Nehemiah’s Final Reforms

13 On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God,^{(A) 2} because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam^(B) to call a curse down on them.^(C) (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.)^{(D) 3} When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.^(E)

⁴ Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms^(F) of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah,^{(G) 5} and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes^(H) of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.

⁶ But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes^(I) king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission ⁷ and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib^(J) had done in providing Tobiah^(K) a room in the courts of the house of God. ⁸ I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.^{(L) 9} I gave orders to purify the rooms,^(M) and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.^(N)

¹⁰ I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them,^(O) and that all the Levites and musicians responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields.^{(P) 11} So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?”^(Q) Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts.

¹² All Judah brought the tithes^(R) of grain, new wine and olive oil into the storerooms.^{(S) 13} I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of Zakkur, the son of Mattaniah, their assistant, because they were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible for distributing the supplies to their fellow Levites.^(T)

¹⁴ Remember^(U) me for this, my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.

¹⁵ In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath.^(V) Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. ¹⁶ People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath^(W) to the people of Judah. ¹⁷ I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? ¹⁸ Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city?^(X) Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.”^(Y)

¹⁹ When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath,^(Z) I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰ Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. ²¹ But I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you.” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. ²² Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

Remember^(AA) me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.

²³ Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married^(AB) women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.^{(AC) 24} Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language^(AD) of Judah. ²⁵ I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath^(AE) in God’s name and said: “You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves.^{(AF) 26} Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him.^(AG) He was loved by his God,^(AH) and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women.^{(AI) 27} Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying^(AJ) foreign women?”

²⁸ One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib^(AK) the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat^(AL) the Horonite. And I drove him away from me.

²⁹ Remember^(AM) them, my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.^(AN)

³⁰ So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign,^(AO) and assigned them duties, each to his own task. ³¹ I also made provision for contributions of wood^(AP) at designated times, and for the firstfruits.^(AQ)

Remember^(AR) me with favor, my God.

Four Chariots

6 I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots^(A) coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. ² The first chariot had red horses, the second black,^{(B) 3} the third white,^(C) and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. ⁴ I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵ The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits^[a](D) of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world.^{(E) 6} The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west,^[b] and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”

⁷ When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth.^(F) And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.

⁸ Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit^[c] rest^(G) in the land of the north.”^(H)

A Crown for Joshua

⁹ The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁰ “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon.^(I) Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. ¹¹ Take the silver and gold and make a crown,^(J) and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua^(K) son of Jozadak.^{[d](L) 12} Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch,^(M) and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord.^{(N) 13} It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he^[e] will be a priest^(O) on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ ¹⁴ The crown will be given to Heldai,^[f] Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen^[g] son of Zephaniah as a memorial^(P) in the temple of the Lord. ¹⁵ Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord,^(Q) and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.^(R) This will happen if you diligently obey^(S) the Lord your God.”

Justice and Mercy, Not Fasting

7 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah^(T) on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev.^{(U) 2} The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat^(V) the Lord^{(W) 3} by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn^(X) and fast in the fifth^(Y) month, as I have done for so many years?”

⁴ Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: ⁵ “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted^(Z) and mourned in the fifth and seventh^(AA) months for the past seventy years,^(AB) was it really for me that you fasted? ⁶ And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?^{(AC) 7} Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets^(AD) when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest^(AE) and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills^(AF) were settled?’”^(AG)

⁸ And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: ⁹ “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice;^(AH) show mercy and compassion to one another.^{(AI) 10} Do not oppress the widow^(AJ) or the fatherless, the foreigner^(AK) or the poor.^(AL) Do not plot evil against each other.’^(AM)

¹¹ “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly^(AN) they turned their backs^(AO) and covered their ears.^{(AP) 12} They made their hearts as hard as flint^(AQ) and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets.^(AR) So the Lord Almighty was very angry.^(AS)

¹³ “‘When I called, they did not listen;^(AT) so when they called, I would not listen,’^(AU) says the Lord Almighty.^{(AV) 14} ‘I scattered^(AW) them with a whirlwind^(AX) among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it.^(AY) This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.^(AZ)’”

9 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth.^(A) The star was given the key^(B) to the shaft of the Abyss.^{(C) 2} When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.^(D) The sun and sky were darkened^(E) by the smoke from the Abyss.^{(F) 3} And out of the smoke locusts^(G) came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions^(H) of the earth. ⁴ They were told not to harm^(I) the grass of the earth or any plant or tree,^(J) but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.^{(K) 5} They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months.^(L) And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion^(M) when it strikes. ⁶ During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.^(N)

⁷ The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle.^(O) On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.^{(P) 8} Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.^{(Q) 9} They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.^{(R) 10} They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.^{(S) 11} They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss,^(T) whose name in Hebrew^(U) is Abaddon^(V) and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

¹² The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.^(W)

¹³ The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns^(X) of the golden altar that is before God.^{(Y) 14} It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels^(Z) who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”^{(AA) 15} And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released^(AB) to kill a third^(AC) of mankind.^{(AD) 16} The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.^(AE)

¹⁷ The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths^(AF) came fire, smoke and sulfur.^{(AG) 18} A third^(AH) of mankind was killed^(AI) by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur^(AJ) that came out of their mouths. ¹⁹ The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.

²⁰ The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent^(AK) of the work of their hands;^(AL) they did not stop worshiping demons,^(AM) and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk.^{(AN) 21} Nor did they repent^(AO) of their murders, their magic arts,^(AP) their sexual immorality^(AQ) or their thefts.

The Angel and the Little Scroll

10 Then I saw another mighty angel^(AR) coming down from heaven.^(AS) He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow^(AT) above his head; his face was like the sun,^(AU) and his legs were like fiery pillars.^{(AV) 2} He was holding a little scroll,^(AW) which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,^{(AX) 3} and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion.^(AY) When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders^(AZ) spoke. ⁴ And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write;^(BA) but I heard a voice from heaven^(BB) say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”^(BC)

⁵ Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land^(BD) raised his right hand to heaven.^{(BE) 6} And he swore^(BF) by him who lives for ever and ever,^(BG) who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it,^(BH) and said, “There will be no more delay!^{(BI) 7} But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet,^(BJ) the mystery^(BK) of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”^(BL)

⁸ Then the voice that I had heard from heaven^(BM) spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll^(BN) that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

⁹ So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’^[a]”^{(BO) 10} I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth,^(BP) but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. ¹¹ Then I was told, “You must prophesy^(BQ) again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”^(BR)