2067 verses about Work

For as the masterbuilder of a new house must care for the whole structure, and again he that undertakes to decorate and paint it must seek out the things fit for the adorning thereof; even so I think it is also with us.

(for to him appertained the gathering of the revenues); for which cause they were both called by the king to his presence.

And Menelaus left his own brother Lysimachus for his deputy in the high priesthood; and Sostratus left Crates, who was over the Cyprians.

Menelaus informed us that your desire was to return home and follow your own business.

So when these covenants had been made, Lysias departed to the king, and the Jews went about their husbandry.

And if I have written well and to the point in my story, this is what I myself desired; but if meanly and indifferently, this is all I could attain to.

Moreover the gatekeepers were at every gate; none had need to depart from his daily course: for their kindred the Levites prepared for them.

Then the chief of the families of Judah and of the tribe of Benjamin stood up; the priests also, and the Levites, and all they whose spirit the Lord had stirred to go up, to build the house for the Lord which is in Jerusalem.

Now when Cyrus king of the Persians had brought them forth, he delivered them to Mithradates his treasurer,

and by him they were delivered to Sanabassar the governor of Judea.

To king Artaxerxes our Lord, Your servants, Rathumus the storywriter, and Samellius the scribe, and the rest of their council, and the judges that are in Coelesyria and Phoenicia.

And forasmuch as the things pertaining to the temple are now in hand, we think it meet not to neglect such a matter,

Then the king wrote back again to Rathumus the storywriter, and Beeltethmus, and Samellius the scribe, and to the rest that were in commission, and lived in Samaria and Syria and Phoenicia, after this manner:

Then king Artaxerxes his letters being read, Rathumus, and Samellius the scribe, and the rest that were in commission with them, removing in haste to Jerusalem with horsemen and a multitude of people in battle array, began to hinder the builders; and the building of the temple in Jerusalem ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of the Persians.

Then the three young men of the body-guard, that kept the king’s person, spoke one to another:

They kill and are slain, and transgress not the king’s commandment: if they get the victory, they bring all to the king, as well the plunder, as all things else.

Likewise for those that are no soldiers, and have not to do with wars, but use husbandry, when they have reaped again that which they had sown, they bring it to the king, and compel one another to pay tribute to the king.

if he command to strike, they strike; if he command to make desolate, they make desolate; if he command to build, they build;

if he command to cut down, they cut down; if he command to plant, they plant.

and these keep watch round about him, neither may any one depart, and do his own business, neither disobey they him in anything.

Even of them came they: and they nourished them up that planted the vineyards, from whence the wine comes.

By this also you⌃ must know that women have dominion over you: do you⌃ not labor and toil, and give and bring all to women?

With her there is no accepting of persons or rewards; but she does the things that are just, and refrains from all unrighteous and wicked things; and all men do well like of her works.

Then Darius the king stood up, and kissed him, and wrote letters for him to all the treasurers and governors and captains and satraps, that they should safely bring on their way both him, and all those that should go up with him to build Jerusalem.

He wrote letters also to all the governors that were in Coelesyria and Phoenicia, and to them in Libanus, that they should bring cedar wood from Libanus to Jerusalem, and that they should build the city with him.

and that there should be yearly given twenty talents to the building of the temple, until the time that it were built;

and that all those who should come from Babylonia to build the city should have their freedom, as well they as their posterity, and all the priests that came.

and for the Levites he wrote that their charges should be given them until the day that the house were finished, and Jerusalem built up.

And he commanded to give to all that kept the city lands and wages.

And they returned to Jerusalem, and to the other parts of Jewry, every man to his own city, who came with Zorobabel, with Jesus, Nehemias, and Zaraias, Resaias, Eneneus, Mardocheus, Beelsarus, Aspharsus, Reelias, Roimus, and Baana, their leaders.

The gatekeepers: the sons of Salum, the sons of Atar, the sons of Tolman, the sons of Dacubi, the sons of Ateta, the sons of Sabi, in all a hundred thirty and nine.

