The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday August 14, 2017 (NIV)

⁷³ Then the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, many common folk, and the rest of Israel returned to live in their towns. This was finished by the beginning of the seventh month.

8 When everyone had settled, they re-gathered in Jerusalem. Everyone met in the square that is in front of the water gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the book of the law, the word the Eternal sent through Moses to Israel. ² Ezra the priest did as they asked, bringing God’s law to Israel. The community included both men and women—anyone who was able to understand was welcomed. This gathering took place on the first day of the seventh month. ³ Facing the people in the square, next to the water gate, he began to read excerpts. The document was massive, and just reading parts took him six or seven hours, from daybreak until noon. Everyone who was there heard him: men, women—anyone with the ability to understand. As he read, they were focused and listened carefully to the book of the law.

⁴ And as he read, Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform made for this very occasion. To his right were Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah. To his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam. ⁵ Standing above the people so they could see and hear him, Ezra opened the book of the law. As he opened the book, everyone stood. ⁶ Then Ezra called out and blessed the Eternal, worshiping God’s greatness. With their hands raised to the heavens, the people called out loudly in response, crying, “Amen! So may it be!” Then they fell to their knees and bowed. With their faces to the ground, they worshiped the Eternal. ^7-8 Ezra read the law, the people listened, and the Levites explained it to them. Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah—these are the Levites^[a] who interpreted what Ezra read for the people.

⁹ Now, as God’s law was read, the people began to weep. But Nehemiah (the Persians’ appointed governor),^[b] Ezra the priest and scribe, and all the ministering Levites said to the people,

¹² Then the celebration really began. The people had heard God’s words and understood them. When the people went away to eat and to drink in their homes, no one was left out of the feasting, not even the poor.

¹³ The next day, the heads of every family, along with the priests and the Levites, regathered around Ezra the scribe to further study God’s law. ¹⁴ As they studied the law, they discovered that through Moses, the Eternal had commanded Israel to live in temporary shelters during the Feast of Booths of the seventh month. ¹⁵ So they issued a proclamation, and it went out to everyone in Jerusalem and in every town that people should go into the hills to gather branches from olive trees, wild olive trees, myrtle trees, palm trees—any kind of leafy tree they could find. With these branches they were told to build temporary shelters to house them during the festival, as God’s law declared. ¹⁶ So the people went out and gathered branches. They built temporary shelters anywhere they could—on the roofs of their houses, in their courtyards, in the temple courts, in the squares by the water gate and the gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷ Everyone who had returned from exile—all 42,360 people—made the temporary shelters and lived in them. From the time of Joshua (Nun’s son) until that very day, no one in Israel had observed the festival in this way, remembering those from the Egyptian exile too. So they celebrated, and their joy was great. ¹⁸ Throughout everything, Ezra continued to read from the book of God’s law, day by day. The celebration of the feast continued for seven days. On the eighth day, in keeping with the directions given, Israel gathered for a solemn assembly.

9 Later, on the 24th day of that same month, the Israelites came back together. Everyone fasted and wore sackcloth to show their repentance. They covered their heads with dust to show their mourning. ² They also separated themselves from the foreigners who were living among them. Then the Israelites stood up and confessed their sins and the sins of their dead ancestors. ³ For three hours^[c] they stood in their designated places and read from the book of the Eternal’s law. Following that they confessed and worshiped the Eternal One, their True God, for another three hours. ⁴ On the stairs above them stood the Levites: Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani. With loud cries they called out to the Eternal, their True God.

⁵ The same Levites (Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah) instructed the people.

9 Am I not truly free? Am I not an emissary^[a] of the Liberating King? Have I not personally encountered Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work, my mission in the Lord? ² Even if others don’t recognize that I am His emissary,^[b] at least you do because you are the seal, the living proof that the Lord commissioned me to be His representative.

³ Let me speak in my own defense against those keeping themselves busy picking me apart. ⁴ Have we lost the right to eat and drink? ⁵ Have we lost the right to bring along our wives, our sisters in Jesus? Other emissaries travel with their wives, and so do the brothers of our Lord, not to mention Cephas. ⁶ Is it just Barnabas and I who have lost the right to earn a living? ⁷ Is a soldier in combat required to pay his own salary? Who would plant a vineyard and not enjoy one grape from it? Who would care for and nurture a flock but never taste the fresh milk?

⁸ These ideas aren’t based on merely human notions; the law says these same things. ⁹ In Moses’ law, it is written: “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out your grain.”^[c] Is God’s concern here limited to oxen, ¹⁰ or does He speak here ultimately for our benefit? These things were written for us, so as the plowman plows and the worker gathers, they can labor with the hopeful expectation that they, too, will share in the good harvest. ¹¹ The same principle applies here: Is it too much to ask that we would be compensated materially for planting life- and world-changing spiritual realities? ¹² If you have rightfully supported others, shouldn’t we deserve your support even more?

But we have never insisted on this right; instead, we would rather put up with anything than to put some obstacle in the way that prevents even one person from experiencing the good news of the Anointed One. ¹³ Perhaps it has escaped your notice that leaders and priests of the temple make their livings off the temple and that those who tend the altar eat their dinners from part of the sacrifices. ¹⁴ So it shouldn’t be a stretch that the Lord has arranged for preachers of the gospel to make a living by those who have embraced and been liberated by the gospel.

¹⁵ Despite what I’ve said here, I have never staked a claim for such things, and I have no intention to start now; that’s not why I’m writing. I would rather die than have anyone (including me) invalidate my right to boast. ¹⁶ You see, if I preach the good news, it’s nothing to brag about. This urgency, this necessity has been laid on me. In fact, if I were to stop sharing this good news, I’d be in big trouble. ¹⁷ You see, my story is different. I didn’t volunteer for this. Had I volunteered to preach the good news, then I would deserve a wage, a reward, or something. But I didn’t choose this. God chose me and entrusted me with this mission. ¹⁸ You’re looking for the catch. I know you’re wondering, “What reward is he talking about?” My reward, besides being with you and knowing you, is sharing the good news of the Anointed One with you free and clear. That means I don’t insist on all my rights for support in the good news;