'People' in the Bible

People from the other Nebo: 52

These people searched for their ancestral records, but they couldn't be located. Accordingly, they were considered disqualified from the priesthood.

The rest of the people gave 20,000 gold drachmas, 2,000 silver units, and 67 priestly garments.

The priests, descendants of Levi, gatekeepers, singers, some of the people, the Temple Servants, and all the Israelis settled in their cities.

So on the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought out the Law before the assembled people. Both men and women were in attendance, as well as all who could understand what they were hearing.

Ezra read from it, facing the plaza in front of the Water Gate, from early in the morning until mid-day in the presence of the men and women, as well as all who could understand. All the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people. Because he was visible above all the people there, as he opened it, all the people stood up.

Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and with uplifted hands, all the people responded, "Amen! Amen!" They bowed down and worshipped the LORD prostrate on the ground.

Seven months later, the Israelis had settled in their own cities.

All the people gathered as a united body into the plaza in front of the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel.

Because all the people were weeping as they listened to the words of the Law, Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the descendants of Levi who taught the people told everyone, "This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep."

The descendants of Levi also calmed all the people by saying, "Be still, for the day is holy. Don't be sorrowful!"

So all the people went to eat, to drink, to send something to those who had nothing, and to celebrate with great joy, because they understood the words that were being declared to them.

The next day, the heads of the families of all the people were gathered together, along with the priests and the descendants of Levi, to meet with Ezra the scribe in order to understand the words of the Law.

Then the people went out and found branches to make tents for themselves on the roofs of their houses, in their courtyards, and in the courts of God's Temple, in the plaza near the Water Gate, and in the plaza near the Gate of Ephraim.

You sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all of his officials, and against all the people of his land, because you knew they acted arrogantly against your people. So you established your name with them, as it remains to this day.

"Then they disobeyed, rebelled against you, and threw your Law behind their backs. They murdered your prophets who had admonished the people to return to you, committing terrible blasphemies.

You were patient with them for many years, warning them by your Spirit through your prophets. But they would not listen, so you turned them over to the control of people in other lands.

"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.

The leaders of the people included Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani,

The rest of the people, the priests, the descendants of Levi, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Temple Servants, and everyone who had separated themselves from the nations of the surrounding lands for the Law of God their wives, their sons, their daughters, and all who had knowledge and understanding

"We will not give our daughters in marriage to the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons.

As for the people of the land who bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. We will forego planting crops, and we will cancel debts during every seventh year."

We the priests, the descendants of Levi, and the people cast lots to determine when to bring the wood offering into the Temple of our God, just as our ancestors' families were appointed annually to maintain the altar fire of the LORD our God, as recorded in the Law.

The leaders of the people who lived in Jerusalem, along with the rest of the people, decided to choose one out of ten of them by lot to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, leaving the other nine of them in their towns.

And the people blessed all of the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, a descendant of Zerah son of Judah, represented the king in all matters concerning the people.

Now concerning the villages and their fields, some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath-arba and its villages, in Dibon and its villages, in Jekabzeel and its villages,

The priests and the descendants of Levi purified themselves, and also purified the people, the gates, and the wall.

The second thanksgiving choir approached opposite them, and I followed them. Half of the people stood on the crest of the wall from beyond the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall,

Also at that time men were appointed over the storerooms for the contributions, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, so those portions required by the Law could be gathered from the fields adjacent to the towns to benefit the priests and descendants of Levi, for the people of Judah rejoiced over the priests and the descendants of Levi who were serving.

Later that day the book of Moses was read aloud so the people could hear it, and a written command was discovered therein permanently prohibiting the Ammonites and Moabites from coming into the congregation of God

Furthermore, Tyrians were living there who were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise, selling them to the people of Judah on the Sabbath, even in Jerusalem.

When those days were over, the king held a seven-day banquet in the courtyard of the garden of his palace for all the people who were present in Susa the capital, from the greatest to the least important.

to bring Queen Vashti to the king, wearing the royal crown to display her beauty to the people and the officials, since she was lovely to look at.