The temple servants: the sons of Esau, the sons of Asipha, the sons of Tabaoth, the sons of Keras, the sons of Sua, the sons of Phaleas, the sons of Labana, the sons of Aggaba.

The sons of the servants of Solomon: the sons of Assaphioth, the sons of Pharida, the sons of Jeeli, the sons of Lozon, the sons of Isdael, the sons of Saphuthi,

All the temple-servants, and the sons of the servants of Solomon, were three hundred seventy and two.

Their menservants and handmaids were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: the minstrels and singers, two hundred forty and five:

And certain of the chief men of their families, when they came to the temple of God that is in Jerusalem, vowed to set up the house again in its own place according to their ability,

and to give into the holy treasury of the works a thousand pounds of gold, five thousand of silver, and a hundred priestly vestments.

And they gave money to the masons and carpenters; and meat and drink,

and cars to them of Sidon and Tyre, that they should bring cedar trees from Libanus, and convey them in floats to the haven of Joppa, according to the commandment which was written for them by Cyrus king of the Persians.

And in the second year after his coming to the temple of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Jesus the son of Josedek, and their kindred, and the priests the Levites, and all those who were come to Jerusalem out of the captivity:

See Ezra 3:8, 9, etc. And they appointed the Levites from twenty years old over the works of the Lord. Then stood up Jesus, and his sons and kindred, and Kadmiel his brother, and the sons of Jesus, Emadabun, and the sons of Joda the son of Iliadun, and their sons and kindred, all the Levites, with one accord setters forward of the business, laboring to advance the works in the house of God. So the builders built the temple of the Lord.

And they perceived that those who were of the captivity did build the temple to the Lord, the God of Israel.

So they went to zorobabel and Jesus, and to the chief men of the families, and said to them, we will build together with you.

Then Zorobabel and Jesus and the chief men of the families of Israel said to them, It is not for you to build the house to the Lord our God.

We ourselves alone will build to the Lord of Israel, according as Cyrus the king of the Persians has commanded us.

and by their secret plots, and popular persuasions and commotions, they hindered the finishing of the building all the time that King Cyrus lived: so they were hindered from building for the space of two years, until the reign of Darius.

Then stood up Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Jesus the son of Josedek, and began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, the prophets of the Lord being with them, and helping them.

By whose appointment do you⌃ build this house and this roof, and perform all the other things? and who are the builders that perform these things?

and they were not hindered from building, until such time as communication was made to Darius concerning them, and his answer signified.

And those works are done with great speed, and the work goes on prosperously in their hands, and with all glory and diligence it is accomplished.

Then asked we these elders, saying, By whose commandment build you⌃ this house, and lay the foundations of these works?

So they gave us this answer, We are the servants of the Lord which made heaven and earth.

Then Sanabassarus, being come here, laid the foundations of the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem; and from that time to this being still a building, it is not yet fully ended.

and if it be found that the building of the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem has been done with the consent of king Cyrus, and it seem good to our lord the king, let him signify to us thereof.

whose height shall be sixty cubits, and the breadth sixty cubits, with three rows of hewn stones, and one row of new wood of that country; and the expenses therof to be given out of the house of king Cyrus:

And also he commanded that Sisinnes the governor of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, and their companions, and those which were appointed rulers in Syria and Phoenicia, should be careful not to meddle with the place, but suffer Zorobabel, the servant of the Lord, and governor of Judea, and the elders of the Jews, to build that house of the Lord in its place.

And I also do command to have it built up whole again; and that they look diligently to help those that be of the captivity of Judea, till the house of the Lord be finished:

I Darius the king have ordained that according to these things it be done with diligence.

Then Ezra 6:13. Sisinnes the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, with their companions, following the commandments of king Darius,

did very carefully oversee the holy works, assisting the elders of the Jews and rulers of the temple.

