The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 15: 1 Esdras
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Unknown >> The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 15: 1 Esdras
7:2. The son of Sellum, the son of Sadoc, the son of Achitob,
7:3. The son of Amarias, the son of Azarias, the son of Maraioth,
7:4. The son of Zarahias, the son of Ozi, the son of Bocci,
7:5. The son of Abisue, the son of Phinees, the son of Eleazar, the son
of Aaron, the priest from the beginning.
7:6. This Esdras went up from Babylon, and he was a ready scribe in the
law of Moses, which the Lord God had given to Israel: and the king
granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God
upon him.
7:7. And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the
children of the priests, and of the children of the Levites, and of the
singing men, and of the porters, and of the Nathinites to Jerusalem in
the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
7:8. And they came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, in the seventh year
of the king.
7:9. For upon the first day of the first month he began to go up from
Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem
according to the good hand of his God upon him.
7:10. For Esdras had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and
to do and to teach in Israel the commandments and judgment.
7:11. And this is the copy of the letter of the edict, which king
Artaxerxes gave to Esdras the priest, the scribe instructed in the words
and commandments of the Lord, and his ceremonies in Israel.
7:12. Artaxerxes king of kings to Esdras the priest, the most learned
scribe of the law of the God of heaven, greeting.
7:13. It is decreed by me, that all they of the people of Israel, and of
the priests and of the Levites in my realm, that are minded to go into
Jerusalem, should go with thee.
7:14. For thou art sent from before the king, and his seven counsellors,
to visit Judea and Jerusalem according to the law of thy God, which is
in thy hand.
7:15. And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his
counsellors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose tabernacle
is in Jerusalem.
7:16. And all the silver and gold that thou shalt find in all the
province of Babylon, and that the people is willing to offer, and that
the priests shall offer of their own accord to the house of their God,
which is in Jerusalem,
7:17. Take freely, and buy diligently with this money, calves, rams,
lambs, with the sacrifices and libations of them, and offer them upon
the altar of the temple of your God, that is in Jerusalem.
7:18. And if it seem good to thee, and to thy brethren to do any thing
with the rest of the silver and gold, do it according to the will of
your God.
7:19. The vessels also, that are given thee for the sacrifice of the
house of thy God, deliver thou in the sight of God in Jerusalem.
7:20. And whatsoever more there shall be need of for the house of thy
God, how much soever thou shalt have occasion to spend, it shall be
given out of the treasury, and the king's exchequer, and by me.
7:21. I Artaxerxes the king have ordered and decreed to all the keepers
of the public chest, that are beyond the river, that whatsoever Esdras
the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of
you, you give it without delay,
7:22. Unto a hundred talents of silver, and unto a hundred cores of
wheat, and unto a hundred bates of wine, and unto a hundred bates of
oil, and salt without measure.
7:23. All that belongeth to the rites of the God of heaven, let it be
given diligently in the house of the God of heaven: lest his wrath
should be enkindled against the realm of the king, and of his sons.
7:24. We give you also to understand concerning all the priests, and the
Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nathinites, and
ministers of the house of this God, that you have no authority to impose
toll or tribute, or custom upon them.
7:25. And thou Esdras according to the wisdom of thy God, which is in
thy hand, appoint judges and magistrates, that may judge all the people,
that is beyond the river, that is, for them who know the law of thy God,
yea and the ignorant teach ye freely.
7:26. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the
king diligently, judgment shall be executed upon him, either unto death,
or unto banishment, or to the confiscation of goods, or at least to
prison.
7:27. Blessed be the Lord the God of our fathers, who hath put this in
the king's heart, to glorify the house of the Lord, which is in
Jerusalem,
7:28. And hath inclined his mercy toward me before the king and his
counsellors, and all the mighty princes of the king: and I being
strengthened by the hand of the Lord my God, which was upon me, gathered
together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.
1 Esdras Chapter 8
The companions of Esdras. The fast which he appointed. They bring the
holy vessels into the temple.
8:1. Now these are the chief of families, and the genealogy of them, who
came up with me from Babylon in the reign of Artaxerxes the king.
8:2. Of the sons of Phinees, Gersom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of
the sons of David, Hattus.
8:3. Of the sons of Sechenias, the son of Pharos, Zacharias, and with
him were numbered a hundred and fifty men.
8:4. Of the sons of Phahath Moab, Eleoenai the son of Zareha, and with
him two hundred men.
