Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with wickedness.

“Listen to us, lord. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in our finest burial place. None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead.”

And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down on it.

This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to You a tenth of all that You give me.”

Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in God’s place, who has withheld children from you?”

Jacob went on his way, and God’s angels met him.

When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s camp.” So he called that place Mahanaim.

But Jacob said, “No, please! If I have found favor with you, take this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing God’s face, since you have accepted me.

Gad’s sons: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took God’s staff in his hand.

Make an appeal to Yahweh. There has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t need to stay any longer.”

Please forgive my sin once more and make an appeal to Yahweh your God, so that He will take this death away from me.”

Moses said to Joshua, “Select some men for us and go fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God’s staff in my hand.”

Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in God’s presence.

Whenever they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I make a decision between one man and another. I teach them God’s statutes and laws.”

If you do this, and God so directs you, you will be able to endure, and also all these people will be able to go home satisfied.”

I have filled him with God’s Spirit, with wisdom, understanding, and ability in every craft

The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was God’s writing, engraved on the tablets.

He has filled him with God’s Spirit, with wisdom, understanding, and ability in every kind of craft

For I am Yahweh your God, so you must consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any swarming creature that crawls on the ground.

For I am Yahweh, who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, so you must be holy because I am holy.

Then he will go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He is to take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on the horns on all sides of the altar.

Aaron will lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the Israelites’ wrongdoings and rebellious acts—all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the man appointed for the task.

Gad’s descendants by their clans:
the Zephonite clan from Zephon;
the Haggite clan from Haggi;
the Shunite clan from Shuni;

Has a people heard God’s voice speaking from the fire as you have, and lived?

On the day of the assembly the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by God’s finger. The exact words were on them, which the Lord spoke to you from the fire on the mountain.

you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

The Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you will only move upward and never downward if you listen to the Lord your God’s commands I am giving you today and are careful to follow them.

“Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God so that it may remain there as a witness against you.

He said about Gad:

The one who enlarges Gad’s territory
will be blessed.
He lies down like a lion
and tears off an arm or even a head.

Across the Jordan east of Jericho, they selected Bezer on the wilderness plateau from Reuben’s tribe, Ramoth in Gilead from Gad’s tribe, and Golan in Bashan from Manasseh’s tribe.

Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God so we will know if we will have a successful journey.”

The leaders of all the people and of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people: 400,000 armed foot soldiers.

Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news about the capture of God’s ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she collapsed and gave birth because her labor pains came on her.

The Ekronites called all the Philistine rulers together. They said, “Send the ark of Israel’s God away. It must return to its place so it won’t kill us and our people!” For the fear of death pervaded the city; God’s hand was oppressing them.

But they forgot the Lord their God, so He handed them over to Sisera commander of the army of Hazor, to the Philistines, and to the king of Moab. These enemies fought against them.

But the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die, who accomplished such a great deliverance for Israel? No, as the Lord lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he worked with God’s help today.” So the people redeemed Jonathan, and he did not die.

It was reported to King David: “The Lord has blessed Obed-edom’s family and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God.” So David went and had the ark of God brought up from Obed-edom’s house to the city of David with rejoicing.

if the king’s anger gets stirred up and he asks you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you realize they would shoot from the top of the wall?

At Thebez, who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the top of the wall so that he died? Why did you get so close to the wall?’—then say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’”

She replied, “Please, may the king invoke the Lord your God, so that the avenger of blood will not increase the loss, and they will not eliminate my son!”

“As the Lord lives,” he vowed, “not a hair of your son will fall to the ground.”

The king will surely listen in order to rescue his servant from the hand of this man who would eliminate both me and my son from God’s inheritance.

When he shaved his head—he shaved it every year because his hair got so heavy for him that he had to shave it off—he would weigh the hair from his head and it would be five pounds according to the royal standard.

Ziba slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like the Angel of God, so do whatever you think best.

David went up in obedience to Gad’s command, just as the Lord had commanded.

All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king because they saw that God’s wisdom was in him to carry out justice.

Listen to Your servant’s prayer and his petition,
Lord my God,
so that You may hear the cry and the prayer
that Your servant prays before You today,

Many of the Hagrites were killed because it was God’s battle. And they lived there in the Hagrites’ place until the exile.

Their relatives, the Levites, were assigned to all the service of the tabernacle, God’s temple.

Azariah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the chief official of God’s temple;

and 1,760 of their relatives, the heads of households. They were capable men employed in the ministry of God’s temple.

but the four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the rooms and the treasuries of God’s temple.

They spent the night in the vicinity of God’s temple, because they had guard duty and were in charge of opening it every morning.

They brought the ark of God and placed it inside the tent David had pitched for it. Then they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings in God’s presence.

This command was also evil in God’s sight, so He afflicted Israel.

David went up at Gad’s command spoken in the name of the Lord.

So David gave orders to gather the foreigners that were in the land of Israel, and he appointed stonecutters to cut finished stones for building God’s house.

Now determine in your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God. Get started building the Lord God’s sanctuary so that you may bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant and the holy articles of God to the temple that is to be built for the name of Yahweh.”

“but their duty will be to assist the sons of Aaron with the service of the Lord’s temple, being responsible for the courts and the chambers, the purification of all the holy things, and the work of the service of God’s temple—

All these men were under their own fathers’ authority for the music in the Lord’s temple, with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of God’s temple. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the king’s authority.

