Psalms 147:13

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Those who love you will prosper.

The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.

Then work stopped on God’s house which is at Jerusalem. It stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, because a man had come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they ridiculed us, and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?”

For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah. They shall settle there, and own it.

Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive plants around your table.

There are those who covet greedily all day long; but the righteous give and don’t withhold.

In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble and fear because of the shaking of Yahweh of Armies’s hand, which he shakes over them.

Her gates have sunk into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not. Yes, her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.

For I,’ says Yahweh, ‘will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the middle of her.

“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the sheep gate. They sanctified it, and set up its doors. They sanctified it even to the tower of Hammeah, to the tower of Hananel.

The sons of Hassenaah built the fish gate. They laid its beams, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

But when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and was very indignant, and mocked the Jews.

So the wall was finished in the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days.

His soul will dwell at ease. His offspring will inherit the land.

For Yahweh has built up Zion. He has appeared in his glory.

His offspring will be mighty in the land. The generation of the upright will be blessed.

It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so Yahweh surrounds his people from this time forward and forever more.

Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace.

For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?

Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.

Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, and of the rock of the plain,’ says Yahweh. ‘You that say, “Who would come down against us?” or “Who would enter into our homes?”

A sword is on their horses, on their chariots, and on all the mixed people who are in the middle of her; and they will become as women. A sword is on her treasures, and they will be robbed.

The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.

and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and God’s Kingdom is at hand! Repent, and believe in the Good News.”

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.

He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is, being interpreted, Christ).

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah comes, he who is called Christ. When he has come, he will declare to us all things.”

Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments,

“ ‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you, then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident.

Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites after their divisions, every man according to his service, both the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of Yahweh’s camp.

Then I answered them, and said to them, “The God of heaven will prosper us. Therefore we, his servants, will arise and build; but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.”

and they all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion among us.

Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, and to Geshem the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies, that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it (though even to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates)

Now when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed,

I said to them, “Don’t let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot; and while they stand guard, let them shut the doors, and you bar them: and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, everyone in his watch, with everyone near his house.”

The priests and the Levites purified themselves; and they purified the people, and the gates, and the wall.

It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.

The wicked borrow, and don’t pay back, but the righteous give generously.

Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.

Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem.

Valiant men lie plundered, they have slept their last sleep. None of the men of war can lift their hands.

He has dispersed, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor.

Most certainly, the evil man will not be unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.

Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bathrabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus.

“I will go before you and make the rough places smooth. I will break the doors of bronze in pieces and cut apart the bars of iron.

For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning lamp.

A sword is on the boasters, and they will become fools. A sword is on her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.

The kings of the earth didn’t believe, neither did all the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.

I will overturn, overturn, overturn it. This also will be no more, until he comes whose right it is; and I will give it.” ’

Yes, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the army; and it took away from him the continual burnt offering, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.

Through his policy he will cause deceit to prosper in his hand. He will magnify himself in his heart, and he will destroy many in their security. He will also stand up against the prince of princes; but he will be broken without hand.

At the beginning of your petitions the commandment went out, and I have come to tell you; for you are greatly beloved. Therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.

“Know therefore and discern that from the going out of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times.

I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir,” says Yahweh.

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.

He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

There the fire will devour you. The sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the grasshopper. Multiply like grasshoppers. Multiply like the locust.

Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.

Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, change your garments.

Now in the second year of their coming to God’s house at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of Yahweh’s house.

The chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers close to them, to praise and give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, watch next to watch.

It came to pass that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. I set some of my servants over the gates, so that no burden should be brought in on the Sabbath day.

I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember to me, my God, this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your loving kindness.

Thus I cleansed them from all foreigners, and appointed duties for the priests and for the Levites, everyone in his work;

All day long he deals graciously, and lends. His offspring is blessed.

Yahweh builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.

A righteous man walks in integrity. Blessed are his children after him.

For Yahweh has comforted Zion. He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Yahweh. Joy and gladness will be found in them, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting, they remain in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They have become as women. Her dwelling places are set on fire. Her bars are broken.

You who have escaped the sword, go! Don’t stand still! Remember Yahweh from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.”

Behold, your troops among you are women. The gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies. The fire has devoured your bars.

Because of this, he must offer sacrifices for sins for the people, as well as for himself.