8:5. Of the sons of Sechenias, the son of Ezechiel, and with him three
hundred men.
8:6. Of the sons of Adan, Abed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty
men.
8:7. Of the sons of Alam, Isaias the son of Athalias, and with him
seventy men.
8:8. Of the sons of Saphatia: Zebodia the son of Michael, and with him
eighty men.
8:9. Of the sons of Joab, Obedia the son of Jahiel, and with him two
hundred and eighteen men.
8:10. Of the sons of Selomith, the son of Josphia, and with him a
hundred and sixty men.
8:11. Of the sons of Bebai, Zacharias the son of Bebai: and with him
eight and twenty men.
8:12. Of the sons of Azgad, Joanan the son of Eccetan, and with him a
hundred and ten men.
8:13. Of the sons of Adonicam, who were the last: and these are their
names: Eliphelet, and Jehiel, and Samaias, and with them sixty men.
8:14. Of the sons of Begui, Uthai and Zachur, and with them seventy men.
8:15. And I gathered them together to the river, which runneth down to
Ahava, and we stayed there three days: and I sought among the people and
among the priests for the sons of Levi, and found none there.
8:16. So I sent Eliezer, and Ariel, and Semeias, and Elnathan, and
Jarib, and another Elnathan, and Nathan, and Zacharias, and Mosollam,
chief men: and Joiarib, and Elnathan, wise men.
8:17. And I sent them to Eddo, who is chief in the place of Chasphia,
and I put in their mouth the words that they should speak to Eddo, and
his brethren the Nathinites in the place of Chasphia, that they should
bring us ministers of the house of our God.
8:18. And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a most
learned man of the sons of Moholi the son of Levi the son of Israel, and
Sarabias and his sons, and his brethren eighteen,
8:19. And Hasabias, and with him Isaias of the sons of Merari, and his
brethren, and his sons twenty.
8:20. And of the Nathinites, whom David, and the princes gave for the
service of the Levites, Nathinites two hundred and twenty: all these
were called by their names.
8:21. And I proclaimed there a fast by the river Ahava, that we might
afflict ourselves before the Lord our God, and might ask of him a right
way for us and for our children, and for all our substance.
And I proclaimed a fast... It is not enough to part from Babylon, that
is, figuratively from sin, but we must also do works of penance; and
therefore Esdras here proclaimed an extraordinary fast to those that
were come from captivity. This shews that fasting was commanded and
practised from the earliest times.
8:22. For I was ashamed to ask the king for aid and for horsemen, to
defend us from the enemy in the way: because we had said to the king:
The hand of our God is upon all them that seek him in goodness: and his
power and strength, and wrath upon all them that forsake him.
8:23. And we fasted, and besought our God for this: and it fell out
prosperously unto us.
8:24. And I separated twelve of the chief of the priests, Sarabias, and
Hasabias, and with them ten of their brethren,
8:25. And I weighed unto them the silver and gold, and the vessels
consecrated for the house of our God, which the king and his
counsellors, and his princes, and all Israel, that were found had
offered.
8:26. And I weighed to their hands six hundred and fifty talents of
silver, and a hundred vessels of silver, and a hundred talents of gold,
8:27. And twenty cups of gold, of a thousand solids, and two vessels of
the best shining brass, beautiful as gold.
8:28. And I said to them: You are the holy ones of the Lord, and the
vessels are holy, and the silver and gold, that is freely offered to the
Lord the God of our fathers.
8:29. Watch ye and keep them, till you deliver them by weight before the
chief of the priests, and of the Levites, and the heads of the families
of Israel in Jerusalem, into the treasure of the house of the Lord.
8:30. And the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver
and gold, and the vessels, to carry them to Jerusalem to the house of
our God.
8:31. Then we set forward from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the
first month to go to Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and
delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by
the way.
8:32. And we came to Jerusalem, and we stayed there three days.
8:33. And on the fourth day the silver and the gold, and the vessels
were weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Meremoth the son of
Urias the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinees, and with
them Jozabad the son of Josue, and Noadaia the son of Benoi, Levites.
8:34. According to the number and weight of everything: and all the
weight was written at that time.
8:35. Moreover the children of them that had been carried away that were
come out of the captivity, offered holocausts to the God of Israel,
twelve calves for all the people of Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-
seven lambs, and twelve he goats for sin: all for a holocaust to the
Lord.
