GOD in the Old Testament - Ezra - Part 1

Ezra 1:2-4

    "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

        " 'The LORD, the God of Heaven, has given me all

    the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me

    to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any

    of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in

    Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of

    Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their

    God be with them. And in any locality where survivors 

    may now be living, the people are to provide them

    with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and

    with freewill offerings for the temple of God in 

    Jerusalem.' " 

 

Ezra 1:5  

    Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites--everyone whose heart God had moved--prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.

[see all Ezra 1]

 

Ezra 2:68  

    When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the house of God on its sight.

[see all Ezra 2]

 

Ezra 3:2  

Then Joshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.

 

Ezra 3:8-9  

    In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak and the rest of the people (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years and older to supervise the building of the house of the LORD. Joshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah) and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers--all Levites--joined together in supervising those working on the house of God.

[see all Ezra 3]

 

Ezra 4:1-3  

    When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, "Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your 

God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here."

    But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, "You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us." 

 

Ezra 4:24  

    Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

[see all Ezra 4]   

    

[brackets are mine]

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post

GOD in the Old Testament - 2 Chronicles - Part 29

2 Chronicles 36:5

    Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD his God.

 

2 Chronicles 36:11-13  

    Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the LORD. He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath in God's name. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the LORD, the God of Israel.

 

2 Chronicles 36:15-19  

    The LORD, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God's messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the LORD's temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. They set fire to God's temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there.

 

2 Chronicles 36:23  

    "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

    " 'The LORD, the God of heaven,

    has given me all the kingdoms of the

    earth and he has appointed me to 

    build a temple for him at Jerusalem in

    Judah. Any of his people among you

    may go up and may the LORD their

    God be with them.' "

(see all 2 Chronicles 36)          

    

(parentheses are mine) 

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post

GOD in the Old Testament - 2 Chronicles - Part 28

2 Chronicles 34:23-24  (continued)

    She (Hulduh, the prophet) said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, 'This is what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people--all the curses written in the book that has been read in the presence of king of Judah.' "

 

2 Chronicles 34:26-27  

"Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the LORD.' "

 

2 Chronicles 34:32-33  

    Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

    Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the LORD their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the LORD, the God of their ancestors.

(see all 2 Chronicles 34)

 

2 Chronicles 35:3  

He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the LORD: "Put the sacred ark into the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel."

 

2 Chronicles 35:8  

    His officials also contributed voluntarily to the people and the priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel, the officials in charge of God's temple, gave the priests twenty-six hundred Passover offerings and three hundred cattle.

 

2 Chronicles 35:21-22  

But Necho (king of Egypt) sent messengers to him, saying, "What quarrel is there, king of Judah, between you and me? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God had told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you."

    Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to engage  him in battle. He would not listen to what Necho had said at God's command but went to fight him on the plain of Megiddo.

(see all 2 Chronicles 35)  

    

(parentheses are mine) 

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post

GOD in the Old Testament - 2 Chronicles - Part 27

2 Chronicles 33:7

    He (Manasseh) took the image he had made and put it in God's temple, of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever."

 

2 Chronicles 33:11-13  

So the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.

 

2 Chronicles 33:16-17  

Then he restored the altar of the LORD and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the LORD their God.

 

2 Chronicles 33:18-19  

      The other events of Manasseh's reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the seers spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, are written in the annals of the kings of Israel. His prayer and how God was moved by his entreaty, as well as all his sins and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself--all these are written in the records of the seers.

(see all 2 Chronicles 33)

 

2 Chronicles 34:3  

    In the eighth year of his (Josiah's) reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols.

 

2 Chronicles 34:8-9  

    In the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, to purify the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah and Maaselah the ruler of the city, with Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the temple of the LORD his God.

    They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the temple of God, which the Levites who were the gatekeepers had collected from the people of Manasseh, Ephraim and the entire remnant of Israel and from all the people of Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

(2 Chronicles 34 continued tomorrow) 

    

(parentheses are mine) 

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post

GOD in the Old Testament - 2 Chronicles - Part 26

2 Chronicles 31:6

The people of Israel and Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks and a tithe of the holy things dedicated to the LORD their God, and they piled them in heaps.

 

2 Chronicles 31:13-14  

Jeheil, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath and Benaiah were assistants of Konaniah and Shimei his brother. All these served by appointment of King Hezekiah and Azariah the official in charge of the temple of God.

