One Year Bible.

The Waters Are up to My Neck

¹For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David.

Save me, O God,

for the waters are up to my neck.

²I have sunk into the miry depths,

where there is no footing;

I have drifted into deep waters,

where the flood engulfs me.

³I am weary from my crying;

my throat is parched.

My eyes fail,

looking for my God.

⁴Those who hate me without cause

outnumber the hairs of my head;

many are those who would destroy me —

my enemies for no reason.

Though I did not steal,

I must repay.

⁵You know my folly, O God,

and my guilt is not hidden from You.

⁶May those who hope in You not be ashamed through me,

O Lord GOD of Hosts;

may those who seek You not be dishonored through me,

O God of Israel.

⁷For I have endured scorn for Your sake,

and shame has covered my face.

⁸I have become a stranger to my brothers

and a foreigner to my mother’s sons,

⁹because zeal for Your house has consumed me,

and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me.

¹⁰I wept and fasted,

but it brought me reproach.

¹¹I made sackcloth my clothing,

and I was sport to them.

¹²Those who sit at the gate mock me,

and I am the song of drunkards.

¹³But my prayer to You, O LORD,

is for a time of favor.

In Your abundant loving devotion, O God,

answer me with Your sure salvation.

¹⁴Rescue me from the mire

and do not let me sink;

deliver me from my foes

and out of the deep waters.

¹⁵Do not let the floods engulf me

or the depths swallow me up;

let not the Pit close its mouth over me.

¹⁶Answer me, O LORD,

for Your loving devotion is good;

turn to me in keeping with Your great compassion.

¹⁷Hide not Your face from Your servant,

for I am in distress.

Answer me quickly!

¹⁸Draw near to my soul and redeem me;

ransom me because of my foes.

¹⁹You know my reproach, my shame and disgrace.

All my adversaries are before You.

²⁰Insults have broken my heart,

and I am in despair.

I looked for sympathy, but there was none,

for comforters, but I found no one.

²¹They poisoned my food with gall

and gave me vinegar to quench my thirst.

²²May their table become a snare;

may it be a retribution and a trap.

²³May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,

and their backs be bent forever.

²⁴Pour out Your wrath upon them,

and let Your burning anger overtake them.

²⁵May their place be deserted;

let there be no one to dwell in their tents.

²⁶For they persecute the one You struck

and recount the pain of those You wounded.

²⁷Add iniquity to their iniquity;

let them not share in Your righteousness.

²⁸May they be blotted out of the Book of Life

and not listed with the righteous.

²⁹But I am in pain and distress;

let Your salvation protect me, O God.

³⁰I will praise God’s name in song

and exalt Him with thanksgiving.

³¹And this will please the LORD more than an ox,

more than a bull with horns and hooves.

³²The humble will see and rejoice.

You who seek God, let your hearts be revived!

³³For the LORD listens to the needy

and does not despise His captive people.

³⁴Let heaven and earth praise Him,

the seas and everything that moves in them.

³⁵For God will save Zion

and rebuild the cities of Judah,

that they may dwell there and possess it.

³⁶The descendants of His servants will inherit it,

and those who love His name will settle in it.

Immorality Rebuked

¹It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. ²And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been stricken with grief and have removed from your fellowship the man who did this?

³Although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. ⁴When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, along with the power of the Lord Jesus, ⁵hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord.

⁶Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough? ⁷Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.

Expel the Immoral Brother

⁹I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. ¹⁰I was not including the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. ¹¹But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

¹²What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? ¹³God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

The List of Returning Exiles

¹Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles carried away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar its king. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town, ²accompanied by Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.

This is the count of the men of Israel:

³the descendants of Parosh, 2,172;

⁴the descendants of Shephatiah, 372;

⁵the descendants of Arah, 775;

⁶the descendants of Pahath-moab (through the line of Jeshua and Joab), 2,812;

⁷the descendants of Elam, 1,254;

⁸the descendants of Zattu, 945;

⁹the descendants of Zaccai, 760;

¹⁰the descendants of Bani, 642;

¹¹the descendants of Bebai, 623;

¹²the descendants of Azgad, 1,222;

¹³the descendants of Adonikam, 666;

¹⁴the descendants of Bigvai, 2,056;

¹⁵the descendants of Adin, 454;

¹⁶the descendants of Ater (through Hezekiah), 98;

¹⁷the descendants of Bezai, 323;

¹⁸the descendants of Jorah, 112;

¹⁹the descendants of Hashum, 223;

²⁰the descendants of Gibbar, 95;

²¹the men of Bethlehem, 123;

²²the men of Netophah, 56;

²³the men of Anathoth, 128;

²⁴the descendants of Azmaveth, 42;

²⁵the men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, 743;

²⁶the men of Ramah and Geba, 621;

²⁷the men of Michmash, 122;

²⁸the men of Bethel and Ai, 223;

²⁹the descendants of Nebo, 52;

³⁰the descendants of Magbish, 156;

³¹the descendants of the other Elam, 1,254;

³²the descendants of Harim, 320;

³³the men of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 725;

³⁴the men of Jericho, 345;

³⁵and the descendants of Senaah, 3,630.