8:36. And they gave the king's edicts to the lords that were from the
king's court, and the governors beyond the river, and they furthered the
people and the house of God.
1 Esdras Chapter 9
Esdras mourneth for the transgression of the people: his confession and
prayer.
9:1. And after these things were accomplished, the princes came to me,
saying: The people of Israel, and the priests and Levites have not
separated themselves from the people of the lands, and from their
abominations, namely, of the Chanaanites, and the Hethites, and the
Pherezites, and the Jebusites, and the Ammonites, and the Moabites, and
the Egyptians, and the Amorrhites.
This shows how sinful it is to intermarry with those that the Church
forbids us, on account of the danger of perversion and falling off from
the true faith.
9:2. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their
sons, and they have mingled the holy seed with the people of the lands.
And the hand of the princes and magistrates hath been first in this
transgression.
9:3. And when I had heard this word, I rent my mantle and my coat, and
plucked off the hairs of my head and my beard, and I sat down mourning.
9:4. And there were assembled to me all that feared the God of Israel,
because of the transgression of those that were come from the captivity,
and I sat sorrowful, until the evening sacrifice.
9:5. And at the evening sacrifice I rose up from my affliction, and
having rent my mantle and my garment, I fell upon my knees, and spread
out my hands to the Lord my God,
9:6. And said: My God I am confounded and ashamed to lift up my face to
thee: for our iniquities are multiplied over our heads, and our sins are
grown up even unto heaven,
9:7. From the days of our fathers: and we ourselves also have sinned
grievously unto this day, and for our iniquities we and our kings, and
our priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the
lands, and to the sword, and to captivity, and to spoil, and to
confusion of face, as it is at this day.
9:8. And now as a little, and for a moment has our prayer been made
before the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant, and give us a pin in his
holy place, and that our God would enlighten our eyes, and would give us
a little life in our bondage.
A pin... or nail, here signifies a small settlement or holding; which
Esdras begs for, to preserve even a part of the people, who, by their
great iniquity had incurred the anger of God.
9:9. For we are bondmen, and in our bondage our God hath not forsaken
us, but hath extended mercy upon us before the king of the Persians, to
give us life, and to set up the house of our God, and to rebuild the
desolations thereof, and to give us a fence in Juda and Jerusalem.
9:10. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have
forsaken thy commandments,
9:11. Which thou hast commanded by the hand of thy servants the
prophets, saying: The land which you go to possess, is an unclean land,
according to the uncleanness of the people, and of other lands, with
their abominations, who have filled it from mouth to mouth with their
filth.
9:12. Now therefore give not your daughters to their sons, and take not
their daughters for your sons, and seek not their peace, nor their
prosperity for ever: that you may be strengthened, and may eat the good
things of the land, and may have your children your heirs for ever.
9:13. And after all that is come upon us, for our most wicked deeds, and
our great sin, seeing that thou our God hast saved us from our iniquity,
and hast given us a deliverance as at this day,
9:14. That we should not turn away, nor break thy commandments, nor join
in marriage with the people of these abominations. Art thou angry with
us unto utter destruction, not to leave us a remnant to be saved?
9:15. O Lord God of Israel, thou art just: for we remain yet to be saved
as at this day. Behold we are before thee in our sin, for there can be
no standing before thee in this matter.
1 Esdras Chapter 10
Order is given for discharging strange women: the names of the guilty.
10:1. Now when Esdras was thus praying, and beseeching, and weeping, and
lying before the temple of God, there was gathered to him of Israel an
exceeding great assembly of men and women and children, and the people
wept with much lamentation.
10:2. And Sechenias the son of Jehiel of the sons of Elam answered, and
said to Esdras: We have sinned against our God, and have taken strange
wives of the people of the land: and now if there be repentance in
Israel concerning this,
10:3. Let us make a covenant with the Lord our God, to put away all the
wives, and such as are born of them, according to the will of the Lord,
and of them that fear the commandment of the Lord our God: let it be
done according to the law.
10:4. Arise, it is thy part to give orders, and we will be with thee:
take courage, and do it.
10:5. So Esdras arose, and made the chiefs of the priests and of the
Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they would do according to this
word, and they swore.
10:6. And Esdras rose up from before the house of God, and went to the
chamber of Johanan the son of Eliasib, and entered in thither: he ate no
bread, and drank no water: for he mourned for the transgression of them
that were come out of the captivity.
