In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

If it please the king, let a royal commandment go from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it cannot be altered, that Vashti may never again come before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate to another who is better than she.

Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it.

and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;

Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: the LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.

Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion.

PERES; your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."

Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed."

Then they came near, and spoke before the king concerning the king's decree. "Haven't you signed a decree, that every man who shall make petition to any god or man within thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?" The king answered, "The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed."

Then these men assembled together to the king, and said to the king, "Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians, that no decree nor statute which the king establishes may be changed."

"And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to support and strengthen him.

Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia,