Quotes About Leadership

And since the gracious hand of our God was upon us, they brought us Sherebiah—a man of insight from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel—along with his sons and brothers, 18 men;

also Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah, from the descendants of Merari, and his brothers and their sons, 20 men.

They also brought 220 of the temple servants, all designated by name. David and the officials had appointed them to assist the Levites.

Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, together with Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers,

and I weighed out to them the contribution of silver and gold and the articles that the king, his counselors, his leaders, and all the Israelites there had offered for the house of our God.

Indeed, the Israelites have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the people of the land. And the leaders and officials have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness!”

Get up, for this matter is your responsibility, and we will support you. Be strong and take action!”

So Ezra got up and made the leading priests, Levites, and all Israel take an oath to do what had been said. And they took the oath.

Whoever failed to appear within three days would forfeit all his property, according to the counsel of the leaders and elders, and would himself be expelled from the assembly of the exiles.

And the whole assembly responded in a loud voice: “Truly we must do as you say!

Let our leaders represent the whole assembly. Then let everyone in our towns who has married a foreign woman come at an appointed time, together with the elders and judges of each town, until the fierce anger of our God in this matter is turned away from us.”

(Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah, supported by Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite, opposed this plan.)

So the exiles did as proposed. Ezra the priest selected men who were family heads, each of them identified by name, to represent their families. On the first day of the tenth month they launched the investigation,

Among the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

From the singers: Eliashib. From the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.

Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi,

Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah,

Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.

These are the words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa,

Now in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence,

Then the king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time.

Then I went to the governors west of the Euphrates and gave them the kingís letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.

But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were deeply disturbed that someone had come to seek the well-being of the Israelites.

After I had arrived in Jerusalem and had been there three days,