And the name of Abishur's wife was Abihail; and she had Ahban and Molid by him.

And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha, his servant, as a wife; and she had Attai by him.

And the sons of Ezrah: Jether and Mered and Epher and Jalon; and these are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, the wife of Mered. And she became the mother of Miriam and Shammai and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoa.

The sons of Manasseh by his servant-wife, the Aramaean woman: she gave birth to Machir, the father of Gilead;

And Maacah, the wife of Gilead, gave birth to a son to whom she gave the name Peresh; and his brother was named Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem.

After that, he had connection with his wife, and she became with child and gave birth to a son, to whom his father gave the name of Beriah, because trouble had come on his family.

Obil the Ishmaelite had control of the camels and Jehdeiah the Meronothite of the she-asses;

Now the queen of Sheba, hearing great things of Solomon, came to Jerusalem to put his wisdom to the test with hard questions; and with her came a very great train, and camels weighted down with spices, and great stores of gold and jewels: and when she came to Solomon she had talk with him of everything in her mind.

And she said to the king, The account which was given to me in my country of your acts and your wisdom was true.

And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a great store of spices and jewels: never had such spices been seen as the queen of Sheba gave to Solomon.

And King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she made request for, in addition to what she had taken to the king. So she went back to her country with her servants.

And she had sons by him, Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.

And after her he took Maacah, the daughter of Absalom; and she had Abijah and Attai and Ziza and Shelomith by him.

And Asa would not let Maacah, his mother, be queen, because she had made a disgusting image for Asherah; and Asa had her image cut down and broken up and burned by the stream Kidron.

Now when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she had all the rest of the seed of the kingdom of Judah put to death.

But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, secretly took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, away from among the king's sons who were put to death, and put him and the woman who took care of him in a bedroom. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, kept him safe from Athaliah, so that she did not put him to death.

And she kept him safe with her in the house of God for six years, while Athaliah was ruling the land.

And looking, she saw the king in his place by the pillar at the doorway, and the captains and the horns by his side; and all the people of the land were giving signs of joy and sounding the horns; and the makers of melody were playing on instruments of music, taking the chief part in the song of praise. Then Athaliah, violently parting her robes, said, Broken faith, broken faith!

So they put their hands on her, and she went to the king's house by the doorway of the king's horses; and there she was put to death.

So Hilkiah, and those whom the king sent, went to Huldah the woman prophet, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, the keeper of the robes (now she was living in Jerusalem, in the second part of the town); and they had talk with her about this thing.

And she said to them, The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, Say to the man who sent you to me,

So that the words of the Lord, which he said by the mouth of Jeremiah, might come true, till the land had had pleasure in her Sabbaths; for as long as she was waste the land kept the Sabbath, till seventy years were complete.

That Vashti the queen was to come before him, crowned with her crown, and let the people and the captains see her: for she was very beautiful.

But when the servants gave her the king's order, Vashti the queen said she would not come: then the king was very angry, and his heart was burning with wrath.

What is to be done by law to Vashti the queen, because she has not done what King Ahasuerus, by his servants, gave her orders to do?

For news of what the queen has done will come to the ears of all women, and they will no longer give respect to their husbands when it is said to them, King Ahasuerus gave orders for Vashti the queen to come before him and she came not.

If it is pleasing to the king, let an order go out from him, and let it be recorded among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it may never be changed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her place to another who is better than she.

After these things, when the king's feelings were calmer, the thought of Vashti and what she had done and the order he had made against her, came back to his mind.

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.

Esther had not said what family or people she came from, for Mordecai had given her orders not to do so.

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.

In the evening she went, and on the day after she came back to the second house of the women, into the keeping of Shaashgaz, one of the king's unsexed servants who had the care of the king's wives: only if the king had delight in her and sent for her by name did she go in to him again.

Now when the time came for Esther, the daughter of Abihail, his father's brother, whom Mordecai had taken as his daughter, to go in to the king, she made request for nothing but what Hegai, the king's servant and keeper of the women, had given her. And Esther was looked on kindly by all who saw her.

And Esther was more pleasing to the king than all the women, and to his eyes she was fairer and more full of grace than all the other virgins: so he put his crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

Esther had still said nothing of her family or her people, as Mordecai had given her orders; for Esther did what Mordecai said, as when she was living with him.

And Esther's women and her servants came and gave her word of it. Then great was the grief of the queen: and she sent robes for Mordecai, so that his clothing of haircloth might be taken off; but he would not have them.

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.

And he gave him the copy of the order which had been given out in Shushan for their destruction, ordering him to let Esther see it, and to make it clear to her; and to say to her that she was to go in to the king, requesting his mercy, and making prayer for her people.

And Haman said further, Truly, Esther the queen let no man but myself come in to the feast which she had made ready for the king; and tomorrow again I am to be her guest with the king.

