Return their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses to them immediately, along with the percentage of the money, grain, new wine, and olive oil that you have been assessing them.”

They replied, "We will return these things, and we will no longer demand anything from them. We will do just as you say." Then I called the priests and made the wealthy and the officials swear to do what had been promised.

But the former governors that had been before me laid burdens upon the people, and had taken of them food and wine, besides forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bore rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.

and that which hath been prepared for one day is one ox, six fat sheep, also fowls have been prepared for me, and once in ten days of all wines abundantly, and with this, the bread of the governor I have not sought, for heavy is the service on this people.

And it cometh to pass, when it hath been heard by Sanballat, and Tobiah, and by Geshem the Arabian, and by the rest of our enemies, that I have builded the wall, and there hath not been left in it a breach, (also, till that time the doors I had not set up in the gates,)

In it was written, "It has been reported among the nations, and Gashmu also is saying it, that you and the Jews are considering rebellion. Therefore, truly you are building the wall and you are becoming their king, according to these words.

Then I sent a message to him saying, “Such things as you are saying have not been done, but you are inventing them in your own mind.”

He had been hired to scare me so that I would do this and thereby sin. They would thus bring reproach on me and I would be discredited.

Be mindful, O my God, of Tobiah, and of Sanballat, according to these his works, and also, of Noadiah the prophetess, and of the rest of the prophets who have been making me afraid.

When our enemies heard of this, all of the nations surrounding us were afraid and {lost their confidence}. They knew that this work had been done with [the help of] our God.

also, his good deeds they have been saying before me, and my words they have been taking out to him; letters hath Tobiah sent to make me afraid.

Now when the wall had been built and I had erected the doors and appointed the gatekeepers, singers, and the Levites,

The city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and no houses had been built yet.

These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city;

And these are those coming up from Tel-Melah, Tel-Harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer -- and they have not been able to declare the house of their fathers, and their seed, whether they are of Israel --

These have sought their register among those reckoning themselves by genealogy, and it hath not been found, and they are redeemed from the priesthood,

Then Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden podium that had been made for the occasion. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right. On his left [was] Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

And Ezra openeth the book before the eyes of all the people -- for above all the people he hath been -- and at his opening it all the people have stood up,

Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priestly scribe, and the Levites who were imparting understanding to the people said to all of them, "This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the law.

So all the people departed to eat and drink and to share their food with others and to enjoy tremendous joy, for they had gained insight in the matters that had been made known to them.

And on the second day have been gathered heads of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to act wisely concerning the words of the law.

So they circulated a proclamation throughout their towns and in Jerusalem. It said, "Go out to the hill country and bring back olive branches, wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of mature trees, in order to set up tents, as has been written."

All the people who had been prisoners and had come back, made tents and were living in them: for from the time of Jeshua, the son of Nun, till that day, the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great joy.

And in the twenty and fourth day of this month have the sons of Israel been gathered, with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth upon them;

And you gave them bread from heaven when they were in need, and made water come out of the rock for their drink, and gave them orders to go in and take for their heritage the land which your hand had been lifted up to give them.

You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully. It is we who have been in the wrong!

As for us: we have been ungodly, and our kings, princes, priests, and fathers have not done after thy law, nor regarded thy commandments, and thy earnest exhortations wherewith thou hast exhorted them,

For they have not been your servants in their kingdom, and in all the good things you gave them, and in the great and fat land you gave them, and they have not been turned away from their evil-doing.

And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and every one who hath been separated from the peoples of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every knowing intelligent one,

joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and into an oath, to walk in the law of God, which had been given by Moses the servant of God, and to keep and do all the commandments of Jehovah our Lord, and his ordinances and his statutes;

and the priest, son of Aaron, hath been with the Levites in the tithing of the Levites, and the Levites bring up the tithe of the tithe to the house of our God unto the chambers, to the treasure-house;

And in the days of Joiakim have been priests, heads of the fathers; of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;

And on that day certain men were put over the rooms where the things which had been given were stored, for the lifted offerings and the first-fruits and the tenths, and to take into them the amounts, from the fields of every town, fixed by the law for the priests and the Levites: for Judah was glad on account of the priests and the Levites who were in their places.

For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanks to God.

On that day there was read in the book of Moses, in the ears of the people, and it hath been found written in it that an Ammonite and Moabite doth not come into the assembly of God -- unto the age,

Now before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was a relative of Tobiah

He made for himself a large storeroom where previously they had been keeping the grain offering, the incense, and the vessels, along with the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil as commanded for the Levites, the singers, the gate keepers, and the offering for the priests.

And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field.

Therefore, I rebuked the officials, saying, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” I gathered the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts.

I appointed over the storerooms: Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from the descendants of Levi; and next to them Zaccur's son Hanan, the grandson of Mattaniah, because they had been considered faithful. Their duties were to distribute to their associates.

And it cometh to pass, when the gates of Jerusalem have been dark before the sabbath, that I speak, and the doors are shut, and I say, that they do not open them till after the sabbath; and of my servants I have stationed at the gates; there doth not come in a burden on the sabbath-day.

and the sentence of the king that he maketh hath been heard in all his kingdom -- for it is great -- and all the wives give honour to their husbands, from great even unto small.'

After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.

A man, a Jew, there hath been in Shushan the palace, and his name is Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjamite --

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.

And he had been a father to Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his father's brother: for she had no father or mother, and she was very beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his daughter.

And it happened when the king's command and his order was heard, and when many young women had been gathered to Shushan the palace, into the hand of Hegai, Esther was also brought to the king's house, into the hand of Hegai, keeper of the women.

Now when every maid's turn was 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 odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)

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.

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.

