29:1 Job again took up his parable, and said,

29:2 “Oh that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me;
29:3 when his lamp shone on my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,
29:4 as I was in the ripeness of my days,
when the friendship of God was in my tent,
29:5 when the Almighty was yet with me,
and my children were around me,
29:6 when my steps were washed with butter,
and the rock poured out streams of oil for me,
29:7 when I went forth to the city gate,
when I prepared my seat in the street.
29:8 The young men saw me and hid themselves.
The aged rose up and stood.
29:9 The princes refrained from talking,
and laid their hand on their mouth.
29:10 The voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
29:11 For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me;
and when the eye saw me, it commended me:
29:12 Because I delivered the poor who cried,
and the fatherless also, who had none to help him,
29:13 the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
29:14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me.
My justice was as a robe and a diadem.
29:15 I was eyes to the blind,
and feet to the lame.
29:16 I was a father to the needy.
The cause of him who I didn’t know, I searched out.
29:17 I broke the jaws of the unrighteous,
and plucked the prey out of his teeth.
29:18 Then I said, ‘I shall die in my own house,
I shall number my days as the sand.
29:19 My root is spread out to the waters.
The dew lies all night on my branch.
29:20 My glory is fresh in me.
My bow is renewed in my hand.’
29:21 “Men listened to me, waited,
and kept silence for my counsel.
29:22 After my words they didn’t speak again.
My speech fell on them.
29:23 They waited for me as for the rain.
Their mouths drank as with the spring rain.
29:24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence.
They didn’t reject the light of my face.
29:25 I chose out their way, and sat as chief.
I lived as a king in the army,
as one who comforts the mourners.

30:1 “But now those who are younger than I have me in derision,
whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
30:2 Of what use is the strength of their hands to me,
men in whom ripe age has perished?
30:3 They are gaunt from lack and famine.
They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.
30:4 They pluck salt herbs by the bushes.
The roots of the broom are their food.
30:5 They are driven out from the midst of men.
They cry after them as after a thief;
30:6 So that they dwell in frightful valleys,
and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
30:7 Among the bushes they bray;
and under the nettles they are gathered together.
30:8 They are children of fools, yes, children of base men.
They were flogged out of the land.
30:9 “Now I have become their song.
Yes, I am a byword to them.
30:10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me,
and don’t hesitate to spit in my face.
30:11 For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me;
and they have thrown off restraint before me.
30:12 On my right hand rise the rabble.
They thrust aside my feet,
They cast up against me their ways of destruction.
30:13 They mar my path,
They set forward my calamity,
without anyone’s help.
30:14 As through a wide breach they come,
in the midst of the ruin they roll themselves in.
30:15 Terrors have turned on me.
They chase my honor as the wind.
My welfare has passed away as a cloud.
30:16 “Now my soul is poured out within me.
Days of affliction have taken hold on me.
30:17 In the night season my bones are pierced in me,
and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
30:18 By great force is my garment disfigured.
It binds me about as the collar of my coat.
30:19 He has cast me into the mire.
I have become like dust and ashes.
30:20 I cry to you, and you do not answer me.
I stand up, and you gaze at me.
30:21 You have turned to be cruel to me.
With the might of your hand you persecute me.
30:22 You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it.
You dissolve me in the storm.
30:23 For I know that you will bring me to death,
To the house appointed for all living.
30:24 “However doesn’t one stretch out a hand in his fall?
Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
30:25 Didn’t I weep for him who was in trouble?
Wasn’t my soul grieved for the needy?
30:26 When I looked for good, then evil came;
When I waited for light, there came darkness.
30:27 My heart is troubled, and doesn’t rest.
Days of affliction have come on me.
30:28 I go mourning without the sun.
I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
30:29 I am a brother to jackals,
and a companion to ostriches.
30:30 My skin grows black and peels from me.
My bones are burned with heat.
30:31 Therefore my harp has turned to mourning,
and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.

31:1 “I made a covenant with my eyes,
how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?
31:2 For what is the portion from God above,
and the heritage from the Almighty on high?
31:3 Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,
and disaster to the workers of iniquity?
31:4 Doesn’t he see my ways,
and number all my steps?
31:5 “If I have walked with falsehood,
and my foot has hurried to deceit
31:6 (let me be weighed in an even balance,
that God may know my integrity);
31:7 if my step has turned out of the way,
if my heart walked after my eyes,
if any defilement has stuck to my hands,
31:8 then let me sow, and let another eat.
Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.
31:9 “If my heart has been enticed to a woman,
and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,
31:10 then let my wife grind for another,
and let others sleep with her.
31:11 For that would be a heinous crime.
Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges:
31:12 For it is a fire that consumes to destruction,
and would root out all my increase.
31:13 “If I have despised the cause of my male servant
or of my female servant,
when they contended with me;
31:14 What then shall I do when God rises up?
When he visits, what shall I answer him?
31:15 Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him?
Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?
31:16 “If I have withheld the poor from their desire,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
31:17 or have eaten my morsel alone,
and the fatherless has not eaten of it
31:18 (no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,
her have I guided from my mother’s womb);
31:19 if I have seen any perish for want of clothing,
or that the needy had no covering;
31:20 if his heart hasn’t blessed me,
if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece;
31:21 if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,
because I saw my help in the gate,
31:22 then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade,
and my arm be broken from the bone.
31:23 For calamity from God is a terror to me.
Because his majesty, I can do nothing.
31:24 “If I have made gold my hope,
and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’
31:25 If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
and because my hand had gotten much;
31:26 if I have seen the sun when it shined,
or the moon moving in splendor,
31:27 and my heart has been secretly enticed,
and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,
31:28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
for I should have denied the God who is above.
31:29 “If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me,
or lifted up myself when evil found him;
31:30 (yes, I have not allowed my mouth to sin
by asking his life with a curse);
31:31 if the men of my tent have not said,
‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’
31:32 (the foreigner has not lodged in the street,
but I have opened my doors to the traveler);
31:33 if like Adam I have covered my transgressions,
by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
31:34 because I feared the great multitude,
and the contempt of families terrified me,
so that I kept silence, and didn’t go out of the door—
31:35 oh that I had one to hear me!
(behold, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me);
let the accuser write my indictment!
31:36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;
and I would bind it to me as a crown.
31:37 I would declare to him the number of my steps.
as a prince would I go near to him.
31:38 If my land cries out against me,
and its furrows weep together;
31:39 if I have eaten its fruits without money,
or have caused its owners to lose their life,
31:40 let briars grow instead of wheat,
and stinkweed instead of barley.”

The words of Job are ended.

