Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.

Now when every maid's turn had come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)

All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whoever, whether man or woman, shall come to the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except him to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.

And the king said, What honor and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king's servants that ministered to him, There is nothing done for him.

For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bond-men and bond-women, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage.

For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.

I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

If my heart hath been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbor's door;

If his loins have not blessed me, and if he hath not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:

Have the gates of death been opened to thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shades of death?

Then came there to him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him in his house: and they condoled with him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an ear-ring of gold.

Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses; for they have been ever of old.

Hide not thy face from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.

I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, Where is thy God?

I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings, to have been continually before me.

When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

But I will sing of thy power; yes, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.

To the chief Musician upon Shushan-eduth, Michtam of David, to teach; when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand. O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.

For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.

By thee have I been sustained from my birth: thou art he that brought me into life: my praise shall be continually of thee.

For all the day long have I been afflicted, and chastened every morning.

To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. LORD, thou hast been favorable to thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.

But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thy anointed.

A prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.

Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.

The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron.

Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in my affliction.

A Song of degrees of David. If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;

If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:

For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.

For she hath cast down many wounded: yes, many strong men have been slain by her.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Is there any thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

I communed with my own heart, saying, Lo, I have come to great estate, and have gained more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: and my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.

That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

Yes, better is he than both they, who hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them: they also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.

From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

Except the LORD of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom; we should have been like Gomorrah.

What more could have been done to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected that it would bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with foreign slips:

Take a harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.

For thou hast been a defense to the poor, a defense to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

As a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.

We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance on the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

The oxen likewise and the young asses that plow the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.

The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered from his sickness:

At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and had recovered.

Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

I have long time held my peace; I have been still, and restrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.

Since thou hast been precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.

But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.

O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like its gravel; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

Then shalt thou say in thy heart, Who hath begotten these for me, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where have they been?

So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not?

Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations.

For all these things hath my hand made, and all these things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness? why say my people, We are lords; we will come no more to thee?

Lift up thy eyes to the high places, and see where thou hast not been lain with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy acts of lewdness, and with thy wickedness.

Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there hath been no latter rain? and thou hadst a harlot's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

As keepers of a field they are against her on all sides; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.

She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath resigned her breath; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.

Because he slew me not at my birth; or that my mother might have been my grave, and she had not been delivered.

I spoke to thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidest, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou hast not obeyed my voice.

The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.

For this city hath been to me as a provocation of my anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even to this day; that I should remove it from before my face,

At the end of seven years dismiss ye every man his brother a Hebrew, who hath been sold to thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not to me, neither inclined their ear.

For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As my anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem: so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.

But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that had returned from all nations, whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;

But since we ceased to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.

Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.

My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting-place.

Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, encamp against it on every side; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do to her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.

For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah by his God, by the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.

Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drank of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she hath been wonderfully abased: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.

And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.

Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither hath abominable flesh come into my mouth.

And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.

Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

In that thou buildest thy eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thy high place in every street; and hast not been as a harlot, in that thou scornest hire;

I will accept you with your sweet savor, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries in which ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.

And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings in which ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.

Behold, therefore I have smitten my hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.

Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.

And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.