And said to the king, May the king be living for ever: is it not natural for my face to be sad, when the town, the place where the bodies of my fathers are at rest, has been made waste and its doorways burned with fire?

And I went out by night, through the doorway of the valley, and past the dragon's water-spring as far as the place where waste material was put, viewing the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down, and the doorways which had been burned with fire.

And the chiefs had no knowledge of where I had been or what I was doing; and I had not then said anything to the Jews or to the priests or the great ones or the chiefs or the rest of those who were doing the work.

And in the hearing of his countrymen and the army of Samaria he said, What are these feeble Jews doing? will they make themselves strong? will they make offerings? will they get the work done in a day? will they make the stones which have been burned come again out of the dust?

Even I and my servants have been taking interest for the money and the grain we have let them have. So now, let us give up this thing.

And when our haters had news of this, all the nations round about us were full of fear and were greatly shamed, for they saw that this work had been done by our God.

Now when the building of the wall was complete and I had put up the doors, and the door-keepers and the music-makers and the Levites had been given their places,

Now the town was wide and great: but the people in it were only a small number, and the houses had not been put up.

These are the people of the divisions of the kingdom, among those who had been made prisoners by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and taken away by him, who went back to Jerusalem and Judah, every one to his town;

And all the people went away to take food and drink, and to send food to others, and to be glad, because the words which were said to them had been made clear.

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 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.

But still, you have been in the right in everything which has come on us; you have been true to us, but we have done evil:

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 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.

Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who had been placed over the rooms of the house of our God, being a friend of Tobiah,

And I saw that the Levites had not been given what was needed for their support; so that the Levites and the music-makers, who did the work, had gone away, everyone to his field.

Then I made protests to the chiefs, and said, Why has the house of God been given up? And I got them together and put them in their places.

Who had been taken away from Jerusalem among those who had been made prisoner with Jeconiah, king of Judah, when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had taken him 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.

So when the order made by the king was publicly given out, and a number of girls had been placed in the care of Hegai in the king's house in Shushan, Esther was taken into the king's house and put in the care of Hegai, the keeper of the women.

And when the thing had been looked into, it was seen to be true, and the two of them were put to death by hanging on a tree: and it was put down in the records before the king.

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.

It is common knowledge among all the king's servants and the people of every part of the kingdom, that if anyone, man or woman, comes to the king in his inner room without being sent for, there is only one law for him, that he is to be put to death; only those to whom the king's rod of gold is stretched out may keep their lives: but I have not been sent for to come before 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.

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 reward have been given to Mordecai for this? Then the servants who were waiting on the king said, Nothing has been done for him.

For we are given up, I and my people, to destruction and death and to be cut off. If we had been taken as men-servants and women-servants for a price, I would have said nothing, for our trouble is little in comparison with the king's loss.

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.

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;

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 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.

And the Lord said to the Satan, Have you taken note of my servant Job, for there is no one like him on the earth, a man without sin and upright, fearing God and keeping himself far from evil? and he still keeps his righteousness, though you have been moving me to send destruction on him without cause.

For then I might have gone to my rest in quiet, and in sleep have been in peace,

Truly, you have been a helper to others, and you have made feeble hands strong;

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

What I have seen is that those by whom trouble has been ploughed, and evil planted, get the same for themselves.

For then its weight would be more than the sand of the seas: because of this my words have been uncontrolled.

So I would still have comfort, and I would have joy in the pains of death, for I have not been false to the words of the Holy One.

My friends have been false like a stream, like streams in the valleys which come to an end:

Put the question now to the past generations, and give attention to what has been searched out by their fathers:

You have been kind to me, and your grace has been with me, and your care has kept my spirit safe.

Why then did you make me come out of my mother's body? It would have been better for me to have taken my last breath, and for no eye to have seen me,

And for me to have been as if I had not been; to have been taken from my mother's body straight to my last resting-place.

And he has made his resting-place in the towns which have been pulled down, in houses where no man had a right to be, whose fate was to become masses of broken walls.

I was in comfort, but I have been broken up by his hands; he has taken me by the neck, shaking me to bits; he has put me up as a mark for his arrows.

And, truly, if I have been in error, the effect of my error is only on myself.

Because he has been cruel to the poor, turning away from them in their trouble; because he has taken a house by force which he did not put up;

For he has knowledge of the way I take; after I have been tested I will come out like gold.