Then Memucan replied in the presence of the king and his officials, "It is not the king alone whom Vashti has wronged, but rather all of the officials and all of the people who are in the provinces of King Ahasuerus.

He sent letters to all the provinces of the king, written in the script of that province, and to each people in their own language, ordering that every man should be the master in his house and speak the language of his own people.

Esther did not make known her people or heritage because Mordecai had instructed her not to make it known.

Now Esther had not declared her heritage or her people, just as Mordecai had instructed her, for Esther did what Mordecai told her just as she had done when she was raised by him.

Because they had told him who the people of Mordecai were, Haman found it unacceptable to kill only Mordecai. So Haman sought to destroy all of Mordecai's people, the Jewish people, who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

Then Haman told King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and divided among the people throughout the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different than all the other people, they don't obey the king's laws, and it's not in the king's best interest to leave them alone.

The king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Hammedatha the Agagite's son Haman, the enemy of the Jewish people.

The king told Haman, "The silver is given to you, along with the people, to do with them as you see fit."

The king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and all that Haman commanded was written to the regional authorities of the king, to the governors who were over each province, and to the officials of each people. This order was translated in the name of King Ahasuerus into the language of each province and bore the seal of the king's signet ring.

Letters were sent by couriers to all of the king's provinces to annihilate, to kill, and to destroy all the Jewish people, both young and old, women and children, and to confiscate their goods on a single day the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar.

A copy of the letter was to be issued as an edict in every province and published to all the people, telling them to be ready for that day.

In every province where the order of the king and his edict reached, among the Jewish people there was great mourning, fasting, weeping, and lamenting, and many lay down on sackcloth and ashes.

Mordecai told him everything that had happened and the exact amount of money that Haman had said he would pay into the king's treasury in order to destroy the Jewish people.

Mordecai gave Hathach a copy of the written decree ordering the Jews' destruction that had been issued in Susa. Mordecai wanted him to show it to Esther, to explain it to her, and then to instruct her to go in to the king to seek his favor and plead with him for her people.

Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Don't suppose that because you are in the palace, you will escape any more than the other Jewish people.

Indeed, if you are silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. Who knows but that you were brought to the kingdom for a time like this?"

"Go and gather all the Jewish people who are in Susa and fast for me. Don't eat or drink for three days, night or day. Both I and my young women will also fast in the same way, and then I'll go in to the king, even though it's against the law. And if I perish, I perish."

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."

Queen Esther answered: "If I've found favor with you, your majesty, and if it seems good to the king, let my life be given to me as my petition and my people as my request.

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."

That day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the property of Haman, the enemy of the Jewish people, and Mordecai came into the king's presence because Esther had told him how Mordecai was related to her.

Then Esther spoke to the king again and fell at his feet. She wept and pleaded with him for mercy to overturn the evil plan devised by Haman the Agagite and his plot against the Jewish people.

She said, "If it pleases the king, and if I've found favor with him, and if the matter is proper in the king's opinion, and if I'm pleasing to the king, let an order be issued revoking the letters devised by Hammedatha the Agagite's son Haman, which ordered the destruction of the Jewish people throughout the king's provinces.

Indeed, how can I bear to see this disaster happen to my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my kinsmen?"

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.

Now, in the name of the king, you write what seems good to you concerning the Jewish people, and seal it with the king's signet ring, for a document written in the king's name and sealed with the king's signet ring cannot be revoked."

The king's scribes were summoned at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, which is the month Sivan, and everything that Mordecai commanded the Jewish people, the regional authorities, the governors, and the provincial officials of the 127 provinces from India to Cush was written down for each province according to its script, for each people according to their language, and for the Jewish people according to their script and language.

What the king granted the Jewish people in every town was the right to assemble and defend themselves, to annihilate, kill, and destroy every armed force of a people or a province that was hostile to them, including children and women, and to plunder their property.

Throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the one day for the Jewish people to do this was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.

A copy of the document was to be issued as law in each and every province and published for all people, indicating that the Jewish people were to be ready to take vengeance on their enemies on that day.

