When Sanballat heard that we were reconstructing the wall, he flew into a rage, became indignant, and mocked the Jews.

Tobiah the Ammonite stood to the side, commenting, "If a fox were to jump onto what they're building, it would collapse their stone wall!"

So we rebuilt the wall, completing it halfway up, because the people were committed to working.

But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repair work on the Jerusalem wall was progressing and that its breaches were being repaired, they flew into a rage.

Others were saying, "We're having to mortgage our fields, our vineyards, and our homes so we can buy grain during this famine."

Still others were saying "We've borrowed money against our fields and vineyards to pay the king's taxes.

Also, as I continued to work on the wall, we purchased no land, and all of my young men were employed in the work.

Our daily requirements were one ox and six choice sheep, along with various kinds of poultry prepared for me. Every ten days there was a delivery of an abundant supply of wine. Despite all this, I refused the governor's allotment, because demands on the people were heavy.

Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me, saying "Come, let's meet together at Kephirim on the Ono Plain." But they were just trying to do me harm.

For they all were trying to make us afraid by saying, "Their hands will become tired from laboring, so the work won't be completed." "Therefore, LORD, strengthen my hands!"

After the wall had been completed and its doors installed, then the gatekeepers, singers, and descendants of Levi were appointed.

Even though the city was large and spread out, not many people were living there and not many houses had been built.

They were coming with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah. Here is the enumeration of: The Men of Israel:

These people searched for their ancestral records, but they couldn't be located. Accordingly, they were considered disqualified from the priesthood.

So on the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought out the Law before the assembled people. Both men and women were in attendance, as well as all who could understand what they were hearing.

Ezra read from it, facing the plaza in front of the Water Gate, from early in the morning until mid-day in the presence of the men and women, as well as all who could understand. All the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

Because all the people were weeping as they listened to the words of the Law, Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the descendants of Levi who taught the people told everyone, "This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep."

So all the people went to eat, to drink, to send something to those who had nothing, and to celebrate with great joy, because they understood the words that were being declared to them.

The next day, the heads of the families of all the people were gathered together, along with the priests and the descendants of Levi, to meet with Ezra the scribe in order to understand the words of the Law.

They found written in the Law that the LORD had commanded through Moses that the Israelis were to live in tents during the festival scheduled for the seventh month.

They conquered fortified cities and fertile ground, possessing houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, with vineyards, olive orchards, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were satiated, and were well nourished, delighting themselves in your great goodness.

So you delivered them into the control of their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed, they cried out to you, and you heard from heaven. In your great compassion you gave them deliverers who rescued them from the control of their enemies.

You were patient with them for many years, warning them by your Spirit through your prophets. But they would not listen, so you turned them over to the control of people in other lands.

These were the descendants of Levi: Azaniah's son Jeshua, Binnui from the descendants of Henadad, Kadmiel,

We the priests, the descendants of Levi, and the people cast lots to determine when to bring the wood offering into the Temple of our God, just as our ancestors' families were appointed annually to maintain the altar fire of the LORD our God, as recorded in the Law.

They were subject to the commands of the king, who provided for the singers daily.

Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the leaders of the priests and their associates in the time of Jeshua.

These were the priests and heads of their ancestors' houses in the time of Joiakim: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;

When Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua were serving, the descendants of Levi were recorded as heads of their ancestors' houses, as were the priests during the reign of Darius the Persian.

The leaders of the ancestors of Levi were written in the Book of Annals until the time of Eliashib's son Johanan.

The leaders of the descendants of Levi were: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Kadmiel's son Jeshua, along with their associates who served opposite them to give praise and thanks, division by division, according to the commands given by David the man of God.

Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the store houses of the gates.

These were at the time of Jeshua's son Joiakim, the grandson of Jozadak, and in the time of Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe.

Following them were Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah,

Some of the priests' sons were trumpeters, including Zechariah son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph,

Also at that time men were appointed over the storerooms for the contributions, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, so those portions required by the Law could be gathered from the fields adjacent to the towns to benefit the priests and descendants of Levi, for the people of Judah rejoiced over the priests and the descendants of Levi who were serving.

For in David's lifetime and in the lifetime of Asaph, choir master of old there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.

I also learned that the allotments for the descendants of Levi had not been distributed. As a result, the descendants of Levi and singers who were responsible for the service had each left to go back to their fields.

I appointed over the storerooms: Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from the descendants of Levi; and next to them Zaccur's son Hanan, the grandson of Mattaniah, because they had been considered faithful. Their duties were to distribute to their associates.

At that time I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the Sabbath, bringing in sacks of grain, loading them onto donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads. They brought them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I rebuked them on the day on which they were selling food.

Furthermore, Tyrians were living there who were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise, selling them to the people of Judah on the Sabbath, even in Jerusalem.

In the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his officials and ministers, and the military leaders of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the provincial officials were present.

When those days were over, the king held a seven-day banquet in the courtyard of the garden of his palace for all the people who were present in Susa the capital, from the greatest to the least important.

There were curtains of white and blue linen tied with cords of fine linen and purple material to silver rings on marble columns. There were couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and other precious stones.

Drinks were served in gold vessels of various kinds, and there was plenty of royal wine because the king was generous.

(His closest advisors were: Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven officials of Persia and Media who had direct access to the king and who held the highest rank in the kingdom.)

