The One Year Bible TLB (168 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
August 6During the month of September everyone who had returned to Judah came to Jerusalem from their homes in the other towns. Then Jeshua (son of Jozadak) with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel (son of Shealtiel) and his clan, rebuilt the altar of the God of Israel and sacrificed burnt offerings upon it, as instructed in the laws of Moses, the man of God.
3
The altar was rebuilt on its old site, and it was used immediately to sacrifice morning and evening burnt offerings to the Lord; for the people were fearful of attack.
4
And they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles as prescribed in the laws of Moses, sacrificing the burnt offerings specified for each day of the feast.
5
They also offered the special sacrifices required for the Sabbaths, the new moon celebrations, and the other regular annual feasts of the Lord. Voluntary offerings of the people were also sacrificed.
6
It was on the fifteenth day of September
*
that the priests began sacrificing the burnt offerings to the Lord. (This was before they began building the foundation of the Temple.)
7
Then they hired masons and carpenters and bought cedar logs from the people of Tyre and Sidon, paying for them with food, wine, and olive oil. The logs were brought down from the Lebanon mountains and floated along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea to Joppa, for King Cyrus had included this provision in his grant.
8
The actual construction of the Temple began in June of the second year of their arrival at Jerusalem. The work force was made up of all those who had returned, and they were under the direction of Zerubbabel (son of Shealtiel), Jeshua (son of Jozadak), and their fellow priests and the Levites. The Levites who were twenty years old or older were appointed to supervise the workmen.
9
The supervision of the entire project was given to Jeshua, Kadmiel, Henadad, and their sons and relatives, all of whom were Levites.
10
When the builders completed the foundation of the Temple, the priests put on their official robes and blew their trumpets; and the descendants of Asaph crashed their cymbals to praise the Lord in the manner ordained by King David.
11
They sang rounds of praise and thanks to God, singing this song: “He is good, and his love and mercy toward Israel will last forever.” Then all the people gave a great shout, praising God because the foundation of the Temple had been laid.
12
But many of the priests and Levites and other leaders—the old men who remembered Solomon’s beautiful Temple—wept aloud, while others were shouting for joy!
13
So the shouting and the weeping mingled together in a loud commotion that could be heard far away!
4:
1
When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles had returned and were rebuilding the Temple,
2
they approached Zerubbabel and the other leaders and suggested, “Let us work with you, for we are just as interested in your God as you are; we have sacrificed to him ever since King Esar-haddon of Assyria brought us here.”
3
But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the other Jewish leaders replied, “No, you may have no part in this work. The Temple of the God of Israel must be built by the Israelis, just as King Cyrus has commanded.”
4-5
Then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten them by sending agents to tell lies about them to King Cyrus. This went on during his entire reign and lasted until King Darius took the throne.
6
And afterwards, when King Ahasuerus began to reign, they wrote him a letter of accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem
7
and did the same thing during the reign of Artaxerxes. Bishlam, Mithredath, and Tabeel and their associates wrote a letter to him in the Aramaic language, and it was translated to him.
8-9
Others who participated were Governor Rehum, Shimshai (a scribe), several judges and other local leaders, the Persians, the Babylonians, the men of Erech and Susa,
10
and men from several other nations. (They had been taken from their own lands by the great and noble Osnappar and relocated in Jerusalem, Samaria, and throughout the neighboring lands west of the Euphrates River.)
11
Here is the text of the letter they sent to King Artaxerxes:
“Sir: Greetings from your loyal subjects west of the Euphrates River.
12
Please be informed that the Jews sent to Jerusalem from Babylon are rebuilding this historically rebellious and evil city; they have already rebuilt its walls and have repaired the foundations of the Temple.
13
But we wish you to know that if this city is rebuilt, it will be much to your disadvantage, for the Jews will then refuse to pay their taxes to you.
14
“Since we are grateful to you as our patron, and we do not want to see you taken advantage of and dishonored in this way, we have decided to send you this information.
15
We suggest that you search the ancient records to discover what a rebellious city this has been in the past; in fact, it was destroyed because of its long history of sedition against the kings and countries who attempted to control it.
