Ezra 1

New International Version

Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return^(A)

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah,^(B) the Lord moved the heart^(C) of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

²“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed^(D) me to build^(E) a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. ³Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. ⁴And in any locality where survivors^(F) may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold,^(G) with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings^(H) for the temple of God^(I) in Jerusalem.’”^(J)

⁵Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin,^(K) and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved^(L)—prepared to go up and build the house^(M) of the Lord in Jerusalem. ⁶All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold,^(N) with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.

⁷Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.^[a]^(O) ⁸Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar^(P) the prince of Judah.

⁹This was the inventory:

gold dishes	30
silver dishes	1,000
silver pans^[b]	29
¹⁰gold bowls	30
matching silver bowls	410
other articles	1,000

¹¹In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along with the exiles when they came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Footnotes

Ezra 1:7 Or gods
Ezra 1:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

Hosea 9-10

New International Version

Punishment for Israel

9 Do not rejoice, Israel;
    do not be jubilant^(A) like the other nations.
For you have been unfaithful^(B) to your God;
    you love the wages of a prostitute^(C)
    at every threshing floor.
²Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people;
    the new wine^(D) will fail them.
³They will not remain^(E) in the Lord’s land;
    Ephraim will return to Egypt^(F)
    and eat unclean food in Assyria.^(G)
⁴They will not pour out wine offerings^(H) to the Lord,
    nor will their sacrifices please^(I) him.
Such sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners;^(J)
    all who eat them will be unclean.^(K)
This food will be for themselves;
    it will not come into the temple of the Lord.^(L)

⁵What will you do^(M) on the day of your appointed festivals,^(N)
    on the feast days of the Lord?
⁶Even if they escape from destruction,
    Egypt will gather them,^(O)
    and Memphis^(P) will bury them.^(Q)
Their treasures of silver^(R) will be taken over by briers,
    and thorns^(S) will overrun their tents.
⁷The days of punishment^(T) are coming,
    the days of reckoning^(U) are at hand.
    Let Israel know this.
Because your sins^(V) are so many
    and your hostility so great,
the prophet is considered a fool,^(W)
    the inspired person a maniac.^(X)
⁸The prophet, along with my God,
    is the watchman over Ephraim,^[a]
yet snares^(Y) await him on all his paths,
    and hostility in the house of his God.^(Z)
⁹They have sunk deep into corruption,^(AA)
    as in the days of Gibeah.^(AB)
God will remember^(AC) their wickedness
    and punish them for their sins.^(AD)

¹⁰“When I found Israel,
    it was like finding grapes in the desert;
when I saw your ancestors,
    it was like seeing the early fruit^(AE) on the fig^(AF) tree.
But when they came to Baal Peor,^(AG)
    they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol^(AH)
    and became as vile as the thing they loved.
¹¹Ephraim’s glory^(AI) will fly away like a bird^(AJ)—
    no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.^(AK)
¹²Even if they rear children,
    I will bereave^(AL) them of every one.
Woe^(AM) to them
    when I turn away from them!^(AN)
¹³I have seen Ephraim,^(AO) like Tyre,
    planted in a pleasant place.^(AP)
But Ephraim will bring out
    their children to the slayer.”^(AQ)

¹⁴Give them, Lord—
what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry
and breasts that are dry.^(AR)

¹⁵“Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal,^(AS)
    I hated them there.
Because of their sinful deeds,^(AT)
    I will drive them out of my house.
I will no longer love them;^(AU)
    all their leaders are rebellious.^(AV)
¹⁶Ephraim^(AW) is blighted,
    their root is withered,
    they yield no fruit.^(AX)
Even if they bear children,
    I will slay^(AY) their cherished offspring.”

¹⁷My God will reject^(AZ) them
because they have not obeyed^(BA) him;
they will be wanderers among the nations.^(BB)

10 Israel was a spreading vine;^(BC)
    he brought forth fruit for himself.
As his fruit increased,
    he built more altars;^(BD)
as his land prospered,^(BE)
    he adorned his sacred stones.^(BF)
²Their heart is deceitful,^(BG)
    and now they must bear their guilt.^(BH)
The Lord will demolish their altars^(BI)
    and destroy their sacred stones.^(BJ)

