Ezra Journeys from Babylon to Jerusalem

7 ^(A)Now after these things, in the reign of ^(B)Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra went up to Jerusalem; Ezra was 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 So this Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a ^(C)scribe skilled in the Law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all ^[a]he requested ^(D)because the hand of the Lord his God was upon him. ^7 (E)Some of the sons of Israel and some of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

⁸ And he 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 Babylon; and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, ^(F)because the good hand of his God was upon him. ¹⁰ For Ezra had ^[b]firmly resolved to study the Law of the Lord and to practice it, and ^(G)to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.

King’s Decree on Behalf of Ezra

¹¹ Now this is the copy of the letter which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, ^[c]learned in the words of the commandments of the Lord and His statutes to Israel: ¹² “^[d]Artaxerxes, ^(H)king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, ^[e]perfect peace. And now ^13 (I)I have issued a decree that any of the people of Israel and their priests and the Levites in my kingdom who are willing to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. ¹⁴ Since you are sent ^[f]on the part of the king and his ^(J)seven advisers to inquire about Judah and Jerusalem according to the Law of your God which is in your hand, ¹⁵ and to bring the silver and gold, which the king and his advisers have voluntarily given to the God of Israel, ^(K)whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, ¹⁶ with ^(L)all the silver and gold which you find in the entire province of Babylon, along ^(M)with the ^[g]voluntary offering of the people and of the priests, who ^(N)offered willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem; ¹⁷ with this money, therefore, you shall diligently buy bulls, rams, and lambs, ^(O)with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and ^(P)offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ And 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 Also the utensils which are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver in full before the God of Jerusalem. ²⁰ And the rest of the needs of the house of your God, for which it may be incumbent upon you to provide, ^(Q)provide for them from the royal treasury.

²¹ “I myself, King Artaxerxes, issue a decree to all the treasurers who are in the provinces beyond the Euphrates River, that whatever Ezra the priest, ^(R)the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, may require of you, it shall be done diligently, ²² up to ^[h]a hundred talents of silver, ^[i]a hundred kors of wheat, ^[j]a hundred baths of wine, ^[k]a hundred baths of anointing oil, and salt ^[l]as needed. ²³ Whatever is ^[m]commanded by the God of heaven, it shall be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven, ^(S)so that there will not be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons. ²⁴ We also inform you that ^(T)it is not allowed to impose tax, tribute, or toll ^(U)on any of the priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers, temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.

²⁵ “And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God which is in your hand, ^(V)appoint magistrates and judges so that they may judge all the people who are in the province beyond the Euphrates River, that is, all those who know the laws of your God; and you may ^(W)teach anyone who is ignorant of them. ²⁶ And ^(X)whoever does not comply with the Law of your God and the law of the king, judgment is to be executed upon him strictly, whether for death or for banishment, or for ^[n]confiscation of property or for imprisonment.”

The King’s Kindness

²⁷ Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, ^(Y)who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to glorify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, ²⁸ and ^(Z)has extended favor to me before the king and his counselors and before all the king’s mighty officials. So I was strengthened according to ^(AA)the hand of the Lord my God that was upon me, and I gathered ^[o]leading men from Israel to go up with me.

Stephen’s Defense

7 Now the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

² And ^[a]Stephen said, “Listen to me, ^(A)[b]brothers and fathers! ^(B)The God of glory ^(C)appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in ^[c]Haran, ³ and He said to him, ‘^(D)Go from your country and your relatives, and come to the land which I will show you.’ ^4 (E)Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in ^[d]Haran. And ^(F)from there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. ⁵ But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, ^(G)He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child. ⁶ But ^(H)God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be strangers in a land that was not theirs, and ^[e]they would enslave and mistreat them for four hundred years. ⁷ ‘And whatever nation to which they are enslaved I Myself will judge,’ said God, ‘and ^(I)after that they will come out and ^[f]serve Me in this place.’ ⁸ And He ^(J)gave him ^[g]the covenant of circumcision; and so ^(K)Abraham fathered Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and ^(L)Isaac fathered Jacob, and ^(M)Jacob, the twelve ^(N)patriarchs.

⁹ “The patriarchs ^(O)became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, ¹⁰ and rescued him from all his afflictions, and ^(P)granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and his entire household.

