And he set the graven image of the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my

neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the ordinances [give

And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of LORD. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.

And they have emptied out the money that was found in the house of LORD, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of the workmen.

Go ye, inquire of LORD for me, and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found. For great is the wrath of LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word

Thus says LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of it, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah.

Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore my wrath is poured out upon this place, and it shall not be quenched.

But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of LORD, thus ye shall say to him, Thus says LORD, the God of Israel: As concerning the words which thou have heard,

because thy heart was tender, and thou humbled thyself before God when thou heard his words against this place, and against the inhabitants of it, and have humbled thyself before me, and have torn thy clothes, and wept before me, I

But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? [I come] not against thee this day, but against the house with which I have war, and God has commanded me to make haste. Cease thee from [medd

Then Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, stood together to have the oversight of the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brothers the Levites.

But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers of Israel, said to them, Ye have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God, but we ourselves together will build to LORD, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus

Be it known to the king, that the Jews who came up from thee have come to us to Jerusalem. They are building the rebellious and the evil city, and have finished the walls, and repaired the foundations.

Now because we eat the salt of the palace, and it is not fitting for us to see the king's dishonor, therefore we have sent and certified to the king,

that search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers. So thou shall find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces. And that they have made sedition wi

We certify to the king that, if this city be built, and the walls finished, by this means thou shall have no portion beyond the River.

And I decreed, and search has been made. And it is found that this city of old time has made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it.

There have also been mighty kings over Jerusalem who have ruled over all [the country] beyond the River, and tribute, custom, and toll, was paid to them.

And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for burnt-offerings to the God of heaven, [also] wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests who are at Jerusalem, let it be given the

Also I have made a decree, that whoever shall alter this word, let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and fastened thereon, and let his house be made a dunghill for this.

And the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow all kings and peoples who shall put forth their hand to alter [the same], to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree, let it be done

and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem,

And whatever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shall have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure-house.

Now when these things were done, the rulers drew near to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, [doing] according to their abominations, even

For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the peoples of the lands. Yea, the hand of the heads and rulers has been chief in this trespass.

Since the days of our fathers we have been exceedingly guilty to this day. And for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plund

And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken thy commandments,

which thou have commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, to which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations, which have filled it from o

And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, seeing that thou our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such a remnant,

And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this th

And Ezra the priest stood up, and said to them, Ye have trespassed, and have married foreign women to increase the guilt of Israel.

Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, As thou have said concerning us, so must we do.

But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand outside. Neither is this a work of one day or two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.

Let now our rulers be appointed for all the assembly, and let all those who are in our cities who have married foreign women come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce

We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances, which thou commanded thy servant Moses.

but if ye return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the outermost part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, to cause my name

Now these are thy servants and thy people whom thou have redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.

And I said to the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' sepulchers, that I may build it.

Then I answered them, and said to them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us. Therefore we his servants will arise and build, but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

and do not cover their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they have provoked [thee] to anger before the builders.

There were also who said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute [upon] our fields and our vineyards.

And I said to them, According to our ability we have redeemed our brothers the Jews, who were sold to the nations, and would ye even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us? Then they were silent, and found not a word.

Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, [that is], twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bre

Remember to me, O my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.

And thou have also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah. And now it shall be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.

For they all would have made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work that it not be done. But now, [O God], strengthen thou my hands.

For this cause he was hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and also the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, who would have put me in fear.

Thou are LORD, even thou alone, thou have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and thou preserve them all. And the host of heaven worshi

and found his heart faithful before thee, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his seed, and have performed

However thou are just in all that has come upon us, for thou have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly,

neither have our kings, our rulers, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened to thy commandments and thy testimonies with which thou testified against them.

For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gave them, and in the large and fat land which thou gave before them, neither did they turn from their wicked works.

And it yields much increase to the kings whom thou have set over us because of our sins. Also they have power over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the observances of it.

Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.

And this day the ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the deed of the queen will say [the like] to all the king's rulers. So [there will arise] much contempt and wrath.

If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed. And I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who have the charge of the [king's] business, to bring it into the king's treasuries.

For if thou altogether keep quiet at this time, then relief and deliverance will arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father's house will perish. And who knows whether thou have not come to the kingdom for such a

And Esther said, If it seems good to the king, let the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him.

if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do tomorrow as the king

Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou have said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate. Let nothing fail of all that thou have spoken.

And Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, If Mordecai, before whom thou have begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, thou shal

Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favor in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.

For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king's damage.

And she said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha

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

Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have rule over them

And the king said to Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces! Now what is thy petition? And

And LORD said to Satan, Have thou considered my servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.

Have thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has, on every side? Thou have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

and the Sabeans fell [upon them], and took them away. Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and only I alone have escaped to tell thee.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God fell from heaven, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and only I alone have escaped to tell thee.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have taken them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and only I alone have escaped

And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead, and only I alone have escaped to tell thee.

And LORD said to Satan, Have thou considered my servant Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although thou m

Let the stars of the twilight of it be dark. Let it look for light, but have none, nor let it behold the eyelids of the morning.

For now I should have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept. Then I would have been at rest

Or I should have been as a hidden untimely birth, as infants that never saw light.

I am not at ease, nor am I quiet, neither have I rest, but trouble comes.

Behold, thou have instructed many, and thou have strengthened the weak hands.

Thy words have upheld him who was falling, and thou have made firm the feeble knees.

According as I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.

I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

Lo this, we have searched it, so it is. Hear it, and know thou it for thy good.

For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas. Therefore my words have been rash.

O that I might have my request, and that God would grant [me] the thing that I long for!

And be it still my consolation, yea, let me exult (in pain that does not spare), that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

Is it not that I have no help in me, and that wisdom is driven quite from me?

My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away,

Teach me, and I will be quiet. And cause me to understand how I have erred.

If I have sinned, what do I do to thee, O thou watcher of men? Why have thou set me as a mark for thee, so that I am a burden to myself?

If thy sons have sinned against him, and he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression,

For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out

If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, [saying], I have not seen thee.

Have thou eyes of flesh? Or do thou see as man sees?

Thy hands have made me and fashioned me together round about, yet thou destroy me.

Remember, I beseech thee, that thou have fashioned me as clay. And will thou bring me into dust again?

Have thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

Thou have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.