16
We wish to declare that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, you might as well forget about this part of your empire beyond the Euphrates, for it will be lost to you.”
17
Then the king made this reply to Governor Rehum and Shimshai the scribe, and to their companions living in Samaria and throughout the area west of the Euphrates River:
18
“Gentlemen: Greetings! The letter you sent has been translated and read to me.
19
I have ordered a search made of the records and have indeed found that Jerusalem has in times past been a hotbed of insurrection against many kings; in fact, rebellion and sedition are normal there!
20
I find, moreover, that there have been some very great kings in Jerusalem who have ruled the entire land beyond the Euphrates River and have received vast tribute, custom, and toll.
21
Therefore, I command that these men must stop their work until I have investigated the matter more thoroughly.
22
Do not delay, for we must not permit the situation to get out of control!”
23
When this letter from King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai, they hurried to Jerusalem and forced the Jews to stop building.
24
So the work ended until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia.
Yet when I am among mature Christians I do speak with words of great wisdom, but not the kind that comes from here on earth, and not the kind that appeals to the great men of this world, who are doomed to fall.
7
Our words are wise because they are from God, telling of God’s wise plan to bring us into the glories of heaven. This plan was hidden in former times, though it was made for our benefit before the world began.
8
But the great men of the world have not understood it; if they had, they never would have crucified the Lord of Glory.
9
That is what is meant by the Scriptures which say that no mere man has ever seen, heard, or even imagined what wonderful things God has ready for those who love the Lord.
10
But we know about these things because God has sent his Spirit to tell us, and his Spirit searches out and shows us all of God’s deepest secrets.
11
No one can really know what anyone else is thinking or what he is really like except that person himself. And no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.
12
And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world’s spirit) to tell us about the wonderful free gifts of grace and blessing that God has given us.
13
In telling you about these gifts we have even used the very words given to us by the Holy Spirit, not words that we as men might choose. So we use the Holy Spirit’s words to explain the Holy Spirit’s facts.
*
14
But the man who isn’t a Christian can’t understand and can’t accept these thoughts from God, which the Holy Spirit teaches us. They sound foolish to him because only those who have the Holy Spirit within them can understand what the Holy Spirit means. Others just can’t take it in.
15
But the spiritual man has insight into everything, and that bothers and baffles the man of the world, who can’t understand him at all.
16
How could he? For certainly he has never been one to know the Lord’s thoughts, or to discuss them with him, or to move the hands of God by prayer.
*
But, strange as it seems, we Christians actually do have within us a portion of the very thoughts and mind of Christ.
3:
1
Dear brothers, I have been talking to you as though you were still just babies in the Christian life who are not following the Lord but your own desires; I cannot talk to you as I would to healthy Christians who are filled with the Spirit.
2
I have had to feed you with milk and not with solid food because you couldn’t digest anything stronger. And even now you still have to be fed on milk.
3
For you are still only baby Christians, controlled by your own desires, not God’s. When you are jealous of one another and divide up into quarreling groups, doesn’t that prove you are still babies, wanting your own way? In fact, you are acting like people who don’t belong to the Lord at all.
4
There you are, quarreling about whether I am greater than Apollos, and dividing the church. Doesn’t this show how little you have grown in the Lord?
*
I plead with you to help me, Lord, for you are my Rock of safety. If you refuse to answer me, I might as well give up and die.
2
Lord, I lift my hands to heaven
*
and implore your help. Oh, listen to my cry.
3
Don’t punish me with all the wicked ones who speak so sweetly to their neighbors while planning to murder them.
4
Give them the punishment they so richly deserve! Measure it out to them in proportion to their wickedness; paythem back for all their evil deeds.
5
They care nothing for God or what he has done or what he has made; therefore God will dismantle them like old buildings, never to be rebuilt again.
6
Oh, praise the Lord, for he has listened to my pleadings!
7
He is my strength, my shield from every danger. I trusted in him, and he helped me. Joy rises in my heart until I burst out in songs of praise to him.
8
The Lord protects his people and gives victory to his anointed king.
