en_RV1895 - 1Ez 3 - Ozzuu Bible

¹ And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.

² Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.

³ And they set the altar upon its base; for fear was upon them because of the people of the countries: and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD, even burnt offerings morning and evening.

⁴ And they kept the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required;

⁵ and afterward the continual burnt offering, and the offerings of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of the LORD that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the LORD.

⁶ From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD: but the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.

⁷ They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, unto Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.

⁸ Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of the house of the LORD.

⁹ Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to have the oversight of the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites.

¹⁰ And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD, after the order of David king of Israel.

¹¹ And they sang one to another in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD, saying, For he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.

¹² But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, the old men that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:

¹³ so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

¹ Now king Darius made a great feast unto all his subjects, and unto all that were born in his house, [1]and unto all the princes of Media and of Persia,

² And to all the satraps and captains and governors that were under him, [2]from India unto Ethiopia, in the hundred twenty and seven provinces.

³ [3]And when they had eaten and drunken, and being satisfied were gone home, then Darius the king went into his bedchamber, and slept, and awaked out of his sleep.

⁴ Then the three young men of the body-guard, that kept the king's person, spake one to another:

⁵ Let every one of us say one thing which shall be strongest: and he whose sentence shall seem wiser than the others, unto him shall Darius the king give great gifts, and great honours in token of victory:

⁶ As, [4]to be clothed in purple, [5]to drink in gold, and [6]to sleep upon gold, and a chariot with bridles of gold, and a head-tire of fine linen, and [7]a chain about his neck:

⁷ And he shall sit next to Darius because of his wisdom, and shall be called Darius [8]his cousin.

⁸ And then they wrote every one his sentence, and set to their seals, and laid the writing under king Darius his pillow,

⁹ And said, When the king is risen, some shall give him the writing; and of whose side the king and the three princes of Persia shall judge that his sentence is the wisest, to him shall the victory be given, as it is written.

¹⁰ The first wrote, Wine is the strongest.

¹¹ The second wrote, The king is strongest.

¹² The third wrote, Women are strongest: but above all things Truth beareth away the victory.

¹³ Now when the king was risen up, they took the writing, and gave it unto him, and so he read it:

¹⁴ And sending forth he called all the princes of Persia and of Media, [9]and the satraps, and the captains, and the governors, and the chief officers;

¹⁵ And sat him down in the royal seat of judgement; and the writing was read before them.

¹⁶ And he said, Call the young men, and they shall explain their own sentences. So they were called, and came in.

¹⁷ And they said unto them, Declare unto us your mind concerning the things ye have written. Then began the first, who had spoken of the strength of wine,

¹⁸ And said thus, O sirs, how exceeding strong is wine! [10]it causeth all men to err that drink it:

¹⁹ It maketh the mind of the king and of the fatherless child to be all one; of the bondman and of the freeman, of the poor man and of the rich:

²⁰ [11]It turneth also every thought into jollity and mirth, so that a man remembereth neither sorrow nor debt:

²¹ And it maketh every heart rich, so that a man remembereth neither king nor satrap; and it maketh to speak all things by talents:

²² [12]And when they are in their cups, they forget their love both to friends and brethren, and a little after draw their swords:

²³ But when they awake from their wine, [13]they remember not what they have done.

²⁴ O sirs, is not wine the strongest, seeing that it enforceth to do thus? And when he had so spoken, he held his peace.