In those days, when Mordecai is sitting in the gate of the king, hath Bigthan been wroth, and Teresh, (two of the eunuchs of the king, the keepers of the threshold,) and they seek to put forth a hand on king Ahasuerus,

After the matter had been fully investigated, Bigthan and Teresh were hanged on a pole, and this was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.

But the thought of striking out against Mordecai alone was repugnant to him, for he had been informed of the identity of Mordecai's people. So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (that is, the people of Mordecai) who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

And scribes of the king are called, on the first month, on the thirteenth day of it, and it is written according to all that Haman hath commanded, unto lieutenants of the king, and unto the governors who are over province and province, and unto the heads of people and people, province and province, according to its writing, and people and people according to its tongue, in the name of the king Ahasuerus it hath been written and sealed with the signet of the king,

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.

Mordecai learned all that had been done and he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. And he went through the middle of the city and cried out a loud and bitter cry;

So Esther called for Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs who had been placed at her service, and instructed him to find out the cause and reason for Mordecai's behavior.

And he gave him a copy of the edict of the law that had been issued in Susa for their destruction to show Esther, and to inform her, and to charge her to go to the king and make supplication to him and entreat before him for her people.

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

And he gave them an account of the glories of his wealth, and the number of children he had, and the ways in which he had been honoured by the king, and how he had put him over the captains and servants of the king.

Then Haman said, "Even Queen Esther brought no one except me with the king to the banquet that she held. Furthermore, I (along with the king) have also been invited by her tomorrow.

It came out that it was recorded in the book how Mordecai had given word of the designs of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's servants, keepers of the door, by whom an attack on the king had been designed.

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

let them bring {royal clothing} with which the king has clothed himself, and a horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal head-dress has been given.

And Mordecai turneth back unto the gate of the king, and Haman hath been hastened unto his house mourning, and with covered head,

For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss.

And Esther saith, 'The man -- adversary and enemy -- is this wicked Haman;' and Haman hath been afraid at the presence of the king and of the queen.

The king arose in his anger from drinking wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king.

Then the king came back from the garden into the room where they had been drinking; and Haman was stretched out on the seat where Esther was. Then the king said, Is he taking the queen by force before my eyes in my house? And while the words were on the king's lips, they put a cloth over Haman's face.

and saith, 'If to the king it be good, and if I have found grace before him, and the thing hath been right before the king, and I be good in his eyes, let it be written to bring back the letters -- a device of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite -- that he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all provinces of the king,

King Ahasuerus replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "Look, I have already given Haman's estate to Esther, and he has been hanged on the gallows because he took hostile action against the Jews.

Ye, therefore, write concerning the Jews as may seem good in your own eyes, in the name of the king, and seal it with the kings signet-ring, - for a writing which hath been written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's signet-ring, none can reverse.

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.

And Mordecai went out from before the king, in royal clothing of blue and white, and a great crown of gold, and a garment of fine linen and purple, and the city of Shushan hath rejoiced and been glad;

to the Jews hath been light, and gladness, and joy, and honour,

Now on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, when the time came for the king's order to be put into effect, on the very day when the haters of the Jews had been hoping to have rule over them; though the opposite had come about, and the Jews had rule over their haters;

the Jews have been assembled in their cities, in all provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to put forth a hand on those seeking their evil, and no man hath stood in their presence, for their fear hath fallen on all the peoples.

On that day the number of those who had been put to death in the town of Shushan was given to the king.

Then Esther said, If it is the king's pleasure, let authority be given to the Jews in Shushan to do tomorrow as has been done today, and let orders be given for the hanging of Haman's ten sons.

And the rest of the Jews, who are in the provinces of the king, have been assembled, even to stand for their life, and to rest from their enemies, and to slay among those hating them five and seventy thousand, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand;

And the Jews who are in Shushan have been assembled, on the thirteenth day of it, and on the fourteenth of it, even to rest on the fifteenth of it, and to make it a day of banquet and of joy.

as days on which the Jews have rested from their enemies, and the month that hath been turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to a good day, to make them days of banquet and of joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the needy.

And the Jews gave their word to go on as they had been doing and as Mordecai had given them orders in writing;

Giving the force of law to these days of Purim at their fixed times, as they had been ordered by Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen, and in keeping with the rules they had made for themselves and their seed, in connection with their time of going without food and their cry for help.

All of his powerful and magnificent accomplishments and the detailed account of Mordecai’s great rank to which the king had honored him, have they not been written in the Historical Records of the Kings of Media and Persia?

A man there hath been in the land of Uz -- Job his name -- and that man hath been perfect and upright -- both fearing God, and turning aside from evil.

Seven sons and three daughters had been born to him.

And it fortuned that when they had passed over the time of their banqueting round about; Job sent for them, and sanctified them, and gat up early, and offered for every one a burnt offering. For Job thought thus: "Peradventure my sons have done some offense, and have been unthankful to God in their hearts." And thus did Job everyday.

And a messenger hath come in unto Job and saith, 'The oxen have been plowing, and the she-asses feeding by their sides,

The LORD asked Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on earth. The man is blameless as well as upright. He fears God and keeps away from evil. He remains firm in his integrity, even though you have been urging me to overwhelm him without cause."

And they sit with him on the earth seven days and seven nights, and there is none speaking unto him a word when they have seen that the pain hath been very great.

"Let the day on which I was born perish, and the night that said, 'A man has been conceived!'

because it shut not up the womb that bare me. For then should these sorrows have been hid from mine eyes.

Wherefore have knees been before me? And what are breasts, that I suck?

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

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

There, are those let out free which have been in prison, so that they hear no more the voice of the oppressor.

To a man whose way hath been hidden, And whom God doth shut up?

Lo! thou hast admonished many, and, slack hands, hast thou been wont to uphold:

He who was near to falling has been lifted up by your words, and you have given strength to bent knees.