Legacy Standard Bible

Ezra 9 - 10

The Unfaithfulness of the Exiles

9Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not aseparated themselves from the peoples of the lands, baccording to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. 2“For athey have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that bthe holy seed has cintermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the officials have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.” 3When I heard about this matter, I atore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and bsat down in consternation. 4Then aeveryone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until bthe evening offering.

Ezra’s Confession

5But at the evening offering I arose from my 1affliction, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and astretched out my 2hands to Yahweh my God; 6and I said, “O my God, I am ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have multiplied above our heads and our aguilt has become great even to the heavens. 7“aSince the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder and to 1,bopen shame, as it is this day. 8“But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from Yahweh our God, ato leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a bpeg in His holy place, that our God may cenlighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our slavery. 9“aFor we are slaves; yet in our slavery our God has not forsaken us, but bhas extended lovingkindness to us before the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its waste places, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
10“So now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments, 11which You have commanded by the hand of Your slaves the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an impure land with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end, and awith their uncleanness. 12‘So now do not agive your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and bnever seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and cleave it as a possession to your sons forever.’ 13“After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and aour great guilt, since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us ban escaped remnant as this, 14ashall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples 1who commit these abominations? bWould You not be angry with us 2to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape? 15“O Yahweh, the God of Israel, aYou are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in bour guilt, for cno one can stand before You because of this.”

Ezra Makes Israel Swear an Oath

10Now awhile Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself bbefore the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women, and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly. 2And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, “aWe have been unfaithful to our God and have 1married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. 3“So now alet us cut a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and 1,btheir children, according to the counsel of 2my lord and of cthose who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done daccording to the law. 4“Arise! For this matter is 1your responsibility, but we will be with you; abe strong and act.”
5Then Ezra arose and amade the leading priests, the Levites and all Israel, swear an oath that they would do according to this word; so they swore an oath. 6Then Ezra aarose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. He went there, but bhe did not eat bread nor drink water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. 7And they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles, that they should gather at Jerusalem, 8and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the prince and the elders, all his possessions should be devoted to destruction and he himself separated from the assembly of the exiles.
9So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, atrembling because of this matter and the heavy rain. 10Then Ezra the priest arose and said to them, “You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel. 11“So now, amake confession to Yahweh, the God of your fathers, and bdo His will; and cseparate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” 12Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, “This is so! As you have said, so it is 1our duty to do. 13“But there are many people; it is the rainy season, and we are not able to stand outside. Nor can the task be done in one or two days, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter. 14“Let our princes stand in for the whole assembly, and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at set times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the aburning anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us.” 15However, Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood against this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helping them.
16But the exiles did so. And 1Ezra the priest separated out men who were heads of fathers’ households for each of their father’s households, all of them by name. So they 2convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter. 17And they completed investigating all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month.

Those Who Married Foreign Wives

18Among the sons of the priests who had married foreign wives were found of the sons of aJeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah. 19They gave their hand in pledge to put away their wives, and being guilty, athey offered a ram of the flock for their guilt.
20Of the sons of Immer there were Hanani and Zebadiah; 21and of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel and Uzziah; 22and of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad and Elasah. 23Of Levites there were Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah and Eliezer. 24Of the singers there was Eliashib; and of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem and Uri. 25Of Israel, of the sons of aParosh there were Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah and Benaiah; 26and of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth and Elijah; 27and of the sons of aZattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad and Aziza; 28and of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai and Athlai; 29and of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch and Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal and Jeremoth; 30and of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui and Manasseh; 31and of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, aMalchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, 32Benjamin, Malluch and Shemariah; 33of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh and Shimei; 34of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel, 35Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, 36Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, 37Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu, 38Bani, Binnui, Shimei, 39Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, 40Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, 41Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, 42Shallum, Amariah and Joseph. 43Of the sons of aNebo there were Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel and Benaiah.
44All these had taken up aforeign women as wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.

