Day 236 of 365

Ezra 4:1–6:22

4:1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel;

4:2 then they drew near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers' households, and said to them, "Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as you do; and we sacrifice to him since the days of Esar Haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here."

4:3 But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' households of Israel, said to them, "You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves together will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us."

4:4 Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

4:5 and hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

4:6 In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

4:7 In the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his companions, to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the writing of the letter was written in Syrian, and set forth in the Syrian language.

4:8 Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort:

4:9 then Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions, the Dinaites, and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites,

4:10 and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar brought over, and set in the city of Samaria, and in the rest of the country beyond the River, and so forth, wrote.

4:11 This is the copy of the letter that they sent to Artaxerxes the king: Your servants the men beyond the River, and so forth.

4:12 Be it known to the king, that the Jews who came up from you have come to us to Jerusalem; they are building the rebellious and the bad city, and have finished the walls, and repaired the foundations.

4:13 Be it known now to the king that if this city is built, and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and in the end it will be hurtful to the kings.

4:14 Now because we eat the salt of the palace, and it is not appropriate for us to see the king's dishonor, therefore have we sent and informed the king;

4:15 that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers: so you shall find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they have moved sedition within the same of old time; for which cause was this city laid waste.

4:16 We inform the king that, if this city be built, and the walls finished, by this means you shall have no portion beyond the River.

4:17 Then the king sent an answer to Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their companions who dwell in Samaria, and in the rest of the country beyond the River: Peace, and so forth.

4:18 The letter which you sent to us has been plainly read before me.

4:19 I decreed, and search has been made, and it is found that this city of old time has made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made therein.

4:20 There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, who have ruled over all the country beyond the River; and tribute, custom, and toll, was paid to them.

4:21 Make a decree now to cause these men to cease, and that this city not be built, until a decree shall be made by me.

4:22 Take heed that you not be slack herein: why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings?

4:23 Then when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power.

4:24 Then ceased the work of God's house which is at Jerusalem; and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

5:1 Now the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem; in the name of the God of Israel they prophesied to them.

5:2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build God's house which is at Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God, helping them.

5:3 At the same time came to them Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, and Shetharbozenai, and their companions, and said thus to them, "Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall?"

5:4 Then we told them in this way, what the names of the men were who were making this building.

5:5 But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not make them cease, until the matter should come to Darius, and then answer should be returned by letter concerning it.

5:6 The copy of the letter that Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, and Shetharbozenai, and his companions the Apharsachites, who were beyond the River, sent to Darius the king;

5:7 they sent a letter to him, in which was written thus: To Darius the king, all peace.

5:8 Be it known to the king, that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God, which is built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls; and this work goes on with diligence and prospers in their hands.

5:9 Then we asked those elders, and said to them thus, "Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall?"

5:10 We asked them their names also, to inform you that we might write the names of the men who were at their head.

5:11 Thus they returned us answer, saying, "We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are building the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

5:12 But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon.

5:13 But in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree to build this house of God.

5:14 The gold and silver vessels also of God's house, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought into the temple of Babylon, those Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor;

5:15 and he said to him, 'Take these vessels, go, put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let God's house be built in its place.'

5:16 Then the same Sheshbazzar came, and laid the foundations of God's house which is in Jerusalem: and since that time even until now has it been in building, and yet it is not completed.

5:17 Now therefore, if it seem good to the king, let a search be made in the king's treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether it be so, that a decree was made of Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem; and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter."

6:1 Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the archives, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.

6:2 There was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of Media, a scroll, and therein was thus written for a record:

6:3 In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree: Concerning God's house at Jerusalem, let the house be built, the place where they offer sacrifices, and let its foundations be strongly laid; its height sixty cubits, and its breadth sixty cubits;

6:4 with three courses of great stones, and a course of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house.

6:5 Also let the gold and silver vessels of God's house, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be restored, and brought again to the temple which is at Jerusalem, everyone to its place; and you shall put them in God's house.

6:6 Now therefore, Tattenai, governor beyond the River, Shetharbozenai, and your companions the Apharsachites, who are beyond the River, you must stay far from there.

6:7 Leave the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in its place.

6:8 Moreover I make a decree what you shall do to these elders of the Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the River, expenses be given with all diligence to these men, that they be not hindered.

6:9 That which they have need of, both young bulls, and rams, and lambs, for burnt offerings to the God of heaven; also wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests who are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail;

6:10 that they may offer sacrifices of pleasant aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.

6:11 Also I have made a decree, that whoever shall alter this word, let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and fastened thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this:

6:12 and the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow all kings and peoples who shall put forth their hand to alter the same, to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with all diligence.

6:13 Then Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, Shetharbozenai, and their companions, because Darius the king had sent a decree, did accordingly with all diligence.

6:14 The elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

6:15 This house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

6:16 The children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy.

6:17 They offered at the dedication of this house of God one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

6:18 They set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses.

6:19 The children of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

6:20 For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were pure: and they killed the Passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brothers the priests, and for themselves.

6:21 The children of Israel who had come again out of the captivity, and all such as had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek the Lord, the God of Israel, ate,

6:22 and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the Lord had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of God's house, the God of Israel.

Jude 1:1–13

1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of Jacob, to those who are called, loved by God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:

2 Mercy to you and peace and love be multiplied.

3 Beloved, while I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

4 For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

5 Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

6 Angels who did not keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.

7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, having, in the same way as these, given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

8 Yet in like manner these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings.

9 But Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil and arguing about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation, but said, "May the Lord rebuke you!"

10 But these speak evil of whatever things they do not know. What they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, they are destroyed in these things.

11 Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in Korah's rebellion.

12 These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn leaves without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

13 wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.

Job 7:1–15

1 "Isn't a man forced to labor on earth? Aren't his days like the days of a hired hand?

2 As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages,

3 so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me.

4 When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be gone?' I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.

5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.

6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

7 Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye shall no more see good.

8 The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be.

9 As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more.

10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

11 "Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

12 Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me?

13 When I say, 'My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my complaint;'

14 then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions:

15 so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones.