Nehemiah 9 - 10 - Legacy Standard Bible

Nehemiah 9 - 10

Israel Confesses Their Sins

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel gathered with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them. 2 The seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And they rose up in their place and read from the book of the law of Yahweh their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they were confessing and worshiping Yahweh their God. 4 Then Jeshua rose up on the Levites’ platform, along with Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and they cried out with a loud voice to Yahweh their God. 5 And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Rise up, bless Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting!

O may Your glorious name be blessed

And exalted above all blessing and praise!

You alone are Yahweh.

You have made the heavens,

The heaven of heavens with all their host,

The earth and all that is on it,

The seas and all that is in them.

You give life to all of them

And the heavenly host bows down to You.

You are Yahweh God,

Who chose Abram

And brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees,

And gave him the name Abraham.

You found his heart faithful before You,

And cut a covenant with him

To give him the land of the Canaanite,

Of the Hittite and the Amorite,

Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite—

To give it to his seed.

And You have established Your promise,

For You are righteous.

“You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt,

And heard their cry by the Red Sea.

Then You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,

Against all his servants and all the people of his land;

For You knew that they acted presumptuously toward them,

And made a name for Yourself as it is this day.

You split the sea before them,

So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry land;

And their pursuers You cast into the depths,

Like a stone into mighty waters.

And with a pillar of cloud You led them by day,

And with a pillar of fire by night

To light for them the way

In which they were to go.

Then You came down on Mount Sinai,

And spoke with them from heaven;

You gave them upright judgments and true laws,

Good statutes and commandments.

So You made known to them Your holy sabbath,

And commanded to them commandments, statutes and law,

By the hand of Your servant Moses.

You gave bread from heaven for them for their hunger,

You brought forth water from a rock for them for their thirst,

And You said to them to enter in order to possess

The land which You swore to give them.

“But they, our fathers, acted presumptuously;

They became stiff‑necked and would not listen to Your commandments.

They refused to listen,

And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You did among them;

So they became stiff‑necked and gave themselves a chief to return to their slavery in Egypt.

But You are a God of lavish forgiveness,

Gracious and compassionate,

Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness;

And You did not forsake them.

Even when they made for themselves

A molten calf

And said, ‘This is your God

Who brought you up from Egypt,’

And committed great blasphemies,

But You, in Your abundant compassion,

Did not forsake them in the wilderness;

The pillar of cloud did not depart from them by day,

To lead them on their way,

Nor the pillar of fire by night,

To light for them the way in which they were to go.

You gave Your good Spirit to give them insight,

Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth,

And You gave them water for their thirst.

Indeed, forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, and they did not lack;

Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell.

You also gave them kingdoms and peoples,

And apportioned them to them as a boundary.

They took possession of the land of Sihon the king of Heshbon

And the land of Og the king of Bashan.

You made their sons numerous as the stars of heaven,

And You brought them into the land

Which You had said for their fathers to enter and possess.

So their sons entered and possessed the land.

And You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites,

And You gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land,

To do with them according to their desire.

They captured fortified cities and a rich land.

They took possession of houses full of every good thing,

Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,

Trees for food in abundance.

So they ate, were filled, and grew fat,

And reveled in Your great goodness.

“But they became disobedient and rebelled against You,

And cast Your law behind their backs

And killed Your prophets who had testified to them

So that they might return to You,

And they committed great blasphemies.

Therefore You gave them into the hand of the ones who distressed them, and they afflicted them with distress,

But at the time of their distress they cried to You,

And You listened from heaven, and according to Your abundant compassion

You gave them saviors and they saved them from the hand of the ones that distressed them.

But as soon as they had rest, they returned to do evil before You;

Therefore You forsook them in the hand of their enemies, so they had dominion over them.

Then they returned and cried to You. And You listened from heaven,

And many times You delivered them according to Your compassion,

And testified to them in order to turn them back to Your law.

Yet they acted presumptuously and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your judgments,

By which if a man does them, he shall live.

And they gave a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.

However, You bore with them for many years,

And testified to them by Your Spirit by the hand of Your prophets,

Yet they would not give ear.

So You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

Nevertheless, in Your abundant compassion You did not make a complete destruction of them or forsake them,

For You are a gracious and compassionate God.

“So now, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness,

Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You,

Which has found us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all Your people,

From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day.

