Day 272 - Nehemiah 11-13; Psalm 126

Nehemiah 11

The New Residents of Jerusalem

 ¹ Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. ² The people commended all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.  ³ These are the provincial leaders who settled in Jerusalem (now some Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants and descendants of Solomon's servants lived in the towns of Judah, each on his own property in the various towns, ⁴ while other people from both Judah and Benjamin lived in Jerusalem):
      From the descendants of Judah:
       Athaiah son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, a descendant of Perez; ⁵ and Maaseiah son of Baruch, the son of Col-Hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, a descendant of Shelah. ⁶ The descendants of Perez who lived in Jerusalem totaled 468 able men.
 ⁷ From the descendants of Benjamin:
       Sallu son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah, ⁸ and his followers, Gabbai and Sallai—928 men. ⁹ Joel son of Zicri was their chief officer, and Judah son of Hassenuah was over the Second District of the city.
 ¹⁰ From the priests:
       Jedaiah; the son of Joiarib; Jakin; ¹¹ Seraiah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, supervisor in the house of God, ¹² and their associates, who carried on work for the temple—822 men; Adaiah son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malkijah, ¹³ and his associates, who were heads of families—242 men; Amashsai son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer, ¹⁴ and his ^[a] associates, who were able men—128. Their chief officer was Zabdiel son of Haggedolim.
 ¹⁵ From the Levites:
       Shemaiah son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni; ¹⁶ Shabbethai and Jozabad, two of the heads of the Levites, who had charge of the outside work of the house of God; ¹⁷ Mattaniah son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, the director who led in thanksgiving and prayer; Bakbukiah, second among his associates; and Abda son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun. ¹⁸ The Levites in the holy city totaled 284.
 ¹⁹ The gatekeepers:
       Akkub, Talmon and their associates, who kept watch at the gates—172 men.
 ²⁰ The rest of the Israelites, with the priests and Levites, were in all the towns of Judah, each on his ancestral property.
 ²¹ The temple servants lived on the hill of Ophel, and Ziha and Gishpa were in charge of them.
 ²² The chief officer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica. Uzzi was one of Asaph's descendants, who were the singers responsible for the service of the house of God. ²³ The singers were under the king's orders, which regulated their daily activity.
 ²⁴ Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, one of the descendants of Zerah son of Judah, was the king's agent in all affairs relating to the people.
 ²⁵ As for the villages with their fields, some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath Arba and its surrounding settlements, in Dibon and its settlements, in Jekabzeel and its villages, ²⁶ in Jeshua, in Moladah, in Beth Pelet, ²⁷ in Hazar Shual, in Beersheba and its settlements, ²⁸ in Ziklag, in Meconah and its settlements, ²⁹ in En Rimmon, in Zorah, in Jarmuth, ³⁰ Zanoah, Adullam and their villages, in Lachish and its fields, and in Azekah and its settlements. So they were living all the way from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom.
 ³¹ The descendants of the Benjamites from Geba lived in Micmash, Aija, Bethel and its settlements, ³² in Anathoth, Nob and Ananiah, ³³ in Hazor, Ramah and Gittaim, ³⁴ in Hadid, Zeboim and Neballat, ³⁵ in Lod and Ono, and in the Valley of the Craftsmen.
 ³⁶ Some of the divisions of the Levites of Judah settled in Benjamin.

Nehemiah 12

Priests and Levites

 ¹ These were the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua:
       Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,  ² Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,
 ³ Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,
 ⁴ Iddo, Ginnethon, ^[b] Abijah,
 ⁵ Mijamin, ^[c] Moadiah, Bilgah,
 ⁶ Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,
 ⁷ Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah and Jedaiah.
      These were the leaders of the priests and their associates in the days of Jeshua.
 ⁸ The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and also Mattaniah, who, together with his associates, was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving. ⁹ Bakbukiah and Unni, their associates, stood opposite them in the services.
 ¹⁰ Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim the father of Eliashib, Eliashib the father of Joiada, ¹¹ Joiada the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan the father of Jaddua.
 ¹² In the days of Joiakim, these were the heads of the priestly families:
       of Seraiah's family, Meraiah;
       of Jeremiah's, Hananiah;
 ¹³ of Ezra's, Meshullam;
       of Amariah's, Jehohanan;
 ¹⁴ of Malluch's, Jonathan;
       of Shecaniah's, ^[d] Joseph;
 ¹⁵ of Harim's, Adna;
       of Meremoth's, ^[e] Helkai;
 ¹⁶ of Iddo's, Zechariah;
       of Ginnethon's, Meshullam;
 ¹⁷ of Abijah's, Zicri;
       of Miniamin's and of Moadiah's, Piltai;
 ¹⁸ of Bilgah's, Shammua;
       of Shemaiah's, Jehonathan;
 ¹⁹ of Joiarib's, Mattenai;
       of Jedaiah's, Uzzi;
 ²⁰ of Sallu's, Kallai;
       of Amok's, Eber;
 ²¹ of Hilkiah's, Hashabiah;
       of Jedaiah's, Nethanel.
 ²² The family heads of the Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan and Jaddua, as well as those of the priests, were recorded in the reign of Darius the Persian. ²³ The family heads among the descendants of Levi up to the time of Johanan son of Eliashib were recorded in the book of the annals. ²⁴ And the leaders of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua son of Kadmiel, and their associates, who stood opposite them to give praise and thanksgiving, one section responding to the other, as prescribed by David the man of God.
 ²⁵ Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the storerooms at the gates. ²⁶ They served in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra the priest and scribe.

Dedication of the Wall of Jerusalem

 ²⁷ At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres. ²⁸ The singers also were brought together from the region around Jerusalem—from the villages of the Netophathites, ²⁹ from Beth Gilgal, and from the area of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem. ³⁰ When the priests and Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they purified the people, the gates and the wall.  ³¹ I had the leaders of Judah go up on top ^[f] of the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed on top ^[g] of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate. ³² Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed them, ³³ along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴ Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah, ³⁵ as well as some priests with trumpets, and also Zechariah son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph, ³⁶ and his associates—Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah and Hanani—with musical instruments prescribed by David the man of God. Ezra the scribe led the procession. ³⁷ At the Fountain Gate they continued directly up the steps of the City of David on the ascent to the wall and passed above the house of David to the Water Gate on the east.
 ³⁸ The second choir proceeded in the opposite direction. I followed them on top ^[h] of the wall, together with half the people—past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall, ³⁹ over the Gate of Ephraim, the Jeshanah ^[i] Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate. At the Gate of the Guard they stopped.
 ⁴⁰ The two choirs that gave thanks then took their places in the house of God; so did I, together with half the officials, ⁴¹ as well as the priests—Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah and Hananiah with their trumpets- ⁴² and also Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malkijah, Elam and Ezer. The choirs sang under the direction of Jezrahiah. ⁴³ And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.
 ⁴⁴ At that time men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms for the contributions, firstfruits and tithes. From the fields around the towns they were to bring into the storerooms the portions required by the Law for the priests and the Levites, for Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and Levites. ⁴⁵ They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did also the singers and gatekeepers, according to the commands of David and his son Solomon. ⁴⁶ For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. ⁴⁷ So in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside the portion for the other Levites, and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron.

