Nehemiah 9 - 10, Revelation 6, Ecclesiastes 6

Israel Confesses Their Sins

9Now on the twenty-fourth day of ^athis month the sons of Israel gathered ^bwith fasting, in sackcloth and with ^cdirt upon them. ²The ^aseed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and ^bconfessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. ³And ^athey 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^aThen 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.

⁵And 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 blessedAnd exalted above all blessing and praise!

⁶“^aYou alone are Yahweh.^bYou 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.^cYou give life to all of themAnd the heavenly host bows down to You.⁷“You are Yahweh God,^aWho chose AbramAnd brought him out from ^bUr of the Chaldees,And ^cgave him the name Abraham.⁸“You found ^ahis heart faithful before You,And cut a covenant with himTo 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 ^bhave established Your promise,For You are righteous.⁹“^aYou saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt,And ^bheard their cry by the ¹Red Sea.¹⁰“Then You performed ^asigns and wonders against Pharaoh,Against all his servants and all the people of his land;For You knew that ^bthey acted presumptuously toward them,And ^cmade a name for Yourself as it is this day.¹¹“^aYou split the sea before them,So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry land;And ^btheir pursuers You cast into the depths,Like a stone into mighty waters.¹²“And with a pillar of cloud ^aYou led them by day,And with a pillar of fire by nightTo light for them the wayIn which they were to go.¹³“Then ^aYou came down on Mount Sinai,And ^bspoke with them from heaven;You gave them ^cupright judgments and true laws,Good statutes and commandments.¹⁴“So You made known to them ^aYour holy sabbath,And commanded to them commandments, statutes and law,By the hand of Your servant Moses.¹⁵“You ^agave bread from heaven for them for their hunger,You ^bbrought forth water from a rock for them for their thirst,And You ^csaid to them to enter in order to possessThe land which You ¹swore to give them.¹⁶“But they, our fathers, ^aacted presumptuously;They ¹^,^bbecame stiff-necked and would not listen to Your commandments.¹⁷“They refused to listen,And ^adid not remember Your wondrous deeds which You did among them;So they became stiff-necked and ^bgave themselves a chief to return to their slavery ¹in Egypt.But You are a God ^cof lavish forgiveness,Gracious and compassionate,Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness;And You did not forsake them.¹⁸“Even when they ^amade for themselvesA molten calfAnd said, ‘This is your GodWho brought you up from Egypt,’And ¹committed great ²blasphemies,¹⁹^aBut You, in Your abundant compassion,Did not forsake them in the wilderness;^bThe 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.²⁰“^aYou 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.²¹“Indeed, ^aforty years You sustained them in the wilderness, and they did not lack;Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell.²²“You also gave them kingdoms and peoples,And apportioned them to them as a ¹boundary.^aThey took possession of the land of Sihon ²the king of HeshbonAnd the land of Og the king of Bashan.²³“You made their sons numerous as ^athe stars of heaven,And You brought them into the landWhich You had said for their fathers to enter and possess.²⁴“^aSo their sons entered and possessed the land.And ^bYou 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.²⁵“^aThey captured fortified cities and a ¹^,^brich ²land.They took possession of ^chouses full of every good thing,Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,Trees for food in abundance.So they ate, were filled, and ^dgrew fat,And ^ereveled in Your great goodness.²⁶“^aBut they became disobedient and rebelled against You,And ^bcast Your law behind their backsAnd ^ckilled Your prophets who had ^dtestified to themSo that they might return to You,And ^ethey ¹committed great ²blasphemies.²⁷“Therefore You ^agave them into the hand of the ones who distressed them, and they afflicted them with distress,But ^bat the time of their distress they cried to You,And You listened from heaven, and according to Your abundant compassionYou ^cgave them saviors and they saved them from the hand of the ones that distressed them.²⁸“But ^aas 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 ^bmany times You delivered them according to Your compassion,²⁹And ^atestified to them in order to turn them back to Your law.Yet ^bthey acted presumptuously and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your judgments,By ^cwhich if a man does them, he shall live.And they ^dgave a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.³⁰“^aHowever, You bore with them for many years,And ^btestified to them by ^cYour 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.³¹“Nevertheless, in Your abundant compassion You ^adid not make a complete destruction of them or forsake them,For You are ^ba gracious and compassionate God.³²“So now, our God, ^athe 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,^bFrom the days of the kings of Assyria to this day.³³“However, ^aYou are righteous in all that has come upon us;For You have dealt in truth, but we have acted wickedly.³⁴“Now our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers did not do Your lawOr pay attention to Your commandments and Your testimonies with which You testified against them.³⁵“But ^athey, in their own kingdom,^bWith 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.³⁶“Behold, ^awe 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.³⁷“^aIts abundant produce is for the kingsWhom You have put over us because of our sins;They also rule over our bodiesAnd over our cattle according to their desire,So we are in great distress.

An Agreement Is Cut

³⁸“¹Now because of all this^aWe are cutting an agreement in writing;And on the ^bsealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.”

