So, the priests and Levites made themselves pure in a ceremony. Then they also made the people, the gates, and the wall of Jerusalem pure in a ceremony.
Psalm 147:13 - Easy To Read Version Jerusalem, God makes your gates strong.\par And God blesses the people in your city.\par Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; He hath blessed thy children within thee. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition For He has strengthened and made hard the bars of your gates, and He has blessed your children within you. American Standard Version (1901) For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; He hath blessed thy children within thee. Common English Bible Because God secures the bars on your gates, God blesses the children you have there. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version Because he hath strengthened the bolts of thy gates, he hath blessed thy children within thee. |
So, the priests and Levites made themselves pure in a ceremony. Then they also made the people, the gates, and the wall of Jerusalem pure in a ceremony.
Then Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and our other enemies heard that I had built the wall. We fixed all the holes in the wall. But we had not yet put the doors in the gates.
So, we finished building the wall. Then we put the doors in the gates. Then we chose the men that would guard the gates. And we chose the men to sing in the temple {\cf2\super [21]} and help the priests.
Then I said to Hanani and Hananiah, “Each day you must wait until the sun has been up for several hours before you open the gates of Jerusalem. And you must shut and lock the gates before the sun goes down. Also choose people that live in Jerusalem as guards. Put some of those people at special places to guard the city. And put the other people near their own houses.”
Mountains are all around Jerusalem.\par And the Lord is around his people.\par He will protect his people forever and ever.\par
Our young sons are like strong trees.\par Our daughters are like the beautiful decorations in the palace.\par
God, please be good to Zion. {\cf2\super [308]} \par Rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.\par
“You people are saying, ‘Our country is an empty desert. There are no people or animals living there.’ It is now quiet in the streets of Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah. But it will be noisy there soon.
There will be sounds of joy and happiness. There will be the happy sounds of a bride and groom. There will be the sounds of people bringing their gifts to the Lord’s temple. {\cf2\super [278]} Those people will say, ‘Praise the Lord All-Powerful! The Lord is good! The Lord’s kindness continues forever!’ The people will say these things because I will again do good things to Judah. It will be like in the beginning.” The Lord said these things.
The kings of the earth could not believe\par what had happened.\par The people of the world could not believe\par what had happened.\par They could not believe\par that enemies would be able to come\par through the city gates of Jerusalem.\par
“Learn these things, Daniel. Understand these things! From the time that the message went out to go back and build Jerusalem again until the time for the chosen king {\cf2\super [109]} to come will be seven weeks. {\cf2\super [110]} Then Jerusalem will be built again. There will again be places for people to meet together in Jerusalem. And there will be a ditch around the city to protect it. Jerusalem will be built for 62 weeks. {\cf2\super [111]} But there will be many troubles during that time.