Matthew's Journey: 'The Gifts You Have' (Part 4)

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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
   <div class="book bkREV">
      <div class="chapter ch11" data-usfm="REV.11">
         <div class="label">11</div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">The Two Witnesses</span></div><div class="p"><span class="content">  </span><span class="verse v1" data-usfm="REV.11.1"><span class="label">1</span><span class="content">I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, &#8220;Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. </span></span><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="REV.11.2"><span class="label">2</span><span class="content">But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. </span></span><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="REV.11.3"><span class="label">3</span><span class="content">And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.&#8221; </span></span><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="REV.11.4"><span class="label">4</span><span class="content">They are &#8220;the two olive trees&#8221; and the two lampstands, and &#8220;they stand before the Lord of the earth.&#8221;</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body"><span class="fr">11:4 </span><span class="ft">See Zech. 4:3,11,14.</span></span></span><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="REV.11.5"><span class="label">5</span><span class="content">If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. </span></span><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="REV.11.6"><span class="label">6</span><span class="content">They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="REV.11.6"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="REV.11.7"><span class="label">7</span><span class="content">Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. </span></span><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="REV.11.8"><span class="label">8</span><span class="content">Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city&#8212;which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt&#8212;where also their Lord was crucified. </span></span><span class="verse v9" data-usfm="REV.11.9"><span class="label">9</span><span class="content">For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. </span></span><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="REV.11.10"><span class="label">10</span><span class="content">The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="REV.11.10"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="REV.11.11"><span class="label">11</span><span class="content">But after the three and a half days the breath</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body"><span class="fr">11:11 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="fqa">Spirit </span><span class="ft">(see Ezek. 37:5,14)</span></span></span><span class="content"> of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. </span></span><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="REV.11.12"><span class="label">12</span><span class="content">Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, &#8220;Come up here.&#8221; And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="REV.11.12"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="REV.11.13"><span class="label">13</span><span class="content">At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="REV.11.13"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="REV.11.14"><span class="label">14</span><span class="content">The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.</span></span></div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">The Seventh Trumpet</span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="REV.11.14"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="REV.11.15"><span class="label">15</span><span class="content">The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="REV.11.15"><span class="content">&#8220;The kingdom of the world has become</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="REV.11.15"><span class="content">the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="REV.11.15"><span class="content">and he will reign for ever and ever.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="m"><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="REV.11.15"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="REV.11.16"><span class="label">16</span><span class="content">And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, </span></span><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="REV.11.17"><span class="label">17</span><span class="content">saying:</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="REV.11.17"><span class="content">&#8220;We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="REV.11.17"><span class="content">the One who is and who was,</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="REV.11.17"><span class="content">because you have taken your great power</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="REV.11.17"><span class="content">and have begun to reign.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="REV.11.17"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="REV.11.18"><span class="label">18</span><span class="content">The nations were angry,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="REV.11.18"><span class="content">and your wrath has come.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="REV.11.18"><span class="content">The time has come for judging the dead,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="REV.11.18"><span class="content">and for rewarding your servants the prophets</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="REV.11.18"><span class="content">and your people who revere your name,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="REV.11.18"><span class="content">both great and small&#8212;</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="REV.11.18"><span class="content">and for destroying those who destroy the earth.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="REV.11.18"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="REV.11.19"><span class="label">19</span><span class="content">Then God&#8217;s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.</span></span></div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
   <div class="book bkNEH">
      <div class="chapter ch5" data-usfm="NEH.5">
         <div class="label">5</div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">Nehemiah Helps the Poor</span></div><div class="p"><span class="content">  </span><span class="verse v1" data-usfm="NEH.5.1"><span class="label">1</span><span class="content">Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their fellow Jews. </span></span><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="NEH.5.2"><span class="label">2</span><span class="content">Some were saying, &#8220;We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="NEH.5.2"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="NEH.5.3"><span class="label">3</span><span class="content">Others were saying, &#8220;We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="NEH.5.3"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="NEH.5.4"><span class="label">4</span><span class="content">Still others were saying, &#8220;We have had to borrow money to pay the king&#8217;s tax on our fields and vineyards. </span></span><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="NEH.5.5"><span class="label">5</span><span class="content">Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our fellow Jews and though our children are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="NEH.5.5"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="NEH.5.6"><span class="label">6</span><span class="content">When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry. </span></span><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="NEH.5.7"><span class="label">7</span><span class="content">I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, &#8220;You are charging your own people interest!&#8221; So I called together a large meeting to deal with them </span></span><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="NEH.5.8"><span class="label">8</span><span class="content">and said: &#8220;As far as possible, we have bought back our fellow Jews who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your own people, only for them to be sold back to us!&#8221; They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="NEH.5.8"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v9" data-usfm="NEH.5.9"><span class="label">9</span><span class="content">So I continued, &#8220;What you are doing is not right. Shouldn&#8217;t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies? </span></span><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="NEH.5.10"><span class="label">10</span><span class="content">I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let us stop charging interest! </span></span><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="NEH.5.11"><span class="label">11</span><span class="content">Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the interest you are charging them&#8212;one percent of the money, grain, new wine and olive oil.