9
Defend your people, Lord; defend and bless your chosen ones. Lead them like a shepherd and carry them forever in your arms.
Since the Lord is directing our steps, why try to understand everything that happens along the way?
25
It is foolish and rash to make a promise to the Lord before counting the cost.
August 7But there were prophets in Jerusalem and Judah at that time—Haggai, and Zechariah (the son of Iddo)—who brought messages from the God of Israel to Zerubbabel (son of Shealtiel) and Jeshua (son of Jozadak), encouraging them to begin building again! So they did and the prophets helped them.
3
But Tattenai, the governor of the lands west of the Euphrates, and Shethar-bozenai, and their companions soon arrived in Jerusalem and demanded, “Who gave you permission to rebuild this Temple and finish these walls?”
4
They also asked for a list of the names of all the men who were working on the Temple.
5
But because the Lord was overseeing the entire situation, our enemies did not force us to stop building, but let us continue while King Darius looked into the matter and returned his decision.
6
Following is the letter which Governors Tattenai and Shethar-bozenai and the other officials sent to King Darius:
7
“To King Darius:
“Greetings!
8
“We wish to inform you that we went to the construction site of the Temple of the great God of Judah. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is being laid in the city walls. The work is going forward with great energy and success.
9
We asked the leaders, ‘Who has given you permission to do this?’
10
And we demanded their names so that we could notify you.
11
Their answer was, ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and we are rebuilding the Temple that was constructed here many centuries ago by a great king of Israel.
12
But afterwards our ancestors angered the God of heaven, and he abandoned them and let King Nebuchadnezzar destroy this Temple and exile the people to Babylonia.’
13
“But they insist that King Cyrus of Babylon, during the first year of his reign, issued a decree that the Temple should be rebuilt,
14
and they say King Cyrus returned the gold and silver bowls which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of Babylon. They say these items were delivered into the safekeeping of a man named Sheshbazzar, whom King Cyrus appointed as governor of Judah.
15
The king instructed him to return the bowls to Jerusalem and to let the Temple of God be built there as before.
16
So Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the Temple at Jerusalem; and the people have been working on it ever since, though it is not yet completed.
17
We request that you search in the royal library of Babylon to discover whether King Cyrus ever made such a decree; and then let us know your pleasure in this matter.”
6:
1
So King Darius issued orders that a search be made in the Babylonian archives, where documents were stored.
2
Eventually the record was found in the palace at Ecbatana, in the province of Media. This is what it said:
3
“In this first year of the reign of King Cyrus, a decree has been sent out concerning the Temple of God at Jerusalem where the Jews offer sacrifices. It is to be rebuilt, and the foundations are to be strongly laid. The height will be ninety feet and the width will be ninety feet.
4
There will be three layers of huge stones in the foundation, topped with a layer of new timber. All expenses will be paid by the king.
5
And the gold and silver bowls, which were taken from the Temple of God by Nebuchadnezzar, shall be taken back to Jerusalem and put into the Temple as they were before.”
6
So King Darius II sent this message
*
to Governor Shethar-bozenai and the other officials west of the Euphrates:
“Do not disturb the construction of the Temple. Let it be rebuilt on its former site,
7
and don’t molest the governor of Judah and the other leaders in their work.
8
Moreover, I decree that you are to pay the full construction costs without delay from my taxes collected in your territory.
9
Give the priests in Jerusalem young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven; and give them wheat, wine, salt, and olive oil each day without fail.
10
Then they will be able to offer acceptable sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for me and my sons.
11
Anyone who attempts to change this message in any way shall have the beams pulled from his house and built into a gallows on which he will be hanged;
*
and his house shall be reduced to a pile of rubble.
12
The God who has chosen the city of Jerusalem will destroy any king and any nation that alters this commandment and destroys this Temple. I, Darius, have issued this decree; let it be obeyed with all diligence.”
13
Governors Tattenai and Shethar-bozenai, and their companions complied at once with the command of King Darius.
14
So the Jewish leaders continued in their work, and they were greatly encouraged by the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah (son of Iddo).
