Shemaiah son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni, and Shabbethai and Jozabad, from the leaders of the descendants of Levi who oversaw the exterior work of the Temple of God,

and Mattaniah son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who led the thanksgiving prayer, and Bakbukiah, second among his relatives, and Abda son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.

The Gatekeepers: Akkub, Talmon, and their relatives, who kept watch at the gates, numbered 172.

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

These are the priests and descendants of Levi who had returned with Shealtiel's son Zerubbabel and with Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

The descendants of Levi included Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who with his associates was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving.

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.

Then the two choirs assembled in the Temple of God, as did I, along with half of the officials who accompanied me,

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.

Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, who supervised the store rooms of the Temple of our God and who was related to Tobiah,

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.

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.

Didn't Solomon, king of Israel, sin by doing these things, even though among many nations there was no king like him who was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel? Even so, foreign women caused him to sin.

This is a record of what happened during the reign of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who ruled over 127 provinces from India to Cush.

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.

A week later, when the king was under the influence of all that wine, he ordered Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who served King Ahasuerus,

Then the king flew into a rage. The king spoke to the wise men who understood the times, for it was the king's custom to consult all those who understood law and justice.

(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.)

Then Memucan replied in the presence of the king and his officials, "It is not the king alone whom Vashti has wronged, but rather all of the officials and all of the people who are in the provinces of King Ahasuerus.

This very day the wives of the officials of Persia and Media who hear the report about the queen will speak in the same way to all the officials of the king, and there will be more than enough contempt and anger.

If it seems good to the king, let a royal decree go out from him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed, that Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Ahasuerus. Let the king give her royal position to another woman who is better than she.

Then the young men who attended the king suggested, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king.

Let the king appoint officials in all the provinces of his kingdom to bring all the beautiful young virgins into the harem in Susa the capital. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women to give them their beauty treatments.

Then let the young woman who pleases the king rule in place of Vashti." This advice pleased the king, and he did this.

In Susa the capital there was a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin, Jair's son Mordecai, who was a descendant of Kish's son Shimei the descendant of Benjamin.

He had been taken into captivity from Jerusalem along with the exiles who had been deported with Jeconiah, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon had taken into exile.

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.

In the evening she would go into the palace and in the morning she would return to the second harem, into the care of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch who was in charge of the mistresses. She would not go again to the king unless the king wanted her and she was called for by name.

Now Esther was the daughter of Abihail, who had been Mordecai's uncle. Mordecai had taken Esther in as his own daughter. When her turn came to go in to the king, she did not want anything except what Hegai, the king's eunuch in charge of the harem, advised. Esther found favor with everyone who saw her.

At that time when Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs among those who guarded the threshold, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Ahasuerus.

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.

If the king approves, let it be decreed that they're to be destroyed, and I'll measure out 10,000 silver talents and bring it to the king's treasury for those who will do the work."

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.

Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs, whom he had assigned to her, and she ordered him to go to Mordecai to find out what was happening and why it was happening.

"Every servant of the king and every person in the king's provinces knows that for any man or woman who goes to the king in the inner court without being summoned there is only one law that he be put to death unless the king holds out the golden scepter to him. Only then he will live. For these last 30 days I've not been summoned to come to the king."

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?"

"Go and gather all the Jewish people who are in Susa and fast for me. Don't eat or drink for three days, night or day. Both I and my young women will also fast in the same way, and then I'll go in to the king, even though it's against the law. And if I perish, I perish."

It was found recorded there that Mordecai had reported about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the entrance to the restricted areas of the palace, and that they had conspired to assassinate King Ahasuerus.

So the king asked, "What honor and distinction was bestowed on Mordecai for this?" The young men who served the king answered, "Nothing was done for him."

The king said, "Who is in the courtyard?" Now Haman had just entered the outer courtyard of the palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the pole he had set up.

After Haman came in, the king asked him, "What should be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?"

Haman told himself, "Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?" Haman answered the king, "For a man whom the king desires to honor,

Then give the robes and the horse to one of the king's most noble officials. Let them put the robes on the man whom the king desires to honor, and let them put him on the horse in the main square of the city. Then let them announce in front of him, "This is what is done for the man whom the king desires to honor.'"

