At the same time Rezin king of Syria brought Elath again to Syria, and rid the Jews thence. And the Syrians went to Elath and dwelt therein unto this day.

Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah and Shebnah and Joah, to Rabshakeh, "Speak, we pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrians' language, for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews' tongue, in the ears of the people that are on the walls."

And so Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spake saying, "Hear the saying of the great king, the king of Assyria!

But it chanced the seventh month after, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama of the king's blood came, and ten men with him and smote Gedaliah that he died: and so did he to the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizphah.

Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which are come up from thee to us unto Ierusalem, into that seditious and wicked city, build the same? And make up the walls of it? And bring it out of the foundation?

Now when king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe and their counsel, they went up in all the haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and forbade them with violence and power.

The Prophets, Haggai, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel.

But the eye of their God came upon the Elders of the Jews, that they were not inhibited, till the matter was brought before Darius, and till there came a writing thereof again.

Let them work in the house of God, that the captain of the Jews and their Elders may build the house of God in his place.

And the Elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo: and they builded, and laid up the foundation, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and after the commandment of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.

and Hanani, one of my brethren, came with certain men of Judah, and I asked them how the Jews did that were delivered and escaped from the captivity, and how it went at Jerusalem.

And the rulers knew not whither I went or what I did: for hitherto had I not told the Jews and the priests, the councilors and the rulers, and the others that laboured in the work.

But when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews

and said before his brethren and the soldiers of Samaria, "What do these impotent Jews? Shall they be thus suffered? Shall they offer? Shall they perform it in one day? Shall they make the stones whole again that are brought to dust, and burnt?"

But when the Jews that dwelt beside them came out of all the places where they dwelt about us, and told us - as good as ten times -

And there arose a great complaint of the people, and of their wives, against their brethren the Jews.

and said unto them, "We, after our ability, have bought our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the Heathen. And will ye sell your brethren, whom we have bought unto us?" Then held they their peace, and could find nothing to answer.

Moreover there were at my table a hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, which came unto me, from among the Heathen that are about us.

wherein was written, "It is told the Heathen, and Geshem hath said it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for the which cause thou buildest the wall, and wilt be their king in these matters;

And at the same time saw I Jews, that married wives of Ashdod, Ammon, and of Moab;

and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of the one people and the other people.

and thought it too little to lay hands only on Mordecai: for they had showed him the nation of Mordecai. Wherefore, he sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole empire of Ahasuerus and were of the nation of Mordecai.

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

And the writings were sent by posts into all the king's lands, to root out, to kill, and to destroy all Jews, both young and old, children and women in one day, - namely upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar - and to spoil their goods.

And in all lands and places, as far as the king's word and commandment extended, there was great lamentation among the Jews and many fasted, wept, mourned and lay in sackcloth and in ashes.

And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of silver that Haman had promised to weigh down in the king's chamber because of the Jews, for to destroy them.

Mordecai bade say again unto Esther, "Think not to save thine own life, while thou art in the king's house before all Jews:

for if thou holdest thy peace at this time, then shall the Jews have help and deliverance out of another place, and thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed. And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom, for this time's sake?"

'Go thou thy way then, and gather together all the Jews that are found at Susa, and fast ye for me, that ye eat not and drink not in three days, neither day nor night. I and my damsels will fast likewise, and so will I go in to the king contrary to the commandment: if I perish, I perish.'"

and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends, everything that had happened him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, "If it be Mordecai of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou canst do nothing unto him, but shalt fall before him."

The same day did king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman, the Jews' enemy, unto queen Esther. And Mordecai came before the king: for Esther told how that he belonged unto her.

And Esther spake yet more before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him, that he would put away the wickedness of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had imagined against the Jews.

and said, "If it please the king, and if I have found grace in his sight, and if it be convenient for the king, and if it be accepted in his sight, then let it be written, that the letters of the device of Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, may be called again: which letters he wrote, to destroy the Jews in all the king's lands.

Then said the king Ahasuerus unto queen Esther, and to Mordecai the Jew, "Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him have they hanged upon a tree, because he laid hand upon the Jews.

Write ye now therefore for the Jews, as it liketh you in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring." For the writings that were written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, durst no man disannul.

Then were the king's scribes called at the same time in the third month, that is the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day. And it was written, as Mordecai commanded, unto the Jews and to the princes, to the deputies and captains in the lands from India until Ethiopia, namely a hundred and seven and twenty lands, unto every one according to the writing thereof, unto every people after their speech, and to the Jews according to their writing and language.

wherein the king granted the Jews - in what cities soever they were - to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, and for to root out, to slay and to destroy all the power of the people and land that would trouble them, with children and women, and to spoil their goods

The sum of the writing was, how there was a commandment given in all lands to be published unto all the people, that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

but unto the Jews was come light and gladness, and joy, and worship.

And in all lands and cities, into what places soever the king's word and commandment reached, there was joy and mirth, prosperity and good days among the Jews: insomuch that many of the people in the land became of the Jews' belief: for the fear of the Jews came upon them.

