Friday, February 14, 2025
Ezra Reads the Law
8 And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they [a]asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had [b]given to Israel. 2 Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 He read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from [c]early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the book of the law. 4 Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam on his left hand. 5 Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 Then Ezra blessed the Lord the great God. And all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. 7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, explained the law to the people while the people remained in their place. 8 They read from the book, from the law of God, [d]translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.
“This Day Is Holy”
9 Then Nehemiah, who was the [e]governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law. 10 Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” 11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved.” 12 All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to [f]celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words which had been made known to them.
Feast of Booths Restored
13 Then on the second day the heads of fathers’ households of all the people, the priests and the Levites were gathered to Ezra the scribe that they might gain insight into the words of the law. 14 They found written in the law how the Lord had commanded through Moses that the sons of Israel should live in booths during the feast of the seventh month. 15 [g]So they proclaimed and circulated a proclamation in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hills, and bring olive branches and [h]wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches and branches of other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.” 16 So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. 17 The entire assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in [i]them. The sons of Israel had indeed not done so from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day. And there was great rejoicing. 18 He read from the book of the law of God daily, from the first day to the last day. And they celebrated the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the ordinance.
Footnotes
- Nehemiah 8:1 Lit said to
- Nehemiah 8:1 Lit commanded
- Nehemiah 8:3 Lit the light
- Nehemiah 8:8 Or explaining
- Nehemiah 8:9 Heb Tirshatha, a Persian title
- Nehemiah 8:12 Lit make a great rejoicing
- Nehemiah 8:15 Lit And that they will cause to be heard
- Nehemiah 8:15 Lit oil tree, species unknown
- Nehemiah 8:17 Lit the booths
God Uses Cyrus
45 Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed,
Whom I have taken by the right hand,
To subdue nations before him
And [a]to loose the loins of kings;
To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:
2 “I will go before you and make the [b]rough places smooth;
I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars.
3 “I will give you the [c]treasures of darkness
And hidden wealth of secret places,
So that you may know that it is I,
The Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.
4 “For the sake of Jacob My servant,
And Israel My chosen one,
I have also called you by your name;
I have given you a title of honor
Though you have not known Me.
5 “I am the Lord, and there is no other;
Besides Me there is no God.
I will [d]gird you, though you have not known Me;
6 That [e]men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is no one besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other,
7 The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing [f]well-being and creating calamity;
I am the Lord who does all these.
God’s Supreme Power
8 “Drip down, O heavens, from above,
And let the clouds pour down righteousness;
Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit,
And righteousness spring up with it.
I, the Lord, have created it.
9 “Woe to the one who quarrels with his [g]Maker—
An earthenware vessel [h]among the vessels of earth!
Will the clay say to the [i]potter, ‘What are you doing?’
Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?
10 “Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
Or to a woman, ‘To what are you [j]giving birth?’”
11 Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his [k]Maker:
“[l]Ask Me about the things to come [m]concerning My sons,
And you shall commit to Me the work of My hands.
12 “It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it.
I stretched out the heavens with My hands
And I [n]ordained all their host.
13 “I have aroused him in righteousness
And I will make all his ways smooth;
He will build My city and will let My exiles go free,
Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of hosts.
14 Thus says the Lord,
“The [o]products of Egypt and the merchandise of [p]Cush
And the Sabeans, men of stature,
Will come over to you and will be yours;
They will walk behind you, they will come over in chains
And will bow down to you;
They will make supplication to you:
‘[q]Surely, God is [r]with you, and there is none else,
No other God.’”
15 Truly, You are a God who hides Himself,
O God of Israel, Savior!
16 They will be put to shame and even humiliated, all of them;
The manufacturers of idols will go away together in humiliation.
17 Israel has been saved by the Lord
With an everlasting salvation;
You will not be put to shame or humiliated
To all eternity.
18 For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it [s]a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited),
“I am the Lord, and there is none else.
19 “I have not spoken in secret,
In [t]some dark land;
I did not say to the [u]offspring of Jacob,
‘Seek Me in [v]a waste place’;
I, the Lord, speak righteousness,
Declaring things that are upright.
20 “Gather yourselves and come;
Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations;
They have no knowledge,
Who carry about [w]their wooden idol
And pray to a god who cannot save.
21 “Declare and set forth your case;
Indeed, let them consult together.
Who has announced this from of old?
Who has long since declared it?
Is it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other God besides Me,
A righteous God and a Savior;
There is none except Me.
22 “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 “I have sworn by Myself,
The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness
And will not turn back,
That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.
24 “They will say of Me, ‘Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.’
Men will come to Him,
And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.
25 “In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
Will be justified and will glory.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 45:1 Lit I will loose
- Isaiah 45:2 Another reading is mountains
- Isaiah 45:3 Or hoarded treasures
- Isaiah 45:5 Or arm
- Isaiah 45:6 Lit they
- Isaiah 45:7 Or peace
- Isaiah 45:9 Lit Fashioner
- Isaiah 45:9 Lit with
- Isaiah 45:9 Lit Fashioner
- Isaiah 45:10 Lit in labor pains with
- Isaiah 45:11 Lit Fashioner
- Isaiah 45:11 Or Will you ask
- Isaiah 45:11 Or upon
- Isaiah 45:12 Or commanded
- Isaiah 45:14 Lit labor
- Isaiah 45:14 Or Ethiopia
- Isaiah 45:14 Or God is with you alone
- Isaiah 45:14 Or in
- Isaiah 45:18 Or in vain
- Isaiah 45:19 Lit a place of a land of darkness
- Isaiah 45:19 Lit seed
- Isaiah 45:19 Or vain
- Isaiah 45:20 Lit the wood of their graven image