Nehemiah 13

Nehemiah's Final Reforms

 ¹ On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God, ² because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.) ³ When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.  ⁴ Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, ⁵ and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.
 ⁶ But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission ⁷ and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. ⁸ I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah's household goods out of the room. ⁹ I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.
 ¹⁰ I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and singers responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields. ¹¹ So I rebuked the officials and asked them, "Why is the house of God neglected?" Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts.
 ¹² All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and oil into the storerooms. ¹³ I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, their assistant, because these men were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible for distributing the supplies to their brothers.
 ¹⁴ Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.
 ¹⁵ In those days I saw men in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. ¹⁶ Men from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. ¹⁷ I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? ¹⁸ Didn't your forefathers do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity upon us and upon this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath."
 ¹⁹ When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰ Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. ²¹ But I warned them and said, "Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will lay hands on you." From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. ²² Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.
      Remember me for this also, O my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.
 ²³ Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. ²⁴ Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah. ²⁵ I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God's name and said: "You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves. ²⁶ Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. ²⁷ Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?"
 ²⁸ One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. And I drove him away from me.
 ²⁹ Remember them, O my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
 ³⁰ So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign, and assigned them duties, each to his own task. ³¹ I also made provision for contributions of wood at designated times, and for the firstfruits.
      Remember me with favor, O my God.

Footnotes:

1. Nehemiah 11:14 Most Septuagint manuscripts; Hebrew their
2. Nehemiah 12:4 Many Hebrew manuscripts and Vulgate (see also Neh. 12:16 most Hebrew manuscripts Ginnethoi
3. Nehemiah 12:5 A variant of Miniamin
4. Nehemiah 12:14 Very many Hebrew manuscripts, some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac (see also Neh. 12:3 most Hebrew manuscripts Shebaniah's
5. Nehemiah 12:15 Some Septuagint manuscripts (see also Neh. 12:3 Hebrew Meraioth's
6. Nehemiah 12:31 Or go alongside
7. Nehemiah 12:31 Or proceed alongside
8. Nehemiah 12:38 Or them alongside
9. Nehemiah 12:39 Or Old
   

    

   Psalm 126

   A song of ascents.

    ¹ When the LORD brought back the captives to ^[a] Zion,
          we were like men who dreamed. ^{[b]  2} Our mouths were filled with laughter,
          our tongues with songs of joy.
          Then it was said among the nations,
          "The LORD has done great things for them."
    ³ The LORD has done great things for us,
          and we are filled with joy.
    ⁴ Restore our fortunes, ^[c] O LORD,
          like streams in the Negev.
    ⁵ Those who sow in tears
          will reap with songs of joy.
    ⁶ He who goes out weeping,
          carrying seed to sow,
          will return with songs of joy,
          carrying sheaves with him.
   
   Footnotes:

   1. Psalm 126:1 Or LORD restored the fortunes of
   2. Psalm 126:1 Or men restored to health
   3. Psalm 126:4 Or Bring back our captives

Day 262 - Ezra 4-6; Psalm 137

Ezra 4

Opposition to the Rebuilding

 ¹ When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel, ² they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, "Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here."  ³ But Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, "You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us."
 ⁴ Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. ^{[a] 5} They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Later Opposition Under Xerxes and Artaxerxes

 ⁶ At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes, ^[b] they lodged an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.  ⁷ And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic script and in the Aramaic language. ^[c] , ^[d]
 8 Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows:
 ⁹ Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary, together with the rest of their associates—the judges and officials over the men from Tripolis, Persia, ^[e] Erech and Babylon, the Elamites of Susa, ¹⁰ and the other people whom the great and honorable Ashurbanipal ^[f] deported and settled in the city of Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates.
 ¹¹ (This is a copy of the letter they sent him.)
       To King Artaxerxes,
       From your servants, the men of Trans-Euphrates:
 ¹² The king should know that the Jews who came up to us from you have gone to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are restoring the walls and repairing the foundations.
 ¹³ Furthermore, the king should know that if this city is built and its walls are restored, no more taxes, tribute or duty will be paid, and the royal revenues will suffer. ¹⁴ Now since we are under obligation to the palace and it is not proper for us to see the king dishonored, we are sending this message to inform the king, ¹⁵ so that a search may be made in the archives of your predecessors. In these records you will find that this city is a rebellious city, troublesome to kings and provinces, a place of rebellion from ancient times. That is why this city was destroyed. ¹⁶ We inform the king that if this city is built and its walls are restored, you will be left with nothing in Trans-Euphrates.
 ¹⁷ The king sent this reply:
       To Rehum the commanding officer, Shimshai the secretary and the rest of their associates living in Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates:
       Greetings.
 ¹⁸ The letter you sent us has been read and translated in my presence. ¹⁹ I issued an order and a search was made, and it was found that this city has a long history of revolt against kings and has been a place of rebellion and sedition. ²⁰ Jerusalem has had powerful kings ruling over the whole of Trans-Euphrates, and taxes, tribute and duty were paid to them. ²¹ Now issue an order to these men to stop work, so that this city will not be rebuilt until I so order. ²² Be careful not to neglect this matter. Why let this threat grow, to the detriment of the royal interests?
 ²³ As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop.
 ²⁴ Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Ezra 5

