And this house hath gone out till the third day of the month Adar, that is in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

together with all of the silver and gold that you can raise in the province of Babylon, plus the freewill offerings given by the people and the priests, contributed for the Temple of their God, which is in Jerusalem.

"You, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that you possess, appoint magistrates and judges who can judge all of the people [in the province] Beyond the River who know the laws of your God. And you will teach those who do not know.

Though we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our slavery. He has extended grace to us in the presence of the Persian kings, giving us new life, so that we can rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

“Now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have abandoned (turned away from) Your commandments,

O Jehovah, the God of Israel, thou art righteous; for we are left a remnant that is escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our guiltiness; for none can stand before thee because of this.

But there are many people and it is the season of heavy rain; so we are unable to stand outside. Nor can the task be done in a day or two, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter.

So the king said to me, "Why do you appear to be depressed when you aren't sick? What can this be other than sadness of heart?" This made me very fearful.

So I prayed to the God of heaven and I replied to the king, "If it seems good to you, and if your servant has found favor with you, would you send me to Judah, to the city where my ancestral sepulchers are located, so I can rebuild it?"

And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

And the prefects have not known whither I have gone, and what I am doing; and to the Jews, and to the priests, and to the freemen, and to the prefects, and to the rest of those doing the work, hitherto I have not declared it;

So I said unto them, Ye, can see the misfortune that, we, are in, how that, Jerusalem, lieth waste, and, the gates thereof, are burned with fire: Come, and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may remain, no longer, a reproach.

before his colleagues and the powerful men of Samaria, and said, “What are these pathetic Jews doing? Can they restore it by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they ever finish it? Can they bring these burnt stones back to life from the mounds of rubble?”

And it cometh to pass, when Sanballat hath heard, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, that lengthening hath gone up to the walls of Jerusalem, that the breeches have begun to be stopped, then it is very displeasing to them,

Meanwhile, the people of Judah said, "The builders are tired and there's so much rubble that we can't reconstruct the wall!"

And our enemies said, “They won’t know or see anything until we’re among them and can kill them and stop the work.”

At that time, I also said to the people, “Let everyone and his servant spend the night inside Jerusalem, so that they can stand guard by night and work by day.”

Some were saying, “We, our sons, and our daughters are numerous. Let us get grain so that we can eat and live.”

There were also those saying, "We have pledged our fields and our vineyards and our houses so that we can get grain in the famine."

I said to them, "To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, so that we can then buy them back!" They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.

Moreover, from the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my relatives have eaten the governor’s food allowance.

I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work, so that I can't come down. Why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you?"

But I said, "Should a man like me run away? And would a man like me go into the temple so that he can save his life? I will not go in!"

And on the second day were gathered together the chief fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to Ezra the scribe, even to gain wisdom as to the words of the law.

and by the gate of the fountain and over-against them, they have gone up by the steps of the city of David, at the going up of the wall beyond the house of David, and unto the water-gate eastward.

During all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon, I had gone back to the king. After some time I had requested leave of the king,

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.

Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.

To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on.

But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.

What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?

And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus.

For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported, The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not.

Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king's princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath.

And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.

in the evening she hath gone in, and in the morning she hath turned back unto the second house of the women, unto the hand of Shaashgaz eunuch of the king, keeper of the concubines; she cometh not in any more unto the king except the king hath delighted in her, and she hath been called by name.

And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther the queen; and Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai's name.

And Haman said to King Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people, in all the provinces of your kingdom. And their laws are different from all people, neither do they keep the king's laws. And it is not for the king's gain to allow them to live.

The runners have gone forth, hastened by the word of the king, and the law hath been given in Shushan the palace, and the king and Haman have sat down to drink, and the city Shushan is perplexed.

So Esther's maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not.

Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews.

“Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, day or night. I and my female servants will also fast in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law. If I perish, I perish.”

Now on the third day, Esther put on her queen's robes, and took her place in the inner room of the king's house, facing the king's house: and the king was seated on his high seat in the king's house, facing the doorway of the house.

And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.

Then said the king unto her, What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom.

The king commanded, “Hurry, and get Haman so we can do as Esther has requested.” So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared.

Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and to morrow am I invited unto her also with the king.

And the king said, "Who is in the court?" For Haman was gone into the court without before the king's house, that he might speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the tree, that he had prepared for him.

So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.

And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom.

Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour 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:

Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?

And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.

And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.

Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.

On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews' enemy unto Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was unto her.

For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?

Then the king Ahasuerus said unto 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.

Also, concerning the Jews, write as you see fit, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for a decree which is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring may not be revoked.”

The runners, riding on the dromedary, and the mules, have gone out, hastened and pressed by the word of the king, and the law hath been given in Shushan the palace.

In the twelfth month, that [is] the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, on which the edict of the king arrived and his law was enacted, on the day in which the enemies of the Jews had hoped to gain power over them but was overturned, [and] the Jews gained power against their enemies,

And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done.

Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim.

To confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the fastings and their cry.

And his sons have gone and made a banquet -- the house of each in his day -- and have sent and called to their three sisters to eat and to drink with them;

And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

And the LORD said unto Satan, "From whence comest thou?" Satan answered the LORD, and said, "I have gone about the land and walked through it."

And the LORD said unto Satan, "From whence comest thou?" Satan answered and said, "I have gone about the land, and walked through it."

For then I might have gone to my rest in quiet, and in sleep have been in peace,

Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?

If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?

‘Can [mortal] man be just before God or be more righteous than He?
Can a man be pure before his Maker or be more cleansed than He?

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?

Name me one else, if thou can find any: yea, look about thee upon any of the holy men.

who does great things that can't be fathomed, marvelous things without number;

He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can't perform their enterprise.

He delivereth thee out of six troubles, so that in the seventh there can no harm touch thee.

And you will be certain that your tent is at peace, and after looking over your property you will see that nothing is gone.

Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

I have no help in myself, and wisdom is completely gone from me.

They were put to shame because of their hope; they came and their hope was gone.

Teach me, and I myself will be silent; and make me understand how I have gone astray.

How painful honest words can be!
But what does your rebuke prove?

Do you think that you can disprove my words
or that a despairing man’s words are mere wind?

Is there injustice on my tongue? Or can my palate not discern calamity?

When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.

“The eye of him who sees me [now] will see me no more;
Your eyes will be upon me, but I will not be.

A cloud comes to an end and is gone; so he who goes down into the underworld comes not up again.

I am wasted away, Not, to times age-abiding, can I live, Let me alone, for, a breath, are my days.

How long wilt thou not look away from me? Wilt thou not let me alone, till I can swallow my spittle?

I have sinned, What can I do for thee, thou watcher of men? Wherefore hast thou set me as thine object of attack, or have I become, unto thee, a burden?

Why not forgive my sin
and pardon my transgression?
For soon I will lie down in the grave.
You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.

(For we are but of yesterday, and have no knowledge, because our days on earth are gone like a shade:)

Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?

While they are still beginning to flower and not ripe for cutting, they can wither away faster than any grass!

Of a truth I know that it is so: But how can man be just with God?

If he is pleased to contend with him, he can't answer him one time in a thousand.

He is wise in heart and strong in will who can be stubborn against him and succeed?

Lo! he cometh upon me, yet can I not see him, Yea he passeth on, yet can I not discern him.