14 And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of eHaggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia; 15 and this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.
16 And the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the fdedication of this house of God with joy. 17 They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel g12 male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 18 And they set the priests hin their divisions and the Levites iin their divisions, for the service of God at Jerusalem, jas it is written in the Book of Moses.
Passover Celebrated
19 On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kkept the Passover. 20 For the priests and the Levites had lpurified themselves together; all of them were clean. So mthey slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves. 21 It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile, and also by every one who had joined them and nseparated himself from the ouncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the Lord, the God of Israel. 22 And they kept the pFeast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord
A Psalm.
1 Oh msing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
2 The Lord has nmade known his salvation;
he has orevealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
3 He has premembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have qseen
the salvation of our God.
4 rMake a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
sbreak forth into joyous song and sing praises!
5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of melody!
6 tWith trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!
7 uLet the sea roar, and all that fills it;
vthe world and those who dwell in it!
8 Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the hills wsing for joy together
9 xbefore the Lord, for he comes
to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.
Book Five
Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So
1 Oh kgive thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let lthe redeemed of the Lord say so,
whom he has mredeemed from trouble1
3 and ngathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
4 Some owandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to a city to dwell in;
5 hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
6 pThen they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
7 He led them by a straight way
till they reached a city to dwell in.
8 qLet them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
9 For he rsatisfies the longing soul,
and sthe hungry soul he fills with good things.
10 Some tsat in udarkness and in the shadow of death,
prisoners in affliction and in irons,
11 for they had rebelled against the words of God,
and spurned the vcounsel of the Most High.
12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor;
they fell down, with wnone to help.
13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
and burst their bonds apart.
15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
16 For he xshatters the doors of bronze
and cuts in two the bars of iron.
17 Some were fools through their sinful ways,
and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;
18 they yloathed any kind of food,
and they drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
20 He sent out his word and healed them,
and delivered them from their destruction.
21 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
22 And let them offer zsacrifices of thanksgiving,
and atell of his deeds in songs of joy!
23 Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the great waters;
24 they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
25 For bhe commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
26 They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
ctheir courage melted away in their evil plight;
27 they reeled and staggered like drunken men
and were at their wits’ end.2
28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
29 dHe made the estorm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
30 Then they were glad that the waters3 were quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
31 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
33 He turns rivers into a desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,
34 a fruitful land into a salty waste,
because of the evil of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.
36 And there he lets the hungry dwell,
and they establish a city to live in;
37 they sow fields and plant vineyards
and get a fruitful yield.
38 By his fblessing they multiply greatly,
and he does not let their livestock diminish.
39 When they are diminished and brought low
through oppression, evil, and sorrow,
40 ghe pours contempt on princes
and hmakes them wander in trackless wastes;
41 but he raises up the needy out of affliction
and makes their families like flocks.
42 iThe upright see it and are glad,
and jall wickedness shuts its mouth.
43 Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.
Put Not Your Trust in Princes
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3 vPut not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, win whom there is no salvation.
4 When his breath departs, he xreturns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
5 yBlessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose zhope is in the Lord his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes ajustice for the oppressed,
who bgives food to the hungry.
cThe Lord dsets the prisoners free;
8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord elifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
9 fThe Lord watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
10 The Lord will reign gforever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!
6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