    Kore son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the East Gate, was in charge of the freewill offerings given to God, distributing the contributions made to the LORD and also the consecrated gifts.

2 Chronicles 31:20-21  

    This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.

(see all 2 Chronicles 31)

 

2 Chronicles 32:7-8  

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles." And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said.

 

2 Chronicles 32:11  

"When Hezekiah says, 'The LORD our God will save us from the hand of the king of Assyria,' he is misleading you, to let you die of hunger and thirst."

 

2 Chronicles 32:16-17  

    Sennacherib's officers spoke further against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah. The king also wrote letters ridiculing the LORD, the God of Israel, saying this against him: "Just as the gods of the peoples of the other lands did not rescue their people from my hand, so the god of Hezekiah will not rescue his people from my hand."

 

2 Chronicles 32:19  

Then they spoke about the God of Jerusalem as they did about the gods of the other peoples of the world--the work of human hands.

 

2 Chronicles 32:29  

He built villages and acquired great numbers of flocks and herds, for God had given him very great riches.

 

2 Chronicles 32:31  

But when the envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.

(see all 2 Chronicles 32) 

    

(parentheses are mine) 

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post

GOD in the Old Testament - 2 Chronicles - Part 25

2 Chronicles 30:1

    Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel.

 

2 Chronicles 30:5  

They decided to send a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, calling the people to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel. It had not been celebrated in large numbers according to what was written.

 

2 Chronicles 30:6-9  

    At the king's command, couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials, which read:

 

            "People of Israel, return to the 

        LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and

        Israel, that he may return to you who

        are left, who have escaped from the

        hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not 

        be like your parents and your fellow

        Israelites, who were unfaithful to the

        LORD, the God of their ancestors, so

        that he made them an object of horror,

        as you see. Do not be stiff-necked, as 

        your ancestors were; submit to the 

        LORD. Come to his sanctuary, which

        he has consecrated forever. Serve the

        LORD your God, so that his fierce anger

        will turn away from you. If you return to

        the LORD, then your fellow Israelites and

        your children will be shown compassion

        by their captors and will return to this

        land, for the LORD your God is gracious

        and compassionate. He will not turn his

        face from you if you return to him."

 

2 Chronicles 30:12  

Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the LORD.

 

2 Chronicles 30:16  

Then they took up their regular positions as prescribed in the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests splashed against the altar the blood handed to them by the Levites.

 

2 Chronicles 30:18-19  

Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone who sets their heart on seeking God--the LORD, the God of their ancestors--even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary."

 

2 Chronicles 30:22  

    Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites, who showed good  understanding of the service of the LORD. For the seven days they ate their assigned portion and offered fellowship offerings and praised the LORD, the God of their ancestors.

 

2 Chronicles 30:27  

The priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard them, for their prayer reached heaven, his holy dwelling place.

(see all 2 Chronicles 30) 

    

(parentheses are mine) 

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post

GOD in the Old Testament - 2 Chronicles - Part 24

2 Chronicles 28:5-6

    Therefore the LORD his God delivered him (Ahaz) into the hands of the king of Aram. The Arameans defeated him and took many of his people as prisoners and brought them to Damascus.

    He was also given into the hands of the king of Israel, who inflicted heavy casualties on him. In one day Pekah son of Remaliah killed a hundred and twenty thousand soldiers in Jerusalem--because Judah had forsaken the LORD, the God of their ancestors.

 

2 Chronicles 28:9-11  

    But a prophet of the LORD named Oded was there, and he went to meet the army when it returned to Samaria. He said to them, "Because the LORD, the God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand. But you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches to heaven. And now you intend to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves. But aren't you also guilty of sins against the LORD your God? Now listen to me! Send back your fellow Israelites you have taken as prisoners, for the LORD's fierce anger rests on you."

 

2 Chronicles 28:24-25    

     Ahaz gathered together the furnishings from the temple of God and cut them in pieces. He shut the doors of the LORD's temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem. In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and aroused the anger of the LORD, the God of his ancestors.

(see all 2 Chronicles 28)

 

2 Chronicles 29:4-7  

    He (Hezekiah) brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side and said, "Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the LORD, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary. Our parents were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the LORD our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the LORD's dwelling place and turned their backs on him. They also shut the doors and portico and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel."

 

2 Chronicles 29:10  

"Now I intend to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us."

(see all 2 Chronicles 29) 

    

(parentheses are mine) 

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post