The king's order and edict was proclaimed, and many young women were brought to Susa the capital under the care of Hegai. Esther was taken to the palace into the care of Hegai, who was in charge of the women.

When the virgins were gathered a second time, Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate.

After the matter had been fully investigated, Bigthan and Teresh were hanged on a pole, and this was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.

Sometime later King Ahasuerus promoted Hammedatha the Agagite's son Haman, elevating him to a position above all the other officials who were with him.

All the king's ministers who were in the king's gate would kneel and bow down to Haman, because the king had commanded that Haman be honored in this way. Mordecai, however, would not kneel and would not bow down.

The king's ministers who were in the king's gate asked Mordecai, "Why are you disobeying the king's command?"

Because they had told him who the people of Mordecai were, Haman found it unacceptable to kill only Mordecai. So Haman sought to destroy all of Mordecai's people, the Jewish people, who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

The king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and all that Haman commanded was written to the regional authorities of the king, to the governors who were over each province, and to the officials of each people. This order was translated in the name of King Ahasuerus into the language of each province and bore the seal of the king's signet ring.

Letters were sent by couriers to all of the king's provinces to annihilate, to kill, and to destroy all the Jewish people, both young and old, women and children, and to confiscate their goods on a single day the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar.

Indeed, if you are silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. Who knows but that you were brought to the kingdom for a time like this?"

While they were drinking wine, the king asked Esther, "What's your petition? It will be given to you. What's your request? Up to half of the kingdom, and it will be done."

That night the king could not sleep, so he gave instructions to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read to the king.

While they were still talking to him, the king's eunuchs arrived, and they quickly took him to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

The king's scribes were summoned at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, which is the month Sivan, and everything that Mordecai commanded the Jewish people, the regional authorities, the governors, and the provincial officials of the 127 provinces from India to Cush was written down for each province according to its script, for each people according to their language, and for the Jewish people according to their script and language.

A copy of the document was to be issued as law in each and every province and published for all people, indicating that the Jewish people were to be ready to take vengeance on their enemies on that day.

On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, when the king's order and edict was about to be carried out, on the day when the enemies of the Jewish people expected to prevail over them, things were turned around so that the Jewish people themselves prevailed over those who hated them.

The king said, "Let this be done." So an edict was issued in Susa, and Haman's ten sons were hanged on poles.

as the days on which the Jewish people enjoyed relief from their enemies. It was a month when things turned around for them, from sorrow to joy and from mourning to a holiday. They were to celebrate these days as days of feasting and joy, and they were to send presents to one another and gifts to the poor.

Therefore these days were called , from the word . Because of all that was written in this letter, because of what they experienced in this matter, and because of what happened to them,

Letters containing wishes for peace and stability were sent to all the Jewish people, to the 127 provinces of Ahasuerus' kingdom,

Some time later, when his children were celebrating in their oldest brother's house,

a messenger approached Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the female donkeys were grazing nearby

While this messenger was still speaking, another came and announced, "A lightning storm struck and incinerated the flock and the servants while they were eating. I alone escaped to tell you!"

While this messenger was still speaking, another came and announced, "Your children were celebrating in their oldest brother's house

Why was there a lap to hold me, and why were there breasts to nurse me?

In that place, those who once were prisoners will be at ease together; they won't hear the voice of oppressors.

how much less confidence does he have in those who dwell in houses of clay; who were formed from a foundation in dust and can perish like a moth?

"Now as for me, I would seek God if I were you; I would commit my case to God.

They meet with darkness in broad daylight; at noonday they grope around as if it were night.

If one were to seek to argue with him, he won't be able to answer him even once in a thousand times.

"If he were to pass near me, I wouldn't notice; if he moves by, I wouldn't perceive him.

"Were I to be summoned, and he were to answer me, I wouldn't even believe that he was listening to what I have to say.

If I were to say, "Let me forget my complaint,' change the expression on my face, and look cheerful,

"But what if God were to speak? What if he were to talk with you,

"Were you the first personto be born? Were you brought forth before the hills were made?

"I could also talk like you if only you were in my place! Then I would put together an argument against you. I would shake my head at you

"If my hope were that my house is the afterlife itself, if I were to make my bed in darkness,

If only my words were written down; if only they were inscribed in a book

Though his bones were full of youthful vigor; yet they will lie down with him in the dust.

who were snatched away before their time; when their foundation was swept away by a river?

If this weren't so, who can prove that I'm a liar by showing that there's nothing to what I'm saying?"

"I wish I could go back to how things were a few months ago; when God used to watch over me,

"The Almighty was still with me back then, and my children were still around me.

The voices of the commanders-in-chief were hushed, and their tongues would cling to the roofs of their mouths."

because I delivered the poor who were crying for help, along with orphans who had no one to help them.

Those who were about to die blessed me, and I made widows sing for joy.

I put on righteousness like clothing; my just decisions were like a robe and a turban.

Driven away from human company, they were shouted at as though they were thieves.

(even a poor man had grown up with me as if I were his father, and even though I had guided the widow from the time I was born),

"If my land were to cry out against me or if all its furrows wept as one,

Elihu waited to have a word with Job, since the others were older than he,

Indeed, I paid close attention to you all, but none of you were able to refute Job or answer his arguments convincingly.

since I don't know the first thing about how to flatter; and the one who made me would sweep me away as if I were nothing."

If he were to decide to do so, that is, to take back to himself his spirit and breath of life,