26:1 Then Job answered,

26:2 “How have you helped him who is without power!
How have you saved the arm that has no strength!
26:3 How have you counseled him who has no wisdom,
and plentifully declared sound knowledge!
26:4 To whom have you uttered words?
Whose spirit came forth from you?
26:5 “Those who are deceased tremble,
those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
26:6 Sheol is naked before God,
and Abaddon has no covering.
26:7 He stretches out the north over empty space,
and hangs the earth on nothing.
26:8 He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
and the cloud is not burst under them.
26:9 He encloses the face of his throne,
and spreads his cloud on it.
26:10 He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters,
and to the confines of light and darkness.
26:11 The pillars of heaven tremble
and are astonished at his rebuke.
26:12 He stirs up the sea with his power,
and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab.
26:13 By his Spirit the heavens are garnished.
His hand has pierced the swift serpent.
26:14 Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways.
How small a whisper do we hear of him!
But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

27:1 Job again took up his parable, and said,

27:2 “As God lives, who has taken away my right,
the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter.
27:3 (For the length of my life is still in me,
and the spirit of God is in my nostrils);
27:4 surely my lips shall not speak unrighteousness,
neither shall my tongue utter deceit.
27:5 Far be it from me that I should justify you.
Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
27:6 I hold fast to my righteousness, and will not let it go.
My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
27:7 “Let my enemy be as the wicked.
Let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.
27:8 For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
27:9 Will God hear his cry when trouble comes on him?
27:10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty,
and call on God at all times?
27:11 I will teach you about the hand of God.
That which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.
27:12 Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves;
why then have you become altogether vain?
27:13 “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty.
27:14 If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword.
His offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
27:15 Those who remain of him shall be buried in death.
His widows shall make no lamentation.
27:16 Though he heap up silver as the dust,
and prepare clothing as the clay;
27:17 he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on,
and the innocent shall divide the silver.
27:18 He builds his house as the moth,
as a booth which the watchman makes.
27:19 He lies down rich, but he shall not do so again.
He opens his eyes, and he is not.
27:20 Terrors overtake him like waters.
A storm steals him away in the night.
27:21 The east wind carries him away, and he departs.
It sweeps him out of his place.
27:22 For it hurls at him, and does not spare,
as he flees away from his hand.
27:23 Men shall clap their hands at him,
and shall hiss him out of his place.

22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

22:2 “Can a man be profitable to God?
Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
22:3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous?
Or does it benefit him, that you make your ways perfect?
22:4 Is it for your piety that he reproves you,
that he enters with you into judgment?
22:5 Isn’t your wickedness great?
Neither is there any end to your iniquities.
22:6 For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing,
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
22:7 You haven’t given water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
22:8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth.
The honorable man, he lived in it.
22:9 You have sent widows away empty,
and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
22:10 Therefore snares are around you.
Sudden fear troubles you,
22:11 or darkness, so that you can not see,
and floods of waters cover you.
22:12 “Isn’t God in the heights of heaven?
See the height of the stars, how high they are!
22:13 You say, ‘What does God know?
Can he judge through the thick darkness?
22:14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see.
He walks on the vault of the sky.’
22:15 Will you keep the old way,
which wicked men have trodden,
22:16 who were snatched away before their time,
whose foundation was poured out as a stream,
22:17 who said to God, ‘Depart from us;’
and, ‘What can the Almighty do for us?’
22:18 Yet he filled their houses with good things,
but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
22:19 The righteous see it, and are glad.
The innocent ridicule them,
22:20 saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off.
The fire has consumed their remnant.’
22:21 “Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace.
Thereby good shall come to you.
22:22 Please receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
22:23 If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up,
if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents.
22:24 Lay your treasure in the dust,
the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
22:25 The Almighty will be your treasure,
and precious silver to you.
22:26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty,
and shall lift up your face to God.
22:27 You shall make your prayer to him, and he will hear you.
You shall pay your vows.
22:28 You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to you.
Light shall shine on your ways.
22:29 When they cast down, you shall say, ‘be lifted up.’
He will save the humble person.
22:30 He will even deliver him who is not innocent.
Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

23:1 Then Job answered,

23:2 “Even today my complaint is rebellious.
His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
23:3 Oh that I knew where I might find him!
That I might come even to his seat!
23:4 I would set my cause in order before him,
and fill my mouth with arguments.
23:5 I would know the words which he would answer me,
and understand what he would tell me.
23:6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No, but he would listen to me.
23:7 There the upright might reason with him,
so I should be delivered forever from my judge.
23:8 “If I go east, he is not there;
if west, I can’t find him;
23:9 He works to the north, but I can’t see him.
He turns south, but I can’t catch a glimpse of him.
23:10 But he knows the way that I take.
When he has tried me, I shall come forth like gold.
23:11 My foot has held fast to his steps.
I have kept his way, and not turned aside.
23:12 I haven’t gone back from the commandment of his lips.
I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
23:13 But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?
What his soul desires, even that he does.
23:14 For he performs that which is appointed for me.
Many such things are with him.
23:15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence.
When I consider, I am afraid of him.
23:16 For God has made my heart faint.
The Almighty has terrified me.
23:17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness,
neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.

24:1 “Why aren’t times laid up by the Almighty?
Why don’t those who know him see his days?
24:2 There are people who remove the landmarks.
They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
24:3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless,
and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
24:4 They turn the needy out of the way.
The poor of the earth all hide themselves.
24:5 Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert,
they go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food.
The wilderness yields them bread for their children.
24:6 They cut their provender in the field.
They glean the vineyard of the wicked.
24:7 They lie all night naked without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.
24:8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains,
and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.
24:9 There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast,
and take a pledge of the poor,
24:10 So that they go around naked without clothing.
Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.
24:11 They make oil within the walls of these men.
They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.
24:12 From out of the populous city, men groan.
The soul of the wounded cries out,
yet God doesn’t regard the folly.
24:13 “These are of those who rebel against the light.
They don’t know its ways,
nor stay in its paths.
24:14 The murderer rises with the light.
He kills the poor and needy.
In the night he is like a thief.
24:15 The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
saying, ‘No eye shall see me.’
He disguises his face.
24:16 In the dark they dig through houses.
They shut themselves up in the daytime.
They don’t know the light.
24:17 For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness,
for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.
24:18 “They are foam on the surface of the waters.
Their portion is cursed in the earth.
They don’t turn into the way of the vineyards.
24:19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters,
so does Sheol those who have sinned.
24:20 The womb shall forget him.
The worm shall feed sweetly on him.
He shall be no more remembered.
Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.
24:21 He devours the barren who don’t bear.
He shows no kindness to the widow.
24:22 Yet God preserves the mighty by his power.
He rises up who has no assurance of life.
24:23 God gives them security, and they rest in it.
His eyes are on their ways.
24:24 They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone.
Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others,
and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.
24:25 If it isn’t so now, who will prove me a liar,
and make my speech worth nothing?”

19:1 Then Job answered,

19:2 “How long will you torment me,
and crush me with words?
19:3 You have reproached me ten times.
You aren’t ashamed that you attack me.
19:4 If it is true that I have erred,
my error remains with myself.
19:5 If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me,
and plead against me my reproach;
19:6 know now that God has subverted me,
and has surrounded me with his net.
19:7 “Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard.
I cry for help, but there is no justice.
19:8 He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass,
and has set darkness in my paths.
19:9 He has stripped me of my glory,
and taken the crown from my head.
19:10 He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone.
My hope he has plucked up like a tree.
19:11 He has also kindled his wrath against me.
He counts me among his adversaries.
19:12 His troops come on together,
build a siege ramp against me,
and encamp around my tent.
19:13 “He has put my brothers far from me.
My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
19:14 My relatives have gone away.
My familiar friends have forgotten me.
19:15 Those who dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger.
I am an alien in their sight.
19:16 I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer.
I beg him with my mouth.
19:17 My breath is offensive to my wife.
I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.
19:18 Even young children despise me.
If I arise, they speak against me.
19:19 All my familiar friends abhor me.
They whom I loved have turned against me.
19:20 My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh.
I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
19:21 “Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends;
for the hand of God has touched me.
19:22 Why do you persecute me as God,
and are not satisfied with my flesh?
19:23 “Oh that my words were now written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
19:24 That with an iron pen and lead
they were engraved in the rock forever!
19:25 But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives.
In the end, he will stand upon the earth.
19:26 After my skin is destroyed,
then in my flesh shall I see God,
19:27 Whom I, even I, shall see on my side.
My eyes shall see, and not as a stranger.
“My heart is consumed within me.
19:28 If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’
because the root of the matter is found in me,
19:29 be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishments of the sword,
that you may know there is a judgment.”

20:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,

20:2 “Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me,
even by reason of my haste that is in me.
20:3 I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame.
The spirit of my understanding answers me.
20:4 Don’t you know this from old time,
since man was placed on earth,
20:5 that the triumphing of the wicked is short,
the joy of the godless but for a moment?
20:6 Though his height mount up to the heavens,
and his head reach to the clouds,
20:7 yet he shall perish forever like his own dung.
Those who have seen him shall say, ‘Where is he?’
20:8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found.
Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night.
20:9 The eye which saw him shall see him no more,
neither shall his place any more see him.
20:10 His children shall seek the favor of the poor.
His hands shall give back his wealth.
20:11 His bones are full of his youth,
but youth shall lie down with him in the dust.
20:12 “Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth,
though he hide it under his tongue,
20:13 though he spare it, and will not let it go,
but keep it still within his mouth;
20:14 yet his food in his bowels is turned.
It is cobra venom within him.
20:15 He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again.
God will cast them out of his belly.
20:16 He shall suck cobra venom.
The viper’s tongue shall kill him.
20:17 He shall not look at the rivers,
the flowing streams of honey and butter.
20:18 That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down.
According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice.
20:19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor.
He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.
20:20 “Because he knew no quietness within him,
he shall not save anything of that in which he delights.
20:21 There was nothing left that he didn’t devour,
therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
20:22 In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him.
The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.
20:23 When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him.
It will rain on him while he is eating.
20:24 He shall flee from the iron weapon.
The bronze arrow shall strike him through.
20:25 He draws it forth, and it comes out of his body.
Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver.
Terrors are on him.
20:26 All darkness is laid up for his treasures.
An unfanned fire shall devour him.
It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
20:27 The heavens shall reveal his iniquity.
The earth shall rise up against him.
20:28 The increase of his house shall depart.
They shall rush away in the day of his wrath.
20:29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
the heritage appointed to him by God.”

15:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

15:2 “Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge,
and fill himself with the east wind?
15:3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
or with speeches with which he can do no good?
15:4 Yes, you do away with fear,
and hinder devotion before God.
15:5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the language of the crafty.
15:6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I.
Yes, your own lips testify against you.
15:7 “Are you the first man who was born?
Or were you brought forth before the hills?
15:8 Have you heard the secret counsel of God?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
15:9 What do you know, that we don’t know?
What do you understand, which is not in us?
15:10 With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men,
much elder than your father.
15:11 Are the consolations of God too small for you,
even the word that is gentle toward you?
15:12 Why does your heart carry you away?
Why do your eyes flash,
15:13 That you turn your spirit against God,
and let such words go out of your mouth?
15:14 What is man, that he should be clean?
What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15:15 Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones.
Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight;
15:16 how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
a man who drinks iniquity like water!
15:17 “I will show you, listen to me;
that which I have seen I will declare:
15:18 (Which wise men have told by their fathers,
and have not hidden it;
15:19 to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them):
15:20 the wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
15:21 A sound of terrors is in his ears.
In prosperity the destroyer shall come on him.
15:22 He doesn’t believe that he shall return out of darkness.
He is waited for by the sword.
15:23 He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
15:24 Distress and anguish make him afraid.
They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
15:25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God,
and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty;
15:26 he runs at him with a stiff neck,
with the thick shields of his bucklers;
15:27 because he has covered his face with his fatness,
and gathered fat on his thighs.
15:28 He has lived in desolate cities,
in houses which no one inhabited,
which were ready to become heaps.
15:29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,
neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.
15:30 He shall not depart out of darkness.
The flame shall dry up his branches.
By the breath of God’s mouth shall he go away.
15:31 Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself;
for emptiness shall be his reward.
15:32 It shall be accomplished before his time.
His branch shall not be green.
15:33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine,
and shall cast off his flower as the olive tree.
15:34 For the company of the godless shall be barren,
and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
15:35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Their heart prepares deceit.”

16:1 Then Job answered,

16:2 “I have heard many such things.
You are all miserable comforters!
16:3 Shall vain words have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
16:4 I also could speak as you do.
If your soul were in my soul’s place,
I could join words together against you,
and shake my head at you,
16:5 but I would strengthen you with my mouth.
The solace of my lips would relieve you.
16:6 “Though I speak, my grief is not subsided.
Though I forbear, what am I eased?
16:7 But now, God, you have surely worn me out.
You have made desolate all my company.
16:8 You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me.
My leanness rises up against me.
It testifies to my face.
16:9 He has torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me.
He has gnashed on me with his teeth.
My adversary sharpens his eyes on me.
16:10 They have gaped on me with their mouth.
They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully.
They gather themselves together against me.
16:11 God delivers me to the ungodly,
and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
16:12 I was at ease, and he broke me apart.
Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces.
He has also set me up for his target.
16:13 His archers surround me.
He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare.
He pours out my gall on the ground.
16:14 He breaks me with breach on breach.
He runs on me like a giant.
16:15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin,
and have thrust my horn in the dust.
16:16 My face is red with weeping.
Deep darkness is on my eyelids.
16:17 Although there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
16:18 “Earth, don’t cover my blood.
Let my cry have no place to rest.
16:19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven.
He who vouches for me is on high.
16:20 My friends scoff at me.
My eyes pour out tears to God,
16:21 that he would maintain the right of a man with God,
of a son of man with his neighbor!
16:22 For when a few years have come,
I shall go the way of no return.

17:1 “My spirit is consumed.
My days are extinct,
And the grave is ready for me.
17:2 Surely there are mockers with me.
My eye dwells on their provocation.
17:3 “Now give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself.
Who is there who will strike hands with me?
17:4 For you have hidden their heart from understanding,
Therefore you shall not exalt them.
17:5 He who denounces his friends for a prey,
Even the eyes of his children shall fail.
17:6 “But he has made me a byword of the people.
They spit in my face.
17:7 My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow.
All my members are as a shadow.
17:8 Upright men shall be astonished at this.
The innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.
17:9 Yet shall the righteous hold on his way.
He who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.
17:10 But as for you all, come on now again;
I shall not find a wise man among you.
17:11 My days are past, my plans are broken off,
as are the thoughts of my heart.
17:12 They change the night into day,
saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness.
17:13 If I look for Sheol as my house,
if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
17:14 If I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father;’
to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘my sister;’
17:15 where then is my hope?
as for my hope, who shall see it?
17:16 Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol,
or descend together into the dust?”