Signers of the Document

10¹Now on the ^asealed document were the following names: Nehemiah the ²governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah,

²Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, ³Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, ⁴Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, ⁵Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, ⁶Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, ⁷Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, ⁸Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah. These were the priests.

⁹And the Levites: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel;

¹⁰also their brothers Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, ¹¹Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, ¹²Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, ¹³Hodiah, Bani, Beninu.

¹⁴The heads of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani,

¹⁵Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, ¹⁶Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, ¹⁷Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, ¹⁸Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, ¹⁹Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, ²⁰Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, ²¹Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, ²²Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, ²³Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, ²⁴Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, ²⁵Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, ²⁶Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, ²⁷Malluch, Harim, Baanah.

The People Enter into an Oath

²⁸Now ^athe rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and ^ball 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, ²⁹are ¹joining with their ²relatives, their nobles, and are ^aentering 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; ³⁰and ^athat we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. ³¹As ^afor 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 ^bseventh year and the ^cexaction of every debt.

³²We also ¹set ourselves under the commandments to give yearly ^aone-third of a ²shekel for the service of the house of our God: ³³for the ^ashowbread, 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.

³⁴Likewise ^awe cast lots ^bfor 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; ³⁵and to bring the first fruits of our ground and ^athe first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of Yahweh annually, ³⁶and to ^abring 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^aWe will also bring the first of our ¹dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the oil ^bto the priests at the chambers of the house of our God, and the ^ctithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes in all the towns where we serve. ³⁸^aAnd 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 ^bthe storehouse. ³⁹For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the ^acontribution 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 ^bwe will not forsake the house of our God.

The Seven Seals

6Then I looked when the ^aLamb opened one of the ^bseven seals, and I heard one of the ^cfour living creatures saying as with a ^dvoice of thunder, “¹Come.” ²Then I looked, and behold, a ^awhite horse, and he who sits on it had a bow; and ^ba crown was given to him, and he went out ^covercoming and to overcome.

³And when He opened the second seal, I heard the ^asecond living creature saying, “Come.” ⁴And another, ^aa red horse, went out; and to him who sits on it, it was given to him to ^btake peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.

⁵And when He opened the third seal, I heard the ^athird living creature saying, “Come.” Then I looked, and behold, a ^bblack horse; and he who sits on it had a ^cpair of scales in his hand. ⁶And I heard something like a voice in the midst of the ^afour living creatures saying, “One ¹choinix of wheat for one ²denarius, and three ³choinix of barley for one ⁴denarius, and ^bdo not harm the oil and the wine.”

⁷And when He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the ^afourth living creature saying, “Come.” ⁸Then I looked, and behold, a ^apale horse; and he who sits on it had the name ^bDeath, and ^cHades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, ^dto kill with sword and with famine and with ¹pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

⁹And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw ^aunderneath the ^baltar the ^csouls of those who had been slain ^dbecause of the word of God, and because of the ^ewitness which they had maintained; ¹⁰and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “^aHow long, O ^bMaster, ^choly and true? ¹Will You not ^djudge and avenge our blood on ^ethose who dwell on the earth?” ¹¹And ^aa white robe was given to each of them; and it was told to them that they should ^brest for a little while longer, ^cuntil the number of their fellow slaves and their brothers who were to be killed even as they had been, would be ^dcompleted also.

¹²Then I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and there was a great ^aearthquake; and the ^bsun became black as ^csackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; ¹³and ^athe stars of the sky fell to the earth, ^bas a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. ¹⁴^aAnd the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and ^bevery mountain and island were moved out of their places. ¹⁵Then ^athe kings of the earth and the great men and the ¹commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man ^bhid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; ¹⁶and they *^asaid to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the ¹presence of Him ^bwho sits on the throne, and from the ²^,^cwrath of the Lamb, ¹⁷for ^athe great ^bday of their ¹wrath has come, and ^cwho is able to stand?”

The Vanity of Life

6There is an ^aevil which I have seen under the sun and it is prevalent ¹among men— ²a man to whom God ^agives riches and wealth and honor so that his soul ^blacks nothing of all that he desires; yet God does not empower him to eat from them, for a foreigner eats from them. This is ¹vanity and a sickening evil. ³If 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 ^aburial, then I say, “Better ^bthe miscarriage than he, ⁴for 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; ¹that one has more rest than he. ⁶“Even if the other man lives one thousand years twice and does not see good things—^ado not all go to the same place?”

⁷^aAll a man’s labor is for his mouth, and yet the soul is not fulfilled. ⁸For ^awhat advantage does the wise man have over the fool? What advantage does the afflicted man have, knowing how to walk before the living? ⁹What the eyes ^asee is better than what the soul goes after. This too is ^bvanity and striving after wind.

¹⁰Whatever ^aexists has already been named, and it is known what man is; and he ^bcannot dispute with him who is stronger than he is. ¹¹For there are many words which increase vanity. What then is the advantage to a man? ¹²For 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 ^ashadow. For who can tell a man ^bwhat will be after him under the sun?