Tattenai's Letter to Darius

 ¹ Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. ² Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them.  ³ At that time Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates went to them and asked, "Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?" ⁴ They also asked, "What are the names of the men constructing this building?" ^{[g] 5} But the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received.
 ⁶ This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates, the officials of Trans-Euphrates, sent to King Darius. ⁷ The report they sent him read as follows:
       To King Darius:
       Cordial greetings.
 ⁸ The king should know that we went to the district of Judah, to the temple of the great God. The people are building it with large stones and placing the timbers in the walls. The work is being carried on with diligence and is making rapid progress under their direction.
 ⁹ We questioned the elders and asked them, "Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?" ¹⁰ We also asked them their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.
 ¹¹ This is the answer they gave us:
       "We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished. ¹² But because our fathers angered the God of heaven, he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.
 ¹³ "However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. ¹⁴ He even removed from the temple ^[h] of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple ^[i] in Babylon.
       "Then King Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor, ¹⁵ and he told him, 'Take these articles and go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the house of God on its site.' ¹⁶ So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From that day to the present it has been under construction but is not yet finished."
 ¹⁷ Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.

Ezra 6

The Decree of Darius

 ¹ King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. ² A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:
      Memorandum:  ³ In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:
       Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be ninety feet ^[j] high and ninety feet wide, ⁴ with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury. ⁵ Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God.
 ⁶ Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you, their fellow officials of that province, stay away from there. ⁷ Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.
 ⁸ Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God:
       The expenses of these men are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop. ⁹ Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given them daily without fail, ¹⁰ so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons.
 ¹¹ Furthermore, I decree that if anyone changes this edict, a beam is to be pulled from his house and he is to be lifted up and impaled on it. And for this crime his house is to be made a pile of rubble. ¹² May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem.
       I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence.

Completion and Dedication of the Temple

 ¹³ Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence. ¹⁴ So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. ¹⁵ The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.  ¹⁶ Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. ¹⁷ For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁸ And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.

The Passover

 ¹⁹ On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover. ²⁰ The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their brothers the priests and for themselves. ²¹ So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the LORD, the God of Israel. ²² For seven days they celebrated with joy the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because the LORD had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria, so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

Footnotes:

1. Ezra 4:4 Or and troubled them as they built
2. Ezra 4:6 Hebrew Ahasuerus , a variant of Xerxes' Persian name
3. Ezra 4:7 Or written in Aramaic and translated
4. Ezra 4:7 The text of Ezra 4:8-6:18 is in Aramaic.
5. Ezra 4:9 Or officials, magistrates and governors over the men from
6. Ezra 4:10 Aramaic Osnappar , a variant of Ashurbanipal
7. Ezra 5:4 See Septuagint; Aramaic 4 We told them the names of the men constructing this building.
8. Ezra 5:14 Or palace
9. Ezra 5:14 Or palace
10. Ezra 6:3 Aramaic sixty cubits (about 27 meters) 

Psalm 137

 ¹ By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
       when we remembered Zion.
 ² There on the poplars
       we hung our harps,
 ³ for there our captors asked us for songs,
       our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
       they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
 ⁴ How can we sing the songs of the LORD
       while in a foreign land?
 ⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
       may my right hand forget its skill .
 ⁶ May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
       if I do not remember you,
       if I do not consider Jerusalem
       my highest joy.
 ⁷ Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did
       on the day Jerusalem fell.
       "Tear it down," they cried,
       "tear it down to its foundations!"
 ⁸ O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
       happy is he who repays you
       for what you have done to us-
 ⁹ he who seizes your infants
       and dashes them against the rocks.

