These were the ones who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but they were not able to prove their ancestral houses or their descent, whether they were from Israel:

These sought their record among those enrolled in the genealogy, but it was not found there, so they were excluded as unclean from the priesthood.

besides their servants and female slaves--these were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven. And the male and female singers were two hundred and forty-five,

[there were] four hundred and thirty-five camels and six thousand seven hundred and twenty male donkeys.

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.

He read from it facing the public square before the Water Gate from dawn until noon that day, opposite the men, women, and those with understanding. The ears of all the people [were attentive] to the book of the law.

And Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites were teaching the people from the law while the people were in their places.

They stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of Yahweh their God for a fourth part of the day, and for a fourth they were confessing and worshiping Yahweh their God.

You led them by day with a column of cloud and with a column of fire by night, to give them light on the way that they were to go.

Forty years you sustained them in the desert--they were not in need. Their clothing did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

"But they rebelled and were rebellious against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them to turn back to you, and they did great blasphemies.

You were patient toward them for many years, and you have warned them by your spirit through the hand of your prophets, but they did not listen. So you gave them into the hand of the nations of the lands.

All of the descendants of Perez who were living in Jerusalem [were] four hundred and sixty-eight able-bodied men.

All of the Levites in the holy city [were] two hundred and eighty-four.

But the temple servants were living on the Ophel; Ziha and Gishpa [were] over the temple servants.

And from the Levites the working groups of Judah [were assigned] to Benjamin.

And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah and his brothers [who were] in charge of the songs of thanksgiving.

Now in the days of Jehoiakim the priests and the heads of the {families} were: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;

In the days of Eliashib, Jehoiada, Jehohanan, and Jaddua the Levites were recorded as heads of the {families}. So [these were] the priests [during] the reign of Darius the Persian.

The descendants of Levi and the heads of the {families} were recorded in the scroll of the Annals until the days of Jehohanan son of Eliashib.

Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers standing guard at the storerooms of the gates.

These were in the days of Jehoiakim son of Jeshua, son of Jehozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe.

The {singers} were gathered from the circuit all around Jerusalem and from the villages of Netophathite,

On that day men were appointed for the storehouse rooms, the offerings, the first fruits, and the tithes, in order to gather in them from the fields of the cities the requirements of the law for the priests and Levites; for the joy of Judah [was] upon the priests and Levites standing there.

I appointed as treasurer over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, Pedaiah from the Levites, and as their hand Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered faithful. [The responsibility given] to them was to distribute to their brothers.

he gave a banquet in the third year of his reign for all his officials and servants. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and officials of the provinces were in his presence

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.

There were curtains of finely woven linen and blue cloth tied with cords of fine white linen and purple cloth to silver curtain rings and pillars of alabaster, [and] couches of gold and silver on a paved floor of alabaster, precious stone, mother-of-pearl, and costly stones.

Drinks were served in goblets of gold and {goblets of different kinds}, and [there was] {plentiful royal wine according to the bounty of the king}.

There were no restrictions on the drinking, for the king had instructed every official of his palace to do as each one pleased.

and those next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, Memucan, the seven officials of Persia and Media who {had access to the king} and sat first in the kingdom--

who was deported from Jerusalem with the exiles who were deported with Jeconiah the king of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had deported.

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

And the matter was investigated and found [to be so]; and the two of them were hanged on [the] gallows, and it was written in the scroll of the events of the days before the presence of the king.

After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and he exalted him and set {his position} above all the officials who [were] with him.

And all of the king's servants who [were] at the gate of the king [were] kneeling and bowing down to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him, but Mordecai did not kneel and bow down.

And the king's servants who [were] at the gate of the king said to Mordecai, "Why [are] you transgressing the command of the king?"

But {he considered it beneath him} to lay hands on Mordecai only, for they told him of Mordecai's people, and Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who [were] in the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

And the king's secretaries were called in the first month on the thirteenth day, and [a decree] was issued, according to all that Haman commanded, to the satraps of the king and to the governors who [were] over all the provinces, and to [the] officials of all the people, to each province according to [its own] script and to all people according to their own language; [it was] written in the name of King Ahasuerus and [was] sealed with the king's ring.

Letters [were] sent by couriers to all the provinces of the king to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, {both young and old}, women and children, on one day, the thirteenth day of the month, that [is] Adar, and to plunder their goods.

In every province [each] place where the king's edict and his law came, there [was] great mourning for the Jews with fasting, crying, wailing, [and] sackcloth; and ashes were spread out as a bed for them.

And the king said to Esther {while they were drinking wine}, "What [is] your petition? It will be given to you. What [is] your request? Even half the kingdom, it will done.

