Ezra 7Ezra 8Luke 21.5-38Ezra 7
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Now after these things, when Artaxerxes was king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
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The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
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The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
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The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
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The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest:
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This Ezra went up from Babylon and he was a scribe, expert in the law of Moses which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given: and the king, moved by the Lord his God, gave him whatever he made request for.
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And some of the children of Israel went up, with some of the priests and the Levites and the music-makers and the door-keepers and the Nethinim, to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
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And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, in the seventh year of the king's rule.
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For, starting his journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, he came to Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, by the good help of his God.
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For Ezra had given his mind to learning the law of the Lord and doing it, and to teaching his rules and decisions in Israel.
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Now this is a copy of the letter which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra, the priest and the scribe, who put into writing the words of the orders of the Lord, and of his rules for Israel:
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Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, scribe of the law of the God of heaven, all peace
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And now it is my order that all those of the people of Israel, and their priests and Levites in my kingdom, who are ready and have a desire to go to Jerusalem, are to go with you.
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Because you are sent by the king and his seven wise men, to get knowledge about Judah and Jerusalem, as you are ordered by the law of your God which is in your hand
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And to take with you the silver and gold freely offered by the king and his wise men to the God of Israel, whose Temple is in Jerusalem,
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As well as all the silver and gold which you get from the land of Babylon, together with the offering of the people and of the priests, freely given for the house of their God, which is in Jerusalem:
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So with this money get with care oxen, sheep, and lambs, with their meal offerings and their drink offerings, to be offered on the altar of the house of your God, which is in Jerusalem.
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And whatever seems right to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, that do, as may be pleasing to your God.
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And the vessels which have been given to you for the uses of the house of your God, you are to give to the God of Jerusalem.
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And whatever more is needed for the house of your God, and which you may have to give, take it from the king's store-house.
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And I, even I, Artaxerxes the king, now give orders to all keepers of the king's money across the river, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, may have need of from you, is to be done with all care,
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Up to a hundred talents of silver, a hundred measures of grain, a hundred measures of wine, and a hundred measures of oil, and salt without measure.
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Whatever is ordered by the God of heaven, let it be done completely for the house of the God of heaven so that there may not be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons.
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In addition, we make it clear to you, that it will be against the law to put any tax or payment in goods or forced payment on any of the priests or Levites, the music-makers, door-keepers, Nethinim, or any servants of this house of God.
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And you, Ezra, by the wisdom of your God which is in you, are to put rulers and judges to have authority over all the people across the river who have knowledge of the laws of your God and you are to give teaching to him who has no knowledge of them.
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And if anyone does not keep the law of your God and the law of the king, take care that punishment is given to him, by death or by driving him from his country or by taking away his goods or by putting him in prison.
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Praise be to the Lord, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing into the heart of the king, to make fair the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem
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And has given mercy to me before the king and his government and before all the king's great captains. And I was made strong by the hand of the Lord my God which was on me, and I got together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.
Ezra 8
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Now these are the heads of families who were listed of those who went up with me from Babylon, when Artaxerxes was king.
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Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel of the sons of David, Hattush
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Of the sons of Shecaniah of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah and with him were listed a hundred and fifty males.
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Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai, the son of Zerahiah and with him two hundred males.
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Of the sons of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel and with him three hundred males.
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And of the sons of Adin, Ebed, the son of Jonathan and with him fifty males.
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And of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah and with him seventy males.
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And of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah, the son of Michael and with him eighty males.
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Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah, the son of Jehiel and with him two hundred and eighteen males.
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And of the sons of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah and with him a hundred and sixty males.
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And of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah, the son of Bebai and with him twenty-eight males.
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And of the sons of Azgad, Johanan, the son of Hakkatan and with him a hundred and ten males.
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And of the sons of Adonikam, the last, whose names were Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah and with them sixty males.
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And of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud and with them seventy males.
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And I made them come together by the river flowing to Ahava and we were there in tents for three days: and after viewing the people and the priests I saw that no sons of Levi were there.
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Then I sent for Eliezer and Ariel and Shemaiah and Elnathan Jarib and Elnathan and Nathan and Zechariah and Meshullam, all responsible men and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were wise men.
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And I sent them to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and gave them orders what to say to Iddo and his brothers the Nethinim at the place Casiphia, so that they might come back to us with men to do the work of the house of our God.
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And by the help of our God they got for us Ish-sechel, one of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel and Sherebiah with his sons and brothers, eighteen
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And Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty
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And of the Nethinim, to whom David and the captains had given the work of helping the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim, all of them specially named.
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Then I gave orders for a time of going without food, there by the river Ahava, so that we might make ourselves low before our God in prayer, requesting from him a straight way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance.