12:1 Then Job answered,

12:2 “No doubt, but you are the people,
and wisdom shall die with you.
12:3 But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Yes, who doesn’t know such things as these?
12:4 I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor,
I, who called on God, and he answered.
The just, the blameless man is a joke.
12:5 In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune.
It is ready for them whose foot slips.
12:6 The tents of robbers prosper.
Those who provoke God are secure,
who carry their God in their hands.
12:7 “But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you;
the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.
12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you.
The fish of the sea shall declare to you.
12:9 Who doesn’t know that in all these,
the hand of Yahweh has done this,
12:10 in whose hand is the life of every living thing,
and the breath of all mankind?
12:11 Doesn’t the ear try words,
even as the palate tastes its food?
12:12 With aged men is wisdom,
in length of days understanding.
12:13 “With God is wisdom and might.
He has counsel and understanding.
12:14 Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again.
He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
12:15 Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up.
Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
12:16 With him is strength and wisdom.
The deceived and the deceiver are his.
12:17 He leads counselors away stripped.
He makes judges fools.
12:18 He loosens the bond of kings.
He binds their waist with a belt.
12:19 He leads priests away stripped,
and overthrows the mighty.
12:20 He removes the speech of those who are trusted,
and takes away the understanding of the elders.
12:21 He pours contempt on princes,
and loosens the belt of the strong.
12:22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness,
and brings out to light the shadow of death.
12:23 He increases the nations, and he destroys them.
He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.
12:24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth,
and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
12:25 They grope in the dark without light.
He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

13:1 “Behold, my eye has seen all this.
My ear has heard and understood it.
13:2 What you know, I know also.
I am not inferior to you.
13:3 “Surely I would speak to the Almighty.
I desire to reason with God.
13:4 But you are forgers of lies.
You are all physicians of no value.
13:5 Oh that you would be completely silent!
Then you would be wise.
13:6 Hear now my reasoning.
Listen to the pleadings of my lips.
13:7 Will you speak unrighteously for God,
and talk deceitfully for him?
13:8 Will you show partiality to him?
Will you contend for God?
13:9 Is it good that he should search you out?
Or as one deceives a man, will you deceive him?
13:10 He will surely reprove you
if you secretly show partiality.
13:11 Shall not his majesty make you afraid,
And his dread fall on you?
13:12 Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes,
Your defenses are defenses of clay.
13:13 “Be silent, leave me alone, that I may speak.
Let come on me what will.
13:14 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth,
and put my life in my hand?
13:15 Behold, he will kill me.
I have no hope.
Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.
13:16 This also shall be my salvation,
that a godless man shall not come before him.
13:17 Hear diligently my speech.
Let my declaration be in your ears.
13:18 See now, I have set my cause in order.
I know that I am righteous.
13:19 Who is he who will contend with me?
For then would I hold my peace and give up the spirit.
13:20 “Only don’t do two things to me;
then I will not hide myself from your face:
13:21 withdraw your hand far from me;
and don’t let your terror make me afraid.
13:22 Then call, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and you answer me.
13:23 How many are my iniquities and sins?
Make me know my disobedience and my sin.
13:24 Why hide you your face,
and hold me for your enemy?
13:25 Will you harass a driven leaf?
Will you pursue the dry stubble?
13:26 For you write bitter things against me,
and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth:
13:27 You also put my feet in the stocks,
and mark all my paths.
You set a bound to the soles of my feet,
13:28 though I am decaying like a rotten thing,
like a garment that is moth-eaten.

9:1 Then Job answered,

9:2 “Truly I know that it is so,
but how can man be just with God?
9:3 If he is pleased to contend with him,
he can’t answer him one time in a thousand.
9:4 God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength:
who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?
9:5 He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it,
when he overturns them in his anger.
9:6 He shakes the earth out of its place.
Its pillars tremble.
9:7 He commands the sun, and it doesn’t rise,
and seals up the stars.
9:8 He alone stretches out the heavens,
and treads on the waves of the sea.
9:9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,
and the rooms of the south.
9:10 He does great things past finding out;
yes, marvelous things without number.
9:11 Behold, he goes by me, and I don’t see him.
He passes on also, but I don’t perceive him.
9:12 Behold, he snatches away.
Who can hinder him?
Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
9:13 “God will not withdraw his anger.
The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
9:14 How much less shall I answer him,
And choose my words to argue with him?
9:15 Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn’t answer him.
I would make supplication to my judge.
9:16 If I had called, and he had answered me,
yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened to my voice.
9:17 For he breaks me with a storm,
and multiplies my wounds without cause.
9:18 He will not allow me to catch my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
9:19 If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty!
If of justice, ‘Who,’ says he, ‘will summon me?’
9:20 Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me.
Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse.
9:21 I am blameless.
I don’t respect myself.
I despise my life.
9:22 “It is all the same.
Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.
9:23 If the scourge kills suddenly,
he will mock at the trial of the innocent.
9:24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.
He covers the faces of its judges.
If not he, then who is it?
9:25 “Now my days are swifter than a runner.
They flee away, they see no good,
9:26 They have passed away as the swift ships,
as the eagle that swoops on the prey.
9:27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;’
9:28 I am afraid of all my sorrows,
I know that you will not hold me innocent.
9:29 I shall be condemned.
Why then do I labor in vain?
9:30 If I wash myself with snow,
and cleanse my hands with lye,
9:31 yet you will plunge me in the ditch.
My own clothes shall abhor me.
9:32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him,
that we should come together in judgment.
9:33 There is no umpire between us,
that might lay his hand on us both.
9:34 Let him take his rod away from me.
Let his terror not make me afraid;
9:35 then I would speak, and not fear him,
for I am not so in myself.

10:1 “My soul is weary of my life.
I will give free course to my complaint.
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
10:2 I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me.
Show me why you contend with me.
10:3 Is it good to you that you should oppress,
that you should despise the work of your hands,
and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
10:4 Do you have eyes of flesh?
Or do you see as man sees?
10:5 Are your days as the days of mortals,
or your years as man’s years,
10:6 that you inquire after my iniquity,
and search after my sin?
10:7 Although you know that I am not wicked,
there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
10:8 “‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether,
yet you destroy me.
10:9 Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay.
Will you bring me into dust again?
10:10 Haven’t you poured me out like milk,
and curdled me like cheese?
10:11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh,
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
10:12 You have granted me life and loving kindness.
Your visitation has preserved my spirit.
10:13 Yet you hid these things in your heart.
I know that this is with you:
10:14 if I sin, then you mark me.
You will not acquit me from my iniquity.
10:15 If I am wicked, woe to me.
If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head,
being filled with disgrace,
and conscious of my affliction.
10:16 If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion.
Again you show yourself powerful to me.
10:17 You renew your witnesses against me,
and increase your indignation on me.
Changes and warfare are with me.
10:18 “‘Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb?
I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.
10:19 I should have been as though I had not been.
I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
10:20 Aren’t my days few?
Cease then.
Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,
10:21 before I go where I shall not return from,
to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
10:22 the land dark as midnight,
of the shadow of death,
without any order,
where the light is as midnight.’”

