Pray Thru the Bible

God Speaks

7 Many years later, during the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, there was a man named Ezra. He was the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, ² son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, ³ son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, ⁴ son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, ⁵ son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the high priest. ⁶ This Ezra was a scribe who was well versed in the Law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given to the people of Israel. He came up to Jerusalem from Babylon, and the king gave him everything he asked for, because the gracious hand of the Lord his God was on him. ⁷ Some of the people of Israel, as well as some of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and Temple servants, traveled up to Jerusalem with him in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes’ reign.

⁸ Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in August of that year. ⁹ He had arranged to leave Babylon on April 8, the first day of the new year, and he arrived at Jerusalem on August 4, for the gracious hand of his God was on him. ¹⁰ This was because Ezra had determined to study and obey the Law of the Lord and to teach those decrees and regulations to the people of Israel.

¹¹ King Artaxerxes had given a copy of the following letter to Ezra, the priest and scribe who studied and taught the commands and decrees of the Lord to Israel:

¹² “From Artaxerxes, the king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the teacher of the law of the God of heaven. Greetings.

¹³ “I decree that any of the people of Israel in my kingdom, including the priests and Levites, may volunteer to return to Jerusalem with you. ¹⁴ I and my council of seven hereby instruct you to conduct an inquiry into the situation in Judah and Jerusalem, based on your God’s law, which is in your hand. ¹⁵ We also commission you to take with you silver and gold, which we are freely presenting as an offering to the God of Israel who lives in Jerusalem.

¹⁶ “Furthermore, you are to take any silver and gold that you may obtain from the province of Babylon, as well as the voluntary offerings of the people and the priests that are presented for the Temple of their God in Jerusalem. ¹⁷ These donations are to be used specifically for the purchase of bulls, rams, male lambs, and the appropriate grain offerings and liquid offerings, all of which will be offered on the altar of the Temple of your God in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ Any silver and gold that is left over may be used in whatever way you and your colleagues feel is the will of your God.

¹⁹ “But as for the cups we are entrusting to you for the service of the Temple of your God, deliver them all to the God of Jerusalem. ²⁰ If you need anything else for your God’s Temple or for any similar needs, you may take it from the royal treasury.

²¹ “I, Artaxerxes the king, hereby send this decree to all the treasurers in the province west of the Euphrates River: ‘You are to give Ezra, the priest and teacher of the law of the God of heaven, whatever he requests of you. ²² You are to give him up to 7,500 pounds of silver, 500 bushels of wheat, 550 gallons of wine, 550 gallons of olive oil, and an unlimited supply of salt. ²³ Be careful to provide whatever the God of heaven demands for his Temple, for why should we risk bringing God’s anger against the realm of the king and his sons? ²⁴ I also decree that no priest, Levite, singer, gatekeeper, Temple servant, or other worker in this Temple of God will be required to pay tribute, customs, or tolls of any kind.’

²⁵ “And you, Ezra, are to use the wisdom your God has given you to appoint magistrates and judges who know your God’s laws to govern all the people in the province west of the Euphrates River. Teach the law to anyone who does not know it. ²⁶ Anyone who refuses to obey the law of your God and the law of the king will be punished immediately, either by death, banishment, confiscation of goods, or imprisonment.”

²⁷ Praise the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who made the king want to beautify the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem! ²⁸ And praise him for demonstrating such unfailing love to me by honoring me before the king, his council, and all his mighty nobles! I felt encouraged because the gracious hand of the Lord my God was on me. And I gathered some of the leaders of Israel to return with me to Jerusalem.