The Temple was finally finished, as had been commanded by God and decreed by Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, the kings of Persia.
15
The completion date was February 18
*
in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius II.
16
The Temple was then dedicated with great joy by the priests, the Levites, and all the people.
17
During the dedication celebration 100 young bulls, 200 rams, and 400 lambs were sacrificed; and twelve male goats were presented as a sin offering for the twelve tribes of Israel.
18
Then the priests and Levites were divided into their various service corps to do the work of God as instructed in the laws of Moses.
19
The Passover was celebrated on the first day of April.
*
20
For by that time many of the priests and Levites had consecrated themselves.
21-22
And some of the heathen people who had been relocated in Judah turned from their immoral customs and joined the Israelis in worshiping the Lord God. They, with the entire nation, ate the Passover feast and celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. There was great joy throughout the land because the Lord had caused the king of Assyria to be generous to Israel and to assist in the construction of the Temple.
Who am I, and who is Apollos, that we should be the cause of a quarrel? Why, we’re just God’s servants, each of us with certain special abilities, and with our help you believed.
6
My work was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos’ work was to water it, but it was God, not we, who made the garden grow in your hearts.
7
The person who does the planting or watering isn’t very important, but God is important because he is the one who makes things grow.
8
Apollos and I are working as a team, with the same aim, though each of us will be rewarded for his own hard work.
9
We are only God’s coworkers. You are
God’s
garden, not ours; you are
God’s
building, not ours.
10
God, in his kindness, has taught me how to be an expert builder. I have laid the foundation and Apollos has built on it. But he who builds on the foundation must be very careful.
11
And no one can ever lay any other real foundation than that one we already have—Jesus Christ.
12
But there are various kinds of materials that can be used to build on that foundation. Some use gold and silver and jewels; and some build with sticks and hay or even straw!
13
There is going to come a time of testing at Christ’s Judgment Day to see what kind of material each builder has used. Everyone’s work will be put through the fire so that all can see whether or not it keeps its value, and what was really accomplished.
14
Then every workman who has built on the foundation with the right materials, and whose work still stands, will get his pay.
15
But if the house he has built burns up, he will have a great loss. He himself will be saved, but like a man escaping through a wall of flames.
16
Don’t you realize that all of you together are the house of God, and that the Spirit of God lives among you in his house?
17
If anyone defiles and spoils God’s home, God will destroy him. For God’s home is holy and clean, and you are that home.
18
Stop fooling yourselves. If you count yourself above average in intelligence, as judged by this world’s standards, you had better put this all aside and be a fool rather than let it hold you back from the true wisdom from above.
19
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As it says in the book of Job, God uses man’s own brilliance to trap him; he stumbles over his own “wisdom” and falls.
20
And again, in the book of Psalms, we are told that the Lord knows full well how the human mind reasons and how foolish and futile it is.
21
So don’t be proud of following the wise men of this world.
*
For God has already given you everything you need.
22
He has given you Paul and Apollos and Peter as your helpers. He has given you the whole world to use, and life and even death are your servants. He has given you all of the present and all of the future. All are yours,
23
and you belong to Christ, and Christ is God’s.
Praise the Lord, you angels of his; praise his glory and his strength.
2
Praise him for his majestic glory, the glory of his name. Come before him clothed in sacred garments.
3
The voice of the Lord echoes from the clouds. The God of glory thunders through the skies.
4
So powerful is his voice; so full of majesty.
5-6
It breaks down the cedars. It splits the giant trees of Lebanon. It shakes Mount Lebanon and Mount Sirion. They leap and skip before him like young calves!
7
The voice of the Lord thunders through the lightning.
8
It resounds through the deserts and shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9
The voice of the Lord spins and topples the mighty oaks.
*
It strips the forests bare. They whirl and sway beneath the blast. But in his Temple all are praising, “Glory, glory to the Lord.”
10
At the Flood the Lord showed his control of all creation. Now he continues to unveil his power.
11
He will give his people strength. He will bless them with peace.
A wise king stamps out crime by severe punishment.
27
A man’s conscience
*
is the Lord’s searchlight exposing his hidden motives.