The Daily Audio Bible

Protection of God Invoked

²¹ Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava, so that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our ^[a]children, and all our possessions. ²² For I was ashamed to request troops and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy along the way, because we had told the king, “The hand of our God is favorable toward all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who abandon (turn away from) Him.” ²³ So we fasted and sought [help from] our God concerning this [matter], and He heard our plea.

²⁴ Then I set apart twelve leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers (relatives), ²⁵ and I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the utensils, the offering for the house of our God which the king, his advisers, his officials, and all Israel who were present there had offered. ²⁶ I weighed into their hands 650 talents of silver, and silver utensils worth 100 talents, and 100 talents of gold; ²⁷ also 20 bowls of gold worth 1,000 darics, and two utensils of fine ^[b]shiny bronze, precious as gold. ²⁸ Then I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, the utensils are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord God of your fathers. ²⁹ Guard and keep them until you weigh them before the leading priests and the Levites and the leaders of the fathers’ households of Israel in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the Lord.” ³⁰ So the priests and the Levites received the weighed out silver and gold, and the utensils, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.

³¹ We set out from the river Ahava on the twelfth [day] of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was upon us, and He rescued us from the hand of the enemy and those who lay in ambushes along the way. ³² So we came to Jerusalem and remained there for three days.

Treasure Placed in the Temple

³³ On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the utensils were weighed out in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them were the Levites—Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui. ³⁴ Every piece was counted and weighed, and all the weight was recorded at that time.

³⁵ Also the [former] exiles who had come from the captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and 12 male goats for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. ³⁶ And they delivered the king’s edicts to the king’s satraps (lieutenants) and to the governors ^[c]west of the [Euphrates] River, and they supported the people and God’s house.

Mixed Marriages

9 When these things were completed, the officials came to me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, but have committed the repulsive acts of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. ² For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy ^[d]race has ^[e]intermingled with the peoples of the lands. Indeed, the officials and chief men have been foremost in this unfaithful act and direct violation [of God’s will].”^{(A) 3} When I heard this, I tore my clothing and my robe [in grief], I pulled out some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled [at the shame of it]. ⁴ Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me as I sat appalled until the evening offering.

Prayer of Confession

⁵ At the evening offering I arose from my [time of] humiliation and penitence and having torn my clothing and my robe, I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the Lord my God, ⁶ and I said, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our wrongdoings have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has grown to the heavens. ⁷ Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been exceedingly guilty; and on account of our wrongdoings we, our kings, and our priests have been handed over to the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to complete shame, as it is today. ⁸ But now for a brief moment grace has been [shown to us] from the Lord our God, who has left us a surviving remnant and has given us a peg (secure hold) in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our bondage. ⁹ For we are slaves; yet our God has not abandoned us in our bondage, but has extended lovingkindness to us before the kings of Persia, to revive us to rebuild the house of our God, to repair the site of its ruins and to give us a wall [of protection] in Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁰ “Now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have abandoned (turned away from) Your commandments, ¹¹ which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is a defiled land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their repulsive acts which have filled it from one end to the other along with their impurity. ¹² So now do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons; and never seek their peace or their prosperity, so that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.’ ¹³ And after everything that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our God have punished us less than our wrongdoings deserve, and have given us survivors like these, ¹⁴ shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who practice these repulsive acts? Would You not be angry with us to the point of total destruction, so that there would be no remnant nor survivor?^{(B) 15} O Lord God of Israel, You are [uncompromisingly] just (righteous), for we have been left as survivors, as it is this day. Behold, we are before You in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this.”

Immorality Rebuked

5 It is actually reported [everywhere] that there is sexual immorality among you, a kind of immorality that is condemned even among the [unbelieving] Gentiles: that someone ^[a]has [an intimate relationship with] his father’s wife.^{(A) 2} And you are proud and arrogant! You should have mourned in shame so that the man who has done this [disgraceful] thing would be removed from your fellowship!

³ For I, though absent [from you] in body but present in spirit, have already passed judgment on him who has committed this [act], as if I were present. ⁴ In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ you are to ^[b]hand over this man to Satan for the destruction of his body, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

⁶ Your boasting [over the supposed spirituality of your church] is not good [indeed, it is vulgar and inappropriate]. ^[c]Do you not know that [just] a little leaven ferments the whole batch [of dough, just as a little sin corrupts a person or an entire church]? ^7 [d]Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new batch, just as you are, still unleavened. For Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of vice and malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and [untainted] truth.^(B)

⁹ I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate with [sexually] immoral people— ¹⁰ not meaning the immoral people of this world, or the greedy ones and swindlers, or idolaters, for then you would have to get out of the world and human society altogether! ¹¹ But actually, I have written to you not to associate with any so-called [Christian] brother if he is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater [devoted to anything that takes the place of God], or is a reviler [who insults or slanders or otherwise verbally abuses others], or is a drunkard or a swindler—you must not so much as ^[e]eat with such a person.^{(C) 12} For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders (non-believers)? Do you not judge those who are within the church [to protect the church as the situation requires]? ¹³ God alone sits in judgment on those who are outside [the faith]. Remove the wicked one from among you [expel him from your church].^(D)

A Psalm of Complaint and of Praise.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

On Life and Conduct