Then the king put out the rod of gold to Esther, and she got up before the king.

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 of cattle he had seven thousand sheep and goats, and three thousand camels, and a thousand oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great number of servants. And the man was greater than any of the sons of the east.

The old lion comes to his end for need of food, and the young of the she-lion go wandering in all directions.

Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough,

Is the wing of the ostrich feeble, or is it because she has no feathers,

That she puts her eggs on the earth, warming them in the dust,

She is cruel to her young ones, as if they were not hers; her work is to no purpose; she has no fear.

When she is shaking her wings on high, she makes sport of the horse and of him who is seated on him.

And the Lord's blessing was greater on the end of Job's life than on its start: and so he came to have fourteen thousand sheep and goats, and six thousand camels, and two thousand oxen, and a thousand she-asses.

She will come before the king in robes of needlework; the virgins in her train will come before you.

God has taken his place in her; she will not be moved: he will come to her help at the dawn of morning.

She is of more value than jewels, and nothing for which you may have a desire is fair in comparison with her.

She is a tree of life to all who take her in their hands, and happy is everyone who keeps her.

Do not give her up, and she will keep you; give her your love, and she will make you safe.

Put her in a high place, and you will be lifted up by her; she will give you honour, when you give her your love.

She will put a crown of grace on your head, giving you a head-dress of glory.

Take learning in your hands, do not let her go: keep her, for she is your life.

She never keeps her mind on the road of life; her ways are uncertain, she has no knowledge.

She gets her meat in the summer, storing up food at the time of the grain-cutting.

She is full of noise and uncontrolled; her feet keep not in her house.

Now she is in the street, now in the open spaces, waiting at every turning of the road.

So she took him by his hand, kissing him, and without a sign of shame she said to him:

With her fair words she overcame him, forcing him with her smooth lips.

At the top of the highways, at the meeting of the roads, she takes her place;

She has put her fat beasts to death; her wine is mixed, her table is ready.

She has sent out her women-servants; her voice goes out to the highest places of the town, saying,

Whoever is simple, let him come in here; and to him who has no sense, she says:

The foolish woman is full of noise; she has no sense at all.

Crying out to those who go by, going straight on their way, she says:

Whoever is simple, let him come in here: and to him who is without sense, she says:

A woman of virtue is a crown to her husband; but she whose behaviour is a cause of shame is like a wasting disease in his bones.

Wisdom has her resting-place in the mind of the wise, but she is not seen among the foolish.

Give ear to your father whose child you are, and do not keep honour from your mother when she is old.

Yes, she is waiting secretly like a beast for its food, and deceit by her is increased among men.

The eye which makes sport of a father, and sees no value in a mother when she is old will be rooted out by the ravens of the valley, and be food for the young eagles.

This is the way of a false wife; she takes food, and, cleaning her mouth, says, I have done no wrong.

A hated woman when she is married; and a servant-girl who takes the place of her master's wife.

She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.

She gets wool and linen, working at the business of her hands.

She is like the trading-ships, getting food from far away.

She gets up while it is still night, and gives meat to her family, and their food to her servant-girls.

After looking at a field with care, she gets it for a price, planting a vine-garden with the profit of her work.

She puts a band of strength round her, and makes her arms strong.

She sees that her marketing is of profit to her: her light does not go out by night.

She puts her hands to the cloth-working rod, and her fingers take the wheel.

Her hands are stretched out to the poor; yes, she is open-handed to those who are in need.

She has no fear of the snow for her family, for all those in her house are clothed in red.

She makes for herself cushions of needlework; her clothing is fair linen and purple.

She makes linen robes and gets a price for them, and traders take her cloth bands for a price.

Strength and self-respect are her clothing; she is facing the future with a smile.

She gives attention to the ways of her family, she does not take her food without working for it.

My dove, my very beautiful one, is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the dearest one of her who gave her birth. The daughters saw her, and gave her a blessing; yes, the queens and the servant-wives, and they gave her praises.

Who is she, looking down as the morning light, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, who is to be feared like an army with flags?

I would take you by the hand into my mother's house, and she would be my teacher. I would give you drink of spiced wine, drink of the pomegranate.

Who is this, who comes up from the waste places, resting on her loved one? It was I who made you awake under the apple-tree, where your mother gave you birth; there she was in pain at your birth.

We have a young sister, and she has no breasts; what are we to do for our sister in the day when she is given to a man?

If she is a wall, we will make on her a strong base of silver; and if she is a door, we will let her be shut up with cedar-wood.

The upright town has become untrue; there was a time when her judges gave right decisions, when righteousness had a resting-place in her, but now she is full of those who take men's lives.

And in the public places of her towns will be sorrow and weeping; and she will be seated on the earth, waste and uncovered.

For this cause the Lord himself will give you a sign; a young woman is now with child, and she will give birth to a son, and she will give him the name Immanuel.