Day 230 - Jeremiah 38-40; Psalm 74; Psalm 79

Jeremiah 38

Jeremiah Thrown Into a Cistern

¹ Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal ^a]">[a] son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, ² "This is what the LORD says: 'Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians ^b]">[b] will live. He will escape with his life; he will live.' ³ And this is what the LORD says: 'This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.' "

⁴ Then the officials said to the king, "This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin."

⁵ "He is in your hands," King Zedekiah answered. "The king can do nothing to oppose you."

⁶ So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king's son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

⁷ But Ebed-Melech, a Cushite, ^c]">[c] an official ^d]">[d] in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, ⁸ Ebed-Melech went out of the palace and said to him, ⁹ "My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city."

¹⁰ Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Cushite, "Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies."

¹¹ So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. ¹² Ebed-Melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, "Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes." Jeremiah did so, ¹³ and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Zedekiah Questions Jeremiah Again

¹⁴ Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of the LORD. "I am going to ask you something," the king said to Jeremiah. "Do not hide anything from me."

¹⁵ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me."

¹⁶ But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: "As surely as the LORD lives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who are seeking your life."

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "This is what the LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live. ¹⁸ But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from their hands.' "

¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me."

²⁰ "They will not hand you over," Jeremiah replied. "Obey the LORD by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. ²¹ But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD has revealed to me: ²² All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you:
" 'They misled you and overcame you—
those trusted friends of yours.
Your feet are sunk in the mud;
your friends have deserted you.'

²³ "All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city will ^e]">[e] be burned down."

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die. ²⁵ If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, 'Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,' ²⁶ then tell them, 'I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan's house to die there.' "

²⁷ All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king.

²⁸ And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

Jeremiah 39

The Fall of Jerusalem

¹ This is how Jerusalem was taken: In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege to it. ² And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah's eleventh year, the city wall was broken through. ³ Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim ^f]">[f] a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon. ⁴ When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled; they left the city at night by way of the king's garden, through the gate between the two walls, and headed toward the Arabah. ^g]">[g]

⁵ But the Babylonian ^h]">[h] army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They captured him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him. ⁶ There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles of Judah. ⁷ Then he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.

⁸ The Babylonians ^i]">[i] set fire to the royal palace and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard carried into exile to Babylon the people who remained in the city, along with those who had gone over to him, and the rest of the people. ¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.

¹¹ Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given these orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard: ¹² "Take him and look after him; don't harm him but do for him whatever he asks." ¹³ So Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard, Nebushazban a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officers of the king of Babylon ¹⁴ sent and had Jeremiah taken out of the courtyard of the guard. They turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him back to his home. So he remained among his own people.

¹⁵ While Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him: ¹⁶ "Go and tell Ebed-Melech the Cushite, 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words against this city through disaster, not prosperity. At that time they will be fulfilled before your eyes. ¹⁷ But I will rescue you on that day, declares the LORD; you will not be handed over to those you fear. ¹⁸ I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the LORD.' "

Jeremiah 40

Jeremiah Freed

¹ The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had released him at Ramah. He had found Jeremiah bound in chains among all the captives from Jerusalem and Judah who were being carried into exile to Babylon. ² When the commander of the guard found Jeremiah, he said to him, "The LORD your God decreed this disaster for this place. ³ And now the LORD has brought it about; he has done just as he said he would. All this happened because you people sinned against the LORD and did not obey him. ⁴ But today I am freeing you from the chains on your wrists. Come with me to Babylon, if you like, and I will look after you; but if you do not want to, then don't come. Look, the whole country lies before you; go wherever you please." ⁵ However, before Jeremiah turned to go, ^j]">[j] Nebuzaradan added, "Go back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the towns of Judah, and live with him among the people, or go anywhere else you please."
Then the commander gave him provisions and a present and let him go. ⁶ So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left behind in the land.