³⁶The priests:

The descendants of Jedaiah (through the house of Jeshua), 973;

³⁷the descendants of Immer, 1,052;

³⁸the descendants of Pashhur, 1,247;

³⁹and the descendants of Harim, 1,017.

⁴⁰The Levites:

the descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel (through the line of Hodaviah), 74.

⁴¹The singers:

the descendants of Asaph, 128.

⁴²The gatekeepers:

the descendants of Shallum,

the descendants of Ater,

the descendants of Talmon,

the descendants of Akkub,

the descendants of Hatita,

and the descendants of Shobai,

139 in all.

⁴³The temple servants:

the descendants of Ziha,

the descendants of Hasupha,

the descendants of Tabbaoth,

⁴⁴the descendants of Keros,

the descendants of Siaha,

the descendants of Padon,

⁴⁵the descendants of Lebanah,

the descendants of Hagabah,

the descendants of Akkub,

⁴⁶the descendants of Hagab,

the descendants of Shalmai,

the descendants of Hanan,

⁴⁷the descendants of Giddel,

the descendants of Gahar,

the descendants of Reaiah,

⁴⁸the descendants of Rezin,

the descendants of Nekoda,

the descendants of Gazzam,

⁴⁹the descendants of Uzza,

the descendants of Paseah,

the descendants of Besai,

⁵⁰the descendants of Asnah,

the descendants of Meunim,

the descendants of Nephusim,

⁵¹the descendants of Bakbuk,

the descendants of Hakupha,

the descendants of Harhur,

⁵²the descendants of Bazluth,

the descendants of Mehida,

the descendants of Harsha,

⁵³the descendants of Barkos,

the descendants of Sisera,

the descendants of Temah,

⁵⁴the descendants of Neziah,

and the descendants of Hatipha.

⁵⁵The descendants of the servants of Solomon:

the descendants of Sotai,

the descendants of Hassophereth,

the descendants of Peruda,

⁵⁶the descendants of Jaala,

the descendants of Darkon,

the descendants of Giddel,

⁵⁷the descendants of Shephatiah,

the descendants of Hattil,

the descendants of Pochereth-hazzebaim,

and the descendants of Ami.

⁵⁸The temple servants and descendants of the servants of Solomon numbered 392 in all.

⁵⁹The following came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but they could not prove that their families were descended from Israel:

⁶⁰the descendants of Delaiah,

the descendants of Tobiah,

and the descendants of Nekoda,

652 in all.

⁶¹And from among the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah,

the descendants of Hakkoz,

and the descendants of Barzillai (who had married a daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name).

⁶²These men searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. ⁶³The governor ordered them not to eat the most holy things until there was a priest to consult the Urim and Thummim.

⁶⁴The whole assembly numbered 42,360, ⁶⁵in addition to their 7,337 menservants and maidservants, as well as their 200 male and female singers. ⁶⁶They had 736 horses, 245 mules, ⁶⁷435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys.

Offerings by the Exiles

⁶⁸When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings to rebuild the house of God on its original site. ⁶⁹According to their ability, they gave to the treasury for this work 61,000 darics of gold, 5,000 minas of silver, and 100 priestly garments.

⁷⁰So the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants, along with some of the people, settled in their own towns; and the rest of the Israelites settled in their towns.

Sacrifices Restored

¹By the seventh month, the Israelites had settled in their towns, and the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.

²Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests, along with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates, began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. ³They set up the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD — both the morning and evening burnt offerings — even though they feared the people of the land.

⁴They also celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles in accordance with what is written, and they offered burnt offerings daily based on the number prescribed for each day.

⁵After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings and those for New Moons and for all the appointed sacred feasts of the LORD, as well as all the freewill offerings brought to the LORD.

⁶On the first day of the seventh month, the Israelites began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, although the foundation of the temple of the LORD had not been laid. ⁷They gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to Joppa by sea, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.

Temple Restoration Begins

⁸In the second month of the second year after they had arrived at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, and the rest of their associates including the priests, the Levites, and all who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity, began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years of age or older to supervise the construction of the house of the LORD. ⁹So Jeshua and his sons and brothers, Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Yehudah), and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers — all Levites — joined together to supervise those working on the house of God.

¹⁰When the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their positions to praise the LORD, as David king of Israel had prescribed. ¹¹And they sang responsively with praise and thanksgiving to the LORD:

“For He is good;

for His loving devotion to Israel endures forever.”

Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD had been laid.

¹²But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads who had seen the first temple wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple. Still, many others shouted joyfully. ¹³The people could not distinguish the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people were making so much noise. And the sound was heard from afar.