I have never gone against the orders of his lips; the words of his mouth have been stored up in my heart.

For what has been ordered for me by him will be gone through to the end: and his mind is full of such designs

How have you given help to him who has no power! how have you been the salvation of the arm which has no strength!

To whom have your words been said? and whose spirit came out from you?

They are sons of shame, and of men without a name, who have been forced out of the land.

Has not my hand been stretched out in help to the poor? have I not been a saviour to him in his trouble?

Have I not been weeping for the crushed? and was not my soul sad for him who was in need?

And my music has been turned to sorrow, and the sound of my pipe into the noise of weeping.

If I have gone in false ways, or my foot has been quick in working deceit;

If my steps have been turned out of the way, or if my heart went after my eyes, or if the property of another is in my hands;

If my hand had been lifted up against him who had done no wrong, when I saw that I was supported by the judges;

That would have been another sin to be rewarded with punishment by the judges; for I would have been false to God on high.

If only God would give ear to me, and the Ruler of all would give me an answer! or if what he has against me had been put in writing!

If my land has made an outcry against me, or the ploughed earth has been in sorrow;

And he was angry with his three friends, because they had been unable to give him an answer, and had not made Job's sin clear.

May Job be tested to the end, because his answers have been like those of evil men.

And if they have been prisoned in chains, and taken in cords of trouble,

Have the doors of death been open to you, or have the door-keepers of the dark ever seen you?

By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder;

Who is this who makes dark the purpose of God by words without knowledge? For I have been talking without knowledge about wonders not to be searched out.

You have seen it; for your eyes are on sorrow and grief, to take it into your hand: the poor man puts his faith in you; you have been the helper of the child who has no father.

I will give praise to the Lord who has been my guide; knowledge comes to me from my thoughts in the night.

For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not been turned away in sin from my God.

You have given me the breastplate of your salvation: your right hand has been my support, and your mercy has made me great.

For I have been armed by you with strength for the fight: you have made low under me those who come out against me.

They are bent down and made low; but we have been lifted up.

For he has not been unmoved by the pain of him who is troubled; or kept his face covered from him; but he has given an answer to his cry.

O Lord, keep in mind your pity and your mercies; for they have been from the earliest times.

O Lord, be my judge, for my behaviour has been upright: I have put my faith in the Lord, I am not in danger of slipping.

I have been a hater of the band of wrongdoers, and I will not be seated among sinners.

Lord, your house has been dear to me, and the resting-place of your glory.

Let not your face be covered from me; do not put away your servant in wrath; you have been my help: do not give me up or take your support from me, O God of my salvation.

I will give you praise and honour, O Lord, because through you I have been lifted up; you have not given my haters cause to be glad over me.

My behaviour was as if it had been my friend or my brother: I was bent low in grief like one whose mother is dead.

There the workers of evil have come down: they have been made low, and will not be lifted up.

I have been young, and now am old, but I have not seen the good man without help, or his children looking for bread.

Your righteousness has not been folded away in my heart; I have made clear your true word and your salvation; I have not kept secret your mercy or your faith from the great meeting.

My tears have been my food day and night, while they keep saying to me, Where is your God?

But it is you who have been our saviour from those who were against us, and have put to shame those who had hate for us.

All this has come on us, but still we have kept you in our memory; and we have not been false to your word.

Our hearts have not gone back, and our steps have not been turned out of your way;

If the name of our God has gone out of our minds, or if our hands have been stretched out to a strange god,

You have been a lover of righteousness and a hater of evil: and so God, your God, has put the oil of joy on your head, lifting you high over all other kings.

Make me full of joy and rapture; so that the bones which have been broken may be glad.

They were in great fear, where there was no cause for fear: for the bones of those who make war on you have been broken by God; you have put them to shame, because God has no desire for them.

Because it has been my saviour from all my trouble; and my eyes have seen the punishment of my haters.

Give thought to me, and let my prayer be answered: I have been made low in sorrow;

For it was not my hater who said evil of me; that would have been no grief to me; it was not one outside the number of my friends who made himself strong against me, or I would have kept myself from him in a secret place;

But I will make songs of your power; yes, I will give cries of joy for your mercy in the morning; because you have been my strength and my high tower in the day of my trouble.