For they have taken their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the peoples of the lands; and in fact the captains and rulers have been the first to do this evil.

And hearing this, with signs of grief and pulling out the hair of my head and my chin, I took my seat on the earth deeply troubled.

From the days of our fathers till this day we have been great sinners; and for our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been given up into the hands of the kings of the lands, to the sword and to prison and to loss of goods and to shame of face, as it is this day.

And now, O our God, what are we to say after this? for we have not kept your laws,

O Lord God of Israel, righteousness is yours; we are only a small band which has been kept from death, as at this day: see, we are before you in our sin; for no one may keep his place before you because of this.

And Shecaniah, the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answering, said to Ezra, We have done evil against our God, and have taken as our wives strange women of the peoples of the land: but still there is hope for Israel in this question.

Up, now! for this is your business, and we are with you; take heart and do it.

Then Ezra got up, and made the chiefs of the priests and the Levites and all Israel take an oath that they would do this. So they took an oath.

Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin came together to Jerusalem before three days were past; it was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people were seated in the wide square in front of the house of God, shaking with fear because of this business and because of the great rain.

But the number of people is great, and it is a time of much rain; it is not possible for us to go on waiting outside, and this is not a thing which may be done in one day or even two: for our sin in this business is great.

So now let our rulers be representatives for all the people, and let all those in our towns who are married to strange women come at fixed times, and with them the responsible men and the judges of every town, till the burning wrath of our God is turned away from us, and this has been done.

Only Jonathan, the son of Asahel, and Jahzeiah, the son of Tikvah, were against this, Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.

Let your ear now take note and let your eyes be open, so that you may give ear to the prayer of your servant, which I make before you at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel, your servants, while I put before you the sins of the children of Israel, which we have done against you: truly, I and my father's people are sinners.

O Lord, let your ear take note of the prayer of your servant, and of the prayers of your servants, who take delight in worshipping your name: give help, O Lord, to your servant this day, and let him have mercy in the eyes of this man. (Now I was the king's wine-servant.)

And the king said to me, Why is your face sad, seeing that you are not ill? this is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was full of fear;

And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's park, so that he may give me wood to make boards for the doors of the tower of the house, and for the wall of the town, and for the house which is to be mine. And the king gave me this, for the hand of my God was on me.

Even I and my servants have been taking interest for the money and the grain we have let them have. So now, let us give up this thing.

Give back to them this very day their fields, their vine-gardens, their olive-gardens, and their houses, as well as a hundredth part of the money and the grain and the wine and the oil which you have taken from them.

Then they said, We will give them back, and take nothing for them; we will do as you say. Then I sent for the priests and made them take an oath that they would keep this agreement.

And shaking out the folds of my robe, I said, So may God send out from his house and his work every man who does not keep this agreement; even so let him be sent out and made as nothing. And all the meeting of the people said, So be it, and gave praise to the Lord. And the people did as they had said.

And I kept on with the work of this wall, and we got no land for ourselves: and all my servants were helping with the work.

And more than this, a hundred and fifty of the Jews and the rulers were guests at my table, in addition to those who came to us from the nations round about us.

Keep in mind, O my God, for my good, all I have done for this people.

And four times they sent to me in this way, and I sent them the same answer.

And in it these words were recorded: It is said among the nations, and Geshem says so, that you and the Jews are hoping to make yourselves free from the king's authority; and that this is why you are building the wall: and they say that it is your purpose to be their king;

Then it became clear to me that God had not sent him: he had given this word of a prophet against me himself: and Tobiah and Sanballat had given him money to do so.

For this reason they had given him money, in order that I might be overcome by fear and do what he said and do wrong, and so they would have reason to say evil about me and put shame on me.

And when our haters had news of this, all the nations round about us were full of fear and were greatly shamed, for they saw that this work had been done by our God.

And Nehemiah, who was the Tirshatha, and Ezra, the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were the teachers of the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God; let there be no sorrow or weeping; for all the people were weeping on hearing the words of the law.

Then he said to them, Go away now, and take the fat for your food and the sweet for your drink, and send some to him for whom nothing is made ready: for this day is holy to our Lord: and let there be no grief in your hearts; for the joy of the Lord is your strong place.

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel came together, taking no food and putting haircloth and dust on their bodies.

Even when they had made for themselves an ox of metal, and said, This is your God who took you up out of Egypt, and had done so much to make you angry;

And now, our God, the great, the strong, the God who is to be feared, who keeps faith and mercy, let not all this trouble seem small to you, which has come on us, and on our kings and our rulers and on our priests and our prophets and our fathers and on all your people from the time of the kings of Assyria till this day.

And because of all this we are making an agreement in good faith, and putting it in writing; and our rulers, our Levites, and our priests are putting their names to it.

Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who had been placed over the rooms of the house of our God, being a friend of Tobiah,

But all this time I was not at Jerusalem: for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, I went to the king; and after some days, I got the king to let me go,

Keep me in mind, O my God, in connection with this, and do not let the good which I have done for the house of my God and its worship go from your memory completely.

Then I made protests to the chiefs of Judah, and said to them, What is this evil which you are doing, not keeping the Sabbath day holy?

Did not your fathers do the same, and did not our God send all this evil on us and on this town? but you are causing more wrath to come on Israel by not keeping the Sabbath holy.

And I gave the Levites orders to make themselves clean and come and keep the doors and make the Sabbath holy. Keep this in mind to my credit, O my God, and have mercy on me, for great is your mercy.

Are we then without protest to let you do all this great evil, sinning against our God by taking strange women for your wives?

And the king said to the wise men, who had knowledge of the times, (for this was the king's way with all who were expert in law and in the giving of decisions:

And when this order, given by the king, is made public through all his kingdom (for it is great), all the wives will give honour to their husbands, great as well as small.

