And it happened after this, it had been in the mind of Joash to repair the house of Jehovah.

For many of the people, many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not been cleansed, but ate the Passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, May the good LORD pardon everyone

So says Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by Jehovah God. And He has commanded me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May Jehovah his God be with him, and let him go up.

And these are the sons of the province who went up out of the captivity, of those who had been exiled, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled to Babylon. And these came again to Jerusalem and Judah, each one to his city.

the letter which you sent to us has been plainly read before me.

And I commanded, and search has been made, and it is found that this city has lifted up itself against kings in the past, and rebellion and revolt have been made in it.

There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, who have ruled over all Beyond the River. And toll, taxes, and custom was paid to them.

But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, so that they could not cause them to stop until the matter came to Darius, and answer by letter concerning this had been returned.

Then the same Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundation of the house of God which is in Jerusalem. And since that time even until now it has been building, but is not finished.

since you have been sent by the king, and by his seven counselors to ask about Judah and Jerusalem, according to the Law of your God in your hand;

The sons of those who had been exiled, who had come out of the captivity, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve young bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, twelve he-goats for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to Jehovah.

For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons. So the holy seed has mixed themselves with the people of those lands. Yes, the hand of the leaders and overseers has been chief in this sin.

Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel was gathered to me, because of the sin of those who had been exiled. And I remained dumb until the evening sacrifice.

Since the days of our fathers we have been in a great sin until this day. And for our iniquities we, our kings, our priests, have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to shame of face, as it is this day.

And now for a little time grace has been shown from Jehovah our God, to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in His holy place, so that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a little life in our bondage.

And now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the women, and such as have been born of them, according to the counsel of the Lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. And let it be done according to the Law.

Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God and went into the room of Johanan the son of Eliashib. And he went there, and he ate no bread nor drank water. For he mourned because of the sin of those who had been exiled.

And it happened in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, wine was before him. And I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence before.

But the former governors that had been before me were too heavy upon the people, and had taken bread and wine from them, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people. But I did not do this, because of the fear of God.

These are the sons of the province who went up out of the captivity, of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. And they came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one to his city,

And I saw that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them; for the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each one to his field.

who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away.

And it happened when the king's command and his order was heard, and when many young women had been gathered to Shushan the palace, into the hand of Hegai, Esther was also brought to the king's house, into the hand of Hegai, keeper of the women.

And when the turn of each young woman had come to go in to King Ahasuerus, after she had been purified twelve months, according to the law of the women (for so the days of their anointing were done, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors, and with the perfumes of the women).

And the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that whoever, whether man or woman, shall come to the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his, execution, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter so that he may live. But I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.

And the king said, What honor and dignity has been done to Mordecai for this? And the king's servants who served him said, Nothing has been done for him.

For we are sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to perish. But if we had been sold for men-slaves and women-slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could not make up for the king's damage.

For now I should have lain still and been quiet; I should have slept. Then I would have been at rest

or as a hidden untimely birth I would not have been, like infants who did not see light.

For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash.

He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and been blessed;

I have been condemned; why then should I labor in vain?

I should have been as though I had not been; I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.

You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

sons of fools, yea, sons without a name; they have been whipped out of the land.

If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or I have laid wait at my neighbor's door,

and my heart has been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand;

if the men of my camp did not say, Who can find one who has not been satisfied with his meat?

Have the gates of death been opened to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Behold, his hope has been made false; will not one be cast down at the sight of him?

And Jehovah turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Also Jehovah added to Job all that had been his, to double.

My steps have been held in Your paths, so that my footsteps have not slipped.

Hide not Your face from me. Turn not Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

I have been young, and am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging bread.

My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day, Where is your God?

But I will sing of Your power; yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my strong tower and hiding-place in the day of my trouble.

For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower before the enemy.

Because You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.

For all the day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning.

How have they been brought into grief, as in a moment! They are fully eaten up with terrors,

The stouthearted have been stripped; they slept their sleep; and none of the men of might have found their hands.

