Thematic Bible


Thematic Bible



After these things were done, the captains came to me and said: The people of Israel and the priests and Levites have not kept themselves separate from the people of the lands. They have taken part in the disgusting ways of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. They have taken their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons. They have mingled the holy race with peoples around them. In fact the leaders and officials were first to do this evil.

Of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Hakkoz, the children of Barzillai, who was married to one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and took their name. They made search for their record among the lists of families. Their names were nowhere to be found. So they were looked on as unclean and no longer priests.

Among the sons of the priests who were married to strange women were these: of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak and his brothers, Maaseiah and Eliezer and Jarib and Gedaliah. They gave their word that they would put away their wives; and for their sin, they gave an offering of a male sheep of the flock. Of the sons of Immer, Hanani and Zebadiah. read more.
Of the sons of Harim, Maaseiah and Elijah and Shemaiah and Jehiel and Uzziah. Of the sons of Pashhur, Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah. And of the Levites, Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah that is Kelita, Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. Of the music-makers, Eliashib; and of the doorkeepers, Shallum and Telem and Uri.

Before this, Eliashib the priest had been placed over the rooms of the house of our God. He was a friend of Tobiah. Had made a great room ready for him. This is where they once kept the meal offerings, the perfume, the vessels and the tenths of the grain and wine and oil. They were given by order to the Levites and the music-makers and the gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. I was not at Jerusalem all this time in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon. I went to the king; and after some days, I got the king to let me go. read more.
I went to Jerusalem. It was clear to me what evil Eliashib had done for Tobiah by making ready for him a room in the buildings of the house of God. It was evil in my eyes so I had all Tobiah's things removed from the room. Then I gave orders, and they made the rooms clean. I put the vessels of the House of God, along with the meal offerings and the perfume, back in the rooms. I saw that the Levites had not been given what was needed for their support. So the Levites and the music-makers, who did the work, had gone away, everyone to his field. Then I made protests to the chiefs, and said: Why has the house of God been given up? I got them together and put them in their places. All Judah came with the tenth part of the grain and wine and oil and put it into the storehouses. I made controllers over the storehouses, Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah: and with them was Hanan, the son of Zaccur the son of Mattaniah. They were taken to be honest men and their business was the distribution of these things to their brothers.

One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib, the chief priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, so I sent him away from me. Keep them in mind, O my God, because they have put shame on the priests' name and on the agreement of the priests and the Levites.

Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying: 'For the past seventy years did you fast for me when you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months? Did you eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?

Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? You drink clean water. Must you muddy the rest of the water with your feet? Verse ConceptsSocial SelfishnessDrinking WaterResidue

The people of Israel were like a grapevine that used to produce grapes. The more prosperous they were, the more altars they built. The more productive their land was, the more beautiful they made the sacred stone pillars they worship. Verse ConceptsPeace, Human Search ForVinesAltars, PaganSocial SelfishnessFertile LandObelisksBearing Fruit

Will they all taunt him by directing clever sayings and riddles at him? They will say: How horrible it will be for the one who makes himself rich with what is not his own (by extortion) and makes himself wealthy on loans. How long will this go on? Verse ConceptsFraudCovenant breakersPainRidicule, Nature OfRiches, Description OfGuileSocial SelfishnessTransient WealthDo Not StealWoe To The WickedMorality



Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? You drink clean water. Must you muddy the rest of the water with your feet? Verse ConceptsSocial SelfishnessDrinking WaterResidue

The people of Israel were like a grapevine that used to produce grapes. The more prosperous they were, the more altars they built. The more productive their land was, the more beautiful they made the sacred stone pillars they worship. Verse ConceptsPeace, Human Search ForVinesAltars, PaganSocial SelfishnessFertile LandObelisksBearing Fruit

Will they all taunt him by directing clever sayings and riddles at him? They will say: How horrible it will be for the one who makes himself rich with what is not his own (by extortion) and makes himself wealthy on loans. How long will this go on? Verse ConceptsFraudCovenant breakersPainRidicule, Nature OfRiches, Description OfGuileSocial SelfishnessTransient WealthDo Not StealWoe To The WickedMorality