¹¹ “Now ^(Q)a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers ^[h]could find no food. ¹² But ^(R)when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. ¹³ And on the second visit, ^(S)Joseph ^[i]made himself known to his brothers, and ^(T)Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh. ¹⁴ Then ^(U)Joseph sent word and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, ^(V)seventy-five ^[j](W)people in all. ¹⁵ And ^(X)Jacob went down to Egypt, and he and our fathers died there. ¹⁶ And they were brought back from there to ^[k](Y)Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of ^[l]Hamor in ^[m]Shechem.

¹⁷ “But as the ^(Z)time of the promise which God had assured to Abraham was approaching, ^(AA)the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, ¹⁸ until ^(AB)another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. ¹⁹ It was he who ^(AC)shrewdly took advantage of our nation and mistreated our fathers in order that they would ^(AD)abandon their infants in the Nile, so that they would not survive. ²⁰ At this time ^(AE)Moses was born; and he was beautiful to God. He was nurtured for three months in his father’s home. ²¹ And after he had been put outside, ^(AF)Pharaoh’s daughter ^[n]took him away and nurtured him as her own son. ²² Moses was educated in all ^(AG)the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was proficient in ^[o]speaking and action. ²³ But when he was approaching the age of forty, ^(AH)it entered his ^[p]mind to visit his countrymen, the sons of Israel. ²⁴ And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended and took vengeance for the oppressed man by fatally striking the Egyptian. ²⁵ And he thought that his brothers understood that God was granting them ^[q]deliverance ^[r]through him; but they did not understand. ^26 (AI)And on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting each other, and he tried to reconcile them to peace, by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why are you injuring each other?’ ²⁷ But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘^(AJ)Who made you a ruler and judge over us? ^28 (AK)You do not intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ ²⁹ At this remark, ^(AL)Moses fled and became a stranger in the land of ^[s]Midian, where he ^(AM)fathered two sons.

³⁰ “After forty years had passed, ^(AN)an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came: ³² ‘^(AO)I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with fear and did not dare to look closely. ^33 (AP)But the Lord said to him, ‘^[t](AQ)Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. ^34 (AR)I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them; and ^(AS)now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they ^(AT)disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God ^[u]sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the ^[v]help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. ^36 (AU)This man led them out, performing ^(AV)wonders and ^[w]signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and in the ^(AW)wilderness for forty years. ³⁷ This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘^(AX)God will raise up for you a prophet ^[x]like me from your countrymen.’ ³⁸ This is the one who was in ^(AY)the ^[y]assembly in the wilderness together with ^(AZ)the angel who spoke to him at length on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received ^(BA)living ^(BB)words to pass on to you. ³⁹ Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him; on the contrary they ^(BC)rejected him and turned back to Egypt in their hearts, ^40 (BD)saying to Aaron, ‘Make us ^[z]a god who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’ ^41 [aa]At that time ^(BE)they made a ^[ab]calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in ^(BF)the works of their hands. ⁴² But God ^(BG)turned away and gave them over to ^[ac]serve the heavenly ^[ad]lights; as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘^(BH)You did not offer Me victims and sacrifices ^(BI)for forty years in the wilderness, did you, house of Israel? ^43 (BJ)You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god ^[ae]Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will deport you beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had ^(BK)the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it ^(BL)according to the pattern which he had seen. ⁴⁵ Our fathers in turn received it, and they also ^(BM)brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the ^[af]nations that God drove out from our fathers, until the time of David. ^46 [ag](BN)David found favor in God’s sight, and ^(BO)asked that he might ^[ah]find a dwelling place for the ^[ai]house of Jacob. ⁴⁷ But it was ^(BP)Solomon who built a house for Him. ⁴⁸ However, ^(BQ)the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:

⁵¹ “You men who are ^(BT)stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. ^52 (BU)Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of ^(BV)the Righteous One, and ^(BW)you have now become betrayers and murderers of Him; ⁵³ you who received the Law as ^(BX)ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”

Stephen Put to Death

⁵⁴ Now when they heard this, they were ^(BY)infuriated, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But he, being ^(BZ)full of the Holy Spirit, ^(CA)looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing ^(CB)at the right hand of God; ⁵⁶ and he said, “Behold, I see the ^(CC)heavens opened and ^(CD)the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” ⁵⁷ But they shouted with loud voices, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one ^[aj]mind. ⁵⁸ When they had ^(CE)driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and ^(CF)the witnesses ^(CG)laid aside their cloaks at the feet of ^(CH)a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ They went on stoning Stephen as he ^(CI)called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰ Then he ^(CJ)fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, ^(CK)do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he ^[ak](CL)fell asleep.