The Ministry of Apostles

4 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and ^(A)stewards of the mysteries of God. ² Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. ³ But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. ^4 (B)For I am not aware of anything against myself, ^(C)but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵ Therefore ^(D)do not pronounce judgment before the time, ^(E)before the Lord comes, ^(F)who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. ^(G)Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

⁶ I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers,^[a] that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may ^(H)be puffed up in favor of one against another. ⁷ For who sees anything different in you? ^(I)What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

⁸ Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! ⁹ For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, ^(J)like men sentenced to death, because we ^(K)have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. ^10 (L)We are fools for Christ's sake, but ^(M)you are wise in Christ. ^(N)We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. ¹¹ To the present hour ^(O)we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and ^(P)buffeted and ^(Q)homeless, ¹² and we ^(R)labor, working with our own hands. ^(S)When reviled, we bless; ^(T)when persecuted, we endure; ¹³ when slandered, we entreat. ^(U)We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, ^(V)the refuse of all things.

¹⁴ I do not write these things ^(W)to make you ashamed, but to admonish you ^(X)as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For ^(Y)though you have countless^[b] guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For ^(Z)I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ¹⁶ I urge you, then, ^(AA)be imitators of me. ¹⁷ That is why ^(AB)I sent^[c] you Timothy, ^(AC)my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ,^{[d] (AD)}as I teach them everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Some are ^(AE)arrogant, ^(AF)as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹ But ^(AG)I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. ²⁰ For ^(AH)the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. ²¹ What do you wish? ^(AI)Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

Ezra Sent to Teach the People

7 Now after this, ^(A)in the reign of ^(B)Artaxerxes king of Persia, ^(C)Ezra the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, ² son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, ³ son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, ⁴ son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, ⁵ son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest— ⁶ this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe ^(D)skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, ^(E)for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

⁷ And there went up also to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the people of Israel, and ^(F)some of the priests and ^(G)Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple ^(H)servants. ⁸ And Ezra^[a] came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. ⁹ For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, ^(I)for the good hand of his God was on him. ¹⁰ For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it ^(J)and to ^(K)teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

¹¹ This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a man learned in matters of the commandments of the Lord and his statutes for Israel: ¹² “Artaxerxes, ^(L)king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the ^(M)scribe of the Law of the God of heaven. Peace.^{[b] (N)}And now ^13 (O)I make a decree that anyone of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom, who freely offers to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. ¹⁴ For you are sent by the king ^(P)and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the Law of your God, which is in your hand, ¹⁵ and also to carry the silver and gold that the king ^(Q)and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, ^(R)whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, ^16 (S)with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and ^(T)with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, vowed willingly for the house of their God that is in Jerusalem. ¹⁷ With this money, then, you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and ^(U)you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God that is in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ Whatever seems good to you and your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do, according to the will of your God. ¹⁹ The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem. ²⁰ And whatever else is required for the house of your God, which it falls to you to provide, you may provide it out of the king's treasury.

²¹ “And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence, ²² up to 100 talents^[c] of silver, 100 cors^[d] of wheat, 100 baths^[e] of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. ²³ Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons. ²⁴ We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose ^(V)tribute, custom, or toll on anyone of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.

²⁵ “And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, ^(W)appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God. ^(X)And those who do not know them, you shall teach. ²⁶ Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on him, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.”

^27 (Y)Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, ^(Z)who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, ^28 (AA)and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.

Genealogy of Those Who Returned with Ezra

8 These are the heads of their fathers' houses, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king: ² Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of ^(AB)Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, ^(AC)Hattush. ³ Of the sons of Shecaniah, who was of the sons of ^(AD)Parosh, Zechariah, with whom were registered 150 men. ^4 (AE)Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men. ⁵ Of the sons of Zattu,^[f] Shecaniah the son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men. ⁶ Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men. ⁷ Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men. ⁸ Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him 80 men. ⁹ Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men. ¹⁰ Of the sons of Bani,^[g] Shelomith the son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men. ^11 (AF)Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah, the son of Bebai, and with him 28 men. ¹² Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men. ¹³ Of the sons of Adonikam, those who came later, their names being Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men. ¹⁴ Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men.

Ezra Sends for Levites

¹⁵ I gathered them to the river that runs to ^(AG)Ahava, and there we camped three days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found there ^(AH)none of the sons of Levi. ¹⁶ Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and ^(AI)Meshullam, leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of insight, ¹⁷ and sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casiphia, telling them what to say to Iddo and his brothers and^[h] the temple servants at the place Casiphia, namely, to send us ministers for the house of our God. ¹⁸ And ^(AJ)by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of ^(AK)Mahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah with his sons and kinsmen, 18; ¹⁹ also ^(AL)Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of ^(AM)the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, 20; ^20 (AN)besides 220 of the temple servants, whom David and his officials had set apart to attend the Levites. These were all ^(AO)mentioned by name.

Joy Comes with the Morning

A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of ^(A)the temple.