Read chapter in full: www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Esther+001   Esther The book of Esther explains why Jews in the Persian period began celebrating a new festival called Purim. The Law of Moses had earlier described how God’s mighty acts of deliverance lay behind holidays such as Passover and Tabernacles. The book of Esther shows how God intervened once […]

Read chapter in full: www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Nehemiah+013   CHAPTER 13 (ESV)   23 In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. […]

Read chapter in full: www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Nehemiah+012     CHAPTER 12 (ESV)   27 And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres. 28 And the sons of […]

Read chapter in full: www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Nehemiah+011     CHAPTER 11 (ESV)   1 Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem. And the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem the holy city, while nine out of ten remained in the other towns. 2 And the […]

Read chapter in full: www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Nehemiah+010   CHAPTER 10 (ESV)   32 “We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly a third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: 33 for the showbread, the regular grain offering, the regular burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed […]