Nehemiah 1 - 2, Revelation 1, Ecclesiastes 2

Nehemiah Prays for the Sons of Israel

1The words of ^aNehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in ^bthe month Chislev, ^cin the twentieth year—and I was in ^dSusa the ¹capitol— ²that ^aHanani, one of my brothers, and ¹some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and remain from the captivity, and about Jerusalem. ³They said to me, “The remnant there in the ^aprovince who remain from the captivity are in great calamity and ^breproach, and ^cthe wall of Jerusalem is broken down and ^dits gates are burned with fire.”

⁴Now it happened that when I heard these words, ^aI sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before ^bthe God of heaven. ⁵I said, “I beseech You, O ¹Yahweh, the God of heaven, ^athe great and fearsome God, ^bwho keeps the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, ⁶^alet 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, ^bconfessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; ^cI and my father’s house have sinned. ⁷“^aWe have worked in utter destruction against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments ^bwhich You commanded Your ¹servant Moses. ⁸“Remember the word which You commanded Your ¹servant Moses, saying, ‘^aIf you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples; ⁹^abut 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 ^bwill gather them from there and will bring them ^cto the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’ ¹⁰“^aThey are Your slaves and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. ¹¹“O Lord, I beseech You, ^amay 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 ^bcupbearer to the king.

God’s Hand Was on Nehemiah

2Now it happened in the month Nisan, ^ain the twentieth year of King ^bArtaxerxes, that wine was before him, and ^cI took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. ²So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? ^aThis is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. ³I said to the king, “^aLet the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad ^bwhen the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste and its gates have been consumed by fire?” ⁴Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” ^aSo I prayed to the God of heaven. ⁵I 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.” ⁶Then 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 ^aI gave him a set time. ⁷And I said to the king, “If it is good to the king, let letters be given me ^afor the governors of the provinces beyond the ¹River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, ⁸and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s ^aforest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of ^bthe 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 ^cthe good hand of my God was on me.

⁹Then I came to ^athe governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now ^bthe king had sent with me commanders of the military force and horsemen. ¹⁰Then ^aSanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite ¹official 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

¹¹So I ^acame to Jerusalem and was there three days. ¹²And 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. ¹³So I went out at night by ^athe Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon’s Spring and on to the ¹Dung Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem ^bwhich were broken down and its ^cgates which were consumed by fire. ¹⁴Then I passed on to ^athe Spring Gate and ^bthe King’s Pool, but there was no place for ¹my animal to pass. ¹⁵So I went up at night by the ^aravine and inspected the wall. Then I turned and entered the Valley Gate and turned around. ¹⁶Now 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.

¹⁷Then I said to them, “You see the calamity we are in, that ^aJerusalem 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.” ¹⁸And 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.” ^aSo they strengthened their hands for the good work. ¹⁹But Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite ¹official and ^aGeshem the Arab heard it. And ^bthey mocked us and despised us and said, “What is this thing you are doing? ^cAre you rebelling against the king?” ²⁰So I responded to them with a word and said to them, “^aThe God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His slaves will arise and build, ^bbut you have no portion, right, or remembrance in Jerusalem.”

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

1The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which ^aGod gave Him to ^bshow to His slaves ^cthe things which must soon happen; and He indicated this ^dby sending it through His angel to His slave ¹^,^eJohn, ²who bore witness to ^athe word of God and to ^bthe witness of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. ³^aBlessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it, ^bfor the time is near.

Message to the Seven Churches

⁴^aJohn to ^bthe seven churches that are in ^cAsia: ^dGrace to you and peace, from ^ethe One who is and who was and who ¹is to come, and from ^fthe seven Spirits who are before His throne, ⁵and from Jesus Christ, ^athe faithful witness, the ^bfirstborn of the dead, and the ^cruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who ^dloves us and released us from our sins ¹by His blood— ⁶and He has made us to be a ^akingdom, ^bpriests to ¹^,^cHis God and Father—^dto Him be the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen. ⁷^aBehold, He is coming with the clouds, and ^bevery eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will ^cmourn over Him. Yes, amen.

⁸“I am ^athe Alpha and the Omega,” says the ¹^,^bLord God, “^cwho is and who was and who ²is to come, the Almighty.”