During that night the king's sleep escaped [him], and he gave orders to bring the {scroll of records and chronicles}, and they were read before the king.

As they [were] still speaking with him the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

And the king again said to Esther, on the second day {while they were drinking}, "What [is] your petition, Queen Esther? It will be given to you. What [is] your request? It will be given [to you]--even half the kingdom."

And the secretaries of the king were summoned at that time, in the third month, which [is] in the month of Sivan on the twenty-third [day], and [an edict] was written according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the governors and satraps and officials of the provinces from India to Cush--one hundred and twenty-seven provinces--each province according to its own script and to every people in their own {language}, and to the Jews in their own script and language.

[In them] the king allowed the Jews who [were] in every city to assemble and {defend their lives}, to destroy and kill and annihilate any army of any people or province attacking them, including women and children, and to plunder their spoil,

In every province and city, wherever the king's edict and his law came, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a banquet and a {holiday}, and many of the people from the country [were] posing as Jews because the fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, governors, and {those who did the work of the king} [were] supporting the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them.

And the king said to do so. And a decree was issued in Susa and Haman's ten sons were hanged.

And the Jews were gathered who [were] in Susa, and on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and they killed in Susa three hundred men, but they did not {touch} the plunder.

The rest of the Jews who [were] in the king's provinces gathered and {defended their lives} and {found repose} from their enemies. And they killed seventy-five thousand of those that hated them, but they did not {touch} the plunder.

But the Jews who [were] in Susa gathered on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth day, and rested on the fifteenth day. And they made it a day of feasting and joy.

Mordecai wrote down these things and he sent letters to all the Jews who [were] in all [of] the provinces of King Ahasuerus, [both] near and far,

And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

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

And a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing, and the female donkeys were feeding {beside them}.

At the time this one was speaking, {another} came and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their firstborn brother's house.

"Were you born the firstborn of the human race? And were you brought forth {before} [the] hills?

I myself also could talk as you, if {you were in my place}; I could join against you with words, and I could shake at you with my head.

His bones were full of his vigor, but it will lie down with him on [the] dust.

You have sent widows away empty-handed, and [the] arms of orphans were crushed.

who were snatched away {before their time}, whose foundation was washed away [by] a current?

By his breath {the heavens were made clear}; his hand pierced [the] fleeing snake.

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

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.

[The] voices of nobles were hushed, and their tongue stuck to their palate.

My roots [were] open to water, and dew spent the night on my branches;

They were driven out from fellow people; they shout at them as [at] a thief,

{A senseless crowd}, yes, {a disreputable brood}, they were cast out from the land.

Thus Elihu had waited for Job {to speak} because {they were older than he}.

Would that Job were tested up to [the] end because [his] answers [are] like [those from] men of mischief,

"Where were you at my laying the foundation of [the] earth? Tell [me], if you possess understanding.

On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone,

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

You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days [is] great.

It deals cruelly with its young ones, as [if] [they were] not its [own], as [if] without fear [that] its labor [were] in vain,

And beautiful women were not found in all the land like Job's daughters, and their father gave to them an inheritance in the midst of their brothers.

All who do evil--do they not know, [they] who eat my people [as though] they were eating bread? They do not call on Yahweh.

Then the channels of [the] sea became visible, and [the] foundations of [the] world were uncovered by your rebuke, O Yahweh, by the {blast} of the wind of your nose.

He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from [those who] hated me because they were stronger than I.

I chased my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back until they were finished [off].

I struck them and they were not able to stand up; they fell under my feet.

They cried to you and were saved; they trusted you and were not ashamed.

When I kept silent, my bones were worn out due to my groaning all the day.

By the word of Yahweh [the] heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

They looked to him and were radiant, and their faces shall not be ashamed.

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing [was] sackcloth. I weakened my soul with fasting, and my prayer {returned to me unanswered}.

I {behaved} as [though he were] a friend [or] as a brother to me. As one lamenting a mother, I was bowed down [in] mourning.

{They themselves saw} [it], so they were astonished. They were terrified; they ran off.

If I were hungry I would not tell you, because [the] world and its fullness [are] mine.

Do not evildoers know, [they] who eat my people [as though] they were eating bread? They do not call on God.

The {buttery words} of his mouth were smooth, but [there was] battle in his heart. His words were smoother than oil, but they [were] drawn swords.

Let them run [away] like water [that] runs off. [When] he bends [the bow], let his arrows [be] as though they were cut off.

Your way [was] through the sea, and your path through many waters. Yet your footprints were not discerned.

So they ate and were well filled, and he brought about [what] they craved.

For their heart was not steadfast with him, nor were they faithful to his covenant.

for he remembered that they [were] flesh, a passing wind that does not return.