The Daily Audio Bible

²¹ And I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

²² For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way; for we had spoken to the king saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his anger is against all them that forsake him.

²³ And we fasted, and besought our God for this; and he was entreated of us.

²⁴ And I separated twelve of the chiefs of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren with them,

²⁵ and I weighed to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the heave-offering for the house of our God, which the king and his counsellors and his princes, and all Israel present, had offered.

²⁶ And I weighed into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver; and silver vessels a hundred talents, [and] of gold a hundred talents;

²⁷ and twenty basons of gold, of a thousand darics; and two vessels of shining copper, precious as gold.

²⁸ And I said to them, Ye are holy unto Jehovah; the vessels also are holy; and the silver and the gold is a voluntary offering to Jehovah the God of your fathers.

²⁹ Watch and keep [them] until ye weigh them before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites, and the chiefs of the fathers of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of Jehovah.

³⁰ And the priests and the Levites received by weight the silver and the gold and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God.

³¹ And we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth of the first month, to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.

³² And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days.

³³ And on the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Urijah the priest; and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them were Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, Levites:

³⁴ the whole by number and by weight; and all the weight was written down at that time.

³⁵ The children of those that had been carried away, who had come out of the captivity, presented burnt-offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, twelve he-goats for a sin-offering: all for a burnt-offering to Jehovah.

³⁶ And they delivered the king's edicts to the king's satraps, and to the governors on this side the river. And they furthered the people and the house of God.

9 Now when these things were completed, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, [even] of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites;

² for they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and have mingled the holy seed with the peoples of the lands; and the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this unfaithfulness.

³ And when I heard this thing, I rent my mantle and my garment, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down overwhelmed.

⁴ Then were assembled to me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the unfaithfulness of those that had been carried away; and I sat overwhelmed until the evening oblation.

⁵ And at the evening oblation I arose up from my humiliation; and with my mantle and my garment rent, I fell on my knees, and spread out my hands to Jehovah my God,

⁶ and said: O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God; for our iniquities are increased over [our] head, and our trespass is grown up to the heavens.

⁷ Since the days of our fathers, we have been in great trespass to this day; and for our iniquities we, our kings, our priests, have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, and to captivity, and to spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.

⁸ And now for a little space there hath been favour from Jehovah our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

⁹ For we are bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us before the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God and to repair the ruins thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

¹⁰ And now, what shall we say, our God, after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

¹¹ which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess [it], is an unclean land through the filthiness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations with which they have filled it from one end to another through their uncleanness.

¹² Now therefore give not your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity for ever; that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.

¹³ And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities [deserve], and hast given us such deliverance as this,

¹⁴ should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples of these abominations? wouldest thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor any to escape?

¹⁵ Jehovah, God of Israel, thou art righteous; for we are a remnant that is escaped, as [it is] this day. Behold, we are before thee in our trespasses; for there is no standing before thee because of this.

5 It is universally reported [that there is] fornication among you, and such fornication as [is] not even among the nations, so that one should have his father's wife.

² And *ye* are puffed up, and ye have not rather mourned, in order that he that has done this deed might be taken away out of the midst of you.

³ For *I*, [as] absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged as present,

⁴ [to deliver,] in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (ye and my spirit being gathered together, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ), him that has so wrought this:

⁵ to deliver him, [I say,] [being] such, to Satan for destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

⁶ Your boasting [is] not good. Do ye not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

⁷ Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, according as ye are unleavened. For also our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed;

⁸ so that let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth.

⁹ I have written to you in the epistle not to mix with fornicators;

¹⁰ not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the avaricious and rapacious, or idolaters, since [then] ye should go out of the world.

¹¹ But now I have written to you, if any one called brother be fornicator, or avaricious, or idolater, or abusive, or a drunkard, or rapacious, not to mix with [him]; with such a one not even to eat.

¹² For what have *I* [to do] with judging those outside also? *ye*, do not ye judge them that are within?

¹³ But those without God judges. Remove the wicked person from amongst yourselves.

To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

31 In thee, Jehovah, do I trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.

² Incline thine ear to me, deliver me speedily; be a strong rock to me, a house of defence to save me.

³ For thou art my rock and my fortress; and, for thy name's sake, thou wilt lead me and guide me.

⁴ Draw me out of the net that they have hidden for me; for thou art my strength.

⁵ Into thy hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, Jehovah, [thou] God of truth.

⁶ I have hated them that observe lying vanities; and as for me, I have confided in Jehovah.

⁷ I will be glad and rejoice in thy loving-kindness, for thou hast seen mine affliction; thou hast known the troubles of my soul,

⁸ And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large place.

21 The king's heart in the hand of Jehovah is [as] brooks of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

² Every way of a man is right in his own eyes; but Jehovah weigheth the hearts.