From the Levites, Ahijah was in charge of the treasuries of God’s temple and the treasuries of what had been dedicated.

“So now in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, observe and follow all the commands of the Lord your God so that you may possess this good land and leave it as an inheritance to your descendants forever.

The plans contained everything he had in mind for the courts of the Lord’s house, all the surrounding chambers, the treasuries of God’s house, and the treasuries for what is dedicated.

Here are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of God’s house. Every willing man of any skill will be at your disposal for the work, and the leaders and all the people are at your every command.”

For the service of God’s house they gave 185 tons of gold and 10,000 gold coins, 375 tons of silver, 675 tons of bronze, and 4,000 tons of iron.

Then David said to the whole assembly, “Praise the Lord your God.” So the whole assembly praised the Lord God of their ancestors. They bowed down and paid homage to the Lord and the king.

Solomon and the whole assembly with him went to the high place that was in Gibeon because God’s tent of meeting, which the Lord’s servant Moses had made in the wilderness, was there.

These are Solomon’s foundations for building God’s temple: the length was 90 feet, and the width 30 feet.

Then Huram made the pots, the shovels, and the bowls.

So Huram finished doing the work that he was doing for King Solomon in God’s temple:

Solomon also made all the equipment in God’s temple: the gold altar; the tables on which to put the bread of the Presence;

So all the work Solomon did for the Lord’s temple was completed. Then Solomon brought the consecrated things of his father David—the silver, the gold, and all the utensils—and put them in the treasuries of God’s temple.

And because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the Lord filled God’s temple.

Listen to Your servant’s prayer and his petition,
Lord my God,
so that You may hear the cry and the prayer
that Your servant prays before You,

King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. In this manner the king and all the people dedicated God’s temple.

He brought his father’s consecrated gifts and his own consecrated gifts into God’s temple: silver, gold, and utensils.

and he said, “Listen carefully, all Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat. This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast number, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

While Athaliah ruled over the land, he was hiding with them in God’s temple six years.

Then the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in God’s temple. Jehoiada said to them, “Here is the king’s son! He must reign, just as the Lord promised concerning David’s sons.

Jehoiada the priest gave to the commanders of hundreds King David’s spears, shields, and quivers that were in God’s temple.

Then a proclamation was issued in Judah and Jerusalem that the tax God’s servant Moses imposed on Israel in the wilderness be brought to the Lord.

The workmen did their work, and through them the repairs progressed. They restored God’s temple to its specifications and reinforced it.

He took all the gold, silver, all the utensils that were found with Obed-edom in God’s temple, the treasures of the king’s palace, and the hostages. Then he returned to Samaria.

Then Ahaz gathered up the utensils of God’s temple, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the Lord’s temple, and made himself altars on every street corner in Jerusalem.

Don’t become obstinate now like your fathers did. Give your allegiance to Yahweh, and come to His sanctuary that He has consecrated forever. Serve the Lord your God so that He may turn His burning anger away from you,

Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were deputies under the authority of Conaniah and his brother Shimei by appointment of King Hezekiah and of Azariah the chief official of God’s temple.

He was diligent in every deed that he began in the service of God’s temple, in the instruction and the commands, in order to seek his God, and he prospered.

Manasseh set up a carved image of the idol he had made, in God’s temple, about which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “I will establish My name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

So they went to Hilkiah the high priest, and gave him the money brought into God’s temple. The Levites and the doorkeepers had collected money from Manasseh, Ephraim, and from the entire remnant of Israel, and from all Judah, Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

His officials also donated willingly for the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, chief officials of God’s temple, gave 2,600 Passover sacrifices and 300 bulls for the priests.

But they kept ridiculing God’s messengers, despising His words, and scoffing at His prophets, until the Lord’s wrath was so stirred up against His people that there was no remedy.

He took everything to Babylon—all the articles of God’s temple, large and small, the treasures of the Lord’s temple, and the treasures of the king and his officials.

Then the Chaldeans burned God’s temple. They tore down Jerusalem’s wall, burned down all its palaces, and destroyed all its valuable articles.

In the second month of the second year after they arrived at God’s house in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers, including the priests, the Levites, and all who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity, began to build. They appointed the Levites who were 20 years old or more to supervise the work on the Lord’s house.

Now the construction of God’s house in Jerusalem had stopped and remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia.

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Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak began to rebuild God’s house in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were with them, helping them.

He also took from the temple in Babylon the gold and silver articles of God’s house that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and carried them to the temple in Babylon. He released them from the temple in Babylon to a man named Sheshbazzar, the governor by the appointment of King Cyrus.

Then this same Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundation of God’s house in Jerusalem. It has been under construction from that time until now, yet it has not been completed.

The gold and silver articles of God’s house that Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon must also be returned. They are to be brought to the temple in Jerusalem where they belong and put into the house of God.

For the dedication of God’s house they offered 100 bulls, 200 rams, and 400 lambs, as well as 12 male goats as a sin offering for all Israel—one for each Israelite tribe.

And you, Ezra, according to God’s wisdom that you possess, appoint magistrates and judges to judge all the people in the region west of the Euphrates who know the laws of your God and to teach anyone who does not know them.