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The people who lived in Jerusalem
11 The leaders of the Israelite people lived in Jerusalem. The other people threw dice to choose which other families would live there too. From every group of ten families they chose one family to live in Jerusalem, God's special city. The other families would stay in their own towns. 2 The people asked God to bless all the men who chose to live in Jerusalem.
3 These are the leaders of the region of Judah who went to live in Jerusalem. Other Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants and descendants of King Solomon's servants lived in the other towns of Judah. Each of them lived in their own homes. 4 But some of Judah's and Benjamin's descendants went to live in Jerusalem.[a] This is who they were:
From the tribe of Judah:
Athaiah, son of Uzziah and Zechariah's grandson. His other ancestors were: Amariah, Shephatiah and Mahalalel. They were descendants of Judah's son, Perez.
5 Maaseiah, son of Baruch and Col-Hozeh's grandson. His other ancestors were: Hazaiah, Adaiah, Joiarib and Zechariah. They were descendants of Judah's son, Shelah.
6 There were 468 descendants of Perez who went to live in Jerusalem. They were all brave men.
7 From the tribe of Benjamin:
Sallu, son of Meshullam and Joed's grandson. His other ancestors were: Pedaiah, Kolaiah, Maaseiah, Ithiel and Jeshaiah. 8 Sallu's relatives, Gabbai and Sallai were also there. There were 928 men from Benjamin's tribe.
9 Zicri's son, Joel, was the officer with authority over them.
Hassenuah's son, Judah, was the next most important officer in the city.
10 From the priests:
Joiarib's son, Jedaiah, and Jakin.
11 Seraiah, son of Hilkiah and Meshullam's grandson. His other ancestors were: Zadok, Meraioth and Ahitub. Ahitub had been the most important priest in God's temple. 12 Their relatives worked with them in the temple. There were 822 men from that clan.
Adaiah, son of Jeroham and Pelaliah's grandson. His other ancestors were: Amzi, Zechariah, Pashhur and Malkijah. 13 His relatives were with him. There were 242 men from that clan who were leaders of their families.
Amashsai, son of Azarel and Ahzai's grandson. Ahzai was the son of Meshillemoth, son of Immer. 14 His friends were with him. They were 128 strong brave men from that clan.
Haggedolim's son, Zabdiel, was the officer with authority over them.
15 From the Levites:
Shemaiah, son of Hasshub and Azrikam's grandson. Azrikam was the son of Hashabiah, son of Bunni.
16 Shabbethai and Jozabad were leaders of the Levites who had authority over work on the outside of God's temple.
17 Mattaniah, son of Mica and Zabdi's grandson. Zabdi was Asaph's son. Mattaniah led the people when they prayed and they thanked God.
Bakbukiah helped Mattaniah, as well as Shammua's son, Abda. Shammua was the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.
18 284 Levites lived in the holy city, Jerusalem.
19 The temple guards were:
Akkub, Talmon and their relatives. There were 172 guards who watched the gates.
20 The other Israelite people, priests and Levites lived in the other towns of Judah. They lived in the homes that belonged to their families.
21 The temple servants lived on Ophel Hill. Ziha and Gishpa had authority over them.
22 Uzzi was the leader of the Levites in Jerusalem. He was the son of Bani and grandson of Hashabiah. His other ancestors were Mattaniah and Mica. Uzzi was one of Asaph's descendants. Asaph's family were the singers who had authority for the music in the temple. 23 The king commanded the singers what they must do each day.
24 Meshezabel's son, Pethahiah, was one of the king's advisors. He helped the king of Persia to know how to rule the Israelite people. Pethahiah was a descendant of Judah's son, Zerah.
25 Many people of Judah lived in villages with their farms near them. Some of them lived in Kiriath Arba, Dibon and Jekabzeel, and in the villages near those towns. 26 Other people lived in Jeshua, Moladah, Beth Pelet 27 and Hazar-Shual, as well as in Beersheba and the villages near it. 28 Other people lived in Ziklag and Meconah and the villages near it. 29 Some people lived in En Rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth, 30 Zanoah and Adullam and the villages near to those towns. Other people lived in Lachish and its fields, and in Azekah and its villages. The people were living everywhere from Beersheba to the Hinnom Valley.[b]
31 Some of Benjamin's descendants lived in Geba, Michmash, Aija, Bethel and its villages. 32 Some of them lived in Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, 33 Hazor, Ramah and Gittaim. 34 They also lived in Hadid, Zeboim Neballat, 35 Lod, Ono and Ge-Harashim. 36 Some of the Levites' clans who belonged with Judah went to live in Benjamin's land.
Priests and Levites
12 This is a list of the priests and the Levites who returned with Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and with Jeshua:
Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, 2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,
3 Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, 4 Iddo, Ginnethon, Abijah,
5 Mijamin, Moadiah, Bilgah, 6 Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,
7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah and Jedaiah.
These men were the leaders of the priests and the people who helped them in the time of Jeshua.
8 The Levites were:
Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah and Mattaniah.
Mattaniah and his relatives had authority for the songs which they sang to thank God in the temple. 9 Bakbukiah and Unni and their relatives joined them when they sang.
10 Jeshua was the father of Joiakim. Joiakim was the father of Eliashib. Eliashib was the father of Joiada, 11 Joiada was the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan was the father of Jaddua.
12 In the time of Joiakim, these were the priests who were leaders of their clans:
Meraiah was the leader of Seraiah's clan.
Hananiah was the leader of Jeremiah's clan.
13 Meshullam was the leader of Ezra's clan.
Jehohanan was the leader of Amariah's clan.
