Haven't you already driven away the LORD's priests, the descendants of Aaron and the descendants of Levi? Haven't you established your own priests like the people of other lands?

"Now as far as we're concerned, the LORD is our God, and we haven't abandoned him. The descendants of Aaron are ministering to the LORD as priests, and the descendants of Levi continue their work.

Every morning and evening, they're offering burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the LORD, the showbread is set out on the pure table, and they take care of the golden lamp stand so its lamps can continue to burn every evening. We continue to be faithful over what the LORD our God entrusted to us, but you have abandoned him.

He had told Judah, "Let's build up these cities, surrounding them with walls, towers, gates, and bars. The land still belongs to us, because we have kept on seeking the LORD our God. We have sought him out, and he has given us rest all around us." So the people built and prospered.

Asa cried out to the LORD his God, telling him, "LORD, there is no one except for you to help between the powerful and the weak. So help us, LORD God, because we're depending on you and have come against this vast group in your name. LORD, you are our God. Let no mere mortal man defeat you!"

Right about then, Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah and rebuked him. "Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram and have not relied on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your control.

The LORD's eyes keep on roaming throughout the earth, looking for those whose hearts completely belong to him, so that he may strongly support them. But because you have acted foolishly in this, from now on you will have wars."

When he heard this, the king asked him, "How many times do I have to ask you? Tell me nothing but the truth, and do it in the name of the LORD!"

And so Micaiah replied: "I saw all of Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD told me, "These have no master, so let them each return to his own home in peace.'"

Nevertheless, a few good things have been found in you, in that you have removed the Asheroth from the land and you have disciplined yourself to seek God."

They lived in it and have built there a sanctuary for your name, where they said,

Our God, you are going to punish them, aren't you? We have no strength to face this vast multitude that has come against us, nor do we know what to do, except that our eyes are on you."

The army got up early the next morning and headed out into the wilderness of Tekoa. Jehoshaphat stood up and addressed them. "Listen to me, you inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem," he said. "Have faith in the LORD your God and you'll be established! Have faith in his prophets and you'll succeed!"

But Dodavahu's son Eliezer from Mareshah prophesied in opposition to Jehoshaphat, "Because you have entered into an alliance with Ahaziah, the LORD has destroyed your efforts." So the ships were destroyed and were never able to sail for Tarshish.

"This is what the LORD God of your ancestor David says: "You haven't lived like your father Jehoshaphat and like King Asa of Judah. Instead, you have lived like the kings of Israel by causing Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit cultic sexual immorality just like Ahab's dynasty did! And you've killed your brothers who were better than you your own father's dynasty!

so the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and asked him, "Why haven't you required the descendants of Levi to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the LORD's servant, and the assembly of Israel for the Tent of Testimony?"

Then Jehoiada the priest's son Zechariah was clothed by the Spirit of God, and he stood above the people and told them, "This is what God has to say: "Why are you breaking the LORD's commandments. You'll never be successful! Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you.'"

Amaziah asked the man of God, "What are we to do about the 100 talents that I have paid to the army of Israel?"

and they opposed King Uzziah. "Uzziah, it's not for you to burn incense to the LORD," they told him, "but for the priests to do, Aaron's descendants who are consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary now, because you have been unfaithful and won't receive any honor from the LORD God."

Now the rest of Uzziah's accomplishments, from first to last, have been recorded by Amoz's son Isaiah the prophet.

But a prophet of the LORD was there named Oded. He went out to greet the army as it arrived in Samaria. He warned them, "Look! Because the LORD God of your ancestors was angry at Judah, he delivered them into your control, but you have killed them with a vehemence that has reached all the way to heaven!

Now you're intending to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem to be your slaves. Surely you have your own sins against the LORD your God for which you're accountable, don't you?

"Pay attention to me, you descendants of Levi! Consecrate yourselves and the Temple of the LORD God of your ancestors by taking out from the Holy Place whatever is unclean. Our ancestors have been unfaithful. They practiced what the LORD considers to be evil, abandoned him, turned their faces away from the place where the LORD resides, and turned their backs to him.

They shut the doors to the vestibule of the Temple, extinguished its lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel in the Holy Place.

Now look! Our ancestors have been killed with swords and our sons, daughters, and wives are being held captive because of all of this.

After this, they went to King Hezekiah and told him, "We have cleansed all of the LORD's Temple, including the altar for burnt offerings, all of its utensils, the table of showbread, and all of its utensils.

In addition, we have prepared and rededicated all of the utensils that King Ahaz threw away during his unfaithful reign, and now they're back in service at the LORD's altar."

