Day 351: Confrontation and Restoration—Ezra's Call for Purity and Nehemiah's Plea for Jerusalem

On Day 351 of Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience, the text narrates a critical moment where the Jewish leaders, priests, and Levites have intermarried with surrounding pagan nations, defiling the holy race. Ezra's emotional response includes mourning, prayer, and urging the community to repent and separate from their pagan wives. The community, led by Ezra, makes a covenant to rectify their actions. Following this, Nehemiah learns of Jerusalem's ruined state and prays deeply for the sins of Israel. He gains favor from King Artaxerxes to return and rebuild Jerusalem's walls and gates, exemplifying God's continuous grace and the importance of obeying His commands.

00:00 Introduction and Context
00:45 Ezra's Distress and Prayer
04:00 Confession and Covenant
05:27 The Plan for Reform
07:36 List of Guilty Priests and Levites
11:10 Nehemiah's Memoirs Begin
13:15 Nehemiah's Mission to Rebuild

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Volume 6 — Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Daniel

Chronicles

Immerse: Chronicles is the sixth and final installment in Immerse: The Bible Reading Experience. Chronicles contains the remaining First Testament Books: Chronicles–Ezra–Nehemiah, Esther, and Daniel. These works were all written after the Jewish people fell under the control of foreign empires and were scattered among the nations. They remind God’s chastened people of their identity and calling to faithfully represent God to the nations and that there is still hope for the struggling dynasty of David.

4 Questions to get your conversations started:
1. What stood out to you this week?
2. Was there anything confusing or troubling?
3. Did anything make you think differently about God?
4. How might this change the way we live?

QUICK START GUIDE
3 ways to get the most out of your experience

1. Use Immerse: Beginnings instead of your regular chapter and verse Bible. This special reader’s edition restores the Bible to its natural simplicity and beauty by removing chapter and verse numbers and other historical additions. Letters look like letters, songs look like songs, and the original literary structures are visible in each book.
2. Commit to making this a community experience. Immerse is designed for groups to encounter large portions of the Bible together
   for 8 weeks–more like a book club, less like a Bible study. By meeting every week in small groups and discussing what you read in open,
   honest conversations, you and your community can come together to be transformed through an authentic experience with the Scriptures.
3. Aim to understand the big story. Read through “The Stories and the Story” (p. 483) to see how the books of the Bible work together to tell God’s story of his creation’s restoration. As you read through Immerse: Beginnings, rather than ask, “How do I fit God into my busy life?” begin asking, “How can I join in God’s great plan by living out my part in his story?”

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