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="NEH.5.11"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="NEH.5.12"><span class="label">12</span><span class="content">&#8220;We will give it back,&#8221; they said. &#8220;And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="NEH.5.12"><span class="content">Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath to do what they had promised. </span></span><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="NEH.5.13"><span class="label">13</span><span class="content">I also shook out the folds of my robe and said, &#8220;In this way may God shake out of their house and possessions anyone who does not keep this promise. So may such a person be shaken out and emptied!&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="NEH.5.13"><span class="content">At this the whole assembly said, &#8220;Amen,&#8221; and praised the </span><span class="nd"><span class="content">Lord</span></span><span class="content">. And the people did as they had promised.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="NEH.5.13"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="NEH.5.14"><span class="label">14</span><span class="content">Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year&#8212;twelve years&#8212;neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. </span></span><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="NEH.5.15"><span class="label">15</span><span class="content">But the earlier governors&#8212;those preceding me&#8212;placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body"><span class="fr">5:15 </span><span class="ft">That is, about 1 pound or about 460 grams</span></span></span><span class="content"> of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. </span></span><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="NEH.5.16"><span class="label">16</span><span class="content">Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work; we</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body"><span class="fr">5:16 </span><span class="ft">Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac </span><span class="fqa">I</span></span></span><span class="content"> did not acquire any land.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="NEH.5.16"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="NEH.5.17"><span class="label">17</span><span class="content">Furthermore, a hundred and fifty Jews and officials ate at my table, as well as those who came to us from the surrounding nations. </span></span><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="NEH.5.18"><span class="label">18</span><span class="content">Each day one ox, six choice sheep and some poultry were prepared for me, and every ten days an abundant supply of wine of all kinds. In spite of all this, I never demanded the food allotted to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="NEH.5.18"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="NEH.5.19"><span class="label">19</span><span class="content">Remember me with favor, my God, for all I have done for these people.</span></span></div>
      </div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
   <div class="book bkNEH">
      <div class="chapter ch6" data-usfm="NEH.6">
         <div class="label">6</div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">Further Opposition to the Rebuilding</span></div><div class="p"><span class="content">  </span><span class="verse v1" data-usfm="NEH.6.1"><span class="label">1</span><span class="content">When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it&#8212;though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates&#8212; </span></span><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="NEH.6.2"><span class="label">2</span><span class="content">Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: &#8220;Come, let us meet together in one of the villages</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body"><span class="fr">6:2 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="fqa">in Kephirim</span></span></span><span class="content"> on the plain of Ono.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="NEH.6.2"><span class="content">But they were scheming to harm me; </span></span><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="NEH.6.3"><span class="label">3</span><span class="content">so I sent messengers to them with this reply: &#8220;I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?&#8221; </span></span><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="NEH.6.4"><span class="label">4</span><span class="content">Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="NEH.6.4"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="NEH.6.5"><span class="label">5</span><span class="content">Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter </span></span><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="NEH.6.6"><span class="label">6</span><span class="content">in which was written:</span></span></div><div class="pm"><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="NEH.6.6"><span class="content">&#8220;It is reported among the nations&#8212;and Geshem</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body"><span class="fr">6:6 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="fqa">Gashmu, </span><span class="ft">a variant of </span><span class="fq">Geshem</span></span></span><span class="content"> says it is true&#8212;that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king </span></span><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="NEH.6.7"><span class="label">7</span><span class="content">and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: &#8216;There is a king in Judah!&#8217; Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="NEH.6.7"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="NEH.6.8"><span class="label">8</span><span class="content">I sent him this reply: &#8220;Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="NEH.6.8"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v9" data-usfm="NEH.6.9"><span class="label">9</span><span class="content">They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, &#8220;Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v9" data-usfm="NEH.6.9"><span class="content">But I prayed, &#8220;Now strengthen my hands.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v9" data-usfm="NEH.6.9"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="NEH.6.10"><span class="label">10</span><span class="content">One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, &#8220;Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you&#8212;by night they are coming to kill you.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="NEH.6.10"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="NEH.6.11"><span class="label">11</span><span class="content">But I said, &#8220;Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!&#8221; </span></span><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="NEH.6.12"><span class="label">12</span><span class="content">I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. </span></span><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="NEH.6.13"><span class="label">13</span><span class="content">He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.</span></span></div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="NEH.6.13"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="NEH.6.14"><span class="label">14</span><span class="content">Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me. </span></span><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="NEH.6.15"><span class="label">15</span><span class="content">So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.</span></span></div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">Opposition to the Completed Wall</span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="NEH.6.15"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="NEH.6.16"><span class="label">16</span><span class="content">When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="NEH.6.16"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="NEH.6.17"><span class="label">17</span><span class="content">Also, in those days the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and replies from Tobiah kept coming to them. </span></span><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="NEH.6.18"><span class="label">18</span><span class="content">For many in Judah were under oath to him, since he was son-in-law to Shekaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah. </span></span><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="NEH.6.19"><span class="label">19</span><span class="content">Moreover, they kept reporting to me his good deeds and then telling him what I said. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.</span></span></div>
      </div>
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