Jude

Contend Earnestly for the Faith

11,aJude, a bslave of Jesus Christ, and brother of 2James, To cthose who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and dkept for Jesus Christ: 2aMay mercy and peace and love bbe multiplied to you.
3aBeloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our bcommon salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you exhorting that you ccontend earnestly for dthe faith which was once for all ehanded down to fthe 1saints. 4For certain persons have acrept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand 1,bmarked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn cthe grace of our God into dsensuality and edeny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5Now I want to aremind you, though byou know all things, that 1Jesus, chaving once saved a people out of the land of Egypt, 2subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 6And aangels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has bkept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7just as aSodom and Gomorrah and the bcities around them, having indulged in the same way as these in gross sexual immorality and having cgone after 1strange flesh, are exhibited as an 2,dexample in undergoing the epunishment of eternal fire.
8Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, adefile the flesh, and reject authority, and blaspheme 1glorious ones. 9But aMichael bthe archangel, when he, disputing with the devil, was arguing about cthe body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a blasphemous judgment, but said, “dThe Lord rebuke you!” 10But athese men blaspheme the things which they do not understand; and bthe things which they know by instinct, clike unreasoning animals, by these things they are 1destroyed. 11Woe to them! For they have gone athe way of Cain, and for pay they have poured themselves into bthe error of Balaam, and cperished in the rebellion of Korah. 12These are the men who are 1hidden reefs ain your love feasts when they feast with you bwithout fear, caring for themselves; cclouds without water, dcarried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, 2doubly dead, euprooted; 13awild waves of the sea, casting up btheir own 1shame like foam; wandering stars, cfor whom the 2black darkness has been reserved forever.
14But aEnoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, also prophesied about these men, saying, “bBehold, the Lord came with 1many thousands of His holy ones, 15ato execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which bungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” 16These are agrumblers, finding fault, bfollowing after their own lusts; and their mouth speaks carrogantly, 1flattering people dfor the sake of their own benefit.

Keep Yourselves in the Love of God

17But you, abeloved, bmust remember the words that were spoken beforehand by cthe apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18that they were saying to you, “aIn the last time there will be mockers, bfollowing after their own ungodly lusts.” 19These are the ones who cause divisions, 1,aworldly-minded, not having the Spirit. 20But you, abeloved, bbuilding yourselves up on your most holy cfaith, dpraying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 22And on some, who are doubting, have mercy; 23and for others, save, asnatching them out of the fire; and on others have mercy with fear, bhating even the tunic polluted by the flesh.
24aNow to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to bmake you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with cgreat joy, 25to the aonly bGod our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, cbe glory, majesty, might, and authority, dbefore all time and now and 1forever. Amen.

Ecclesiastes 1

All Is Vanity

1The words of the 1,aPreacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2“1,aVanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,“2Vanity of vanities! All is 3vanity.”3aWhat advantage does man have in all his laborIn which he labors under the sun?4A generation goes and a generation comes,But the aearth stands forever.5Also, athe sun rises and the sun sets;And 1hastening to its place it rises there again.6aGoing toward the south,Then 1circling toward the north,The wind goes 2circling along;And on its circular courses the wind returns.7All the rivers go into the sea,Yet the sea is not full.To the place where the rivers go,There they 1continually go.8All things are wearisome;Man is not able to speak of it.aThe eye is not satisfied with seeing,Nor is the ear filled with hearing.9aThat which has been is that which will be,And that which has been done is that which will be done.So there is nothing new under the sun.10Is there anything of which one might say,“See this, it is new”?Already it has been for agesWhich were before us.11There is ano remembrance of 1earlier things;And also of the 2later things which will be,There will be for them no remembranceAmong those who will come 3later still.

The Vanity of Wisdom

12I, the aPreacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13And I agave my heart to seek and bexplore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is 1a grievous cendeavor which God has given to the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. 14I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is 1,avanity and striving after wind. 15What is abent cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
16I spoke within my heart, saying, “Behold, I have magnified and increased awisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my heart has seen an abundance of wisdom and knowledge.” 17And I agave my heart to know wisdom and to bknow madness and simpleminded folly; I came to know that this also is cstriving after wind. 18Because ain much wisdom there is much vexation, and whoever increases knowledge increases pain.