(He had passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel and Beth Maacah; now all of the Berites had been treated badly, so they also followed after him.)

But the people [were] sacrificing on the high places, for the house for the name of Yahweh had not [yet] been built in those days.

Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him as king in place of his father, for Hiram had always been a friend for David.

you shall hear in heaven, the place of your dwelling, and act according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you as your people Israel, and to know that your name has been invoked over this house that I have built.

and then they return their heart in the land where they have been taken captive and they return and plead to you in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned and we did wrong. We acted wickedly,'

I had not believed the report to be true until I came and my eyes had seen, and behold! The half had not been told to me. {Your wisdom and prosperity surpass} the report that I had heard.

The king made a raised structure for the house of Yahweh and for the house of the king out of the almug wood, as well as lyres and harps for the singers. [This much] almug wood has not come nor been seen [again] up to this day.

It happened at the time of Solomon's old age that his wives guided his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father [had been].

Then King Rehoboam consulted with the old men who had been {serving} before Solomon his father when he was alive, saying, "How [are] you advising [me] {to answer this people}?"

And the king had decided, so he made two golden calves and he said to them, "{You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough}; here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."

It happened at the moment Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps coming through the doorway, he said, "Come [in], wife of Jeroboam. Why [are] you making yourself unrecognizable? I have been sent a hard [message] for you:

All of Israel will mourn for him, and they will bury him. This one alone will come to a tomb for Jeroboam, because a good thing has been found in him by Yahweh the God of Israel in the house of Israel.

His servant Zimri the commander of half of the chariots conspired against him. Now he had been in Tirzah drinking [himself] drunk in the house of Arza who was over the palace in Tirzah.

Has it not been told to my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of Yahweh? I hid a hundred men of the prophets of Yahweh {by fifties} in the cave, and I sustained them [with] food and water.

Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me," so all the people came closer to him. He repaired the altar of Yahweh [that had been] destroyed.

Then he said, "I have been very zealous for Yahweh the God of hosts, for the {Israelites} have forsaken your covenant. They have demolished your altars, and they have killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left over, and they seek to take my life.

He said, "I have been very zealous for Yahweh the God of Hosts, for the {Israelites} have forsaken your covenant, demolished your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; I alone am left, and they seek to take my life!"

The {Israelites} had been mustered and provisioned, and they went to engage them. The {Israelites} encamped opposite them as two flocks of goats, but the Arameans filled the land.

It happened that your servant {was busy here and there}, and he {disappeared}." Then the king said to him, "Your own judgment has been determined."

They sent to Jezebel saying, "Naboth has been stoned, and he is dead."

It happened at the moment Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and died, Jezebel said to Ahab, "Get up, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which he had refused to give to you for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead."

It happened that when the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. Now he had been walking on the wall, and the people saw, and behold, sackcloth was over his flesh underneath.

All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city rested; [for] Athaliah had been killed with the sword in the palace of the king.

So King Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria [in] Damascus, and he saw the altar which [was] in Damascus, so King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the builder's plan of the altar and the {exact model of how it had been made}.

At that time, Berodak-Baladan the son of Baladan king of {Babylon} sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been ill.

Then the king went up [to] the temple of Yahweh, and all of the men of Judah and all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem [were] with him, [including] the priests, the prophets, and all of the people from smallest to greatest; and in their {hearing} he read all of the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the temple of Yahweh.

Then the king commanded all of the people, saying, "Keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, as has been written on the scroll of this covenant.

And Ephraim went in to his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And he called his name Beriah because disaster [had been] upon his house.

When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed as king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard and went out from before them.

for I have not lived in a house from the day that I brought out Israel unto this day. I have been from tent to tent and from tabernacle [to tabernacle].

and I have been with you wherever you went and have cut down your enemies from before you and will make a name for you, like the name of the great ones on the earth.

he sent Hadoram his son to King David to ask him for peace and to bless him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him, for Tou {had been at war} with Hadadezer. And [he brought with him] all the objects of gold, silver, and bronze.

Then David said to God, "I have sinned severely [in] that I have done this thing. But now, please forgive the sin of your servant, for I have been very foolish."

Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the elders who had been {serving} before Solomon his father when he was alive, saying, "What word do you advise to answer this people?"

Now Israel [has been] without the true God many days, and without a teaching priest, and without law,

Then King Asa took all of Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and he built Geba and Mizpah with them.

For the eyes of Yahweh roam throughout all the earth to strengthen those whose heart is fully devoted to him. You have been foolish in this, for from now on you will have wars."

And they buried him in his burial site, which had been cut out for him in the city of David. And they laid him on the bier which they had filled with all kinds of spices made [by] the perfumers as a fragment ointment. And they made a great fire in his honor.

Nevertheless some good things have been found in regard to you, for you burned the Asherahs out of the land and set your heart to seek God."

So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet [after] Athaliah had been killed with the sword.

but they were not able to make it at that time, for the priests had not consecrated themselves {in sufficient numbers}, and the people had not been assembled in Jerusalem--

And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, saying, "Since the offerings began to be brought to the house of Yahweh, [we have] eaten and been satisfied, and have much to spare, for Yahweh has blessed his people. Now [see] this abundant remainder!"

So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you. Do not let him urge you according to this. Do not put trust in him, for no god of any nation and kingdom has been able to save his people from my hand and from the hand of my ancestors. Surely then your God will not save you from my hand!'"

