Day 270: God's Favor with Ezra (2026)

Fr. Mike Schmitz (0:01)

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Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz and you're listening to The Bible in a Year Podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a Year Podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using The Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 270 We're reading today from Ezra chapters seven and eight, Zechariah chapter seven and eight, as well as Proverbs chapter 20 verses 12 through 15 As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I am using The Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com/bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast and receive daily episodes and daily updates. All the things every day, it's day 270 We're reading Ezra seven and eight. Also, did I ever mention this? Ezra and Nehemiah. Nehemiah is the book we're going to start the day after tomorrow, is actually the same scroll. So it's the same story. It's kind of part one and part two. It was originally, as I said, written on the same scroll and somewhere in the Middle Ages. It was divided up into two different books. And so, just FYI, so when we hit the end of Ezra and begin the beginning of Nehemiah, I don't want you to think that Nehemiah is better than Ezra. It's the same book. So there we go. I got to say it and got to work it in better than Ezra. OK, as I said, it's Day 270, reading Ezra 7 and 8, Zechariah, the prophet 7 and 8, as well as Proverbs 20 verses 12 through 15

The Book of Ezra, Chapter 7, The Arrival and Work of Ezra. Now, after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Saraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Shalom, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Marrioth, son of Zerahiah, son of Uzi, son of Bukki, son of Abishua, son of Phineas, son of Eliezer, son of Aaron, the chief priest, this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe, skilled in the law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel had given, and the king granted him all that he asked for, for the hand of the Lord his God was upon him. And there went up also to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, the king, some of the sons of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants. And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For on the first day of the first month, he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month, he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was upon him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel.

The Letter of Artaxerxes to Ezra. This is a copy of the letter which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, learned in matters of the commandments of the Lord and his statutes for Israel. Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven. And now, I make a decree, that any one of the sons of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom who freely offers to go to Jerusalem may go with you. For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your hand, and also to convey the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem. With all the silver and gold which you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, vowed willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem. With this money then, you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams and lambs with their cereal offerings and their drink offerings, and you shall offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. Whatever seems good to you and your brethren to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do according to the will of your God. The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem. And whatever else is required for the house of your God, which you have occasion to provide, you may provide it out of the king's treasury. And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province beyond the river. Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, requires of you, be it done with all diligence, up to a hundred talents of silver, a hundred cores of wheat, a hundred baths of wine, a hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons. We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll upon any one of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God. And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God which is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province beyond the river. All such as know the laws of your God, and those who do not know them, you shall teach. Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed upon him, whether for death, or for banishment, or for confiscation of his goods, or for imprisonment. Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, and who extended to me his merciful love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.