Praise the LORD · Nehemiah's last reforms · Malachi

Psalms 148–150 WEB

^148:1Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens! Praise him in the heights! ²Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all his army! ³Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you shining stars! ⁴Praise him, you heavens of heavens, you waters that are above the heavens. ⁵Let them praise the LORD’s name, for he commanded, and they were created. ⁶He has also established them forever and ever. He has made a decree which will not pass away. ⁷Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures, and all depths, ⁸lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy wind, fulfilling his word, ⁹mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, ¹⁰wild animals and all livestock, small creatures and flying birds, ¹¹kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all judges of the earth, ¹²both young men and maidens, old men and children. ¹³Let them praise the LORD’s name, for his name alone is exalted. His glory is above the earth and the heavens. ¹⁴He has lifted up the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints, even of the children of Israel, a people near to him. Praise the LORD!

^149:1Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints. ²Let Israel rejoice in him who made them. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. ³Let them praise his name in the dance! Let them sing praises to him with tambourine and harp! ⁴For the LORD takes pleasure in his people. He crowns the humble with salvation. ⁵Let the saints rejoice in honor. Let them sing for joy on their beds. ⁶May the high praises of God be in their mouths, and a two-edged sword in their hand, ⁷to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; ⁸to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; ⁹to execute on them the written judgment. All his saints have this honor. Praise the LORD!

^150:1Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary! Praise him in his heavens for his acts of power! ²Praise him for his mighty acts! Praise him according to his excellent greatness! ³Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet! Praise him with harp and lyre! ⁴Praise him with tambourine and dancing! Praise him with stringed instruments and flute! ⁵Praise him with loud cymbals! Praise him with resounding cymbals! ⁶Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

Nehemiah 13 WEB

¹On that day they read in the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and it was found written in it that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of God forever, ²because they didn’t meet the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them; however, our God turned the curse into a blessing. ³It came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel. ⁴Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the rooms of the house of our God, being allied to Tobiah, ⁵had prepared for him a great room, where previously they laid the meal offerings, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers; and the wave offerings for the priests. ⁶But in all this, I was not at Jerusalem; for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king; and after some days I asked leave of the king, ⁷and I came to Jerusalem, and understood the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing him a room in the courts of God’s house. ⁸It grieved me severely. Therefore I threw all Tobiah’s household stuff out of the room. ⁹Then I commanded, and they cleansed the rooms. I brought into them the vessels of God’s house, with the meal offerings and the frankincense again. ¹⁰I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had each fled to his field. ¹¹Then I contended with the rulers, and said, “Why is God’s house forsaken?” I gathered them together, and set them in their place. ¹²Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, the new wine, and the oil to the treasuries. ¹³I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah: and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were counted faithful, and their business was to distribute to their brothers. ¹⁴Remember me, my God, concerning this, and don’t wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its observances. ¹⁵In those days I saw some men treading wine presses on the Sabbath in Judah, bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; and I testified against them in the day in which they sold food. ¹⁶Some men of Tyre also lived there, who brought in fish and all kinds of wares, and sold on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. ¹⁷Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, “What evil thing is this that you do, and profane the Sabbath day? ¹⁸Didn’t your fathers do this, and didn’t our God bring all this evil on us and on this city? Yet you bring more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” ¹⁹It 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. ²⁰So the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares camped outside of Jerusalem once or twice. ²¹Then I testified against them, and said to them, “Why do you stay around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on, they didn’t come on the Sabbath. ²²I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember me for this also, my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your loving kindness. ²³In those days I also saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab; ²⁴and their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each people. ²⁵I contended with them, cursed them, struck certain of them, plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves. ²⁶Didn’t Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless foreign women caused even him to sin. ²⁷Shall we then listen to you to do all this great evil, to trespass against our God in marrying foreign women?” ²⁸One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I chased him from me. ²⁹Remember them, my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites. ³⁰Thus I cleansed them from all foreigners and appointed duties for the priests and for the Levites, everyone in his work; ³¹and for the wood offering, at appointed times, and for the first fruits. Remember me, my God, for good.

Malachi 1 WEB

¹A revelation, the LORD’s word to Israel by Malachi. ²“I have loved you,” says the LORD. Yet you say, “How have you loved us?” “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” says the LORD, “Yet I loved Jacob; ³but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness.” ⁴Whereas Edom says, “We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places,” the LORD of Armies says, “They shall build, but I will throw down; and men will call them ‘The Wicked Land,’ even the people against whom the LORD shows wrath forever.” ⁵Your eyes will see, and you will say, “The LORD is great—even beyond the border of Israel!” ⁶“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD of Armies to you priests who despise my name. “You say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ ⁷You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘The LORD’s table is contemptible.’ ⁸When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn’t that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Present it now to your governor! Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person?” says the LORD of Armies. ⁹“Now, please entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With this, will he accept any of you?” says the LORD of Armies. ¹⁰“Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of Armies, “neither will I accept an offering at your hand. ¹¹For from the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations,” says the LORD of Armies. ¹²“But you profane it when you say, ‘The LORD’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.’ ¹³You say also, ‘Behold, what a weariness it is!’ And you have sniffed at it”, says the LORD of Armies; “and you have brought that which was taken by violence, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering. Should I accept this at your hand?” says the LORD. ¹⁴“But the deceiver is cursed who has in his flock a male, and vows and sacrifices to the Lord a defective thing; for I am a great King,” says the LORD of Armies, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”