6:1 Then Job answered,

6:2 “Oh that my anguish were weighed,
and all my calamity laid in the balances!
6:3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas,
therefore have my words been rash.
6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me.
My spirit drinks up their poison.
The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
6:5 Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass?
Or does the ox low over his fodder?
6:6 Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt?
Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
6:7 My soul refuses to touch them.
They are as loathsome food to me.
6:8 “Oh that I might have my request,
that God would grant the thing that I long for,
6:9 even that it would please God to crush me;
that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
6:10 Be it still my consolation,
yes, let me exult in pain that doesn’t spare,
that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
6:11 What is my strength, that I should wait?
What is my end, that I should be patient?
6:12 Is my strength the strength of stones?
Or is my flesh of brass?
6:13 Isn’t it that I have no help in me,
That wisdom is driven quite from me?
6:14 “To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend;
even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
6:15 My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook,
as the channel of brooks that pass away;
6:16 Which are black by reason of the ice,
in which the snow hides itself.
6:17 In the dry season, they vanish.
When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.
6:18 The caravans that travel beside them turn aside.
They go up into the waste, and perish.
6:19 The caravans of Tema looked.
The companies of Sheba waited for them.
6:20 They were distressed because they were confident.
They came there, and were confounded.
6:21 For now you are nothing.
You see a terror, and are afraid.
6:22 Did I say, ‘Give to me?’
or, ‘Offer a present for me from your substance?’
6:23 or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand?’
or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?’
6:24 “Teach me, and I will hold my peace.
Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
6:25 How forcible are words of uprightness!
But your reproof, what does it reprove?
6:26 Do you intend to reprove words,
since the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?
6:27 Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless,
and make merchandise of your friend.
6:28 Now therefore be pleased to look at me,
for surely I shall not lie to your face.
6:29 Please return.
Let there be no injustice.
Yes, return again.
My cause is righteous.
6:30 Is there injustice on my tongue?
Can’t my taste discern mischievous things?

7:1 “Isn’t a man forced to labor on earth?
Aren’t his days like the days of a hired hand?
7:2 As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow,
as a hireling who looks for his wages,
7:3 so am I made to possess months of misery,
wearisome nights are appointed to me.
7:4 When I lie down, I say,
‘When shall I arise, and the night be gone?’
I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.
7:5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust.
My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.
7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and are spent without hope.
7:7 Oh remember that my life is a breath.
My eye shall no more see good.
7:8 The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more.
Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be.
7:9 As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away,
so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more.
7:10 He shall return no more to his house,
neither shall his place know him any more.
7:11 “Therefore I will not keep silent.
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
7:12 Am I a sea, or a sea monster,
that you put a guard over me?
7:13 When I say, ‘My bed shall comfort me.
My couch shall ease my complaint;’
7:14 then you scare me with dreams,
and terrify me through visions:
7:15 so that my soul chooses strangling,
death rather than my bones.
7:16 I loathe my life.
I don’t want to live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
7:17 What is man, that you should magnify him,
that you should set your mind on him,
7:18 that you should visit him every morning,
and test him every moment?
7:19 How long will you not look away from me,
nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?
7:20 If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men?
Why have you set me as a mark for you,
so that I am a burden to myself?
7:21 Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity?
For now shall I lie down in the dust.
You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be.”

1:6 Now it happened on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, that Satan also came among them. 1:7 Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”

1:8 Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.”

1:9 Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 1:10 Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 1:11 But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.”

1:12 Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t put forth your hand.”

So Satan went forth from the presence of Yahweh.
1:13 It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, 1:14 that there came a messenger to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them, 1:15 and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

1:16 While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

1:17 While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

1:18 While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, 1:19 and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”

1:20 Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped. 1:21 He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be the name of Yahweh.” 1:22 In all this, Job did not sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.

2:1 Again it happened on the day when the God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, that Satan came also among them to present himself before Yahweh. 2:2 Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”

2:3 Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause.”

2:4 Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. 2:5 But put forth your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face.”

2:6 Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.”

2:7 So Satan went forth from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head. 2:8 He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes. 2:9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.”

2:10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”

In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.
2:11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him. 2:12 When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky. 2:13 So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

3:1 After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth. 3:2 Job answered:

3:3 “Let the day perish in which I was born,
the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’
3:4 Let that day be darkness.
Don’t let God from above seek for it,
neither let the light shine on it.
3:5 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own.
Let a cloud dwell on it.
Let all that makes black the day terrify it.
3:6 As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it.
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year.
Let it not come into the number of the months.
3:7 Behold, let that night be barren.
Let no joyful voice come therein.
3:8 Let them curse it who curse the day,
who are ready to rouse up leviathan.
3:9 Let the stars of its twilight be dark.
Let it look for light, but have none,
neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,
3:10 because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb,
nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
3:11 “Why didn’t I die from the womb?
Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
3:12 Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breast, that I should nurse?
3:13 For now should I have lain down and been quiet.
I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,
3:14 with kings and counselors of the earth,
who built up waste places for themselves;
3:15 or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver:
3:16 or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been,
as infants who never saw light.
3:17 There the wicked cease from troubling.
There the weary are at rest.
3:18 There the prisoners are at ease together.
They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.
3:19 The small and the great are there.
The servant is free from his master.
3:20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery,
life to the bitter in soul,
3:21 Who long for death, but it doesn’t come;
and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
3:22 who rejoice exceedingly,
and are glad, when they can find the grave?
3:23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?
3:24 For my sighing comes before I eat.
My groanings are poured out like water.
3:25 For the thing which I fear comes on me,
That which I am afraid of comes to me.
3:26 I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest;
but trouble comes.”

4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

4:2 “If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved?
But who can withhold himself from speaking?
4:3 Behold, you have instructed many,
you have strengthened the weak hands.
4:4 Your words have supported him who was falling,
You have made firm the feeble knees.
4:5 But now it has come to you, and you faint.
It touches you, and you are troubled.
4:6 Isn’t your piety your confidence?
Isn’t the integrity of your ways your hope?
4:7 “Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent?
Or where were the upright cut off?
4:8 According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity,
and sow trouble,
reap the same.
4:9 By the breath of God they perish.
By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
4:10 The roaring of the lion,
and the voice of the fierce lion,
the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
4:11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey.
The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad.
4:12 “Now a thing was secretly brought to me.
My ear received a whisper of it.
4:13 In thoughts from the visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
4:14 fear came on me, and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.
4:15 Then a spirit passed before my face.
The hair of my flesh stood up.
4:16 It stood still, but I couldn’t discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes.
Silence, then I heard a voice, saying,
4:17 ‘Shall mortal man be more just than God?
Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
4:18 Behold, he puts no trust in his servants.
He charges his angels with error.
4:19 How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed before the moth!
4:20 Between morning and evening they are destroyed.
They perish forever without any regarding it.
4:21 Isn’t their tent cord plucked up within them?
They die, and that without wisdom.’

8:7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged on the gallows, because he laid his hand on the Jews. 8:8 Write also to the Jews, as it pleases you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring; for the writing which is written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may not be reversed by any man.”