8 Here is a list of the family leaders and the genealogies of those who came with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:

² From the family of Phinehas: Gershom.
From the family of Ithamar: Daniel.
From the family of David: Hattush, ³ a descendant of Shecaniah.
From the family of Parosh: Zechariah and 150 other men were registered.
⁴ From the family of Pahath-moab: Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah and 200 other men.
⁵ From the family of Zattu: Shecaniah son of Jahaziel and 300 other men.
⁶ From the family of Adin: Ebed son of Jonathan and 50 other men.
⁷ From the family of Elam: Jeshaiah son of Athaliah and 70 other men.
⁸ From the family of Shephatiah: Zebadiah son of Michael and 80 other men.
⁹ From the family of Joab: Obadiah son of Jehiel and 218 other men.
¹⁰ From the family of Bani: Shelomith son of Josiphiah and 160 other men.
¹¹ From the family of Bebai: Zechariah son of Bebai and 28 other men.
¹² From the family of Azgad: Johanan son of Hakkatan and 110 other men.
¹³ From the family of Adonikam, who came later: Eliphelet, Jeuel, Shemaiah, and 60 other men.
¹⁴ From the family of Bigvai: Uthai, Zaccur, and 70 other men.

¹⁵ I assembled the exiles at the Ahava Canal, and we camped there for three days while I went over the lists of the people and the priests who had arrived. I found that not one Levite had volunteered to come along. ¹⁶ So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, who were leaders of the people. I also sent for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of discernment. ¹⁷ I sent them to Iddo, the leader of the Levites at Casiphia, to ask him and his relatives and the Temple servants to send us ministers for the Temple of God at Jerusalem.

¹⁸ Since the gracious hand of our God was on us, they sent us a man named Sherebiah, along with eighteen of his sons and brothers. He was a very astute man and a descendant of Mahli, who was a descendant of Levi son of Israel. ¹⁹ They also sent Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah from the descendants of Merari, and twenty of his sons and brothers, ²⁰ and 220 Temple servants. The Temple servants were assistants to the Levites—a group of Temple workers first instituted by King David and his officials. They were all listed by name.

²¹ And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that he would give us a safe journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled. ²² For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and protect us from enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king, “Our God’s hand of protection is on all who worship him, but his fierce anger rages against those who abandon him.” ²³ So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer.

²⁴ I appointed twelve leaders of the priests—Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten other priests— ²⁵ to be in charge of transporting the silver, the gold, the gold bowls, and the other items that the king, his council, his officials, and all the people of Israel had presented for the Temple of God. ²⁶ I weighed the treasure as I gave it to them and found the totals to be as follows:

24 tons of silver,
7,500 pounds of silver articles,
7,500 pounds of gold,
²⁷ 20 gold bowls, equal in value to 1,000 gold coins,
2 fine articles of polished bronze, as precious as gold.

²⁸ And I said to these priests, “You and these treasures have been set apart as holy to the Lord. This silver and gold is a voluntary offering to the Lord, the God of our ancestors. ²⁹ Guard these treasures well until you present them to the leading priests, the Levites, and the leaders of Israel, who will weigh them at the storerooms of the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem.” ³⁰ So the priests and the Levites accepted the task of transporting these treasures of silver and gold to the Temple of our God in Jerusalem.

³¹ We broke camp at the Ahava Canal on April 19 and started off to Jerusalem. And the gracious hand of our God protected us and saved us from enemies and bandits along the way. ³² So we arrived safely in Jerusalem, where we rested for three days.

³³ On the fourth day after our arrival, the silver, gold, and other valuables were weighed at the Temple of our God and entrusted to Meremoth son of Uriah the priest and to Eleazar son of Phinehas, along with Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui—both of whom were Levites. ³⁴ Everything was accounted for by number and weight, and the total weight was officially recorded.

³⁵ Then the exiles who had come out of captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel. They presented twelve bulls for all the people of Israel, as well as ninety-six rams and seventy-seven male lambs. They also offered twelve male goats as a sin offering. All this was given as a burnt offering to the Lord. ³⁶ The king’s decrees were delivered to his highest officers and the governors of the province west of the Euphrates River, who then cooperated by supporting the people and the Temple of God.

9 When these things had been done, the Jewish leaders came to me and said, “Many of the people of Israel, and even some of the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the other peoples living in the land. They have taken up the detestable practices of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. ² For the men of Israel have married women from these people and have taken them as wives for their sons. So the holy race has become polluted by these mixed marriages. Worse yet, the leaders and officials have led the way in this outrage.”

³ When I heard this, I tore my cloak and my shirt, pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat down utterly shocked. ⁴ Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel came and sat with me because of this outrage committed by the returned exiles. And I sat there utterly appalled until the time of the evening sacrifice.

