Posted on 10/08/2012 5:48:09 AM PDT by left that other site
15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. 16 People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. 17 I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, What is this wicked thing you are doingdesecrating the Sabbath day? 18 Didnt your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.
19 When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. 21 But I warned them and said, Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you. From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. 22 Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.
Remember me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.
23 Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. 24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah. 25 I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in Gods name and said: You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. 27 Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?
28 One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. And I drove him away from me.
29 Remember them, my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
30 So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign, and assigned them duties, each to his own task. 31 I also made provision for contributions of wood at designated times, and for the firstfruits.
Remember me with favor, my God.
No one who practices deceit
shall dwell in my house;
no one who utters lies
shall continue before my eyes.
Remember me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.
Father,
Thank You For This Story of Nehemiah.
We Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem.
We Pray for Our Own Leaders in America,
May They Speak Comfort to Jerusalem.
May We NOT be Numbered Among Israel's Enemies, God Forbid!
We Pray For The American People,
May They NOT be Deceived by the Media.
May Their Eyes be Opened with regard to God's People Israel.
We pray for an END to Lies,
Slander, Blood Libel, Propaganda,
and Antisemitism against Your Beloved.
We Pray For an End to Slavery,
Hostage-Taking,
and Piracy wherever it is Practiced Around the World.
We Beseech You on Behalf of Our Captive Brethren,
Christians and Jews,
In Bondage in Hostile lands.
We Plead For Israeli Control Over All the Holy Sites in Israel,
so that All Faiths may visit them.
We Pray For Bibi Netanyahu, and the Leaders of Israel
May They Receive Wisdom from You to do the Right Thing.
We Pray For The Swift and Sure Coming of Messiah,
Blessed Be He,
To Establish His Kingdom,
and Make All Things Right.
Blessings to All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer
ML/LTOS
(El Kabong)
Praying with you for the Peace of Jerusalem, Israel and our beloved Nation.
Blessings, etabeta
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Amen.
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