10:7. And proclamation was made in Juda and Jerusalem to all the
children of the captivity, that they should assemble together into
Jerusalem.
10:8. And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to
the counsel of the princes and the ancients, all his substance should be
taken away, and he should be cast out of the company of them that were
returned from captivity.
10:9. Then all the men of Juda, and Benjamin gathered themselves
together to Jerusalem within three days, in the ninth month, the
twentieth day of the month: and all the people sat in the street of the
house of God, trembling because of the sin, and the rain.
10:10. And Esdras the priest stood up, and said to them: You have
transgressed, and taken strange wives, to add to the sins of Israel.
10:11. And now make confession to the Lord the God of your fathers, and
do his pleasure, and separate yourselves from the people of the land,
and from your strange wives.
10:12. And all the multitude answered and said with a loud voice:
According to thy word unto us, so be it done.
10:13. But as the people are many, and it is time of rain, and we are
not able to stand without, and it is not a work of one day or two, (for
we have exceedingly sinned in this matter,)
10:14. Let rulers be appointed in all the multitude: and in all our
cities, let them that have taken strange wives come at the times
appointed, and with them the ancients and the judges of every city,
until the wrath of our God be turned away from us for this sin.
10:15. Then Jonathan the son of Azahel, and Jaasia the son of Thecua
were appointed over this, and Mesollam and Sebethai, Levites, helped
them:
10:16. And the children of the captivity did so. And Esdras the priest,
and the men heads of the families in the houses of their fathers, and
all by their names, went and sat down in the first day of the tenth
month to examine the matter.
10:17. And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange
wives by the first day of the first month.
10:18. And there were found among the sons of the priests that had taken
strange wives: Of the sons of Josue the son of Josedec, and his
brethren, Maasia, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Godolia.
10:19. And they gave their hands to put away their wives, and to offer
for their offence a ram of the flock.
10:20. And of the sons of Emmer, Hanani, and Zebedia.
10:21. And of the sons of Harim, Maasia, and Elia, and Semeia, and
Jehiel, and Ozias.
10:22. And of the sons of Pheshur, Elioenai, Maasia, Ismael, Nathanael,
Jozabed, and Elasa.
10:23. And of the sons of the Levites, Jozabed, and Semei, and Celaia,
the same is Calita, Phataia, Juda, and Eliezer.
10:24. And of the singing men, Elisiab: and of the porters, Sellum, and
Telem, and Uri.
10:25. And of Israel, of the sons of Pharos, Remeia, and Jezia, and
Melchia, and Miamin, and Eliezer, and Melchia, and Banea.
10:26. And of the sons of Elam, Mathania, Zacharias, and Jehiel, and
Abdi, and Jerimoth, and Elia.
10:27. And of the sons of Zethua, Elioenai, Eliasib, Mathania, Jerimuth,
and Zabad, and Aziaza.
10:28. And of the sons of Babai, Johanan, Hanania, Zabbai, Athalai:
10:29. And of the sons of Bani, Mosollam, and Melluch, and Adaia, Jasub,
and Saal, and Ramoth.
10:30. And of the sons of Phahath, Moab, Edna, and Chalal, Banaias, and
Maasias, Mathanias, Beseleel, Bennui, and Manasse.
10:31. And of the sons of Herem, Eliezer, Josue, Melchias, Semeias,
Simeon,
10:32. Benjamin, Maloch, Samarias.
10:33. And of the sons of Hasom, Mathanai, Mathatha, Zabad, Eliphelet,
Jermai, Manasse, Semei.
10:34. Of the sons of Bani, Maaddi, Amram, and Uel,
10:35. Baneas, and Badaias, Cheliau,
10:36. Vania, Marimuth, and Eliasib,
10:37. Mathanias, Mathania, and Jasi,
10:38. And Bani, and Bennui, Semei,
10:39. And Salmias, and Nathan, and Adaias,
10:40. And Mechnedebai, Sisai, Sarai,
10:41. Ezrel, and Selemiau, Semeria,
10:42. Sellum, Amaria, Joseph.
10:43. Of the sons of Nebo, Jehiel, Mathathias, Zabad, Zabina, Jeddu,
and Joel, and Banaia.
10:44. All these had taken strange wives, and there were among them
women that had borne children.