Gedaliah Assassinated

⁷ When all the army officers and their men who were still in the open country heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor over the land and had put him in charge of the men, women and children who were the poorest in the land and who had not been carried into exile to Babylon, ⁸ they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah ^k]">[k] the son of the Maacathite, and their men. ⁹ Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath to reassure them and their men. "Do not be afraid to serve the Babylonians, ^l]">[l] " he said. "Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you. ¹⁰ I myself will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians who come to us, but you are to harvest the wine, summer fruit and oil, and put them in your storage jars, and live in the towns you have taken over."

¹¹ When all the Jews in Moab, Ammon, Edom and all the other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as governor over them, ¹² they all came back to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, from all the countries where they had been scattered. And they harvested an abundance of wine and summer fruit.

¹³ Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers still in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah ¹⁴ and said to him, "Don't you know that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to take your life?" But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.

¹⁵ Then Johanan son of Kareah said privately to Gedaliah in Mizpah, "Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he take your life and cause all the Jews who are gathered around you to be scattered and the remnant of Judah to perish?"

¹⁶ But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, "Don't do such a thing! What you are saying about Ishmael is not true."

Footnotes:

1. Jeremiah 38:1 Hebrew Jucal , a variant of Jehucal
2. Jeremiah 38:2 Or Chaldeans ; also in verses 18, 19 and 23
3. Jeremiah 38:7 Probably from the upper Nile region
4. Jeremiah 38:7 Or a eunuch
5. Jeremiah 38:23 Or and you will cause this city to
6. Jeremiah 39:3 Or Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsekim
7. Jeremiah 39:4 Or the Jordan Valley
8. Jeremiah 39:5 Or Chaldean
9. Jeremiah 39:8 Or Chaldeans
10. Jeremiah 40:5 Or Jeremiah answered
11. Jeremiah 40:8 Hebrew Jezaniah , a variant of Jaazaniah
12. Jeremiah 40:9 Or Chaldeans ; also in verse 10

Psalm 74

A maskil of Asaph. ^a]">[a]

¹ Why have you rejected us forever, O God?
Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?

² Remember the people you purchased of old,
the tribe of your inheritance, whom you redeemed—
Mount Zion, where you dwelt.

³ Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins,
all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary.

⁴ Your foes roared in the place where you met with us;
they set up their standards as signs.

⁵ They behaved like men wielding axes
to cut through a thicket of trees.

⁶ They smashed all the carved paneling
with their axes and hatchets.

⁷ They burned your sanctuary to the ground;
they defiled the dwelling place of your Name.

⁸ They said in their hearts, "We will crush them completely!"
They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.

⁹ We are given no miraculous signs;
no prophets are left,
and none of us knows how long this will be.

¹⁰ How long will the enemy mock you, O God?
Will the foe revile your name forever?

¹¹ Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!

¹² But you, O God, are my king from of old;
you bring salvation upon the earth.

¹³ It was you who split open the sea by your power;
you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.

¹⁴ It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan
and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert.

¹⁵ It was you who opened up springs and streams;
you dried up the ever flowing rivers.

¹⁶ The day is yours, and yours also the night;
you established the sun and moon.

¹⁷ It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;
you made both summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember how the enemy has mocked you, O LORD,
how foolish people have reviled your name.

¹⁹ Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts;
do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever.

²⁰ Have regard for your covenant,
because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.

²¹ Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace;
may the poor and needy praise your name.

