993 son of Jaha, and 300 other men from the family of Aiden, Eid, son of Jonathan, 00:05:43.233 --> 00:05:50.253 and 50 other men from the family of Elam, eaa, son of Aliah, and 70 other 00:05:50.253 --> 00:05:56.733 men from the family of Aya Zebediah, son of Michael and 80 other men. 00:05:57.918 --> 00:06:05.538 From the family of Joab Obadiah, son of Jaha and 218 other men from the 00:06:05.538 --> 00:06:12.468 family of Be Nai Shalom, son of Chaiya and 160 other men from the family of 00:06:12.468 --> 00:06:18.888 Biba Zechariah, son of Biba, and 28 other men from the family of Asgard, 00:06:19.068 --> 00:06:22.998 Johannan, son of Haan, and 110 other men. 00:06:24.033 --> 00:06:30.543 From the family of Nycu who came later, Ette, Juel, Shama, and 60 00:06:30.543 --> 00:06:37.353 other men from the family of Big vii, Phi Zacker, and 70 other men. 00:06:38.973 --> 00:06:44.013 I assembled the exiles at the A Hava Canal and we camped there for three days while I 00:06:44.013 --> 00:06:48.783 went over the lists of the people and the priests who had arrived, I found that not 00:06:48.783 --> 00:06:50.973 one Levite had volunteered to come along. 00:06:51.828 --> 00:07:00.978 So I sent for Elzer, Ariel, Shama, El Nathan Jareb, El Nathan, Nathan Zechariah, 00:07:01.368 --> 00:07:03.888 and Chulo, who were leaders of the people. 00:07:04.668 --> 00:07:08.628 I also sent for Joya Rib and El Nathan, who were men of discernment. 00:07:09.528 --> 00:07:13.878 I sent them to Ito, the leader of the levies at Cassia, to ask him 00:07:13.878 --> 00:07:17.298 and his relatives and the temple servants to send us ministers for 00:07:17.298 --> 00:07:18.858 the Temple of God at Jerusalem. 00:07:20.193 --> 00:07:25.443 Since the gracious hand of our God was on us, they sent us a man named Sherab Baah, 00:07:25.953 --> 00:07:28.293 along with 18 of his sons and brothers. 00:07:29.193 --> 00:07:33.363 He was a very astute man and a descendant of Mala, who was the 00:07:33.363 --> 00:07:35.313 descendant of Levi's son of Israel. 00:07:35.543 --> 00:07:39.813 They also sent hash shabiah together with EAA from the descendants 00:07:39.813 --> 00:07:45.603 of Morra and 20 of his sons and brothers, and 220 temple servants. 00:07:46.638 --> 00:07:50.388 The temple servants were assistances to the Levites, a group of temple 00:07:50.388 --> 00:07:53.568 workers first instituted by King David and his officials. 00:07:54.258 --> 00:07:59.028 They were all listed by name and thereby the Ahava Canal. 00:07:59.508 --> 00:08:04.068 I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. 00:08:05.148 --> 00:08:08.928 We prayed that he would give us a safe journey and protect us, our 00:08:08.928 --> 00:08:11.238 children, and our goods as we traveled. 00:08:12.183 --> 00:08:16.923 For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and 00:08:16.923 --> 00:08:18.873 protect us from enemies along the way. 00:08:19.803 --> 00:08:24.663 After all, we had told the king, our god's hand of protection is on all 00:08:24.663 --> 00:08:29.793 who worship him, but his fierce anger rages against those who abandon him. 00:08:30.573 --> 00:08:34.383 So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care 00:08:34.383 --> 00:08:36.723 of us, and he heard our prayer. 00:08:37.893 --> 00:08:42.633 I appointed 12 leaders of the priests, Sherab, Baah, pa, shabiah, and 10 00:08:42.633 --> 00:08:47.193 other priests to be in charge of transporting the silver, the gold, the 00:08:47.193 --> 00:08:51.693 gold bowls, and the other items that the king, his counsel, his officials, 00:08:52.083 --> 00:08:55.233 and all the people of Israel had presented for the temple of God. 00:08:56.283 --> 00:08:59.883 I weighed the treasure as I gave it to them and found the totals to 00:08:59.883 --> 00:09:03.573 be as follows, 24 tons of silver. 00:09:04.773 --> 00:09:12.453 7,500 pounds of silver articles, 7,500 pounds of gold, 20 gold bowls 00:09:12.663 --> 00:09:15.243 equal in value to 1000 gold coins. 00:09:16.083 --> 00:09:19.803 Two fine articles of polished bronze, as precious as gold. 00:09:20.113 --> 00:09:24.663 And I said to these priests, you and these treasures have been 00:09:24.663 --> 00:09:26.493 set apart as holy to the Lord. 00:09:27.333 --> 00:09:30.213 This silver and gold is a voluntary offering to the 00:09:30.213 --> 00:09:32.433 Lord, the God of our ancestors. 00:09:33.198 --> 00:09:37.548 Guard these treasures well until you present them to the leading priests, 00:09:37.938 --> 00:09:41.748 the Levites and the leaders of Israel, who will weigh them at the store rooms 00:09:41.748 --> 00:09:43.428 of the Lord's temple in Jerusalem. 00:09:44.538 --> 00:09:48.018 So the priests and the Levites accepted the task of transporting 00:09:48.023 --> 00:09:52.638 these treasures of silver and gold to the temple of our God and Jerusalem. 00:09:53.778 --> 00:09:58.638 We broke camp at the Ahava Canal on April 19th and started off to Jerusalem. 00:09:59.718 --> 00:10:03.798 The gracious hand of our God protected us and saved us from 00:10:03.798 --> 00:10:05.718 enemies and bandits along the way. 00:10:06.738 --> 00:10:11.208 So we arrived safely in Jerusalem where we rested for three days. 00:10:12.318 --> 00:10:16.728 On the fourth day after our arrival, the silver, gold and other valuables 00:10:16.733 --> 00:10:21.498 were weighed at the temple of our God and entrusted to Marath, son of 00:10:21.498 --> 00:10:28.068 Uriah, the priest, and to Zer son of Finns, along with Zeba, son of je. 00:10:28.803 --> 00:10:33.033 And Noah Dia son, a binui, both of whom were Levites. 00:10:34.323 --> 00:10:37.893 Everything was accounted for by number and weight, and the total 00:10:37.893 --> 00:10:39.483 weight was officially recorded. 00:10:40.773 --> 00:10:44.103 Then the exiles who had come out of captivity sacrificed burnt 00:10:44.103 --> 00:10:45.663 offerings to the God of Israel. 00:10:46.443 --> 00:10:49.983 They presented 12 bulls for all the people of Israel, as well 00:10:49.983 --> 00:10:53.493 as 96 rams and 77 male lambs. 00:10:54.333 --> 00:10:57.393 They also offered 12 male goats as a sin offering. 00:10:58.278 --> 00:11:01.278 All this was given as a burnt offering to the Lord. 00:11:01.968 --> 00:11:05.898 The king's decrees were delivered to his highest officers and the governors 00:11:05.903 --> 00:11:10.248 of the province, west of the Euphrates River, who then cooperated by supporting 00:11:10.248 --> 00:11:12.378 the people and the temple of God.