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Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at Bible Study Headquarters

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Speaker 1: dot com. You're listening to the chapter today Audio Bible.

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Speaker 1: I'm John Stangi, and today we're in Ezra chapter five,

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Speaker 1: and we'll be reading from the New Living Translation. At

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Speaker 1: that time, the prophets Hagai and Zechariah son of Ido,

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Speaker 1: prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem. They prophesied

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Speaker 1: in the name of the God of Israel, who was

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Speaker 1: over them. Zerubbable son of Shieltiel, and Jeshua son of

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Speaker 1: Jehozadak responded by starting again to rebuild the Temple of

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Speaker 1: God in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with

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Speaker 1: them and help them. But tat and I, governor of

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Speaker 1: the province west of the Euphrates River, and Sheth r

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Speaker 1: Bose and I and their colleagues soon arrived in Jerusalem

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Speaker 1: and asked, who gave you permission to rebuild this temple

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Speaker 1: and restore this structure. They also asked for the names

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Speaker 1: of all the men working on the temple. But because

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Speaker 1: their God was watching over them, the leaders of the

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Speaker 1: Jews were not prevented from building until a report was

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Speaker 1: sent to Darius, and he returned his decision. This is

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Speaker 1: a copy of the letter that tat and I, the

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Speaker 1: governor sheth Ar Bozani, and the other officials of the

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Speaker 1: province west of the Euphrates River, sent to King Darius.

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Speaker 1: To King Darius, Greetings, the King should know that we

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Speaker 1: went to the construction site of the Temple of the

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Speaker 1: Great God and the province of Judah. It is being

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Speaker 1: rebuilt with specially prepared stones and timber is being laid

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Speaker 1: in its walls. The work is going forward with great

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Speaker 1: energy and success. We asked the leaders who gave you

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Speaker 1: permission to rebuild this temple and restore this structure, and

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Speaker 1: we demanded their names so that we could tell you

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Speaker 1: who the leaders were. This was their answer. We are

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Speaker 1: the servants of the God of Heaven and Earth, and

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Speaker 1: we are rebuilding the temple that was built here many

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Speaker 1: years ago by a great king of Israel. But because

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Speaker 1: our ancestors angered the God of Heaven, he abandoned them

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Speaker 1: to King Nebeconezar of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and

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Speaker 1: exiled the people to Babylonia. However, King Cyrus of Babylon,

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Speaker 1: during the first year of his reign issued a decree

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Speaker 1: that the Temple of God should be rebuilt. King Cyrus

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Speaker 1: returned the gold and silver cups that Nebeconezer had taken

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Speaker 1: from the Temple of God in Jerusalem and had placed

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Speaker 1: in the Temple of Babylon. These cups were taken from

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Speaker 1: that temple and presented to a man named Shesh Bazar,

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Speaker 1: whom King Cyrus appointed as governor of Judah. The king

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Speaker 1: instructed him to return the cups to their place in

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Speaker 1: Juriderusalem and to rebuild the Temple of God there on

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Speaker 1: its original site. So this Shesh Bazaar came and laid

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Speaker 1: the foundations of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. The

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Speaker 1: people have been working on it ever since, though it

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Speaker 1: is not yet completed. Therefore, if it pleases the King,

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Speaker 1: we request that a search be made in the royal

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Speaker 1: archives of Babylon to discover whether King Cyrus ever issued

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Speaker 1: a decree to rebuild God's Temple in Jerusalem, and then

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Speaker 1: let the King send us his decision in this matter.

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Speaker 1: Let's pray, Lord, we thank you for your word, and

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Speaker 1: we thank you for the privilege of being able to

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Speaker 1: look at this portion of scripture today. And Lord it's

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Speaker 1: interesting and refreshing to be able to see the people

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Speaker 1: of Judah listening to the encouragement of the prophets. As

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Speaker 1: you raised up these prophets to speak, you shared your

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Speaker 1: word through them, and the people responded, and the work

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Speaker 1: on the temple resumed, and the people worked on it

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Speaker 1: earnestly and quickly, and you were giving them much success. Lord. Likewise,

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Speaker 1: we pray that when we read the word of your prophets,

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Speaker 1: that as we look through the words of your scripture,

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Speaker 1: and as we recognize that all these things are ultimately

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Speaker 1: pointing us to faith in your son, Jesus Christ, we pray, Lord,

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Speaker 1: that we would diligently and faithfully and quickly seek to

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Speaker 1: serve you, that we would be obedient to your leading,

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Speaker 1: that we would listen to your word, that we would

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Speaker 1: put it into practice in our day to day living,

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Speaker 1: because we know that this brings glory to your son

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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Lord, we're grateful for the fact that you

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Speaker 1: have given us access to your word, and we're grateful,

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Speaker 1: Lord for the fact that your Holy Spirit lives within us,

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Speaker 1: and that you stir us up to hear your voice

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Speaker 1: and to listen to what you've proclaimed Lord, we're grateful

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Speaker 1: for all these things, and we're grateful for your presence

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Speaker 1: with us here today. We thank you for all of

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Speaker 1: these things in Jesus's name. Amen,