However, You are righteous in all that has come upon us;

For You have dealt in truth, but we have acted wickedly.

Now our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers did not do Your law

Or pay attention to Your commandments and Your testimonies with which You testified against them.

But they, in their own kingdom,

With Your abundant goodness which You gave them,

With the broad and rich land which You set before them,

Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds.

Behold, we are slaves today,

And as to the land which You gave to our fathers to eat of its fruit and its goodness,

Behold, we are slaves in it.

Its abundant produce is for the kings

Whom You have put over us because of our sins;

They also rule over our bodies

And over our cattle according to their desire,

So we are in great distress.

An Agreement Is Cut

“Now because of all this

We are cutting an agreement in writing;

And on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.”

Signers of the Document

Now on the sealed document were the following names:

Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah,

Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah,

Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah,

Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch,

Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah,

Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch,

Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,

Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah. These were the priests.

9 And the Levites:

Jeshua the son of Azaniah,

Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel;

also their brothers Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan,

Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah,

Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah,

Hodiah, Bani, Beninu.

14 The heads of the people:

Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani,

Bunni, Azgad, Bebai,

Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin,

Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur,

Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai,

Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai,

Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir,

Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua,

Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah,

Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub,

Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek,

Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah,

Ahiah, Hanan, Anan,

Malluch, Harim, Baanah.

The People Enter into an Oath

28 Now the rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters—all those who had knowledge and understanding, 29 are joining with their relatives, their nobles, and are entering into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s law, which was given by the hand of Moses, God’s servant, and to keep and to do all the commandments of Yahweh our Lord and His judgments and His statutes; 30 and that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. 31 As for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the sabbath day to sell, we will not receive from them on the sabbath or a holy day; and we will forego the crops the seventh year and the exaction of every debt. 32 We also set ourselves under the commandments to give yearly one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: 33 for the showbread, for the continual grain offering, for the continual burnt offering, the sabbaths, the new moon, for the appointed times, for the holy things and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God. 34 Likewise we cast lots for the supply of wood among the priests, the Levites, and the people, in order to bring it to the house of our God, according to our fathers’ households, at fixed times annually, to burn on the altar of Yahweh our God, as it is written in the law; 35 and to bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of Yahweh annually, 36 and to bring to the house of our God the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks as it is written in the law, for the priests who are ministering in the house of our God. 37 We will also bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the oil to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes in all the towns where we serve. 38 And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse. 39 For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine and the oil to the chambers; the utensils of the sanctuary are there, as well as the priests who are ministering and the gatekeepers and the singers. Thus we will not forsake the house of our God.

Revelation 6

The Seven Seals

Then I looked when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” 2 Then I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sits on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out overcoming and to overcome. 3 And when He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come.” 4 And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sits on it, it was given to him to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him. 5 And when He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” Then I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sits on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard something like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “One choinix of wheat for one denarius, and three choinix of barley for one denarius, and do not harm the oil and the wine.” 7 And when He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” 8 Then I looked, and behold, a pale horse; and he who sits on it had the name Death, and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. 9 And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the witness which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Master, holy and true? Will You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 And a white robe was given to each of them; and it was told to them that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow slaves and their brothers who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also. 12 Then I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14 And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Ecclesiastes 6

The Vanity of Life

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun and it is prevalent among men— 2 a man to whom God gives riches and wealth and honor so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires; yet God does not empower him to eat from them, for a foreigner eats from them. This is vanity and a sickening evil. 3 If a man becomes the father of one hundred children and lives many years, however many the days of his years may be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things, and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he, 4 for that one comes in vanity and goes into darkness; and that one’s name is covered in darkness. 5 Indeed, that one never sees the sun and never knows anything; that one has more rest than he. 6 Even if the other man lives one thousand years twice and does not see good things—do not all go to the same place?” 7 All a man’s labor is for his mouth, and yet the soul is not fulfilled. 8 For what advantage does the wise man have over the fool? What advantage does the afflicted man have, knowing how to walk before the living? 9 What the eyes see is better than what the soul goes after. This too is vanity and striving after wind. 10 Whatever exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; and he cannot dispute with him who is stronger than he is. 11 For there are many words which increase vanity. What then is the advantage to a man? 12 For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few days of his vain life? He will make do with them like a shadow. For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?