When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and [that] his face [was set] for battle against Jerusalem,

Manasseh [was] twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

And when he was in distress he entreated Yahweh his God and greatly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors

Amon [was] twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

Josiah [was] eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.

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 king heard the words of the law, he tore his garments,

because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and against its inhabitants and you humbled yourself before me and tore your garments and wept before me, now I also have heard,' {declares} Yahweh.

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.

Jehoahaz [was] twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

Jehoiakim [was] twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God.

Jehoiachin [was] eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

Zedekiah [was] twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

When [some] of the heads of {families} came to the house of Yahweh that [is] in Jerusalem, they gave freewill offerings for the house of God to erect it on its place.

But many of the elderly priests, Levites, and heads of the families who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house, but many {shouted aloud with joy}.

Then when a copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read before Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their associates they returned in a hurry to Jerusalem against the Jews and they stopped them by force and power.

When I heard this I tore my garment and my robe, and I pulled the hair out from my head and beard, and I sat appalled.

When I heard these words, I sat and wept and mourned for days, and I was fasting and praying before the God of the heavens.

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 said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad when the city of my ancestors' burial site is ruined and her gates are consumed by fire?"

With the queen sitting beside him, the king said to me, "How long will your journey be and when will you return?" So it pleased the king and he sent me, and I set for him an appointed time.

But when Sanballat the Horonite and the Ammonite servant Tobiah heard [this], {they were greatly displeased} that a person had come to seek the welfare of the {Israelites}.

Now it happened when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, [he] became angry and greatly provoked, and he mocked the Jews.

Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem were going forward and the gaps were being closed, they were very angry.

When the Jews who lived beside them came, they said to us ten times, "From all of the places where they live, [they will come up] against us."

It happened when our enemies heard that their plan was known to us, that God had frustrated [it], and we all returned to the wall--each to his work.

I was very angry when I heard their shouts and these words.

Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and to the rest of our enemies that I had built the wall and that no gap was left in it--though up to that time I had not erected doors in the gates--

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,

So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel settled in their cities. When the seventh month came, the {Israelites} [were] in their cities.

Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, because he was above all of the people. When he opened it all the people stood up.

Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all of the people, "This day is holy to Yahweh your God. Do not mourn nor weep." For all of the people wept when they heard the words of the law.

Even when they made for themselves a molten idol of a calf and said, 'This is your God who brought you out from Egypt,' and committed great blasphemies.

But when they had rest they returned to doing evil before you, and you abandoned them in the hand of their enemies, and they ruled over them. Then they returned and cried out to you, and from the heavens you heard and many times rescued them according to your compassions.

So it happened when they heard the law that they separated all of the foreign people from Israel.

So when it became dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors be shut and said that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I appointed some of my young men over the gates [to prevent] any {goods} being brought in on the day of the Sabbath.

And when those days were completed, the king gave for all the people that were present at the citadel of Susa, both great and small, a banquet in the courtyard of the king's palace garden that lasted seven days.

On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he said to Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, seven of the eunuchs attending King Ahasuerus,

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.

He was raising Hadassah, that [is] Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she did not have a father or a mother; the young woman [had] a beautiful figure and [was] very attractive. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had taken her as his daughter.

And it happened, at the proclaiming of the edict of the king and his law, when many young women were being gathered to the citadel of Susa {under Hegai's care}, Esther was taken to the {king's palace} {under the care of} Hegai who was in charge of the women.

When the turn came for each girl to go to King Ahasuerus, after the end of twelve months of being under the regulations of the women--for the days of their beauty treatments had to be filled, six months with the oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and women's cosmetics--

When the turn came near for Esther daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken [her] as a daughter, to go to the king, she did not ask anything except what Hegai the eunuch of the king who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther carried favor in the eyes of everyone that saw her.

When [the] virgins were gathered a second time, Mordecai [was] sitting at the gate of the king.

Esther had not made known her family and her people, just as Mordecai had instructed her; for Esther {did what Mordecai told her}, just as when she was brought up by him.

When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard she found favor in his eyes, and the king held out the gold scepter that [was] in his hand to Esther, and Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter.

And Haman went out on that day rejoicing and {feeling good}. But when Haman saw Mordecai at the gate of the king, and he did not rise or tremble before him, Haman was filled {with rage toward} Mordecai.