8:9 Then the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month Sivan, on the twenty-third day of the month; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the satraps, and the governors and princes of the provinces which are from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language, and to the Jews in their writing, and in their language. 8:10 He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s ring, and sent letters by courier on horseback, riding on royal horses that were bread from swift steeds. 8:11 In those letters, the king granted the Jews who were in every city to gather themselves together, and to defend their life, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, their little ones and women, and to plunder their possessions, 8:12 on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. 8:13 A copy of the letter, that the decree should be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, that the Jews should be ready for that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. 8:14 So the couriers who rode on royal horses went out, hastened and pressed on by the king’s commandment. The decree was given out in the citadel of Susa.

8:15 Mordecai went out of the presence of the king in royal clothing of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of fine linen and purple; and the city of Susa shouted and was glad. 8:16 The Jews had light, gladness, joy, and honor. 8:17 In every province, and in every city, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had gladness, joy, a feast, and a good day. Many from among the peoples of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews was fallen on them.

9:1 Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the month, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to conquer them, (but it was turned out the opposite happened, that the Jews conquered those who hated them), 9:2 the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus, to lay hands on those who wanted to harm them. No one could withstand them, because the fear of them had fallen on all the people. 9:3 All the princes of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and those who did the king’s business helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them. 9:4 For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces; for the man Mordecai grew greater and greater. 9:5 The Jews struck all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and with slaughter and destruction, and did what they wanted to those who hated them. 9:6 In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. 9:7 They killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 9:8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9:9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha, 9:10 the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jew’s enemy, but they didn’t lay their hand on the plunder. 9:11 On that day, the number of those who were slain in the citadel of Susa was brought before the king. 9:12 The king said to Esther the queen, “The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in the citadel of Susa, including the ten sons of Haman; what then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your further request? It shall be done.”

9:13 Then Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do tomorrow also according to this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”

9:14 The king commanded this to be done. A decree was given out in Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons. 9:15 The Jews who were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and killed three hundred men in Shushan; but they didn’t lay their hand on the spoil. 9:16 The other Jews who were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, defended their lives, had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them; but they didn’t lay their hand on the plunder. 9:17 This was done on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of that month they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 9:18 But the Jews who were in Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth days of the month; and on the fifteenth day of that month, they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 9:19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, a good day, and a day of sending presents of food to one another. 9:20 Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both near and far, 9:21 to enjoin them that they should keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month Adar yearly, 9:22 as the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending presents of food to one another, and gifts to the needy. 9:23 The Jews accepted the custom that they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them; 9:24 because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast “Pur,” that is the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them; 9:25 but when this became known to the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 9:26 Therefore they called these days “Purim,” from the word “Pur.” Therefore because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and that which had come to them, 9:27 the Jews established, and imposed on themselves, and on their descendants, and on all those who joined themselves to them, so that it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to what was written, and according to its appointed time, every year; 9:28 and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor their memory perish from their seed.

9:29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. 9:30 He sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, 9:31 to confirm these days of Purim in their appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had decreed, and as they had imposed upon themselves and their descendants, in the matter of the fastings and their cry. 9:32 The commandment of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.

10:1 King Ahasuerus laid a tribute on the land, and on the islands of the sea. 10:2 All the acts of his power and of his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? 10:3 For Mordecai the Jew was next to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted by the multitude of his brothers, seeking the good of his people, and speaking peace to all his descendants.

4:9 Hathach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. 4:10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a message to Mordecai: 4:11 “All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, know, that whoever, whether man or woman, comes to the king into the inner court without being called, there is one law for him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the king might hold out the golden scepter, that he may live. I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”

4:12 They told to Mordecai Esther’s words. 4:13 Then Mordecai asked them return answer to Esther, “Don’t think to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house any more than all the Jews. 4:14 For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

4:15 Then Esther asked them to answer Mordecai, 4:16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” 4:17 So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.

5:1 Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal clothing, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, next to the king’s house. The king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, next to the entrance of the house. 5:2 When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight; and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther came near, and touched the top of the scepter. 5:3 Then the king asked her, “What would you like, queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you even to the half of the kingdom.”

5:4 Esther said, “If it seems good to the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.”

5:5 Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, so that it may be done as Esther has said.” So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

5:6 The king said to Esther at the banquet of wine, “What is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.”

5:7 Then Esther answered and said, “My petition and my request is this. 5:8 If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I will prepare for them, and I will do tomorrow as the king has said.”

5:9 Then Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart, but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he didn’t stand up nor move for him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. 5:10 Nevertheless Haman restrained himself, and went home. There, he sent and called for his friends and Zeresh his wife. 5:11 Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children, all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. 5:12 Haman also said, “Yes, Esther the queen let no man come in with the king to the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and tomorrow I am also invited by her together with the king. 5:13 Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

5:14 Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on it. Then go in merrily with the king to the banquet.” This pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.

6:1 On that night, the king couldn’t sleep. He commanded the book of records of the chronicles to be brought, and they were read to the king. 6:2 It was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who were doorkeepers, who had tried to lay hands on the King Ahasuerus. 6:3 The king said, “What honor and dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?”

Then the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

6:4 The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had come into the outer court of the king’s house, to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

6:5 The king’s servants said to him, “Behold, Haman stands in the court.”

The king said, “Let him come in.”
6:6 So Haman came in. The king said to him, “What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?”

Now Haman said in his heart, “Who would the king delight to honor more than myself?”
6:7 Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, 6:8 let royal clothing be brought which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides on, and on the head of which a crown royal is set. 6:9 Let the clothing and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man whom the king delights to honor with them, and have him ride on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’”

6:10 Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry and take the clothing and the horse, as you have said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Let nothing fail of all that you have spoken.”

6:11 Then Haman took the clothing and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and had him ride through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!”

6:12 Mordecai came back to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning and having his head covered. 6:13 Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him, but you will surely fall before him.” 6:14 While they were yet talking with him, the king’s eunuchs came, and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

7:1 So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. 7:2 The king said again to Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, “What is your petition, queen Esther? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.”

7:3 Then Esther the queen answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. 7:4 For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondservants and bondmaids, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king’s loss.”

7:5 Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen, “Who is he, and where is he who dared presume in his heart to do so?”

7:6 Esther said, “An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman!”

Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
7:7 The king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden. Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king. 7:8 Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman had fallen on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in front of me in the house?” As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

7:9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were with the king said, “Behold, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman has made for Mordecai, who spoke good for the king, is standing at Haman’s house.”

The king said, “Hang him on it!”

7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.

1:10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcass, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, 1:11 to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the royal crown, to show the people and the princes her beauty; for she was beautiful. 1:12 But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by the eunuchs. Therefore the king was very angry, and his anger burned in him. 1:13 Then the king said to the wise men, who knew the times, (for it was the king’s custom to consult those who knew law and judgment; 1:14 and the next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king’s face, and sat first in the kingdom), 1:15 “What shall we do to the queen Vashti according to law, because she has not done the bidding of the King Ahasuerus by the eunuchs?”

1:16 Memucan answered before the king and the princes, “Vashti the queen has not done wrong to just the king, but also to all the princes, and to all the people who are in all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus. 1:17 For this deed of the queen will become known to all women, causing them to show contempt for their husbands, when it is reported, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she didn’t come.’ 1:18 Today, the princesses of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s deed will tell all the king’s princes. This will cause much contempt and wrath.

1:19 “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. 1:20 When the king’s decree which he shall make is published throughout all his kingdom (for it is great), all the wives will give their husbands honor, both great and small.”

