Worship in Heaven

Revelation 4 After this, I looked and saw a door that opened into heaven. Then the voice that had spoken to me at first and that sounded like a trumpet said, "Come up here! I will show you what must happen next." ²Right then the Spirit took control of me, and there in heaven I saw a throne and someone sitting on it. ³The one who was sitting there sparkled like precious stones of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow that looked like an emerald surrounded the throne.
⁴Twenty-four other thrones were in a circle around that throne. And on each of these thrones there was an elder dressed in white clothes and wearing a gold crown. ⁵Flashes of lightning and roars of thunder came out from the throne in the center of the circle. Seven torches, which are the seven spirits of God, were burning in front of the throne. ⁶Also in front of the throne was something that looked like a glass sea, clear as crystal.
Around the throne in the center were four living creatures covered front and back with eyes. ⁷The first creature was like a lion, the second one was like a bull, the third one had the face of a human, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. ⁸Each of the four living creatures had six wings, and their bodies were covered with eyes. Day and night they never stopped singing,
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, the all-powerful God,
who was and is and is coming!"
⁹The living creatures kept praising, honoring, and thanking the one who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever. ¹⁰At the same time the twenty-four elders knelt down before the one sitting on the throne. And as they worshiped the one who lives forever, they placed their crowns in front of the throne and said,
¹¹"Our Lord and God, you are worthy
to receive glory, honor, and power.
You created all things,
and by your decision they are and were created."

Nehemiah's Concern for the Poor

Nehemiah 5 Some of the men and their wives complained about the Jews in power ²and said, "We have large families, and it takes a lot of grain merely to keep them alive."
³Others said, "During the famine we even had to mortgage our fields, vineyards, and homes to them in order to buy grain."
⁴Then others said, "We had to borrow money from those in power to pay the government tax on our fields and vineyards. ⁵We are Jews just as they are, and our children are as good as theirs. But we still have to sell our children as slaves, and some of our daughters have already been raped. We are completely helpless; our fields and vineyards have even been taken from us."
⁶When I heard their complaints and their charges, I became very angry. ⁷So I thought it over and said to the leaders and officials, "How can you charge your own people interest?"
Then I called a public meeting and accused the leaders ⁸by saying, "We have tried to buy back all of our people who were sold into exile. But here you are, selling more of them for us to buy back!" The officials and leaders did not say a word, because they knew this was true.
⁹I continued, "What you have done is wrong! We must honor our God by the way we live, so the Gentiles can't find fault with us. ¹⁰My relatives, my friends, and I are also lending money and grain, but we must no longer demand payment in return. ¹¹Now give back the fields, vineyards, olive orchards, and houses you have taken and also the interest you have been paid."
¹²The leaders answered, "We will do whatever you say and return their property, without asking to be repaid."
So I made the leaders promise in front of the priests to give back the property. ¹³Then I emptied my pockets and said, "If you don't keep your promise, that's what God will do to you. He will empty out everything you own, even taking away your houses."
The people answered, "We will keep our promise." Then they praised the LORD and did as they had promised.

Nehemiah Is Generous

¹⁴I was governor of Judah from the twentieth year that Artaxerxes was king until the thirty-second year. And during these entire twelve years, my relatives and I refused to accept the food that I was allowed. ¹⁵Each governor before me had been a burden to the people by making them pay for his food and wine and by demanding forty silver coins a day. Even their officials had been a burden to the people. But I respected God, and I didn't think it was right to be so hard on them. ¹⁶I spent all my time getting the wall rebuilt and did not buy any property. Everyone working for me did the same thing. ¹⁷I usually fed a hundred fifty of our own Jewish people and their leaders, as well as foreign visitors from surrounding lands. ¹⁸Each day one ox, six of the best sheep, and lots of chickens were prepared. Then every ten days, a large supply of wine was brought in. I knew what a heavy burden this would have been for the people, and so I did not ask for my food allowance as governor.
¹⁹I pray that God will bless me for everything I have done for my people.

Plots against Nehemiah

Nehemiah 6 Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and our other enemies learned that I had completely rebuilt the wall. All I lacked was hanging the doors in the gates. ²Then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message, asking me to meet with them in one of the villages in Ono Valley. I knew they were planning to harm me in some way. ³So I sent messengers to tell them, "My work is too important to stop now and go there. I can't afford to slow down the work just to visit with you." ⁴They invited me four times, but each time I refused to go.
⁵Finally, Sanballat sent an official to me with an unsealed letter, ⁶which said:

A rumor is going around among the nations that you and the other Jews are rebuilding the wall and planning to rebel, because you want to be their king. And Geshem says it's true! ⁷You even have prophets in Jerusalem, claiming you are now the king of Judah. You know the Persian king will hear about this, so let's get together and talk it over.

⁸I sent a message back to Sanballat, saying, "None of this is true! You are making it all up."
⁹Our enemies were trying to frighten us and to keep us from our work. But I asked God to give me strength.
¹⁰One day I went to visit Shemaiah. He was looking very worried, and he said, "Let's hurry to the holy place of the temple and hide there. We will lock the temple doors, because your enemies are planning to kill you tonight."
¹¹I answered, "Why should someone like me have to run and hide in the temple to save my life? I won't go!"
¹²Suddenly I realized that God had not given Shemaiah this message. But Tobiah and Sanballat had paid him to trick me ¹³and to frighten me into doing something wrong, because they wanted to ruin my good name.
¹⁴Then I asked God to punish Tobiah and Sanballat for what they had done. I prayed that God would punish the prophet Noadiah and the other prophets who, together with her, had tried to frighten me.

The Work Is Finished

¹⁵On the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, the wall was completely rebuilt. It had taken fifty-two days. ¹⁶When our enemies in the surrounding nations learned that the work was finished, they felt helpless, because they knew that our God had helped us rebuild the wall.
¹⁷All this time the Jewish leaders and Tobiah had been writing letters back and forth. ¹⁸Many people in Judah were loyal to Tobiah for two reasons: Shecaniah son of Arah was his father-in-law, and Tobiah's son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah. ¹⁹The people would always tell me about the good things Tobiah had done, and then they would tell Tobiah everything I had said. So Tobiah kept sending letters, trying to frighten me.
Nehemiah 7 After the wall had been rebuilt and the gates hung, then the temple guards, the singers, and the other Levites were assigned their work. ²I put my brother Hanani in charge of Jerusalem, along with Hananiah, the commander of the fortress, because Hananiah could be trusted, and he respected God more than most people did. ³I said to them, "Don't let the gates to the city be opened until the sun has been up for a while. And make sure that they are closed and barred before the guards go off duty at sunset. Choose people from Jerusalem to stand guard at different places around the wall and others to stand guard near their own houses."

Psalm 99
Our LORD Is King

¹Our LORD, you are King!
You rule from your throne above the winged creatures,
as people tremble and the earth shakes.
²You are praised in Zion, and you control all nations.
³Only you are God! And your power alone,
so great and fearsome, is worthy of praise.
⁴You are our mighty King, a lover of fairness,
who sees that justice is done everywhere in Israel.
⁵Our LORD and our God, we praise you
and kneel down to worship you, the God of holiness!

⁶Moses and Aaron were two of your priests.
Samuel was also one of those who prayed in your name,
and you, our LORD, answered their prayers.
⁷You spoke to them from a thick cloud,
and they obeyed your laws.

⁸Our LORD and our God, you answered their prayers
and forgave their sins,
but when they did wrong, you punished them.
⁹We praise you, LORD God,
and we worship you at your sacred mountain.
Only you are God!