Then the king told Haman, "Quick! Take the clothes and the horse just as you have suggested and do this for Mordecai the Jew who sits in the king's gate. And don't let anything you've suggested fall through the cracks."

So Haman took the clothes and the horse, dressed Mordecai, and put him on the horse in the main square of the city. He cried out in front of him, "This is what is done for the man whom the king desires to honor."

Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. His wise friends and his wife Zeresh told him, "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is one of the Jewish people, you won't prevail against him. Instead, you will surely fall before him."

Then King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther, "Who is this, and where is the person who would dare do this?"

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 Jewish people assembled in their towns throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus to strike out against those who intended to harm them, and no one could oppose them because all the people had come to fear the Jews.

The rest of the Jewish people in the king's provinces assembled to defend themselves, and they gained relief from their enemies, killing 75,000 of those who hated them. But they did not lay their hands on the spoils.

Therefore the Jewish people in the rural areas who live in unwalled towns make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a holiday for joy and feasting, and people send presents to one another.

the Jewish people established this celebration, making it a tradition for themselves, for their descendants, and for all who joined with them that they should not fail to observe these two days each year, based on the written instructions, and at the prescribed time.

His livestock included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and many servants. Indeed, the man's stature greatly exceeded that of many people who lived in the East.

Let whoever curses days curse it those who are ready to awaken monsters.

along with kings and counselors of the earth, who used to build for themselves what are now only ruins,

or princes who amassed gold for themselves, and who kept filling their houses with silver.

"Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like babies who never saw the light?

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

To those who are longing for death even though it does not come? To those who search for it more than for hidden treasure?

To those who are happy beyond measure when they reach their graves?

To the formerly successful man who lost his way in life, and God fenced him in?

"Will you get offended if somebody tries to talk to you? Who can keep from speaking at a time like this?

A word from you has supported those who have stumbled, and has strengthened faltering knees.

"But now it's your turn, and you're the one who is worn out! Now it's striking you, and you're dismayed!

Now please think: Who has ever perished when they're innocent? Where have the upright been destroyed?

It's been my experience that those who plow the soil of iniquity and those who sow the seed of trouble will reap their harvest!

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?

"Cry out, won't you! Is there anyone who will answer you? To whom will you turn among the holy ones?

He sets the lowly on high, and lifts those who mourn to safety.

Therefore there is hope for those who are poor, and iniquity shuts its mouth.

"Indeed, how blessed is the person whom God reproves! So never disrespect the discipline of the Almighty,

"Who will grant my wish? I wish God would grant what I'm hoping for:

I'm like a servant who longs for the shade, like a hired laborer who is looking for his wages.

The eyes of the one who sees me won't see me anymore; your eyes will look for me but I won't be around!

As a cloud fades away and vanishes, the one who descends to the afterlife doesn't return.

Such are the paths of everyone who forgets God the hope of the godless will be destroyed:

Surely God won't reject those who are blameless or hold hands with those who practice evil.

Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will no longer exist.

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

Indeed, if he snatches someone away, who could restrain him? Who can say to him, "What are you doing?'

"Is this a contest of strength? He is obviously stronger! Is this a matter of justice? Who can sue him?

A land is given into the hands of a wicked person; he covers the faces of its judges. If it is not God, then who is it?"

There is not yet a mediator between us, who would set his hand on the two of us,

"Shouldn't a multitude of words be answered, or a person who talks too much be vindicated?

"If he bypasses, or imprisons, or convenes a court, who can stop him?

Like you, I also have understanding. I'm not inferior to you; who doesn't know things like this?"

"I'm a laughingstock to my friends, someone who called on God. But then he answered this upright and blameless man, and I have become a laughingstock.

The carefree are thinking, "I have contempt for misfortune,' Those who are about to stumble deserve it.

The tents of robbers are at rest, and those who provoke God are secure, that is, those who carry their god in their pocket.

Who among all of these doesn't know that the LORD's hand made them,

"With God are strength and sound wisdom; both the deceived and those who deceive are responsible to him.

Who can oppose me? If they do, I'll be silent and die.

Are you a god who would make a leaf tremble or who would prosecute a dry straw?

So I'm a man who wears out like something rotten, like a garment that has become moth-eaten."

Who can produce a clean thing from an unclean thing? No one!