Report from Jerusalem
1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.
Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the atwentieth year, as I was in bSusa the citadel, 2 that cHanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and dshame. eThe wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
Nehemiah’s Prayer
4 fAs soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the gGod of heaven. 5 And I said, h“O Lord God of heaven, the igreat and awesome God who jkeeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 klet your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, lconfessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 mWe have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. 8 Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, nI will scatter you among the peoples, 9 but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, othough your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have pchosen, to make my name dwell there.’ 10 qThey are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. 11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and rgrant him mercy in the sight of this man.”
Now I was cupbearer to the king.
Nehemiah Sent to Judah
1 In the month of Nisan, in the stwentieth year of King tArtaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, u“Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its vgates have been destroyed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the wGod of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” 6 And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the xgovernors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the yfortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for zthe good hand of my God was upon me.
Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls
9 Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the aarmy and horsemen. 10 But when bSanballat the Horonite and cTobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.
The Command to Rebuild the Temple
1 In the second year of aDarius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of bHaggai the prophet to cZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to dJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” 3 Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your epaneled houses, fwhile this house lies in ruins? 5 Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: gConsider your ways. 6 hYou have sown much, and harvested little. iYou eat, but you never have enough; jyou drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns kwages does so to put them into a bag with holes.
7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. 9 You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. 10 Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the ldew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”
The People Obey the Lord
12 Then mZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, n“I am with you, declares the Lord.” 14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
The Coming Glory of the Temple
1 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet: 2 “Speak now to oZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? pIs it not as nothing in your eyes? 4 Yet now qbe strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for rI am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the scovenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. tMy Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. 6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: uYet once more, in a little while, vI will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the wtreasures of all nations shall come in, and I will xfill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’”
Blessings for a Defiled People
10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, 11 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests about the law: 12 y‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’” The priests answered and said, “No.” 13 Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, z“It does become unclean.” 14 Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. 15 Now then, aconsider from this day onward.1 Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, 16 how did you fare? bWhen2 one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. 17 I struck you and all the products of your toil with cblight and with mildew and with hail, dyet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. 18 Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the efoundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: 19 Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the fvine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will gbless you.”
Zerubbabel Chosen as a Signet
20 The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, 21 “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to hshake the heavens and the earth, 22 and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother. 23 On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel imy servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a3 jsignet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.”
Greeting
1 Paul, an aapostle of Christ Jesus bby command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our chope,
2 To Timothy, dmy true child in the faith:
eGrace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Warning Against False Teachers
3 fAs I urged you gwhen I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to hteach any different doctrine, 4 nor to devote themselves to imyths and endless jgenealogies, which promote kspeculations rather than the lstewardship1 from God that is by faith. 5 The aim of our charge is mlove that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a nsincere faith. 6 Certain persons, by oswerving from these, have pwandered away into qvain discussion, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, rwithout understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
8 Now we know that sthe law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, tfor the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for uthose who strike their fathers and mothers, for vmurderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, wenslavers,2 liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to xsound3 doctrine, 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the yblessed God with which I have been zentrusted.
Christ Jesus Came to Save Sinners
12 aI thank him who has given me bstrength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, cappointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, dpersecutor, and insolent opponent. But I ereceived mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me fwith the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 gThe saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that hChrist Jesus came into the world to save sinners, iof whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received jmercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an kexample to those who were to lbelieve in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, mimmortal, ninvisible, the oonly God, be honor and glory forever and ever.4 Amen.
18 This charge I pentrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with qthe prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the rgood swarfare, 19 tholding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made ushipwreck of their faith, 20 among whom are vHymenaeus and wAlexander, whom I have xhanded over to Satan that they may learn not to yblaspheme.