³Then they will say, “We have no king
    because we did not revere the Lord.
But even if we had a king,
    what could he do for us?”
⁴They make many promises,
    take false oaths^(BK)
    and make agreements;^(BL)
therefore lawsuits spring up
    like poisonous weeds^(BM) in a plowed field.
⁵The people who live in Samaria fear
    for the calf-idol^(BN) of Beth Aven.^[b]^(BO)
Its people will mourn over it,
    and so will its idolatrous priests,^(BP)
those who had rejoiced over its splendor,
    because it is taken from them into exile.^(BQ)
⁶It will be carried to Assyria^(BR)
    as tribute^(BS) for the great king.^(BT)
Ephraim will be disgraced;^(BU)
    Israel will be ashamed^(BV) of its foreign alliances.
⁷Samaria’s king will be destroyed,^(BW)
    swept away like a twig on the surface of the waters.
⁸The high places^(BX) of wickedness^[c]^(BY) will be destroyed—
    it is the sin of Israel.
Thorns^(BZ) and thistles will grow up
    and cover their altars.^(CA)
Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”^(CB)
    and to the hills, “Fall on us!”^(CC)

⁹“Since the days of Gibeah,^(CD) you have sinned,^(CE) Israel,
    and there you have remained.^[d]
Will not war again overtake
    the evildoers in Gibeah?
¹⁰When I please, I will punish^(CF) them;
    nations will be gathered against them
    to put them in bonds for their double sin.
¹¹Ephraim is a trained heifer
    that loves to thresh;
so I will put a yoke^(CG)
    on her fair neck.
I will drive Ephraim,
    Judah must plow,
    and Jacob must break up the ground.
¹²Sow^(CH) righteousness^(CI) for yourselves,
    reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;^(CJ)
    for it is time to seek^(CK) the Lord,
until he comes
    and showers his righteousness^(CL) on you.
¹³But you have planted wickedness,
    you have reaped evil,^(CM)
    you have eaten the fruit of deception.^(CN)
Because you have depended on your own strength
    and on your many warriors,^(CO)
¹⁴the roar of battle will rise against your people,
    so that all your fortresses will be devastated^(CP)—
as Shalman^(CQ) devastated Beth Arbel on the day of battle,
    when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.^(CR)
¹⁵So will it happen to you, Bethel,
    because your wickedness is great.
When that day dawns,
    the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.^(CS)

Footnotes

Hosea 9:8 Or The prophet is the watchman over Ephraim, / the people of my God
Hosea 10:5 Beth Aven means house of wickedness (a derogatory name for Bethel, which means house of God).
Hosea 10:8 Hebrew aven, a reference to Beth Aven (a derogatory name for Bethel); see verse 5.
Hosea 10:9 Or there a stand was taken

John 3

New International Version

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus^(A) who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.^(B) ²He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi,^(C) we know^(D) that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs^(E) you are doing if God were not with him.”^(F)

³Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.^[a]”^(G)

⁴“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.^(H) ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[b] gives birth to spirit.^(I) ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You^[c] must be born again.’ ⁸The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^[d]^(J)

⁹“How can this be?”^(K) Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰“You are Israel’s teacher,”^(L) said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know,^(M) and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.^(N) ¹²I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³No one has ever gone into heaven^(O) except the one who came from heaven^(P)—the Son of Man.^[e]^(Q) ¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness,^(R) so the Son of Man must be lifted up,^[f]^(S) ¹⁵that everyone who believes^(T) may have eternal life in him.”^[g]^(U)

¹⁶For God so loved^(V) the world that he gave^(W) his one and only Son,^(X) that whoever believes^(Y) in him shall not perish but have eternal life.^(Z) ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world^(AA) to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.^(AB) ¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned,^(AC) but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.^(AD) ¹⁹This is the verdict: Light^(AE) has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.^(AF) ²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.^(AG) ²¹But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

John Testifies Again About Jesus

²²After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized.^(AH) ²³Now John^(AI) also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. ²⁴(This was before John was put in prison.)^(AJ) ²⁵An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing.^(AK) ²⁶They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi,^(AL) that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified^(AM) about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

²⁷To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. ²⁸You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’^(AN) ²⁹The bride belongs to the bridegroom.^(AO) The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.^(AP) ³⁰He must become greater; I must become less.”^[h]

³¹The one who comes from above^(AQ) is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth.^(AR) The one who comes from heaven is above all. ³²He testifies to what he has seen and heard,^(AS) but no one accepts his testimony.^(AT) ³³Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. ³⁴For the one whom God has sent^(AU) speaks the words of God, for God^[i] gives the Spirit^(AV) without limit. ³⁵The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.^(AW) ³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,^(AX) but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.