We're So Blessed: A Fun 5-Day Family Devotional From CAIN

TheLionWithin.Us: 3 Questions to Unlock Deeper Insights in God’s Word

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The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

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         <div class="label">6</div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">The Decree of Darius</span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v1" data-usfm="EZR.6.1"><span class="label">1</span><span class="content">King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. </span></span><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="EZR.6.2"><span class="label">2</span><span class="content">A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:</span></span></div><div class="pmo"><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="EZR.6.2"><span class="content">Memorandum:</span></span></div><div class="b"><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="EZR.6.2"></span></div><div class="pm"><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="EZR.6.2"></span><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="EZR.6.3"><span class="label">3</span><span class="content">In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:</span></span></div><div class="b"><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="EZR.6.3"></span></div><div class="pm"><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="EZR.6.3"><span class="content">Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be sixty cubits</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class="body"><span class="fr">6:3 </span><span class="ft">That is, about 90 feet or about 27 meters</span></span></span><span class="content"> high and sixty cubits wide, </span></span><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="EZR.6.4"><span class="label">4</span><span class="content">with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury. </span></span><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="EZR.6.5"><span class="label">5</span><span class="content">Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God.</span></span></div><div class="b"><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="EZR.6.5"></span></div><div class="pm"><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="EZR.6.5"></span><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="EZR.6.6"><span class="label">6</span><span class="content">Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you other officials of that province, stay away from there. </span></span><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="EZR.6.7"><span class="label">7</span><span class="content">Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.</span></span></div><div class="pm"><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="EZR.6.7"></span><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="EZR.6.8"><span class="label">8</span><span class="content">Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God:</span></span></div><div class="pm"><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="EZR.6.8"><span class="content">Their expenses are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop. </span></span><span class="verse v9" data-usfm="EZR.6.9"><span class="label">9</span><span class="content">Whatever is needed&#8212;young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and olive oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem&#8212;must be given them daily without fail, </span></span><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="EZR.6.10"><span class="label">10</span><span class="content">so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons.</span></span></div><div class="pm"><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="EZR.6.10"></span><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="EZR.6.11"><span class="label">11</span><span class="content">Furthermore, I decree that if anyone defies this edict, a beam is to be pulled from their house and they are to be impaled on it. And for this crime their house is to be made a pile of rubble. </span></span><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="EZR.6.12"><span class="label">12</span><span class="content">May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem.</span></span></div><div class="pm"><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="EZR.6.12"><span class="content">I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence.</span></span></div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">Completion and Dedication of the Temple</span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="EZR.6.12"></span><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="EZR.6.13"><span class="label">13</span><span class="content">Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence. </span></span><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="EZR.6.14"><span class="label">14</span><span class="content">So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. </span></span><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="EZR.6.15"><span class="label">15</span><span class="content">The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="EZR.6.15"></span><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="EZR.6.16"><span class="label">16</span><span class="content">Then the people of Israel&#8212;the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles&#8212;celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. </span></span><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="EZR.6.17"><span class="label">17</span><span class="content">For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class="body"><span class="fr">6:17 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="fqa">purification offering</span></span></span><span class="content"> for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel. </span></span><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="EZR.6.18"><span class="label">18</span><span class="content">And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.</span></span></div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">The Passover</span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="EZR.6.18"></span><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="EZR.6.19"><span class="label">19</span><span class="content">On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover. </span></span><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="EZR.6.20"><span class="label">20</span><span class="content">The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their relatives the priests and for themselves. </span></span><span class="verse v21" data-usfm="EZR.6.21"><span class="label">21</span><span class="content">So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the </span><span class="nd"><span class="content">Lord</span></span><span class="content">, the God of Israel. </span></span><span class="verse v22" data-usfm="EZR.6.22"><span class="label">22</span><span class="content">For seven days they celebrated with joy the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because the </span><span class="nd"><span class="content">Lord</span></span><span class="content"> had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.</span></span></div>
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