"Listen, you descendants of Israel! Come back to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so he may come back to those of you who have escaped and survived from domination by the kings of Assyria. Don't be like your ancestors and your relatives, who weren't faithful to the LORD God of their ancestors, who, as a result, made them a desolate horror, as you well know.

Azariah replied, "Since they began to bring their gifts into the LORD's Temple, we have eaten and have been satisfied. Now we still have plenty left, because the LORD has blessed his people so that we have all of this left over."

Don't you know what my predecessors have done to all the other people in other lands? Were the gods of the people who lived in those lands able to deliver their countries out of my control?

Sennacherib also wrote letters like this that insulted and slandered the LORD God of Israel: "Just as the gods of the nations in other lands haven't delivered their people from my control, so also the god of Hezekiah won't deliver his people from me!"

He also placed an image that he had carved in God's Temple, the place about which God had told to David and to his son Solomon, "I will place my name in this Temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel,"

They've removed the money that was found in the LORD's Temple and have passed it on to the supervisors and the workmen."

"Go ask the LORD for me and for those who survive in Israel and in Judah about the words that we've read in this book that we found, because the wrath of the LORD that we deserve to have poured out on us is very great, since our ancestors haven't obeyed the command from the LORD that required us to do everything that is written in this book."

Because they abandoned me and have burned incense to other gods, provoking me to become angry at everything they're doing, therefore my wrath is about to be poured out on this place, and it won't be quenched.'"'

"Because your heart was sensitive, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he had to say about this place and its inhabitants indeed, because you humbled yourself before me, tore your clothes, and cried out to me, I have heard you," declares the LORD.

"Look! I'm going to take you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in your grave in peace so that you won't have to see all the evil that I'm going to bring to this place and to its inhabitants."'" So they all brought back this message to the king.

The singers, as descendants of Asaph, remained at their stations as David, Asaph, Heman, and the king's seer Jeduthun required, and the gatekeepers did not have to leave their posts because their descendant of Levi relatives prepared the Passover for them.

But he sent messengers to him, who asked him, "What do we have in common, King of Judah? I am not here today opposing you. I am fighting the dynasty that is fighting me, and God has ordered me to hurry. For your own good, stop interfering with God, who is with me, and he won't destroy you!"

AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM CYRUS, KING OF PERSIA All of the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the LORD God of Heaven, and he specifically charged me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Therefore, who among the LORD's people trusts in his God? Whoever among this group wishes to do so may travel to Jerusalem.

All of the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the LORD God of Heaven, and he specifically charged me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Therefore, who among the LORD's people trusts in his God? Whoever among this group wishes to do so may travel to Jerusalem of Judah to rebuild the Temple of the LORD God of Israel, the God of Jerusalem.

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel replied, "You have no part in our plans for building a temple to our God, because we alone will build to the LORD, the God of Israel, in accordance with the decree issued by King Cyrus, king of Persia."

May the king be advised that the Jews who came from you to us have reached Jerusalem and are rebuilding a rebellious and wicked city, having completed its walls and repaired its foundations.

Now, because we are royal employees and are committed to preserving the reputation of the king, we have written to the king and have declared its contents to be true,

Powerful kings have reigned over Jerusalem, including ruling over all lands beyond the Euphrates River. Furthermore, taxes, tribute, and tolls have been paid to them.

And may the God who causes his Name to rest there destroy any king or people who might attempt to destroy this Temple of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree. Let it be carried out quickly.

You have authority to act for the king and for his Council of Seven to conduct an inquiry concerning Judah and Jerusalem in accordance with the Law of your God, which is in your possession.

You are carrying silver and gold that the king and his advisors have freely given to the God of Israel, whose Temple is in Jerusalem,

Furthermore, you are to deliver to the God of Jerusalem the vessels for the service of the Temple of your God that have been given to you.

After these things occurred, certain officials approached me and said "The people of Israel, the priests, and the descendants of Levi have not separated themselves from the people of the lands or from the detestable behavior of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites,

because they and their sons have married foreign women. As a result, the holy people have mingled themselves among the nations of these lands. As a matter of fact, the senior officials and the rulers have been foremost in this sin."

"My God, I am too ashamed and hurt to turn to you, because we're in our iniquities over our heads. Furthermore, my God, our sins have grown as high as the heavens. We have lived in great sin from the days of our ancestors even until today, and because of those iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered over to foreign kings, for execution, for captivity, for plunder, and for humiliation, as is the case today.

Now, our God, what can we say besides this? Because we have abandoned your commandments

"After all that has happened to us because of our evil behavior, and because of our great sin considering that you our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us this deliverance

Jehiel's son Shecaniah, one of Elam's descendants, responded to Ezra: "We have sinned against our God by marrying foreign wives from the people of the land, but even now there is hope in Israel, despite this.