And thus [in the matter of] the envoys of the commanders of Babylon who had been sent to him to seek the sign that had happened in the land, God forsook him, to test him [and] to know all [that was] in his heart.

And when they brought out the money that had been brought [to] the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found a scroll of the law of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.

And when the work had been completed, the priests stood at their positions and the Levites in their working groups according to the command of the king.

And they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the {families}, and they said to them, "Let us build with you. Like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing [to him] from the days of Esarhaddon the king of Assyria who brought us up here.

the letter that you sent to us has been translated [and] read before me.

And {I issued} a decree, and they searched and found that this city from ancient days revolted against kings, and rebellion and sedition has been made in it.

Mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem, [governing] all [the province] Beyond the River, to whom tribute, duty, and tax has been given.

From the days of our ancestors until this day we have been in great guilt, and because of our sins we ourselves, our kings, and our priests have been handed into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to utter shame, as it is this day.

But now for a brief moment mercy has been shown by Yahweh our God, who left behind for us a remnant, and given us security in his holy place--for our God to brighten our eyes and to give us brief relief in our bondage.

Yahweh, God of Israel, you are righteous, for we have been left this day as a remnant. Here we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this."

They replied to me, "The survivors in the province who have survived the captivity are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned in the fire."

It happened in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. And I had never been sad before the king.

I went out during the night at the gate of the valley by the Dragon spring and to the Dung Gate. And I examined the walls in Jerusalem and its gates that had been destroyed by the fire.

Please restore to them this day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, their houses, and the interest on the money, the grain, the grape juice, and the olive oil that you have been taking from them."

In it was written, "It has been reported among the nations, and Gashmu also is saying it, that you and the Jews are considering rebellion. Therefore, truly you are building the wall and you are becoming their king, according to these words.

When our enemies heard of this, all of the nations surrounding us were afraid and {lost their confidence}. They knew that this work had been done with [the help of] our God.

Now when the wall had been built and I had erected the doors and appointed the gatekeepers, singers, and the Levites,

Then Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden podium that had been made for the occasion. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right. On his left [was] Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

And then I came to learn that the food of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, the doers of the work, had gone back each to his field.

After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.

Mordecai learned all that had been done and he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. And he went through the middle of the city and cried out a loud and bitter cry;

And he gave him a copy of the edict of the law that had been issued in Susa for their destruction to show Esther, and to inform her, and to charge her to go to the king and make supplication to him and entreat before him for her people.

"All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that [if] any man or woman who goes to the king to the inner courtyard, who is not called, he has one law, to be killed, except if the king extends to him the gold scepter so that he may live. I have not been called to come to the king {for thirty days}."

And the king asked, "What has been done to bestow honor to Mordecai for this?" And the king's servants who attended him said, "Nothing has been done for him."

let them bring {royal clothing} with which the king has clothed himself, and a horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal head-dress has been given.

I and my people have been sold to be destroyed and killed, to be annihilated. If we had been sold as male and female slaves I would have kept quiet, because this is not a need sufficient to trouble the king."

for then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; therefore my words have been rash,

I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been brought from [the] womb to the grave.

His wrath has torn, and he has been hostile toward me; he gnashed at me with his teeth. My foe sharpens his eyes against me.

And after my skin has been thus destroyed, but from my flesh I will see God,

Indeed, I have not been silenced {because of darkness}, and because of me he conceals thick darkness.

"If my heart has been enticed by a woman, and at my neighbor's doorway I have lain in wait,

{Have the people of my tent not said}, '{O that} someone had not been satisfied with his meat'?

Take care, you must not turn to mischief, for because of this you have been tried by misery.

Have [the] gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen [the] gates of deep shadow?

{And then} after Yahweh spoke these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "{My wrath has been kindled} against you and against [the] two of your friends, for you have not spoken to me what is right as my servant Job [has].

[But] you have seen; indeed you have noted trouble and grief to take [it] into your hand. The helpless abandons [himself] upon you; you have been [the] helper [for the] orphan.

On you I was cast from [the] womb. From my mother's belly you [have been] my God.

Do not hide your face from me; do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been my help; do not abandon nor forsake me, O God of my salvation.

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

All this has befallen us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.

These [things] you have done, and I have been silent; You imagined that I was just like you. I will rebuke you and present [an argument] before your eyes.

There {they are very fearful} [where] no fear had been, because God has scattered the bones of him who encamps [against] you. You have put [them] to shame, because God has rejected them.

But as for me, I will sing [of] your strength, and I will hail your loyal love in the morning, because you have been my [high] stronghold and a refuge in my {time} of trouble.

O God, you have rejected us. You have broken us. You have been angry. Restore us!

For you have been my refuge, a strong tower from the enemy.

Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

My tongue also will speak of your righteousness all the day, because they have been put to shame, because they have been humiliated who seek my harm.

And I have been plagued all day and rebuked {every morning}.

But God [has been] my king from long ago, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

His den has been in Salem, his lair in Zion.

Then the Lord awoke like [one who had been] asleep, [awoke] like a warrior who had been drunk with wine.

O Lord, you have been our help {in all generations}.

If Yahweh had not been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in silence.

Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.

This has been mine, that I have kept your precepts.

Unless your law [had been] my delight, then I would have perished in my misery.