The haters of Jehovah would have been found liars to Him, and their time would have lasted forever.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm for the sons of Korah. O Jehovah, You have been gracious to Your land; You have brought back the captivity of Jacob.

But You have cast off and rejected us; You have been angry with Your anointed.

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. O Jehovah, You have been our dwelling-place in all generations.

Unless Jehovah had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.

Jehovah has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron.

Your Precepts have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted, so that I might learn Your Precepts.

Unless Your Law had been my delight, I should then have perished in my affliction.

For she has cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men have been slain by her.

That which has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there a thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has already been in days of old, which were before us.

I spoke within my own heart, saying, Lo, I have become great and have gathered more wisdom than all that have been before me in Jerusalem; yea, my heart has seen much of wisdom and knowledge.

That which has been is now; and that which is to be has already been; and God requires that which is past.

Yea, better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

There is no end of all the people, of all who have been before them; they also who come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

That which has been is named already, and it is known that he is man. And he is not able to contend with Him who is mightier than he.

From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it; only a wound and a stripe and a fresh blow; they have not been closed, nor bound up, nor soothed with oil.

What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Who knows? I looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded rotten grapes.

Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the Rock of your strength, therefore you shall plant pleasant plants and shall sow it a fresh shoot.

Take a harp, go about the city, O harlot who has been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs so that you may be remembered.

As a woman with child draws near to bear, she is in pain and cries out in her pangs; so have we been in Your sight, O Jehovah.

We conceived; we have been in pain, we gave birth to wind. We have not brought about any salvation in the earth; nor have the people of the world fallen.

Also the oxen and the young asses that plow the ground shall eat clean fodder, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork.

Woe to the destroyer, and you who have not been destroyed; and betrayer, and they have not betrayed you. When you stop destroying, you shall be destroyed. When you stop betraying, they shall betray you.

The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that he had been sick, and had recovered.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

I have kept silence from forever; I have been still and refrained Myself. Now I will cry like a woman in pangs of labor, I will pant and gasp at once.

But this is a people robbed and spoiled; all of them snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison-houses; they have been taken, and none delivers them; a prize, and none says, Give back.

Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you; therefore I will give men for you, and people for your life.

But you have not called on Me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of Me, O Israel.

Oh that you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

And your seed would have been like the sand, and the offspring of your bowels like its grain; his name would not have been cut off nor destroyed from before Me.

For the Lord Jehovah will help Me; therefore I have not been ashamed. On account of this I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

And of whom have you been afraid or feared, that you have lied and have not remembered Me, nor laid it to your heart? Have I not been silent, even from forever, and you did not fear Me?

O generation, see the Word of Jehovah. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? Why do My people say, We roam freely; we will come no more to You?

Lift up your eyes to the high places, and see. Where have you not been lain with? By the highways you have sat for them, like the Arabian in the wilderness; and you have defiled the land with your fornications and with your wickedness.

Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and you had a harlot's forehead, you refused to be ashamed.

How long shall the land mourn, and the grass of every field wither from the evil of those who dwell in it? The beasts and the birds have been destroyed, because they said, He shall not see our last end.

The cities of the south have been shut up, and none are opening; Judah has been exiled, all of it has been peacefully exiled.

She who bore seven languishes; she has breathed out her life; her sun has gone down while it was yet day. She has been ashamed and humiliated; and I will deliver the rest of them to the sword before their enemies, says Jehovah.

And I will make you pass with your enemies into a land which you do not know. For a fire has been kindled in My anger; it shall burn against you.

Why has my pain been without end, and why is my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You surely are to me like a deceitful brook, waters that cannot be trusted.

For whenever I speak, I cry out, I cry violence and ruin; for the Word of Jehovah has been a reproach and a cause of mocking to me all day.

because he did not kill me from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.

I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your way from your youth, for you have not obeyed My voice.

The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of plague.

For so says Jehovah, When according to My Word seventy years have been fulfilled for Babylon, I will visit you and confirm My good Word to you, to bring you back to this place.