Nehemiah 1 - 2 - Legacy Standard Bible

Nehemiah 1 - 2

Nehemiah Prays for the Sons of Israel

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year—and I was in Susa the capitol— 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and remain from the captivity, and about Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, “The remnant there in the province who remain from the captivity are in great calamity and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.” 4 Now it happened that when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 5 I said, “I beseech You, O Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and fearsome God, who keeps the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 6 let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your slave which I am praying before You today, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your slaves, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 We have worked in utter destruction against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments which You commanded Your servant Moses. 8 Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples; 9 but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been banished were at the ends of the sky, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’ 10 They are Your slaves and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. 11 O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your slave and the prayer of Your slaves who delight to fear Your name, and make Your slave successful today and grant him compassion before this man.” Now I was the cupbearer to the king.

God’s Hand Was on Nehemiah

Now it happened in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste and its gates have been consumed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 I said to the king, “If it is good for the king, and if your servant is good before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” 6 Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it was good to the king to send me, and I gave him a set time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it is good to the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the house of God, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me. 9 Then I came to the governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me commanders of the military force and horsemen. 10 Then Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, and it was a very great evil to them that someone had come to seek the good of the sons of Israel.

Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls

11 So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12 And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my heart to do for Jerusalem; and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding. 13 So I went out at night by the Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon’s Spring and on to the Dung Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were consumed by fire. 14 Then I passed on to the Spring Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was no place for my animal to pass. 15 So I went up at night by the ravine and inspected the wall. Then I turned and entered the Valley Gate and turned around. 16 Now the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest who were doing the work. 17 Then I said to them, “You see the calamity we are in, that Jerusalem lies waste and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.” 18 And I told them how the hand of my God had been good to me and also about the king’s words which he had said to me. Then they said, “Let us arise and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work. 19 But Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard it. And they mocked us and despised us and said, “What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” 20 So I responded to them with a word and said to them, “The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His slaves will arise and build, but you have no portion, right, or remembrance in Jerusalem.”

Revelation 1

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His slaves the things which must soon happen; and He indicated this by sending it through His angel to His slave John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the witness of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it, for the time is near.

Message to the Seven Churches

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from the One who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Yes, amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

The Vision of the Son of Man

9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the witness of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write in a scroll what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” 12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; 13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. 14 And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15 His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters, 16 and having in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp two-edged sword which comes out of His mouth, and His face was like the sun shining in its power. 17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not fear; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 19 Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Ecclesiastes 2

The Vanity of Pleasure and Possessions

I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with gladness, so that you shall see good things.” And behold, it too was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of gladness, “What does it do?” 3 I explored with my heart how to stimulate my body with wine—while my heart was guiding me wisely—and how to seize simpleminded folly, until I could see where is this good for the sons of men in what they do under heaven the few days of their lives. 4 I made my works great: I built houses for myself; I planted vineyards for myself; 5 I made for myself gardens and parks, and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; 6 I made for myself pools of water from which to water a forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and I had homeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. 8 Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of the sons of men—many concubines. 9 Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. 10 All that my eyes asked for I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any gladness, for my heart was glad because of all my labor, and this was my reward for all my labor. 11 Thus I turned to all my works which my hands had done and the labor which I had labored to do, and behold, all was vanity and striving after wind, and there was no advantage under the sun.

Wisdom Excels Folly

12 So I turned to see wisdom, madness, and simpleminded folly. What will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done? 13 And I saw that there is an advantage in wisdom over simpleminded folly as light has an advantage over darkness. 14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that the fate of one becomes the fate of all of them. 15 Then I said in my heart, “As is the fate of the fool, so will my fate be also. Why then have I been extremely wise?” So I said in my heart, “This too is vanity.” 16 For there is no remembrance of the wise man along with the fool forever, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man dies with the fool! 17 So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is vanity and striving after wind.

The Vanity of Labor

18 Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a man of simpleminded folly? Yet he will have power over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored and for which I have acted wisely under the sun. This too is vanity. 20 Therefore I turned my heart to despair of all my labor for which I had labored under the sun. 21 When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, then he gives his portion to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil. 22 For what does a man get in all his labor and in the striving of his heart with which he labors under the sun? 23 Because all his days his endeavor is painful and vexing; even at night his heart does not lie down. This too is vanity. 24 There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and have his soul see good in his labor. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat and who can have enjoyment outside of Him? 26 For to a man who is good before Him, He has given wisdom and knowledge and gladness, while to the sinner He has given the endeavor of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good before God. This too is vanity and striving after wind.