Remember what you told your servant, Moses. You told him, “If the Israelites turn away from me, I will make them live among foreign people in many different places. But if they return to me and they obey my commands, I will be kind to them. I will bring them back together again from all […]
Then Shecaniah spoke to Ezra. Shecaniah was Jehiel’s son, a descendant of Elam. Shecaniah said, ‘We have not been faithful to our God. We have married foreign women from the nations who live near us. But we believe that Israel may still hope for God’s mercy. We will make an agreement with our God. We […]
We began our journey from the Ahava river on the 12th day of the first month. We left there to go to Jerusalem. Our God kept us safe on the journey. No enemies attacked us and nobody robbed us on the way. Ezra 8:31 正月十二日，我們從亞哈瓦河邊起行，要往耶路撒冷去。我們上帝的手保佑我們，救我們脫離仇敵和路上埋伏之人的手。 以斯拉記 8:31
God was kind to us and he helped us. So they brought Sherebiah to us. He was a clever worker. He was a descendant of Israel’s son Levi. He belonged to the clan of Levi’s son, Mahli. Sherebiah came with his sons and brothers. Together they were 18 men. Hashabiah and Jeshaiah also came. They […]
This man Ezra arrived from Babylon. He was a teacher who knew the law of Moses very well. The Lord, Israel’s God, had given that law to Moses. Ezra served the Lord as his God. The Lord was kind and he helped Ezra, so that the king of Persia gave him everything that he asked […]
The priests and Levites had all made themselves clean for their special work. The Levites killed the lambs for the Passover sacrifice. They did that on behalf of all the people, the priests and themselves. Ezra 6:20 原來，祭司和利未人一同自潔，無一人不潔淨。利未人為被擄歸回的眾人和他們的弟兄眾祭司，並為自己宰逾越節的羊羔。 以斯拉記 6:20
So I will now tell you what you must do for the Jewish leaders. You must help them to build this temple again. Use the king’s money to pay for everything that they need to continue the work. Use the taxes that we receive from people in the region west of the Euphrates river. The […]
Then the prophets Haggai and Iddo’s grandson, Zechariah, spoke messages from God. They served Israel’s God, and they spoke with his authority. They told God’s message to the Jews who lived in Jerusalem and in other parts of Judea. Then Shealtiel’s son, Zerubbabel, and Jozadak’s son, Jeshua, started again to build God’s temple in Jerusalem. […]
But Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the other leaders of Israel’s people said, ‘No. You cannot help us to build the temple for our God. We must build it by ourselves for the Lord, Israel’s God. That is what Cyrus, king of Persia, has commanded us to do.’ Then the people who lived near them tried to […]
The men who were building the Lord’s temple finished the foundations. Then the priests put on their special clothes. They made a noise with their trumpets. The Levites (sons of Asaph) made a noise with their cymbals. They all stood to praise the Lord, in the way that Israel’s King David had told them many […]