⁵ At the time of the sacrifice, I stood up from where I had sat in mourning with my clothes torn. I fell to my knees and lifted my hands to the Lord my God. ⁶ I prayed,

“O my God, I am utterly ashamed; I blush to lift up my face to you. For our sins are piled higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached to the heavens. ⁷ From the days of our ancestors until now, we have been steeped in sin. That is why we and our kings and our priests have been at the mercy of the pagan kings of the land. We have been killed, captured, robbed, and disgraced, just as we are today.

⁸ “But now we have been given a brief moment of grace, for the Lord our God has allowed a few of us to survive as a remnant. He has given us security in this holy place. Our God has brightened our eyes and granted us some relief from our slavery. ⁹ For we were slaves, but in his unfailing love our God did not abandon us in our slavery. Instead, he caused the kings of Persia to treat us favorably. He revived us so we could rebuild the Temple of our God and repair its ruins. He has given us a protective wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁰ “And now, O our God, what can we say after all of this? For once again we have abandoned your commands! ¹¹ Your servants the prophets warned us when they said, ‘The land you are entering to possess is totally defiled by the detestable practices of the people living there. From one end to the other, the land is filled with corruption. ¹² Don’t let your daughters marry their sons! Don’t take their daughters as wives for your sons. Don’t ever promote the peace and prosperity of those nations. If you follow these instructions, you will be strong and will enjoy the good things the land produces, and you will leave this prosperity to your children forever.’

¹³ “Now we are being punished because of our wickedness and our great guilt. But we have actually been punished far less than we deserve, for you, our God, have allowed some of us to survive as a remnant. ¹⁴ But even so, we are again breaking your commands and intermarrying with people who do these detestable things. Won’t your anger be enough to destroy us, so that even this little remnant no longer survives? ¹⁵ O Lord, God of Israel, you are just. We come before you in our guilt as nothing but an escaped remnant, though in such a condition none of us can stand in your presence.”

10 While Ezra prayed and made this confession, weeping and lying face down on the ground in front of the Temple of God, a very large crowd of people from Israel—men, women, and children—gathered and wept bitterly with him. ² Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, a descendant of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God, for we have married these pagan women of the land. But in spite of this there is hope for Israel. ³ Let us now make a covenant with our God to divorce our pagan wives and to send them away with their children. We will follow the advice given by you and by the others who respect the commands of our God. Let it be done according to the Law of God. ⁴ Get up, for it is your duty to tell us how to proceed in setting things straight. We are behind you, so be strong and take action.”

⁵ So Ezra stood up and demanded that the leaders of the priests and the Levites and all the people of Israel swear that they would do as Shecaniah had said. And they all swore a solemn oath. ⁶ Then Ezra left the front of the Temple of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. He spent the night there without eating or drinking anything. He was still in mourning because of the unfaithfulness of the returned exiles.

⁷ Then a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the exiles should come to Jerusalem. ⁸ Those who failed to come within three days would, if the leaders and elders so decided, forfeit all their property and be expelled from the assembly of the exiles.

⁹ Within three days, all the people of Judah and Benjamin had gathered in Jerusalem. This took place on December 19, and all the people were sitting in the square before the Temple of God. They were trembling both because of the seriousness of the matter and because it was raining. ¹⁰ Then Ezra the priest stood and said to them: “You have committed a terrible sin. By marrying pagan women, you have increased Israel’s guilt. ¹¹ So now confess your sin to the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and do what he demands. Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from these pagan women.”

¹² Then the whole assembly raised their voices and answered, “Yes, you are right; we must do as you say!” ¹³ Then they added, “This isn’t something that can be done in a day or two, for many of us are involved in this extremely sinful affair. And this is the rainy season, so we cannot stay out here much longer. ¹⁴ Let our leaders act on behalf of us all. Let everyone who has a pagan wife come at a scheduled time, accompanied by the leaders and judges of his city, so that the fierce anger of our God concerning this affair may be turned away from us.”

¹⁵ Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah opposed this course of action, and they were supported by Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite.