And this suggestion seemed good to the king and the captains; and the king did as Memucan said;

And sent letters to all the divisions of the kingdom, to every division in the writing commonly used there, and to every people in the language which was theirs, saying that every man was to be the ruler in his house, and that this order was to be given out in the language of his people.

And let the girl who is pleasing to the king be queen in place of Vashti. And the king was pleased with this suggestion; and he did so.

Now every girl, when her turn came, had to go in to King Ahasuerus, after undergoing, for a space of twelve months, what was ordered by the law for the women (for this was the time necessary for making them clean, that is, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with sweet perfumes and such things as are needed for making women clean):

And in this way the girl went in to the king; whatever she had a desire for was given to her to take with her from the women's house into the house of the king.

Now when they had said this to him day after day and he gave no attention, they let Haman have news of it, to see if Mordecai's behaviour would be overlooked: for he had said to them that he was a Jew.

And Haman said to King Ahasuerus, There is a certain nation living here and there in small groups among the people in all the divisions of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of any other nation, and they do not keep the king's laws: for this reason it is not right for the king to let them be.

Then Esther sent for Hathach, one of the king's unsexed servants whom he had given her for waiting on her, and she gave him orders to go to Mordecai and see what this was and why it was.

Then Mordecai sent this answer back to Esther: Do not have the idea that you in the king's house will be safe from the fate of all the Jews.

If at this time you say nothing, then help and salvation will come to the Jews from some other place, but you and your father's family will come to destruction: and who is to say that you have not come to the kingdom even for such a time as this?

Then Esther sent them back to Mordecai with this answer:

Then Esther said in answer, My prayer and my request is this:

But all this is nothing to me while I see Mordecai the Jew seated by the king's doorway.

And the king said, What honour and reward have been given to Mordecai for this? Then the servants who were waiting on the king said, Nothing has been done for him.

Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen, Who is he and where is he who has had this evil thought in his heart?

And Esther said, Our hater and attacker is this evil Haman. Then Haman was full of fear before the king and the queen.

And she said, If it is the king's pleasure and if I have his approval and this thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing to him, then let letters be sent giving orders against those which Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, sent out for the destruction of the Jews in all divisions of the kingdom:

And the king said that this was to be done, and the order was given out in Shushan, and the hanging of Haman's ten sons was effected.

This they did on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same month they took their rest, and made it a day of feasting and joy.

So these days were named Purim, after the name of Pur. And so, because of the words of this letter, and of what they had seen in connection with this business, and what had come to them,

And at the end of their days of feasting, Job sent and made them clean, getting up early in the morning and offering burned offerings for them all. For, Job said, It may be that my sons have done wrong and said evil of God in their hearts. And Job did this whenever the feasts came round.

And the Lord said to the Satan, Where do you come from? And the Satan said in answer, From wandering this way and that on the earth, and walking about on it.

And this one was still talking when another came, and said, The fire of God came down from heaven, burning up the sheep and the goats and the young men completely, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news.

And this one was still talking when another came, and said, The Chaldaeans made themselves into three bands, and came down on the camels and took them away, putting the young men to the sword, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news.

And this one was still talking when another came, and said, Your sons and your daughters were feasting together in their oldest brother's house,

In all this Job did no sin, and did not say that God's acts were foolish.

And the Lord said to the Satan, Where do you come from? And the Satan said in answer, From wandering this way and that on the earth, and walking about on it.

And he said to her, You are talking like one of the foolish women. If we take the good God sends us, are we not to take the evil when it comes? In all this Job kept his lips from sin.

And Job's three friends had word of all this evil which had come on him. And they came every one from his place, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. So they came together to a meeting-place, in order that they might go and make clear to Job their grief for him, and give him comfort.

For then its weight would be more than the sand of the seas: because of this my words have been uncontrolled.

But you kept these things in the secret of your heart; I am certain this was in your thoughts:

Who does not see by all these that the hand of the Lord has done this?

Truly, my eye has seen all this, word of it has come to my ear, and I have knowledge of it.

Will you have respect for God's person in this cause, and put yourselves forward as his supporters?

Is it on such a one as this that your eyes are fixed, with the purpose of judging him?

You have kept their hearts from wisdom: for this cause you will not give them honour.

The upright are surprised at this, and he who has done no wrong is troubled because of the evil-doers.

Truly, these are the houses of the sinner, and this is the place of him who has no knowledge of God.

For this cause my thoughts are troubling me and driving me on.

Have you knowledge of this from early times, when man was placed on the earth,

He had never enough for his desire; for this cause his well-being will quickly come to an end.

This is the reward of the evil man, and the heritage given to him by God.

Give attention with care to my words; and let this be your comfort.

For this cause nets are round your feet, and you are overcome with sudden fear.

For this cause I am in fear before him, my thoughts of him overcome me.

This is the punishment of the evil-doer from God, and the heritage given to the cruel by the Ruler of all.

Truly, in saying this you are wrong; for God is greater than man.

If you are wise, take note of this; give ear to the voice of my words.

At this my heart is shaking; it is moved out of its place.

And it goes this way and that, round about, turning itself by his guiding, to do whatever he gives orders to be done, on the face of his world of men,

Give ear to this, O Job, and keep quiet in your place; and take note of the wonders worked by God.

For this cause men go in fear of him; he has no respect for any who are wise in heart.

Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark by words without knowledge?

Who is this who makes dark the purpose of God by words without knowledge? For I have been talking without knowledge about wonders not to be searched out.

For this cause I give witness that what I said is false, and in sorrow I take my seat in the dust.

And after this Job had a hundred and forty years of life, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations.

For this cause there will be no mercy for sinners when they are judged, and the evil-doers will have no place among the upright,