Nehemiah 9 – Still assembled, the people fast and are in a repentant spirit. Those of Israelite descent separate themselves from all foreigners, confess their sins and the sins of the ancestors as well. They stand and read from the book of the law for a quarter of the day, and spend another quarter confessing and worshipping: “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed by your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise”…

Nehemiah 7 – The Lord “put[s] into [Nehemiah’s] mind” the idea of assembling the nobles and officials to be enrolled by genealogy. All the returning families are lists with the number of descendants returned—first the people, then the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, descendants of Solomon’s servants and those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub,…

Nehemiah 6 – Returning to the wall story, reports go back to Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem the Arab (all of them officials of the Persian provincial government who are enemies of Nehemiah), that the wall is nearing completion. Only the gates remain to be done (6:1).

The three try to get Nehemiah to come and meet with them, but he believes it is a conspiracy to do him harm, so he puts them off repeatedly. They continue to charge him with an intent to rebel against the…

Nehemiah 5 – There are community grievances. Jews complain about other Jews who have taken advantage of those who were in need of food. The poor have had to pledge their fields and vineyards to stay alive. The rich are charging interest and taking their brothers and sisters into servitude. These things make Nehemiah very angry. He brings charges against the rich nobles and officials, saying they were unlawfully taking interest from their own people. “The thing that you are…

Nehemiah 4 – Sanballat mocks the Jews saying, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore things? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish it in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish—and burned ones at that?” (4:2)



Sounds like a passage that might have inspired “will these bones live?” (Ezekiel 37)



Tobiah the Ammonite mocks the soundness of the stone wall, which at this point is up about…

Nehemiah 1 – Written in the first person, Nehemiah is, at the time of the return, a cupbearer for the Persian king Artaxerxes. The account begins in the year 446 according to a note in my Jerusalem Bible. He is living in Susa when his brother Hanani comes with other men from Judah with news of the terrible condition of the people there. Susa is one of the oldest cities in the world, in the Zagros Mountain area [southeastern Iran today] and home of both Daniel and…

Ezra 9 – Ezra, continuing his first person account, which was begun in chapter 8, says that officials approached him to tell him that the people of the land have not held themselves separate from the pagan people—the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzies, Jebusties, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites. They “have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons” (9:2). Ezra says, “When I heard this, I tore my garment and my mantel, and pulled hair from my…

Ezra 7 – The reign of Artaxerxes begins around 464. This is the period during which Ezra makes his appearance. He is the son of Seraiah—Azariah—Hilkiah—Shallum—Zadok—Ahitub—Amariah—Azariah—Meraioth—Zerahiah—Uzzi—Bukki—Abishua—Phinehas—Eleazar—Aaron.

He arrives from Babylon around the 7^th year of Artaxerxes’ reign. He “had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel” (7:10). The document…

Ezra 6 – The records are searched and the proclamation is found wherein Cyrus told the Jews to go back and rebuild their temple. Tattenai and the others are instructed to leave the alone, and in fact to assist them by paying the costs of the rebuilding “in full and without delay, from the royal revenue” (6:8).

If “anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of the house of the perpetrator, who then shall be impaled on it. The house shall be made a dunghill”…

Ezra 5 – The prophets Haggai and Zechariah are in Judah and Jerusalem during this time. Tattenai, governor of the province west of the Euphrates (“Beyond the River”), came and asked them who gave them permission to rebuild the Temple and the names of the men working on it.

They send a letter to Darius telling him all that the workers told them—of the original building, of how because of their people’s unfaithfulness, they suffered its destruction and exile, but…

Ezra 3 – After seven months, Jeshua, head of the priests, and Zerrubabel, set out to build the altar of the God of Israel and to offer burnt offerings on it. They do it fearful of the response of the neighboring people (3:3).

They kept the Festival of Booths [or Shelters - Sukkot] and other offerings prescribed by the Law. They gave money to the masons and carpenters to work on the foundations, food and drink to Sidonians and Tyrians for the cedar they brought in…

Ezra 1 – “In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah” (1:1). He sends the exiles back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. 539 is the date of Cyrus’ conquest over Babylon, 538 the first year of his reign over the Empire. The 70 years turns out to be about 49 years unless, as a Jerusalem Bible note suggests you count Babylonian rule from the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign in 609. Then the…

2 Chronicles 36 – Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, is made king. He is 23 and reigns only three months. The king of Egypt deposes him and imposes a tribute on the land. He makes Jehoahaz’s  brother Eliakim king and changes his name to Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz is taken to Egypt.

Jehoiakim reigns eleven years and does what is evil. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon comes against him, binds Jehoiakim in bronze chains and takes him to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also…

2 Chronicles 34 – Josiah is eight when he becomes king, and his reign lasts 31 years. It is a time of renewal and reform. “He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight and followed the example of his ancestor David. He did not turn away from doing what was right” (34). When he is 16 it say he began to seek God, and when he was 20 he “began to purify Judah and Jerusalem, destroying all the pagan shrines, the Asherah poles, and the carved idols and cast images. He ordered that the…

2 Chronicles 33 – Manasseh is 12 when he succeeds his father. He reigns 55 years in Jerusalem, but does what is evil in the sight of God. He rebuilds the high places, erects altars to the Baals, makes sacred poles and worships “all the host of heaven” (33:3). He builds altars for these gods even in the two courts of the Temple. He makes his own son “pass through fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom” (33:6), practices sorcery and consults…

2 Chronicles 31 – When all this is finished, “all Israel” goes out to the cities of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh and break down the pillars, the sacred poles and high places. Hezekiah organizes the priests and Levites, reestablishes the system of offerings and reinstitutes tithing so the priests and Levites can devote themselves to the Law. People give generously.

Hezekiah oversees everything carefully.  They have a surplus of wealth left over,…

2 Chronicles 30 – Hezekiah sends word to everyone in Israel and Judah, Ephraim and Manasseh to come “to keep the Passover of the Lord” (30:1). But they keep the celebration in the second month, a month later than usual. They could not keep it at the right time because of the paucity of priests and the failure of the people to assemble in Jerusalem.

“At the king’s command, runners were sent throughout Israel and Judah. They appeal to people, “O people of Israel,…

2 Chronicles 30 – Hezekiah sends word to everyone in Israel and Judah, Ephraim and Manasseh to come “to keep the Passover of the Lord” (30:1). But they keep the celebration in the second month, a month later than usual. They could not keep it at the right time because of the paucity of priests and the failure of the people to assemble in Jerusalem.

“At the king’s command, runners were sent throughout Israel and Judah. They appeal to people, “O people of Israel,…

2 Chronicles 29 – Hezekiah begins his reign at age 25. His mother was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah. He does what is right in the sight of the Lord. He repairs the Temple doors. He gets the Levites to purify the Temple.

The Lord has turned his back on them because of their unfaithfulness. But Hezekiah tells them “it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger may turn away from us” (29:10). They carry “all the unclean…

2 Chronicles 26 – Uzziah is 16 when his reign begins—he will reign 52 years in Jerusalem (783-742 BC). His mother is Jecoliah of Jerusalem. “He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper” (26:4-5).

He becomes very strong. God helps him against the Philistines, the Arabs in…