¹⁶ So this was the plan they followed. Ezra selected leaders to represent their families, designating each of the representatives by name. On December 29, the leaders sat down to investigate the matter. ¹⁷ By March 27, the first day of the new year, they had finished dealing with all the men who had married pagan wives.

¹⁸ These are the priests who had married pagan wives:

From the family of Jeshua son of Jehozadak and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. ¹⁹ They vowed to divorce their wives, and they each acknowledged their guilt by offering a ram as a guilt offering.

²⁰ From the family of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.

²¹ From the family of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah.

²² From the family of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

²³ These are the Levites who were guilty: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (also called Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

²⁴ This is the singer who was guilty: Eliashib.

These are the gatekeepers who were guilty: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.

²⁵ These are the other people of Israel who were guilty:

From the family of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malkijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Hashabiah, and Benaiah.

²⁶ From the family of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah.

²⁷ From the family of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza.

²⁸ From the family of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.

²⁹ From the family of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth.

³⁰ From the family of Pahath-moab: Adna, Kelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh.

³¹ From the family of Harim: Eliezer, Ishijah, Malkijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, ³² Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.

³³ From the family of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.

³⁴ From the family of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel, ³⁵ Benaiah, Bedeiah, Keluhi, ³⁶ Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, ³⁷ Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu.

³⁸ From the family of Binnui: Shimei, ³⁹ Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, ⁴⁰ Macnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, ⁴¹ Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, ⁴² Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.

⁴³ From the family of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah.

⁴⁴ Each of these men had a pagan wife, and some even had children by these wives.

Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com

We Respond

[TBR-268: Ezra 7-10 (September 25, 2023)]

Reflection: Consider the following questions regarding Ezra 7-10:

1. What does this chapter tell me about God?

2. What does this chapter tell me about the human beings He created?

Here is one possible answer to each of these questions. Ask the Holy Spirit if there are any others for you personally to ponder.

Ezra 7

1. God extends grace especially to people like Ezra who determine to study and obey the law of the LORD and to teach those decrees and regulations to other people and who praise God and the king.

2. People like Ezra the priest should become well versed in the laws of God as written in the Bible. 

Ezra 8

1. God honors, with protection, provision, and guidance, people who humbly fast and pray.

2. Trustworthy people who fear God alone are needed to guard the treasures of God. 

Ezra 9

1. God is willing to listen to humble prayers and to forgive.

2. People must humble themselves before God and admit their guilt, as Ezra did on behalf of the people he led.

Ezra 10

1. God loves people too much to let them get by with misbehavior of any kind.

2. For the sake of society, people must admit (to others, particularly authorized officials) when they have not followed God’s ways and commit to change. 

Prayer:

3. How might I pray regarding Ezra 7-10?

O LORD God, You are full of love as seen in Your mercy and grace. You extend grace to people who determine to follow Ezra’s example. Those who study and obey the law of the LORD will be blessed. However, they shouldn’t think that that earns them favor with You. We should all act out of love and gratitude. Help us to teach Your decrees and regulations to other people because we love our God, our family, and our country (in that order). Please enable me and others to become well versed in Your laws, O God, as written in the Bible, living them out on a daily basis. May we know from experience that You honor, with protection, provision, and guidance, people who humbly fast and pray. Shape us into trustworthy people who fear You alone. Then we will be counted worthy to guard Your treasures, O God. You will willingly listen to our humble prayers and forgive us. May leaders in every realm of society humble themselves before You and admit their guilt, as Ezra did on behalf of the people he led. LORD God, You love people too much to let us get by with misbehavior of any kind. By Your grace, may we admit when we have not followed Your ways and commit to letting Your Holy Spirit change us. Then we will truly bring You glory, LORD. AMEN

Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)

4. What action does the LORD want me to take in response to Ezra 7-10? With the help of God’s Holy Spirit:

• I will determine to study and obey the law of the LORD (the Bible), to teach its principles to other people, and to praise God and my government leaders.
• I will look to God alone for my provision, protection, and guidance in various aspects of my life.
• I will humble myself before God and confess the sins of myself, my family, and my culture.
• I will “go on record,” admit in public where I have disobeyed God and take specific action to correct the problem no matter how difficult that may be.

Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.