In the twelfth month, that is the month Adar, upon the thirteenth day, which the king's word and commandment had appointed, that it should be done, even upon the same day that the enemies should have destroyed the Jews to have oppressed them, it turned contrary wise, even that the Jews should subdue their enemies.

Then gathered the Jews together in their cities within all the lands of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as would do them evil, and no man could withstand them: for the fear of them was come over all people.

And all the rulers in the lands, and princes and deputies, and officers of the king promoted the Jews: for the fear of Mordecai came upon them.

Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with a sore slaughter, and slew and destroyed, and did after their will unto such as were their adversaries.

And at the castle of Susa slew the Jews and destroyed five hundred men:

the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha the enemy of the Jews: but on his goods they laid no hands.

And the king said unto queen Esther, "The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men at the castle of Susa, and the ten sons of Haman: What shall they do in the other lands of the king? What is thy petition, that it may be given thee? And what requirest thou more to be done?"

Esther said, "If it please the king, let him suffer the Jews tomorrow also to do according unto this day's commandment, that they may hang Haman's ten sons upon the tree."

And the Jews gathered themselves together at Susa, upon the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Susa, but on their goods they laid no hands.

As for the other Jews in the king's lands, they came together, and stood for their lives, and gat rest from their enemies: and slew of their enemies five and seventy thousand: howbeit, they laid no hands on their goods.

But the Jews at Susa were come together both on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and on the fifteenth day they rested, and the same day ordained they to be a day of feasting and gladness.

Therefore the Jews that dwelt in the villages and unwalled towns ordained the fourteenth day of the month Adar, to be a day of feasting and gladness, and one sent gifts to another.

And Mordecai wrote these acts, and sent the writings unto all the Jews that were in all the lands of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,

as the days wherein the Jews came to rest from their enemies, and as a month wherein their pain was turned to joy, and their sorrow to prosperity: that they should observe the same days of wealth and gladness, and one to send gifts to another, and to distribute unto the poor.

And the Jews received it that they had begun to do, and that Mordecai wrote unto them:

how that Haman, the son of Hammedatha all the Jews' enemy, had devised to destroy all the Jews, and caused to cast Pur, that is lot, for to put them in fear, and to bring them to naught:

and how Esther went and spake to the king, that through letters his wicked device - which he imagined against the Jews - might be turned upon his own head, and how he and his sons were hanged on the tree.

And the Jews set it up, and took it upon them and their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, that they would not miss to observe these two days yearly, according as they were written and appointed;

how that these days are not to be forgotten, but to be kept of the children's children among all kindreds in all lands and cities. They are the days of Purim, which are not to be overslipped among the Jews, and the memorial of them ought not to perish from their seed.

and sent the letters unto all the Jews, in the hundred and seven and twenty lands of the empire of Ahasuerus, with friendly and faithful words,

For Mordecai the Jew was the second next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted among the multitude of his brethren, as one that seeketh the wealth of his people, and speaketh the best for all his seed.

Then said Eliakim, Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, "Speak to us thy servants, we pray thee, in the Syrians language, for we understand it well: And speak not to us in the Jews' Tongue, lest the folk hear, which lieth upon the wall."

And Rabshakeh stood stiff, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' tongue, and said, "Now take heed, how the great king of the Assyrians giveth you warning!

The Egyptians, the Jews, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the shaven Midianites that dwell in the wilderness. For all the Gentiles are uncircumcised in the flesh, but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart."

and I gave the evidence unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hananel my cousin, and in the presence of the witnesses that be named in the evidence, and before all the Jews that were thereby in the court of the prison.

And Zedekiah said unto Jeremiah, "I am afraid for the Jews, that are fled unto the Chaldeans, lest I come in their hands, and so they to have me in derision."

Yea all the Jews also that dwelt in Moab, under the Ammonites, in Idumaea and in all the countries, when they heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan governor upon them that were left in Judah:

All the Jews, I say, returned out of all places where they were fled unto: and came in to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah unto Mizphah, and gathered wine and other fruits, and that very much.

Then said Johanan the son of Kareah unto Gedaliah in Mizphah these words, secretly, "Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, so that nobody shall know it. Wherefore will he kill thee? That all the Jews which resort unto thee, might be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?"

Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with Gedaliah at Mizphah, and all the Chaldeans that he found there waiting upon him.

This is the word that was showed to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews, which dwelt in Egypt: at Migdol, at Tahpenes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros.

This is the sum of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar led away captive. In the seventh year of his reign, he carried away of the Jews, three thousand and three and twenty.

In the twenty third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the chief Captain, took away seven hundred forty five Jews prisoners. The whole sum of all the prisoners is four thousand and six hundred.

Now were there certain men of the Chaldeans that went even then and accused the Jews,

Now are there certain Jews, whom thou hast set over the offices of the land of Babylon: namely, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, regard not thy commandment; yea they will not serve thy gods, nor bow themselves to the golden Image, that thou hast set up."