For the Jewish people, there was light and joy, gladness and honor.

In each and every province, and in each and every city, in the places where the king's order and edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jewish people, along with a festival and a holiday. Many of the people of the land became Jews, because they had come to fear the Jewish people.

On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, when the king's order and edict was about to be carried out, on the day when the enemies of the Jewish people expected to prevail over them, things were turned around so that the Jewish people themselves prevailed over those who hated them.

The Jewish people assembled in their towns throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus to strike out against those who intended to harm them, and no one could oppose them because all the people had come to fear the Jews.

All the provincial officials, the regional authorities, the governors, and those doing the king's work supported the Jewish people because the fear of Mordecai had come over them.

The Jewish people struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did with their enemies as they pleased.

In Susa the capital the Jewish people killed and destroyed 500 people.

the ten sons of Hammedatha's son Haman, the enemy of the Jewish people, but they did not lay their hands on the spoils.

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."

Then Esther said, "If it pleases the king, let it also be granted to the Jewish people in Susa to do tomorrow what the edict allowed them to do today, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on poles."

The Jewish people in Susa assembled again on that day, the fourteenth of Adar, and they killed 300 people in Susa, but they did not lay their hands on the spoils.

The rest of the Jewish people in the king's provinces assembled to defend themselves, and they gained relief from their enemies, killing 75,000 of those who hated them. But they did not lay their hands on the spoils.

The Jewish people in Susa assembled on the thirteenth day and again on the fourteenth, and then rested on the fifteenth day and made it a day of feasting and joy.

Therefore the Jewish people in the rural areas who live in unwalled towns make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a holiday for joy and feasting, and people send presents to one another.

Mordecai wrote these instructions and sent letters to all the Jewish people in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

as the days on which the Jewish people enjoyed relief from their enemies. It was a month when things turned around for them, from sorrow to joy and from mourning to a holiday. They were to celebrate these days as days of feasting and joy, and they were to send presents to one another and gifts to the poor.

So the Jewish people made a tradition out of what they had begun to do and of what Mordecai had written to them,

since Hammedatha's son Haman, the enemy of the Jewish people, had plotted against the Jewish people to destroy them, and he had cast the (that is, the lot) to determine when to confuse and destroy them.

But when Esther came before the king, he ordered through a letter that the evil plot that Haman had devised against the Jewish people be rescinded, and that he and his sons be hanged on poles.

the Jewish people established this celebration, making it a tradition for themselves, for their descendants, and for all who joined with them that they should not fail to observe these two days each year, based on the written instructions, and at the prescribed time.

These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by each family in every province and town. These days of Purim should not be neglected by the Jewish people, and that they should not be forgotten by their descendants.

Letters containing wishes for peace and stability were sent to all the Jewish people, to the 127 provinces of Ahasuerus' kingdom,

establishing these days of Purim at the prescribed time, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established, and just as the Jewish people had established for themselves and for their descendants. The letter included instructions for their fasting and lamentations.

Indeed, Mordecai the Jew was second in authority only to King Ahasuerus and was a powerful official among the Jewish people. Mordecai was accepted favorably by his many kinsmen, and he sought the good of his countrymen and spoke out for the welfare of all his people.

His livestock included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and many servants. Indeed, the man's stature greatly exceeded that of many people who lived in the East.

when a strong wind came straight out of the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people, and they died. I alone escaped to tell you!"

Look! You've admonished many people, and you've strengthened feeble hands.

or say "Deliver me from my enemy's control,' or "Redeem me from the domination of ruthless people'?"

Will your irrational babble silence people, and when you mock them, will you escape without being shamed?

"Truly, you are the people and wisdom will die with you!

People gaped at me with mouths wide open; they slap me in their scorn and gather together against me.

"He has made me a byword among people; I'm being spit on in the face.

He has no children or descendants within his own people; and no survivors where he once lived.

People who live west of him are appalled at his fate; those who live east of him are seized with terror.

"When people heard me speak, they blessed me; when people saw me, they approved me,