1:21 This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did according to the word of Memucan: 1:22 for he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language, that every man should rule his own house, speaking in the language of his own people.

2:1 After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her. 2:2 Then the king’s servants who served him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. 2:3 Let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the beautiful young virgins to the citadel of Susa, to the women’s house, to the custody of Hegai the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women. Let cosmetics be given them; 2:4 and let the maiden who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” The thing pleased the king, and he did so.

2:5 There was a certain Jew in the citadel of Susa, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, 2:6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. 2:7 He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter. 2:8 So it happened, when the king’s commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together to the citadel of Susa, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken into the king’s house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. 2:9 The maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from him. He quickly gave her cosmetics and her portions of food, and the seven choice maidens who were to be given her out of the king’s house. He moved her and her maidens to the best place in the women’s house. 2:10 Esther had not made known her people nor her relatives, because Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make it known. 2:11 Mordecai walked every day in front of the court of the women’s house, to find out how Esther was doing, and what would become of her.

2:12 Each young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after her purification for twelve months (for so were the days of their purification accomplished, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet fragrances and with preparations for beautifying women). 2:13 The young woman then came to the king like this: whatever she desired was given her to go with her out of the women’s house to the king’s house. 2:14 In the evening she went, and on the next day she returned into the second women’s house, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who kept the concubines. She came in to the king no more, unless the king delighted in her, and she was called by name. 2:15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the keeper of the women, advised. Esther obtained favor in the sight of all those who looked at her. 2:16 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 2:17 The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

2:18 Then the king made a great feast for all his princes and his servants, even Esther’s feast; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces, and gave gifts according to the king’s bounty.

2:19 When the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate. 2:20 Esther had not yet made known her relatives nor her people, as Mordecai had commanded her; for Esther obeyed Mordecai, like she did when she was brought up by him. 2:21 In those days, while Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, who were doorkeepers, were angry, and sought to lay hands on the King Ahasuerus. 2:22 This thing became known to Mordecai, who informed Esther the queen; and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name. 2:23 When this matter was investigated, and it was found to be so, they were both hanged on a tree; and it was written in the book of the chronicles in the king’s presence.

3:1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. 3:2 All the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate bowed down, and paid homage to Haman; for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai didn’t bow down or pay him homage. 3:3 Then the king’s servants, who were in the king’s gate, said to Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s commandment?” 3:4 Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily to him, and he didn’t listen to them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew. 3:5 When Haman saw that Mordecai didn’t bow down, nor pay him homage, Haman was full of wrath. 3:6 But he scorned the thought of laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had made known to him Mordecai’s people. Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even Mordecai’s people.

3:7 In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, and chose the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. 3:8 Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different than other people’s. They don’t keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not for the king’s profit to allow them to remain. 3:9 If it pleases the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who are in charge of the king’s business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”

3:10 The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy. 3:11 The king said to Haman, “The silver is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.” 3:12 Then the king’s scribes were called in on the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month; and all that Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps, and to the governors who were over every province, and to the princes of every people, to every province according its writing, and to every people in their language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus, and it was sealed with the king’s ring. 3:13 Letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their possessions. 3:14 A copy of the letter, that the decree should be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, that they should be ready against that day. 3:15 The couriers went forth in haste by the king’s commandment, and the decree was given out in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Shushan was perplexed.

11:1 The princes of the people lived in Jerusalem: the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts in the other cities. 11:2 The people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell in Jerusalem. 11:3 Now these are the chiefs of the province who lived in Jerusalem; but in the cities of Judah everyone lived in his possession in their cities: Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the Nethinim, and the children of Solomon’s servants. 11:4 In Jerusalem lived certain of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin. Of the children of Judah: Athaiah the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, of the children of Perez; 11:5 and Maaseiah the son of Baruch, the son of Colhozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of the Shilonite. 11:6 All the sons of Perez who lived in Jerusalem were four hundred sixty-eight valiant men. 11:7 These are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah. 11:8 After him Gabbai, Sallai, nine hundred twenty-eight. 11:9 Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer; and Judah the son of Hassenuah was second over the city. 11:10 Of the priests: Jedaiah the son of Joiarib, Jachin, 11:11 Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of God’s house, 11:12 and their brothers who did the work of the house, eight hundred twenty-two; and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah, 11:13 and his brothers, chiefs of fathers’ households, two hundred forty-two; and Amashsai the son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer, 11:14 and their brothers, mighty men of valor, one hundred twenty-eight; and their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of Haggedolim. 11:15 Of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni; 11:16 and Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the chiefs of the Levites, who had the oversight of the outward business of God’s house; 11:17 and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who was the chief to begin the thanksgiving in prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his brothers; and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun. 11:18 All the Levites in the holy city were two hundred eighty-four. 11:19 Moreover the porters, Akkub, Talmon, and their brothers, who kept watch at the gates, were one hundred seventy-two. 11:20 The residue of Israel, of the priests, the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, everyone in his inheritance. 11:21 But the Nethinim lived in Ophel: and Ziha and Gishpa were over the Nethinim. 11:22 The overseer also of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica, of the sons of Asaph, the singers, over the business of God’s house. 11:23 For there was a commandment from the king concerning them, and a settled provision for the singers, as every day required. 11:24 Pethahiah the son of Meshezabel, of the children of Zerah the son of Judah, was at the king’s hand in all matters concerning the people. 11:25 As for the villages, with their fields, some of the children of Judah lived in Kiriath Arba and its towns, and in Dibon and its towns, and in Jekabzeel and its villages, 11:26 and in Jeshua, and in Moladah, and Beth Pelet, 11:27 and in Hazar Shual, and in Beersheba and its towns, 11:28 and in Ziklag, and in Meconah and in its towns, 11:29 and in En Rimmon, and in Zorah, and in Jarmuth, 11:30 Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, Azekah and its towns. So they encamped from Beersheba to the valley of Hinnom. 11:31 The children of Benjamin also lived from Geba onward, at Michmash and Aija, and at Bethel and its towns, 11:32 at Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, 11:33 Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim, 11:34 Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat, 11:35 Lod, and Ono, the valley of craftsmen. 11:36 Of the Levites, certain divisions in Judah settled in Benjamin’s territory.