14 Jonathan was the leader of Malluch's clan.
Joseph was the leader of Shecaniah's clan.
15 Adna was the leader of Harim's clan.
Helkai was the leader of Meremoth's clan.
16 Zechariah was the leader of Iddo's clan.
Meshullam was the leader of Ginnethon's clan.
17 Zicri was the leader of Abijah's clan.
Piltai was the leader of the clans of Miniamin and Moadiah.
18 Shammua was the leader of Bilgah's clan.
Jehonathan was the leader of Shemaiah's clan.
19 Mattenai was the leader of Joiarib's clan.
Uzzi was the leader of Jedaiah's clan.
20 Kallai was the leader of Sallu's clan.
Eber was the leader of Amok's clan.
21 Hashabiah was the leader of Hilkiah's clan.
Nethanel was the leader of Jedaiah's clan.
22 During the time when Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan and Jaddua were the leaders of the priests, they recorded the names of the Levites and the priests who were leaders of their clans. At the time when King Darius ruled Persia, they stopped doing this. 23 They wrote the names of Levi's descendants who were leaders of their clans in the history book of Israel. They did that until the time of Eliashib's son, Johanan.
24 The leaders of the Levites were:
Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Kadmiel's son, Jeshua, and their relatives.
The two groups stood opposite each other to sing and praise and thank God. They did this in the way that God's servant, King David, had commanded.
25 The guards for the temple gates were:
Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon and Akkub.
They watched the temple rooms near the gates, where they stored special things. 26 They served as guards in the time of Joiakim, son of Jeshua and grandson of Jozadak. This was in the time when Nehemiah had authority over Judah, and Ezra the priest was teaching people God's Law.
14 So, my friends, keep away from idols. Do not worship them. 15 You are people who think carefully about things. So think about what I am saying to you. 16 When we eat the Lord's Supper together, we remember that Christ died on our behalf. We thank God for the wine that we drink from the cup. In that way, we remember that we all belong to Christ because of his blood. We also break the bread and we eat it together. In that way, we remember that we all belong to Christ because of his body that died on the cross. 17 We are many people, but all of us eat part of the same loaf of bread. That shows that we are one group of people. We belong together because Christ died on our behalf.
18 Think about Israel's people. They eat part of the animals that the priests offer on the altar as a sacrifice. This shows that they share together in the sacrifice. 19 So think about food that people offer to idols as a sacrifice. I am not saying that the idols are real gods. The food that people offer to them is not special food. 20 But the people who offer food to idols are worshipping demons. They are not worshipping God when they do that. I do not want you to share in what they do to worship demons. 21 If you drink anything from the cup of demons, you can not then drink wine from the Lord's cup. If you share a meal with demons, you can not also share in the Lord's meal.
22 If we do things like that, we will cause the Lord to be angry. We should worship only him. You know that we are not stronger than he is!
23 Some of you may say, ‘We are free to do anything that we want to do!’ But not everything is good for you to do. You may say, ‘We are free to do anything!’ But not everything helps you to be strong as a believer. 24 Do not think about the things that will help you. Instead, each of you should think about what will help other people.
25 You can eat any meat that people sell in the market. Do not ask questions about the meat. Do not cause your thoughts to have trouble. 26 The Bible says this: ‘The earth, and everything in it, belongs to the Lord.’[a]
27 People who do not believe in Christ may ask you to eat a meal with them. Agree to go to his home, if you want to. Then you should eat whatever food they give to you. Do not ask questions about the food. Do not cause your thoughts to have trouble. 28 But someone there may say to you, ‘They offered this food to an idol.’ If someone tells you that, do not eat the food. It might cause trouble to the thoughts of the person who told you. 29 It may not cause your own thoughts to have trouble. But the other person may not be sure if it is right to eat that kind of food.
Perhaps you will say, ‘Why should another person's thoughts decide what is right for me? I am free to do what I want. 30 I thank God for my food before I eat it. If I do that, nobody should say that it is wrong for me to eat it.’
31 Whatever you are doing, show that God is great. When you eat anything, or you drink anything, do it all in a way that praises God. 32 Do not cause problems for other people. Whether they are Jews or Gentiles, or people who belong to God's church, live in a way that does not cause problems for them. 33 Copy my example. Whatever I do, I try to make other people happy. I do not try to do what will help me. Instead, I want to help other people. I live in that way so that God will save many people.
11 Children, come and listen to me!
I will teach you how to respect the Lord.
12 Do you want to live a good life?
Do you want your life to be long and happy?
13 If so, do not speak any evil words.
Do not tell lies to deceive people.
14 Do good things instead of evil things.
Try to bring peace into people's lives.
15 The Lord watches over righteous people.
He hears them when they call to him for help.
16 But the Lord turns against people who do evil things.
He causes everybody to forget that they ever lived.
17 The Lord hears his righteous people
when they call for help.
He saves them from all their troubles.
18 When people are upset,
the Lord is near to them.
He saves those who feel very weak and upset.
19 Righteous people may often have troubles,
but the Lord saves them from every danger.
20 The Lord keeps them safe.
Not even one of their bones is broken!
21 Evil things will return to kill wicked people.
Whoever hates God's own people
will receive punishment.
22 The Lord saves the lives of his servants.
Everyone who trusts the Lord to keep them safe
will not receive punishment as a guilty person.
14 If someone is angry with you, give him a gift secretly.
A secret bribe will make him quiet, even if he is very angry.
15 When there is justice, righteous people are happy,
but wicked people are afraid.
16 If someone decides to turn away from wisdom,
he will soon be in his grave.
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