Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



And the Israelites -- "the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles -- "celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 young bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and, for a sin offering for all Israel, 12 he-goats, according to the number of Israel's tribes. And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their courses for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses. read more.
The returned exiles kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they killed the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their brother priests, and for themselves. It was eaten by the Israelites who had returned from exile and by all who had joined them and separated themselves from the pollutions of the peoples of the land to seek the Lord, the God of Israel.


The returned exiles kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they killed the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their brother priests, and for themselves.



And some of the heads of fathers' houses gave to the work. The Tirshatha or governor gave to the treasury 1,000 darics of gold, 50 basins, 530 priests' garments. Some of the heads of fathers' houses gave to the treasury for the work 20,000 darics of gold and 2,200 minas of silver. What the rest of the people gave was 20,000 darics of gold, 2,000 minas of silver, and 67 priests' garments.

and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times and for the first fruits. O my God, [please] remember me for good [and imprint me on Your heart].

Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people [who had returned from captivity], listened to and obeyed the voice of the Lord their God [not vaguely or partly, but completely, according to] the words of Haggai the prophet, since the Lord their God had sent him, and the people [reverently] feared and [worshipfully] turned to the Lord. Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, spoke the Lord's message to the people saying, I am with you, says the Lord. And the Lord aroused the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, so that they came and labored on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,

Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, with all those whose spirits God had stirred up, to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. And all those who were around them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, goods, beasts, and precious things, besides all that was willingly and freely offered.

Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God to [re]build it on its site. They gave as they were able to the treasury for the work 61,000 darics of gold, 5,000 minas of silver, and 100 priests' garments.

Then stood up Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and they built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings upon it, as it is written in the instructions of Moses the man of God. And they set the altar [in its place] upon its base, for fear was upon them because of the peoples of the countries; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord morning and evening. They kept also the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the ordinances, as each day's duty required, read more.
And after that, the continual burnt offering, the offering at the New Moon, and at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the Lord. From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. They gave money also to the masons and to the carpenters, and gave food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the seaport of Joppa, according to the grant they had from Cyrus king of Persia. In the second year of their coming to God's house at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak made a beginning, with the rest of their brethren -- "the priests and Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem out of the captivity. They appointed the Levites from twenty years old and upward to oversee the work of the Lord's house. Then Jeshua with his sons and his kinsmen, Kadmiel and his sons, sons of Judah, together took the oversight of the workmen in the house of God -- "the sons of Henadad, with their sons and Levite kinsmen.

Then rose up Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel [heir to the throne of Judah] and Jeshua son of Jozadak and began to build the house of God in Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God [Haggai and Zechariah], helping them. Then Tattenai, governor on the west side of the [Euphrates] River, and Shethar-bozenai and their companions came to them and said, Who authorized you to build this house and to restore this wall? Then we told them [in reply] the names of the men who were building this building. read more.
But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, so the enemy could not make them stop until the matter came before Darius and an answer was returned by letter concerning it. This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor on this side of the River, and Shethar-bozenai and his associates, the Apharsachites who were on this [west] side of the River, sent to Darius the king.

And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished their building as commanded by the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia. And this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. And the Israelites -- "the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles -- "celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. read more.
They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 young bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and, for a sin offering for all Israel, 12 he-goats, according to the number of Israel's tribes. And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their courses for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses. The returned exiles kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they killed the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their brother priests, and for themselves. It was eaten by the Israelites who had returned from exile and by all who had joined them and separated themselves from the pollutions of the peoples of the land to seek the Lord, the God of Israel. They kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria [referring to Darius king of Persia] to them, so that he strengthened their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

And weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God which the king, his counselors, his lords, and all Israel there present had offered. I weighed into their hands 650 talents of silver, and silver vessels valued at 100 talents, and 100 talents of gold; Also 20 basins of gold worth 1,000 darics, and two vessels of fine bright bronze, precious as gold. read more.
And I said to them, You are holy to the Lord, the vessels are holy also, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. Guard and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and Levites and heads of the fathers' houses of Israel in Jerusalem in the chambers of the house of the Lord. So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver, the gold, and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem into the house of our God. We left 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 delivered us from the enemy and those who lay in wait by the way. And we came to Jerusalem, and [had been] there three days. On the fourth day, the silver, the gold, and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God into the hands of Meremoth the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar son of Phinehas, and with them were Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui -- "the Levites. Every piece was counted and weighed, and all the weight was recorded at once. Also those returned exiles whose parents had been carried into captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve young bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve he-goats for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord.

So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave to come down to [meet with] you?”

Also we pledge ourselves to pay yearly a third of a shekel for the service expenses of the house of our God [which are]: For the showbread; for the continual cereal offerings and burnt offerings; [for the offerings on] the Sabbaths, the New Moons, the set feasts; for the holy things, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel; and for all the work of the house of our God. We also cast lots -- "the priests, the Levites, and the people -- "for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers' houses, at appointed times year by year, to burn upon the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law. read more.
And [we obligate ourselves] to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the first of all the fruit of all trees year by year to the house of the Lord, As well as the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as is written in the Law, and the firstlings of our herds and flocks, to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in [His] house. And we shall bring the first and best of our coarse meal, our contributions, the fruit of all kinds of trees, of new wine, and of oil to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God. And we shall bring the tithes from our ground to the Levites, for they, the Levites, collect the tithes in all our rural towns. And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when [they] receive tithes, and [they] shall bring one-tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers, into the storehouse. For the Israelites and the sons of Levi shall bring the offering of grain, new wine, and oil to the chambers where the vessels of the sanctuary are, along with the priests who minister and the gatekeepers and singers. We will not forsake or neglect the house of our God.

Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, the new wine, and the oil to the storehouses.

Consider, I pray you, from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was [re]laid, consider this: Is the harvested grain any longer in the barn? As to the grapevine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree -- "they have not yet borne. From this day on I will bless you.


The returned exiles kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they killed the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their brother priests, and for themselves.