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For I would not, for shame, make request to the king for a band of armed men and horsemen to give us help against those who might make attacks on us on the way: for we had said to the king, The hand of our God is on his servants for good, but his power and his wrath are against all those who are turned away from him.
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So we went without food, requesting our God for this: and his ear was open to our prayer.
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So I put on one side twelve of the chiefs of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them,
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And gave to them by weight the silver and the gold and the vessels, all the offering for the house of our God which the king and his wise men and his captains and all Israel there present had given:
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Measuring into their hands six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels, a hundred talents' weight, and a hundred talents of gold,
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And twenty gold basins, of a thousand darics, and two vessels of the best bright brass, equal in value to gold.
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And I said to them, You are holy to the Lord and the vessels are holy: and the silver and the gold are an offering freely given to the Lord, the God of your fathers.
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Take care of them and keep them, till you put them on the scales before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites and the chiefs of the families of Israel, in Jerusalem, in the rooms of the house of the Lord.
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So the priests and the Levites took the weight of silver and gold and the vessels, to take them to Jerusalem into the house of our God.
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Then we went away from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem and the hand of our God was on us, and he gave us salvation from our haters and those who were waiting to make an attack on us by the way.
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And we came to Jerusalem and were there for three days.
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And on the fourth day, the silver and the gold and the vessels were measured out by weight in the house of our God into the hands of Meremoth, the son of Uriah, 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, the Levites
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All was handed over by number and by weight: and the weight was put on record at that time.
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And those who had been prisoners, who had come back from a strange land, made burned offerings to the God of Israel, twelve oxen for all Israel, ninety-six male sheep, seventy-seven lambs, twelve he-goats for a sin-offering: all this was a burned offering to the Lord.
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And they gave the king's orders to the king's captains and the rulers across the river, and they gave the people and the house of God the help which was needed.
Luke 21
5-38
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And some were talking about the Temple, how it was made fair with beautiful stones and with offerings, but he said,
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As for these things which you see, the days will come when not one stone will be resting on another, but all will be broken down.
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And they said to him, Master, when will these things be? and what sign will there be when these events are to take place?
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And he said, Take care that you are not tricked: for a number of people will come in my name, saying, I am he and, The time is near: do not go after them.
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And when news of wars and troubled times comes to your ears, have no fear for these things have to be, but the end will not be now.
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Then he said to them, Nation will be moved against nation and kingdom against kingdom:
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There will be great earth-shocks and outbursts of disease in a number of places, and men will be without food and there will be wonders and great signs from heaven.
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But before all this, they will take you and be very cruel to you, giving you up to the Synagogues and to prisons, taking you before kings and rulers, because of my name.
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And it will be turned to a witness for you.
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So take care not to be troubled before the time comes, about what answers you will give:
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For I will give you words and wisdom, so that not one of those who are against you will be able to get the better of you, or to put you in the wrong.
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But you will be given up even by your fathers and mothers, your brothers and relations and friends and some of you will be put to death.
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And you will be hated by all men, because of me.
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But not a hair of your head will come to destruction.
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By going through all these things, you will keep your lives.
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But when you see armies all round about Jerusalem, then be certain that her destruction is near.
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Then let those who are in Judaea go in flight to the mountains and those who are in the middle of the town go out and let not those who are in the country come in.
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For these are the days of punishment, in which all the things in the Writings will be put into effect.
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It will be hard for women who are with child, and for her with a baby at the breast, in those days. For great trouble will come on the land, and wrath on this people.
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And they will be put to death with the sword, and will be taken as prisoners into all the nations and Jerusalem will be crushed under the feet of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles are complete.
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And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars and on the earth, fear among the nations and doubt because of the loud noise of the sea and the waves
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Men's strength will go from them in fear and in waiting for the things which are coming on the earth for the powers of the heavens will be moved.
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And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory.
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But when these things come about, let your heads be lifted up, because your salvation is near.
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And he made a story for them: See the fig-tree, and all the trees
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When they put out their young leaves, you take note of it, and it is clear to you that summer is coming.
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In the same way, when you see these things taking place you may be certain that the kingdom of God is near.
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Truly I say to you, This generation will not come to an end till all things are complete.
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Heaven and earth will come to an end, but my words will not come to an end.
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But give attention to yourselves, for fear that your hearts become over-full of the pleasures of food and wine, and the cares of this life, and that day may come on you suddenly, and take you as in a net:
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For so it will come on all those who are living on the face of all the earth.
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But keep watch at all times with prayer, that you may be strong enough to come through all these things and take your place before the Son of man.
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And every day he was teaching in the Temple and every night he went out to the mountain which is named the Mountain of Olives to take his rest.
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And all the people came early in the morning to give ear to his words in the Temple.
