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JULY 22
heaven, and pray for the life of the king 19 And the descendants of the captivity kept
and his sons. the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first
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month. For the priests and the Levites had
11 Also I issue a decree that whoever
alters this edict, let a timber be pulled purified themselves; all of them were ritually
clean. And they slaughtered the Passover
from his house and erected, and let lambs for all the descendants of the captivity,
him be hanged on it; and let his house for their brethren the priests, and for them-
be made a refuse heap because of this. 21
12 And may the God who causes His selves. Then the children of Israel who had
name to dwell there destroy any king returned from the captivity ate together with
all who had separated themselves from the
or people who put their hand to alter it, filth of the nations of the land in order to seek
or to destroy this house of God which the LORD God of Israel. And they kept the
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is in Jerusalem. I Darius issue a Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy;
decree; let it be done diligently.
for the LORD made them joyful, and turned the
13 Then Tattenai, governor of the region heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to
beyond the River, Shethar-Boznai, and their strengthen their hands in the work of the
companions diligently did according to what house of God, the God of Israel.
King Darius had sent. So the elders of the Jews
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built, and they prospered through the proph-
esying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah
the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it,
according to the commandment of the God of 6:22 turned the heart of the king of Assyria
Israel, and according to the command of toward them.By turning the heart of the king
Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. in their favor in allowing them to complete
the rebuilding, God encouraged His people.
They understood the verse,“The king’s heart is
in the hand of the LORD”(Prov. 21:1) better
6:14 the commandment of the God of through this ordeal. The title “King of Assyria”
Israel…the command of Cyrus. This is not was held by every king who succeeded the
the normal term for commandment, but it is great Neo-Assyrian Empire regardless of what
the same word translated “decree”or “adminis- country they may have come from.
trative order” throughout the book. The mes-
sage here is powerful. It was the decree from
God, the Sovereign of the universe, which
gave administrative authority to rebuild the Psalm 87:1–7
temple. The decrees (same word) of 3 of the A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A Song.
greatest monarchs in the history of the
ancient Near East were only a secondary issue. H is foundation is in the holy
God rules the universe and He raises up kings, mountains.
then pulls them from their thrones when they 2 The LORD loves the gates of Zion
have served His administration. More than all the dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God! Selah
15 Now the temple was finished on the third day 4 “I will make mention of Rahab and
of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth Babylon to those who know Me;
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year of the reign of King Darius. Then the Behold, O Philistia and Tyre,
children of Israel, the priests and the Levites with Ethiopia:
and the rest of the descendants of the captivity, ‘This one was born there.’ ”
celebrated the dedication of this house of God
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with joy. And they offered sacrifices at the And of Zion it will be said,
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dedication of this house of God, one hundred “This one and that one were born
bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, in her;
and as a sin offering for all Israel twelve male And the Most High Himself shall
goats, according to the number of the tribes of establish her.”
Israel. They assigned the priests to their divi- 6 The LORD will record,
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sions and the Levites to their divisions, over the When He registers the peoples:
service of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in “This one was born there.”
the Book of Moses. Selah
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