²² Rise up, O God, and defend your cause;
remember how fools mock you all day long.

²³ Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries,
the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 74:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term

Psalm 79

A psalm of Asaph.

¹ O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple,
they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

² They have given the dead bodies of your servants
as food to the birds of the air,
the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth.

³ They have poured out blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there is no one to bury the dead.

⁴ We are objects of reproach to our neighbors,
of scorn and derision to those around us.

⁵ How long, O LORD ? Will you be angry forever?
How long will your jealousy burn like fire?

⁶ Pour out your wrath on the nations
that do not acknowledge you,
on the kingdoms
that do not call on your name;

⁷ for they have devoured Jacob
and destroyed his homeland.

⁸ Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers;
may your mercy come quickly to meet us,
for we are in desperate need.

⁹ Help us, O God our Savior,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins
for your name's sake.

¹⁰ Why should the nations say,
"Where is their God?"
Before our eyes, make known among the nations
that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.

¹¹ May the groans of the prisoners come before you;
by the strength of your arm
preserve those condemned to die.

¹² Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times
the reproach they have hurled at you, O Lord.

¹³ Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will praise you forever;
from generation to generation
we will recount your praise.

Day 209 - 2 Kings 18:9-19:37; Psalm 46; Psalm 80; Psalm 135

2 Kings 18:9-19:37

⁹ In King Hezekiah's fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. ¹⁰ At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah's sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. ¹¹ The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes. ¹² This happened because they had not obeyed the LORD their God, but had violated his covenant—all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened to the commands nor carried them out.

¹³ In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ¹⁴ So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: "I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me." The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents ^a]">[a] of silver and thirty talents ^b]">[b] of gold. ¹⁵ So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

¹⁶ At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the LORD, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

¹⁷ The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field. ¹⁸ They called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.

¹⁹ The field commander said to them, "Tell Hezekiah:
" 'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? ²⁰ You say you have strategy and military strength—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? ²¹ Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man's hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. ²² And if you say to me, "We are depending on the LORD our God"-isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem"?

²³ " 'Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! ²⁴ How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master's officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen ^c]">[c] ? ²⁵ Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the LORD ? The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.' "

²⁶ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall."

²⁷ But the commander replied, "Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the men sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own filth and drink their own urine?"

²⁸ Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew: "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹ This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. ³⁰ Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, 'The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'

³¹ "Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, ³² until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death!
"Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, 'The LORD will deliver us.' ³³ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? ³⁵ Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?"

³⁶ But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, "Do not answer him."

³⁷ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.

2 Kings 19

Jerusalem's Deliverance Foretold

¹ When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD. ² He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ³ They told him, "This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴ It may be that the LORD your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the LORD your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives."

⁵ When King Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master, 'This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ⁷ Listen! I am going to put such a spirit in him that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.' "

⁸ When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

⁹ Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite ^d]">[d] king of Egypt , was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: ¹⁰ "Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, 'Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.' ¹¹ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? ¹² Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them: the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?"

Hezekiah's Prayer

¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD : "O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶ Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.

¹⁷ "It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. ¹⁸ They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by men's hands. ¹⁹ Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God."

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib's Fall

²⁰ Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. ²¹ This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him:
" 'The Virgin Daughter of Zion
despises you and mocks you.
The Daughter of Jerusalem
tosses her head as you flee.

²² Who is it you have insulted and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!

²³ By your messengers
you have heaped insults on the Lord.
And you have said,
"With my many chariots
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
the choicest of its pines.
I have reached its remotest parts,
the finest of its forests.

²⁴ I have dug wells in foreign lands
and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
I have dried up all the streams of Egypt."

²⁵ " 'Have you not heard?
Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it;
now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
into piles of stone.

²⁶ Their people, drained of power,
are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
like tender green shoots,
like grass sprouting on the roof,
scorched before it grows up.

²⁷ " 'But I know where you stay
and when you come and go
and how you rage against me.

²⁸ Because you rage against me
and your insolence has reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you return
by the way you came.'