The Vision of the Son of Man

⁹^aI, John, your ^bbrother and ^cfellow partaker in the tribulation and ^dkingdom and ¹^,^eperseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos ^fbecause of the word of God and the witness of Jesus. ¹⁰I was ¹^,^ain the Spirit on ^bthe Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice ^clike a trumpet, ¹¹saying, “^aWrite in a scroll what you see, and send it to the ^bseven churches: to ^cEphesus and to ^dSmyrna and to ^ePergamum and to ^fThyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

¹²Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw ^aseven golden lampstands; ¹³and ^ain the middle of the lampstands I saw one ^blike ¹a son of man, ^cclothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and ^dgirded across His chest with a golden sash. ¹⁴And His head and His ^ahair were white like white wool, like snow; and ^bHis eyes were like a flame of fire. ¹⁵His ^afeet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His ^bvoice was like the sound of many waters, ¹⁶and having in His right hand ^aseven stars, and a ^bsharp two-edged sword which comes out of His mouth, and His ^cface was like ^dthe sun ¹shining in its power.

¹⁷And when I saw Him, I ^afell at His feet like a dead man. And He ^bplaced His right hand on me, saying, “^cDo not fear; ^dI am the first and the last, ¹⁸and the ^aliving One; and I ¹^,^bwas dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever, and I have ^cthe keys of death and of Hades. ¹⁹“Therefore ^awrite ^bthe things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place ^cafter these things. ²⁰“As for the ^amystery of the ^bseven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the ^cseven golden lampstands: the ^dseven stars are the angels of ^ethe seven churches, and the seven ^flampstands are the seven churches.

The Vanity of Pleasure and Possessions

2I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with ^agladness, so that you shall see good things.” And behold, it too was vanity. ²^aI said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of gladness, “What does it do?” ³I explored with my heart how to ¹^,^astimulate my ²body with wine—while my heart was guiding me wisely—and how to seize ^bsimpleminded folly, until I could see ^cwhere is this good for the sons of men in what they do under heaven the few days of their lives. ⁴I made my works great: I ^abuilt houses for myself; I planted ^bvineyards for myself; ⁵I made for myself ^agardens and ^bparks, and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; ⁶I made for myself ^apools of water from which to water a forest of growing trees. ⁷I bought male and female slaves, and I had ¹^,^ahomeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and ^bherds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. ⁸Also, I collected for myself silver and ^agold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself ^bmale and female singers and the pleasures of the sons of men—many concubines.

⁹Then I became ^agreat and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. ¹⁰^aAll 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 ^breward for all my labor. ¹¹Thus I turned to all my works which my hands had done and the labor which I had labored to do, and behold, all was ¹^,^avanity and striving after wind, and there was ^bno advantage under the sun.

Wisdom Excels Folly

¹²So I turned to ^asee wisdom, madness, and simpleminded folly. What will the man do who will come after the king except ^bwhat has already been done? ¹³And I saw that there is an advantage in ^awisdom over simpleminded folly as light has an advantage over darkness. ¹⁴The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the ^afool walks in darkness. And yet I know that the ^bfate of one becomes the fate of all of them. ¹⁵Then I said in my heart, “^aAs is the fate of the fool, so will my fate be also. ^bWhy then have I been extremely wise?” So I said in my heart, “This too is vanity.” ¹⁶For there is ^ano remembrance of the wise man along with the fool forever, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And ^bhow the wise man dies with the fool! ¹⁷So I ^ahated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was ¹grievous to me; because everything is vanity and striving after wind.

The Vanity of Labor

¹⁸Thus I hated ^aall the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must ^bleave it to the man who will come after me. ¹⁹And who knows whether he will be a wise man or ^aa man of simpleminded folly? Yet he will have ¹power 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 ^bvanity. ²⁰Therefore I turned my heart to despair of all my labor for which I had labored under the sun. ²¹When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and ^askill, then he ^bgives his portion to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil. ²²For what does a man get in ^aall his labor and in the striving of his heart with which he labors under the sun? ²³Because all his days his endeavor is painful and ^avexing; even at night his heart ^bdoes not lie down. This too is vanity.

²⁴¹There is ^anothing 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 ^bfrom the hand of God. ²⁵For who can eat and who can have enjoyment outside of ¹Him? ²⁶For to a man who is good before Him, ^aHe has given wisdom and knowledge and gladness, while to the sinner He has given the endeavor of gathering and collecting so that he may ^bgive to one who is good before God. This too is ^cvanity and striving after wind.