And so the holy works prospered, while Aggaeus and Zacharias the prophets prophesied.

And they finished these things by the commandment of the Lord, the God of Israel, and with the consent of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of the Persians.

And thus was the house finished by the three and twentieth day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of king Darius.

for that he had turned the counsel of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the works of the Lord, the God of Israel.

As many therefore as have a mind thereto, let them depart with you, as it has seemed good both to me and my seven friends the counselors;

I command you also, that no tax, nor any other imposition, be laid upon any of the priests, or Levites, or holy singers, or gatekeepers, or temple servants, or any that have employment in this temple, and that no man have authority to impose anything upon them.

And I bade those who they should go to Iddo Loddeus the captain, who was in the place of Casiphia, the treasury:

and commanded them that they should speak to Loddeus, and to his kindred, and to the treasurers in that place, to send us such men as might execute the priests’ office in the house of our Lord.

and of the temple-servants whom David and the principal men had appointed for the servants of the Levites, two hundred and twenty temple-servants, the catalogue of all their names was showed.

Then I separated twelve men of the chiefs of the priests, Eserebias, and Assamias, and ten men of their kindred with them:

And with him was Eleazar the son of Phinees, and with them were Josabdus the son of Jesus and Moeth the son of Sabannus, the Levites: all was delivered them by number and weight.

And all the weight of them was written up the same hour.

Arise, and put in execution: for to you does this matter appertain, and we will be with you to do valiantly.

Of the gatekeepers: Sallumus, and Tolbanes.

I was small among my brothers, and youngest in my father’s house. I tended my father’s sheep.

These saw and felt the works of your hands, and praised you the Almighty.

The registering of these men was carried on cruelly, zealously, assiduously, from the rising of the sun to its going down, and was not brought to an end in forty days.

inasmuch as there were many still left in the land, of whom some were in inhabited houses, and others were scattered about in various places; so that all the commanders in Egypt were insufficient for the work.

They said, and proved, that paper and pens had failed them for the carrying out of their purpose.

The master of the elephants, Hermon, fulfilled his commission punctually.

The morning cock had just crowed, and Hermon, having harnessed the brutes, was stimulating them in the great colonnade.

The friends, too, stole out one by one, and dismissed the assembled multitudes to their respective occupations.

And it shall come to pass at that time that men shall hope, but shall not obtain: they shall labor, but their ways shall not prosper.

For as soom as your word went forth the work was done.

and gave them a charge to do service to man, that was to be made.

but they despised his law, and denied his covenants; they have not been faithful to his statutes, and have not performed his works.

and the work shall follow, and the reward shall be showed, and good deeds shall awake, and wicked deeds shall not sleep.

For you have a treasure of good works laid up with the Most High, but it shall not be showed you until the last times.

For what profit is it to us, if there be promised us an immortal time, whereas we have done the works that bring death?

And you shall mortify it as your creature, and quicken it as your work.

For the just, which have many good works laid up with you, shall for their own deeds receive reward.

And everyone that shall be saved, and shall be able to escape by his wotks, or by faith, whereby he has believed,

And he answered me, saying, Just as the field is, so also the seed; and as the flowers be, such are the colors also; and such as the work is, such also is the judgement thereon; and as is the husbandman, so is his threshing floor also. For there was a time in the world,

For in the place wherein the city of the Most High was to be showed, the work of no man’s building could stand.

Watch not all at once: sleep every one in his own place, and watch by course:

He that shall endure the peril in that time shall keep those who are fallen into danger, even such as have works, and faith toward the Almighty.

The Most High gave understanding to the five men, and they wrote by course the things that were told them, in characters which they knew not, and they sat forty days: now they wrote in the day-time, and at night they ate bread.

he that occupieth merchandise, as he that has no profit by it: and he that builds, as he that shall not dwell therein:

Inasmuch as those who labor labor in vain;

Forasmuch as the Lord will exactly search out all your works, and he will put you all to shame.