Nehemiah 13, Revelation 8, Ecclesiastes 8

Foreigners Are Separated from Israel

13On that day ^athey read from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that ^bno Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, ²because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but ^ahired Balaam against them to curse them. However, ^bour God turned the curse into a blessing. ³So when they heard the law, ^athey separated ^ball foreigners from Israel.

Tobiah’s Goods Removed from God’s House

⁴Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, ^awho was put in charge over the chambers of the house of our God, being ¹related to ^bTobiah, ⁵had prepared a large ¹room for him, where formerly they put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils, and the tithes of grain, also new wine and oil ^acommanded for the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers, as well as the ²contributions for the priests. ⁶But during all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in ^athe thirty-second year of ^bArtaxerxes king of Babylon I had gone to the king. After some time, however, I asked leave from the king, ⁷and I came to Jerusalem and discerned the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, ^aby preparing a chamber for him in the courts of the house of God. ⁸It was very evil to me, so I ^athrew all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the chamber. ⁹Then I said the word, and ^athey cleansed the chambers; and I returned there the utensils of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense.

Why Is the House of God Forsaken?

¹⁰I also came to know that ^athe portions of the Levites had not been given them, so the Levites and the singers who did the work had fled, ^beach to his own field. ¹¹So I ^acontended against the officials and said, “^bWhy is the house of God forsaken?” Then I gathered them together and had them stand in their posts. ¹²All Judah then brought ^athe tithe of the grain, new wine, and oil into the storehouses. ¹³In charge of the storehouses I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and in addition to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for ^athey were counted as faithful, and it was ¹their task to apportion everything to their ²relatives. ¹⁴^aRemember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my lovingkindnesses which I have shown for the house of my God and its responsibilities.

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

¹⁵In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses ^aon the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, ^band they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So ^cI testified against them on the day they sold food. ¹⁶Also men of Tyre were living ¹there who brought in fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the sabbath, even in Jerusalem. ¹⁷Then ^aI contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, even profaning the sabbath day? ¹⁸“^aDid not your fathers do the same, so our God brought on us and on this city all this calamity? Yet you are adding to His anger on Israel by profaning the sabbath.”

¹⁹^aNow it happened that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I said the word, and the doors were shut. Then I said that they should not open them until after the sabbath. Then I had some of my young men stand at the gates so that no load would enter on the sabbath day. ²⁰Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem. ²¹Then ^aI ¹warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will send forth my hand against you.” From that time on they did not come on the sabbath. ²²And I said to the Levites that ^athey should cleanse themselves and come as gatekeepers to keep the sabbath day holy. For this also ^bremember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.

You Shall Not Marry Foreigners

²³In those days I also saw that the Jews had ¹^,^amarried women from ^bAshdod, ^cAmmon, and Moab. ²⁴As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but only ¹the tongue of his own people. ²⁵So ^aI contended with them and cursed them and ^bstruck some of them and pulled out their hair and ^cmade them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take up their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. ²⁶“^aDid not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? ^bYet among the many nations there was no king like him, and ^che was loved by his God, and God gave him to be king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. ²⁷“¹Do we then hear about you that you have done all this great evil ^aby acting unfaithfully against our God by ²marrying foreign women?” ²⁸And even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of ^aSanballat the Horonite, so I made him flee away from me. ²⁹^aRemember them, O my God, ¹because they have defiled the priesthood and the ^bcovenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

³⁰^aThus I cleansed them from everything foreign and ensured that the responsibilities stood for the priests and the Levites, each in his work, ³¹and I arranged ^afor the supply of wood at fixed times and for the first fruits. ^bRemember me, O my God, for good.

The Seventh Seal

8When He opened the ^aseventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. ²Then I saw ^athe seven angels who stand before God, and seven ^btrumpets were given to them.

³^aAnd another angel came and stood at the ^baltar, having a ^cgolden censer; and much ^dincense was given to him, so that he might ¹add it to the ^eprayers of all the saints on the ^fgolden altar which was before the throne. ⁴And ^athe smoke of the incense went up ¹with the prayers of the saints, out of the angel’s hand, before God. ⁵Then the angel ¹took the censer and ^afilled it with the fire of the altar, and ^bthrew it to the earth; and there followed ^cpeals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an ^dearthquake.

The Seven Trumpets

⁶^aAnd the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.

⁷And the first sounded, and there came ^ahail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and ^ba third of the earth was burned up, and ^ca third of the ^dtrees were burned up, and all the green ^egrass was burned up.

⁸And the second angel sounded, and something like a great ^amountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and ^ba third of the ^csea became blood, ⁹and ^aa third of the creatures which were in the sea—those which had life—died; and a third of the ^bships were destroyed.

¹⁰And the third angel sounded, and a great star ^afell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a ^bthird of the rivers and on the ^csprings of waters. ¹¹And the name of the star is called Wormwood; and a ^athird of the waters became ^bwormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.

¹²And the fourth angel sounded, and a ^athird of the ^bsun and a third of the ^cmoon and a ^dthird of the ^estars were struck, so that a ^fthird of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a ^gthird of it, and the night in the same way.

¹³Then I looked, and I heard ¹an eagle flying in ^amidheaven, saying with a loud voice, “^bWoe, woe, woe to ^cthose who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the ^dthree angels who are about to sound!”

Keep the Command of the King

8Who is like the wise man and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom ^aillumines his face and causes his ^bstern face to ¹beam.

²I say, “Keep the ¹command of the king because of the ^asworn oath ²before God. ³“Do not be in a hurry ^ato go from his presence. Do not stand in an evil matter, for he will do whatever he pleases.” ⁴Since the word of the king is powerful, ^awho will say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁵He who ^akeeps a royal command ^bexperiences no evil thing, for a wise heart knows the proper time and custom. ⁶For ^athere is a proper time and custom for every ¹matter, though a man’s trouble is multiplied upon him. ⁷If no one ^aknows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen? ⁸^aThere is no man who has power to restrain the wind with the wind, and there is none who has power over the day of death; and there is no discharge in the time of war, and ^bwickedness will not provide escape to its masters. ⁹All this I have seen and given my heart to every work that has been done under the sun wherein a man has ^apower over another man to his calamity.

¹⁰So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out from the holy place, and they are ^asoon forgotten in the city where they did thus. This too is vanity. ¹¹Because the ^asentence against an evil work is not executed quickly, therefore ^bthe hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil. ¹²Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may ^aprolong his life, still I know that it will be ^bwell for those who fear God, who fear ¹Him openly. ¹³But it will ^anot be well for the wicked man, and he will not prolong his days like a ^bshadow, because he does not fear ¹God openly.

¹⁴There is vanity which is done on the earth, that is, there are ^arighteous men to whom it ¹happens according to the works of the wicked. On the other hand, there are ^bwicked men to whom it ²happens according to the works of the righteous. I say that this too is vanity. ¹⁵So I laud gladness, for there is nothing good for ^aa man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to ¹be merry, and this will join with him in his labor throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

¹⁶When I ^agave my heart to know wisdom and to see the endeavor which has been done on the earth (even though one ^bnever sees sleep with his eyes day or night), ¹⁷and I saw every work of God, I concluded that ^aman cannot find out the work which has been done under the sun. Even though man should seek laboriously, he will not find it out; and ^bthough the wise man should say, “I know,” he cannot find it out.