But all this {fails to satisfy me} {when} I see Mordecai the Jew setting at the gate of the king."

But when it came {to the attention of} the king, he {gave orders in writing} [that] his evil plot that he had devised against the Jews should return on his head, and they hung him and his sons on the gallows.

{Then when} the days of the feast had run their course, {Job would send}, and he would sanctify them. Thus he would arise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings [according to] the number of all of them, because Job thought, "Perhaps my children have sinned and {cursed} God in their heart." This is what Job used to do {all the time}.

And then [there] was one day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their firstborn brother's house.

who rejoice {exceedingly}, [and] they are glad when they find [the] grave?

From [the] scourge of [the] tongue you shall be hidden, and you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes.

In time they dry up, they disappear; when it [is] hot, they vanish from their place.

When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I rise?' But [the] night is long, and I have my fill of tossing until dawn.

When I say, 'My bed will comfort me, and my couch will ease my complaint,'

When the whip kills suddenly, he mocks at [the] despair of [the] innocent.

Should your loose talk put people to silence? {And when you mock, shall no one put you to shame}?

For he knows {those who are worthless}; {when he sees} iniquity, {he will not consider it}.

But {an empty-headed person} will get understanding when a wild donkey's colt is born [as] a human being.

Little boys also despise me; [when] I rise, then they talk against me.

{When his stomach fills up}, [God] will send {his burning anger} upon him, and he will let [it] rain down upon him as his food.

And when I think of [it], I am horrified, and shuddering seizes my flesh.

Who [is] Shaddai that we should serve him, or what would we benefit when we plead with him?'

for what {does he care for} his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?

When he is brought to [the] grave, then someone stands guard over [the] tomb.

So how will you comfort me [with] emptiness, when fraud is left [in] your answers?"

When they are humiliated, {you say}, '[It is] pride,' for he saves {the humble}.

"When I go forward, {he is not there}, or backward, I cannot see him.

{When he works} [on the] left, {I cannot perceive} [him]; he turns to [the] right, but I cannot see [him].

Therefore, I am horrified because of his presence; [when] I consider, I tremble because of him.

for what [is the] hope of [the] godless when he cuts [them] off, when God takes away his life?

Will God hear his cry of distress when distress comes upon him?

{When he gave} weight to the wind and he apportioned [the] waters by measure,

{when he made} a rule for the rain and a way for [the] thunder's lightning bolt,

"{O that I were} as [in] the months before, as [in] the days [when] God watched over me,

when his shining lamp [was] over my head-- by his light I walked through darkness--

as when I was in the days of my prime, when God's confiding [was] over my {house},

when Shaddai[was] still with me, my children [were] all around me,

when my paths were washed in sour milk, and [the] rock poured out streams of oil for me.

"When [the] ear heard and commended me, and [the] eye saw and testified in support of me

I smiled for them [when] they had no confidence [in anything], and they did not extinguish the light of my face.

"Surely someone must not send a hand against [the] needy when, in his misfortune, [there is] a cry of help for them.

"If I have rejected my male or female slave's case when their complaint [was] against me,

then what shall I do when God rises up? And when he enquires, how shall I answer him?

if I looked at [the] sun when it shone or [at the] moon moving [in] splendor,

"If I have rejoiced at [the] ruin of [the one who] hated me or have exulted when evil overtook him--

When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men, {he became angry}.

"In a dream, a vision of [the] night, when a deep sleep falls on men slumbering on [their] bed,

Indeed, he says, 'A man does not profit when he takes delight in God.'

"Do you think this [is] justice when you say, '{I am right} before God'?

{How much less} [when] you say [that] you do not see him, that [the] case [is] {before him}, and you are waiting for him!

And [the] godless of heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them.

After it, his voice roars; it thunders {with his majestic voice}, and he does not restrain it when his voice is heard.

[You] whose garments [are] hot, when [the] earth is being still because of [the] south wind,

So then, they do not look at the light [when it is] bright in the skies, when [the] wind has passed and has cleansed them.

when [the] morning stars were singing together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

"Or [who] shut [the] sea in with doors at its bursting, [when] it went out of [the] womb,

when they are crouched in the dens, [when] they lie in the thicket in an ambush?