Ezra the priest stood up and spoke to them, "You have sinned by marrying foreign wives, thereby increasing the transgressions of Israel.

However, many people are involved, and it's raining heavily. Furthermore, this is not just a matter of a day or two of work, because many of us have sinned in this.

So let's have our officials remain on behalf of the whole community. Then all who have married foreign wives are to come appear at specific times before the elders and judges of each city until the fierce anger of our God has been turned away from us in this matter."

Here is a list of priestly descendants who were found to have married foreign women. From Jeshua's descendants: Jozadak's son and his brothers Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

They told me, "The survivors of the captivity there in the province are living in great distress and shame. Furthermore, the Jerusalem wall remains broken down and its gates have been burned by fire."

"I confess the sins that we Israelis have committed against you. Both I and my father's house have sinned. We have abandoned you by not keeping your commands, your ceremonies, and your judgments that you proscribed to your servant Moses.

"If you rebel, I will scatter you among the nations but if you return to me, keeping my commands and doing them, even if your exiled people are in the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I have chosen to establish my Name.'

These are your servants as well as your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.

Don't atone their iniquity, and don't let their sin be blotted out from before you, because they have demoralized the builders."

At the same time I told the people, "Let's have everyone sleep at night inside Jerusalem with their servants, so they can guard us at night and work during the day.

because certain of them kept claiming, "Since we have so many sons and daughters, we must get some grain so we can eat and survive."

It is reported among the nations and Gashmu confirms this that you and the Jews are planning a revolt, and that you're rebuilding the wall in order to declare yourself king. According to these reports, you also have appointed prophets to proclaim about you in Jerusalem, "There is a king in Judah!" Since these words are being reported to the king, come and let's meet together.

He also told them, "Go eat the best food, drink the best wine, and give something to those who have nothing, since this day is holy to our Lord. Don't be sorrowful, because the joy of the LORD is your strength."

You found him faithful in your sight; you made a covenant with him and you gave the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites to his descendants. And you have kept your word, because you are righteous.

"Now therefore, our God, the great, mighty, and awesome God, who keeps the covenant and gracious love, don't let all of the difficulties seem trifling to you, all of hardships that have come upon us, upon our kings, upon our leaders, upon our priests, upon our prophets, upon our ancestors, and upon all of your people from the time of the kings of Assyria until this day.

You are righteous in all that is happening to us, because you have acted faithfully while we have practiced evil.

Furthermore, neither our kings, nor our leaders, nor our priests nor our ancestors have practiced your Law or paid attention to your commands and warnings by which you admonished them.

But now its abundant produce belongs to the kings whom you placed over us because of our sin. They also have power over our bodies and our herds at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

Remember me, my God, concerning this, and do not erase my faithful deeds that I have undertaken for the Temple of my God, and for its services.

Remember them, my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the descendants of Levi.

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.

Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said, "Have a pole made 50 cubits high, and then in the morning speak to the king and have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go with the king to the banquet happy." This advice pleased Haman, and he had the pole made.

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."

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."

The king and Haman went in to have a drink with Queen Esther.

Indeed, I and my people have been sold to be annihilated, killed, and destroyed. If we had just been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because the trouble wouldn't have been sufficient to bother the king."

King Ahasuerus told Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, "Look, I've given Haman's property to Esther, and they have hanged him on the pole because he tried to harm the Jewish people.

The king told Queen Esther, "In Susa the capital the Jewish people have killed and destroyed 500 people, including Haman's ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Now what's your petition? It will be given to you. What's your further request? It will be done."

The LORD asked Satan, "Where have you come from?" In response, Satan answered the LORD, "From wandering all over the earth and walking back and forth throughout it."

Then 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."

Haven't you surrounded him with a fence on all sides, around his house, and around all that he owns? You have blessed everything he puts his hands on and you have increased his livestock in the land.

The LORD asked Satan, "Where have you come from?" In response, Satan told the LORD, "From wandering all over the earth and walking back and forth throughout it."

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."

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

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

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?

For you'll have a pact with the stones in the field; and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.

You'll know that you'll have many children; and that your offspring will be like the grass of the earth.

"Look! We have thought all this through, and what we've said is true; So please listen and learn for your own good!"

"The arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit absorbs their poison; God's terrors have been arranged just for me!

"Do I have the strength to wait? And why should I be patient?

There is no help within me, is there? My resources have been driven away from me, haven't they?

But my brothers have acted treacherously like a cascading river, like torrential rivers that overflow.

For all their expectations, they are doomed to disappointment; even though they have come and searched this far.

Have I said anything that's unjust? I can discern evil, can't I?"