²⁹ "This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah:
"This year you will eat what grows by itself,
and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

³⁰ Once more a remnant of the house of Judah
will take root below and bear fruit above.

³¹ For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,
and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

³² "Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria:
"He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.

³³ By the way that he came he will return;
he will not enter this city,
declares the LORD.

³⁴ I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my servant."

³⁵ That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! ³⁶ So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

³⁷ One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.

Footnotes:

1. 2 Kings 18:14 That is, about 11 tons (about 10 metric tons)
2. 2 Kings 18:14 That is, about 1 ton (about 1 metric ton)
3. 2 Kings 18:24 Or charioteers
4. 2 Kings 19:9 That is, from the upper Nile region

Psalm 46

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A song. ^a]">[a]

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

³ though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

⁷ The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

⁸ Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.

⁹ He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields ^b]">[b] with fire.

¹⁰ "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

¹¹ The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 46:1 Title: Probably a musical term
2. Psalm 46:9 Or chariots

Psalm 80

For the director of music. To the tune of "The Lilies of the Covenant." Of Asaph. A psalm.

¹ Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock;
you who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth

² before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Awaken your might;
come and save us.

³ Restore us, O God;
make your face shine upon us,
that we may be saved.

⁴ O LORD God Almighty,
how long will your anger smolder
against the prayers of your people?

⁵ You have fed them with the bread of tears;
you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.

⁶ You have made us a source of contention to our neighbors,
and our enemies mock us.

⁷ Restore us, O God Almighty;
make your face shine upon us,
that we may be saved.

⁸ You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.

⁹ You cleared the ground for it,
and it took root and filled the land.

¹⁰ The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.

¹¹ It sent out its boughs to the Sea, ^a]">[a]
its shoots as far as the River. ^b]">[b]

¹² Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its grapes?

¹³ Boars from the forest ravage it
and the creatures of the field feed on it.

¹⁴ Return to us, O God Almighty!
Look down from heaven and see!
Watch over this vine,

¹⁵ the root your right hand has planted,
the son ^c]">[c] you have raised up for yourself.

¹⁶ Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire;
at your rebuke your people perish.

¹⁷ Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
the son of man you have raised up for yourself.

¹⁸ Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.

¹⁹ Restore us, O LORD God Almighty;
make your face shine upon us,
that we may be saved.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 80:11 Probably the Mediterranean
2. Psalm 80:11 That is, the Euphrates
3. Psalm 80:15 Or branch

Psalm 135

¹ Praise the LORD. ^a]">[a]
Praise the name of the LORD;
praise him, you servants of the LORD,

² you who minister in the house of the LORD,
in the courts of the house of our God.

³ Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant.

⁴ For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own,
Israel to be his treasured possession.

⁵ I know that the LORD is great,
that our Lord is greater than all gods.

⁶ The LORD does whatever pleases him,
in the heavens and on the earth,
in the seas and all their depths.

⁷ He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
he sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

⁸ He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
the firstborn of men and animals.

⁹ He sent his signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt,
against Pharaoh and all his servants.

¹⁰ He struck down many nations
and killed mighty kings-

¹¹ Sihon king of the Amorites,
Og king of Bashan
and all the kings of Canaan-

¹² and he gave their land as an inheritance,
an inheritance to his people Israel.

¹³ Your name, O LORD, endures forever,
your renown, O LORD, through all generations.

¹⁴ For the LORD will vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants.

¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
made by the hands of men.

¹⁶ They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but they cannot see;

¹⁷ they have ears, but cannot hear,
nor is there breath in their mouths.

¹⁸ Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.

¹⁹ O house of Israel, praise the LORD;
O house of Aaron, praise the LORD;

²⁰ O house of Levi, praise the LORD;
you who fear him, praise the LORD.

²¹ Praise be to the LORD from Zion,
to him who dwells in Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 135:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah ; also in verses 3 and 21