From the priests: Jedaiah son of Jehoiarib, Jakin,

Now from the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, son of Bunni;

and Shabbethai and Jozabad, from the leaders of the Levites, who supervised the work outside the house of God;

And Mattaniah son of Micha, son of Zabdi, son of Asaph, head of the beginning of Judah for prayer: and Bakbukiah the second from his brethren, and Abda, son of Shammua, son of Galal, son of Jeduthan.

The chief officer of the Levites in Jerusalem [was] Uzzi son of Bani, son of Hashabiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Mica, from the descendants of Asaph, the singers over the work of the house of God.

For there was a commandment from the king concerning them, and a settled provision for the singers, as every day required.

And Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, from the descendants of Zerah the son of Judah, [was] at the hand of the king in all matters concerning the people.

As for the villages in their territories, [some] from the descendants of Judah lived in Kiriath-Arba and {its settlements}, Dibon and {its settlements}, Jekabzeel and {its settlements},

Zanoah, Adullam, and in their villages, at Lachish, and the fields thereof, at Azekah, and in the villages thereof. And they dwelt from Beersheba unto the valley of Hinnom.

The children also of Benjamin from Geba dwelt at Michmash, and Aija, and Bethel, and in their villages,

And from the Levites the working groups of Judah [were assigned] to Benjamin.

And in the days of Joiakim were priests, the chief of the fathers: from the house of Seraiah was Meraiah; from Jeremiah, Hananiah;

from Ezra, Meshullam; from Amariah, Jehohanan;

from Melicu, Jonathan; from Shebaniah, Joseph;

from Harim, Adna; from Meraioth, Helkai;

from Iddo, Zechariah; from Ginnethon, Meshullam;

from Abijah, Zichri; from Miniamin of Moadiah, Piltai;

from Bilgah, Shammua; from Shemaiah, Jehonathan;

and from Joiarib, Mattenai; from Jedaiah, Uzzi;

from Sallai, Kallai; from Amok, Eber;

from Hilkiah, Hashabiah; from Jedaiah, Nethaneel.

At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites from all of their places in order to bring them to Jerusalem to do the dedication with joy, thanksgivings, song and cymbals, stringed instruments and lyres.

And the sons of the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain country round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of Netophathi;

Also from the house of Gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had builded them villages round about Jerusalem.

And I shall bring up the chiefs of Judah from above the wall, and I shall cause to stand two great choirs, and to go about to the right hand above to the wall to the gate of the dung-hill:

And from the sons of the priests with trumpets: Zechariah son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah the son of Mattaniah, son of Michaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph:

And at the Fountain Gate, across from them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the going up of the wall, above the house of David, even to the Water Gate eastward.

And the other company of them that gave thanks went over against them, and I after them, and the half of the people upon the wall, from beyond the tower of the furnaces even unto the broad wall;

And from above the gate of Ephraim, and above the old gate, and above the fish gate, and the tower of Hananeel, and the tower of Meah, even unto the sheep gate: and they stood still in the prison gate.

They offered on that day great sacrifices and rejoiced because God brought great joy to them. And the women and children also rejoiced. The joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar.

On that day men were appointed for the storehouse rooms, the offerings, the first fruits, and the tithes, in order to gather in them from the fields of the cities the requirements of the law for the priests and Levites; for the joy of Judah [was] upon the priests and Levites standing there.

For in the days of David and Asaph from ancient times there was the head of the singers and a song of praise and thanksgiving to God.

On that day there was a reading from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and they saw that it said in the book that no Ammonite or Moabite might ever come into the meeting of God;

Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

During all of this, I was not in Jerusalem because in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. At the end of [some] days I asked permission from the king [to leave].

It was very displeasing for me, and I threw all of the objects from the house of Tobiah outside of the chamber.

I ordered them to purify the chambers, and then they brought back the vessels from the Temple of God, along with the grain offerings and incense.

I appointed as treasurer over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, Pedaiah from the Levites, and as their hand Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered faithful. [The responsibility given] to them was to distribute to their brothers.

Keep me in mind, O my God, in connection with this, and do not let the good which I have done for the house of my God and its worship go from your memory completely.

The people from Tyre who lived there were bringing fish and all kinds of merchandise and were selling it on the Sabbath to the people of Judah -- and in Jerusalem, of all places!

And it will be as the gates of Jerusalem were darkened before the Sabbath, and saying, and the doors shall be shut, and saying that they shall not open them till after the Sabbath: and from my young men I caused to stand at the gates; a burden shall not be brought in in the day of the Sabbath.

And the merchants and those selling every selling will lodge from without to Jerusalem once and twice.

Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath.

In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

So I contended with them, and laid a curse upon them, and I smote, from among them, certain men, and pulled out their hair, - and I put them on oath by God, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take of their daughters, for your sons nor for yourselves.

Did not Solomon king of Israel sin [greatly against God] regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin [by turning to other gods and so, judged by God, he lost his kingdom].

And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.

Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business;

Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:)

In those days King Ahasuerus reigned from his royal throne in the fortress at Susa.

He held a feast in the third year of his reign for all his officials and staff, the army of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the officials from the provinces.

And at the fulness of these days hath the king made to all the people who are found in Shushan the palace, from great even unto small, a banquet, seven days, in the court of the garden of the house of the king --

And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, (the vessels being diverse one from another,) and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king.

On the seventh day, when the king was feeling good from the wine, Ahasuerus commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who personally served him,

This day the women of nobility from Persia and Media will respond to all the officials of the king and there will be no end to contempt and anger.

If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she.

and when the king's edict which he shall make shall be heard throughout his realm for it is great all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, from the greatest to the least.

In Susa the capital there was a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin, Jair's son Mordecai, who was a descendant of Kish's son Shimei the descendant of Benjamin.

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

and he is supporting Hadassah -- she is Esther -- daughter of his uncle, for she hath neither father nor mother, and the young woman is of fair form, and of good appearance, and at the death of her father and her mother hath Mordecai taken her to him for a daughter.

and the young woman is good in his eyes, and she receiveth kindness before him, and he hasteneth her purifications and her portions -- to give to her, and the seven young women who are provided -- to give to her, from the house of the king, and he changeth her and her young women to a good place in the house of the women.

Esther had not said what family or people she came from, for Mordecai had given her orders not to do so.

And in the coming of the order of maiden and maiden to come in to the king Ahasuerus, from the end of there being to her, according to edict; of women twelve months (for so shall be completed the days of their purifications, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with spices, and with the purifications of the women;)

then the young woman would go before the king in this way: anything that she wanted was given her to take with her from the harem into the king’s palace.

And when one came in the evening, the same went from him on the morrow into the second house of women, under the hand of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain which kept the concubines. And she must come in unto the king no more, except it pleased the king, and that he caused her to be called by name.

The king loved Esther more than all the other women. She won more favor and approval from him than did any of the other young women. He placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

The king held a great banquet for all his officials and staff. It was Esther’s banquet. He freed his provinces from tax payments and gave gifts worthy of the king’s bounty.

In those days Mordecai [was] sitting at the gate of the king. Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs from the keepers of the threshold, became angry and they conspired {to assassinate} King Ahasuerus.

In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar.

And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king's laws: therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them.

And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy.

and letters to be sent by the hand of the runners unto all provinces of the king, to cut off, to slay, and to destroy all the Jews, from young even unto old, infant and women, on one day, on the thirteenth of the twelfth month -- it is the month of Adar -- and their spoil to seize,

He only went as far as the King’s Gate, since the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering the King’s Gate.

So Esther's maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not.

Then Esther called Hathach from the king's eunuchs {who regularly attended to her}, and she ordered him [to go] to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why.

and the copy of the writing of the law that had been given in Shushan to destroy them he hath given to him, to shew Esther, and to declare it to her, and to lay a charge on her to go in unto the king, to make supplication to him, and to seek from before him, for her people.

All servants of the king, and people of the provinces of the king, do know that any man and woman, who cometh in unto the king, unto the inner court, who is not called -- one law of his is to put them to death, apart from him to whom the king holdeth out the golden sceptre, then he hath lived; and I -- I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.'

Then Mordecai sent this answer back to Esther: Do not have the idea that you in the king's house will be safe from the fate of all the Jews.

For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

And it happened on the third day, Esther put on royal clothing, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, across from the king's house. And the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, across from the gate of the house.

On that night sleep fled from the king. And he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.

And it was found written how Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs from the keepers of the threshold who had conspired {to assassinate} King Ahasuerus.

Then the king said to Haman, "Quickly, take the clothing and the horse, just as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the gate of the king; you must not leave out anything from what you have said."

And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends all that had happened to him. And his advisers and Zeresh his wife said to him, "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, [is] {from the descendants of the Jews}, you will not prevail against him, but will certainly fall before him."

And Esther will say, The man, the adversary and enemy, this evil Haman., And Haman was terrified from before the king and the queen.

And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.

And the king hath turned back out of the garden of the house unto the house of the banquet of wine, and Haman is falling on the couch on which Esther is, and the king saith, 'Also to subdue the queen with me in the house?' the word hath gone out from the mouth of the king, and the face of Haman they have covered.

And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

Then were the king's scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.

He wrote [a decree] in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s ring, and sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding on the royal [mail] relay horses, the offspring of the racing mares.

In these letters the king gave authority to the Jews in every town to come together and make a fight for their lives, and to send death and destruction on the power of any people in any part of the kingdom attacking them or their children or their women, and to take their goods from them by force,

A copy of the {edict} [was] to be given [as] law in each province to inform all the people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves from their enemies.

And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.

And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had gladness and joy, a feast and a good day. And many from among the peoples of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews was fallen upon them.

But the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey,

As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.

For this reason these days are called Purim, from the word Pur.

Because of all the instructions in this letter as well as what they had witnessed and what had happened to them,

And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and turned away from evil.

And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.