12:1 Now these are the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, 12:2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, 12:3 Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, 12:4 Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, 12:5 Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, 12:6 Shemaiah, and Joiarib, Jedaiah. 12:7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the chiefs of the priests and of their brothers in the days of Jeshua. 12:8 Moreover the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who was over the thanksgiving, he and his brothers. 12:9 Also Bakbukiah and Unno, their brothers, were over against them according to their offices. 12:10 Jeshua became the father of Joiakim, and Joiakim became the father of Eliashib, and Eliashib became the father of Joiada, 12:11 and Joiada became the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan became the father of Jaddua. 12:12 In the days of Joiakim were priests, heads of fathers’ households: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah; 12:13 of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan; 12:14 of Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph; 12:15 of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai; 12:16 of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam; 12:17 of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai; 12:18 of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan; 12:19 and of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi; 12:20 of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; 12:21 of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel. 12:22 As for the Levites, in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, there were recorded the heads of fathers’ households; also the priests, in the reign of Darius the Persian. 12:23 The sons of Levi, heads of fathers’ households, were written in the book of the chronicles, even until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib. 12:24 The chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers over against them, to praise and give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, watch next to watch. 12:25 Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were porters keeping the watch at the storehouses of the gates. 12:26 These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest the scribe. 12:27 At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with giving thanks, and with singing, with cymbals, stringed instruments, and with harps. 12:28 The sons of the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain around Jerusalem, and from the villages of the Netophathites; 12:29 also from Beth Gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had built them villages around Jerusalem. 12:30 The priests and the Levites purified themselves; and they purified the people, and the gates, and the wall. 12:31 Then I brought up the princes of Judah on the wall, and appointed two great companies who gave thanks and went in procession. One went on the right hand on the wall toward the dung gate; 12:32 and after them went Hoshaiah, and half of the princes of Judah, 12:33 and Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam, 12:34 Judah, and Benjamin, and Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, 12:35 and certain of the priests’ sons with trumpets: Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph; 12:36 and his brothers, Shemaiah, and Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, and Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God; and Ezra the scribe was before them. 12:37 By the spring gate, and straight before them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, even to the water gate eastward. 12:38 The other company of those who gave thanks went to meet them, and I after them, with the half of the people, on the wall, above the tower of the furnaces, even to the broad wall, 12:39 and above the gate of Ephraim, and by the old gate, and by the fish gate, and the tower of Hananel, and the tower of Hammeah, even to the sheep gate: and they stood still in the gate of the guard. 12:40 So stood the two companies of those who gave thanks in God’s house, and I, and the half of the rulers with me; 12:41 and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets; 12:42 and Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer. The singers sang loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer. 12:43 They offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy; and the women also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off. 12:44 On that day were men appointed over the rooms for the treasures, for the wave offerings, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites who waited. 12:45 They performed the duty of their God, and the duty of the purification, and so did the singers and the porters, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son. 12:46 For in the days of David and Asaph of old there was a chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. 12:47 All Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters, as every day required: and they set apart that which was for the Levites; and the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron.

13:1 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of God forever, 13:2 because they didn’t meet the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, to curse them: however our God turned the curse into a blessing. 13:3 It came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. 13:4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the rooms of the house of our God, being allied to Tobiah, 13:5 had prepared for him a great room, where before they laid the meal offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the wave offerings for the priests. 13:6 But in all this, I was not at Jerusalem; for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king: and after certain days asked I leave of the king, 13:7 and I came to Jerusalem, and understood the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing him a room in the courts of God’s house. 13:8 It grieved me severely: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the room. 13:9 Then I commanded, and they cleansed the rooms: and there brought I again the vessels of God’s house, with the meal offerings and the frankincense. 13:10 I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them; so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled everyone to his field. 13:11 Then I contended with the rulers, and said, “Why is God’s house forsaken?” I gathered them together, and set them in their place. 13:12 Then brought all Judah the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the treasuries. 13:13 I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah: and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were counted faithful, and their business was to distribute to their brothers. 13:14 Remember me, my God, concerning this, and don’t wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its observances. 13:15 In those days saw I in Judah some men treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day in which they sold food. 13:16 There lived men of Tyre also therein, who brought in fish, and all kinds of wares, and sold on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. 13:17 Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, “What evil thing is this that you do, and profane the Sabbath day? 13:18 Didn’t your fathers do thus, and didn’t our God bring all this evil on us, and on this city? Yet you bring more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”

13:19 It came to pass that, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. I set some of my servants over the gates, that no burden should be brought in on the Sabbath day. 13:20 So the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside of Jerusalem once or twice. 13:21 Then I testified against them, and said to them, “Why do you stay around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on, they didn’t come on the Sabbath. 13:22 I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember to me, my God, this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your loving kindness. 13:23 In those days also saw I the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: 13:24 and their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each people. 13:25 I contended with them, and cursed them, and struck certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves. 13:26 Didn’t Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless foreign women caused even him to sin. 13:27 Shall we then listen to you to do all this great evil, to trespass against our God in marrying foreign women?”

13:28 One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me. 13:29 Remember them, my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites. 13:30 Thus I cleansed them from all foreigners, and appointed duties for the priests and for the Levites, everyone in his work; 13:31 and for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the first fruits. Remember me, my God, for good.

7:4 Now the city was wide and large; but the people were few therein, and the houses were not built. 7:5 My God put into my heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written therein: 7:6 These are the children of the province, who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, everyone to his city; 7:7 who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel: 7:8 The children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy-two. 7:9 The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy-two. 7:10 The children of Arah, six hundred fifty-two. 7:11 The children of Pahathmoab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred eighteen. 7:12 The children of Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four. 7:13 The children of Zattu, eight hundred forty-five. 7:14 The children of Zaccai, seven hundred sixty. 7:15 The children of Binnui, six hundred forty-eight. 7:16 The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty-eight. 7:17 The children of Azgad, two thousand three hundred twenty-two. 7:18 The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty-seven. 7:19 The children of Bigvai, two thousand sixty-seven. 7:20 The children of Adin, six hundred fifty-five. 7:21 The children of Ater, of Hezekiah, ninety-eight. 7:22 The children of Hashum, three hundred Twenty-eight. 7:23 The children of Bezai, three hundred twenty-four. 7:24 The children of Hariph, one hundred twelve. 7:25 The children of Gibeon, ninety-five. 7:26 The men of Bethlehem and Netophah, one hundred eighty-eight. 7:27 The men of Anathoth, one hundred twenty-eight. 7:28 The men of Beth Azmaveth, forty-two. 7:29 The men of Kiriath Jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty-three. 7:30 The men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty-one. 7:31 The men of Michmas, one hundred and twenty-two. 7:32 The men of Bethel and Ai, a hundred twenty-three. 7:33 The men of the other Nebo, fifty-two. 7:34 The children of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four. 7:35 The children of Harim, three hundred twenty. 7:36 The children of Jericho, three hundred forty-five. 7:37 The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty-one. 7:38 The children of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred thirty. 7:39 The priests: The children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy-three. 7:40 The children of Immer, one thousand fifty-two. 7:41 The children of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred forty-seven. 7:42 The children of Harim, one thousand seventeen. 7:43 The Levites: the children of Jeshua, of Kadmiel, of the children of Hodevah, seventy-four. 7:44 The singers: the children of Asaph, one hundred forty-eight. 7:45 The porters: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, one hundred thirty-eight. 7:46 The Nethinim: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth, 7:47 the children of Keros, the children of Sia, the children of Padon, 7:48 the children of Lebana, the children of Hagaba, the children of Salmai, 7:49 the children of Hanan, the children of Giddel, the children of Gahar, 7:50 the children of Reaiah, the children of Rezin, the children of Nekoda, 7:51 the children of Gazzam, the children of Uzza, the children of Paseah. 7:52 The children of Besai, the children of Meunim, the children of Nephushesim, 7:53 the children of Bakbuk, the children of Hakupha, the children of Harhur, 7:54 the children of Bazlith, the children of Mehida, the children of Harsha, 7:55 the children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Temah, 7:56 the children of Neziah, the children of Hatipha. 7:57 The children of Solomon’s servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Perida, 7:58 the children of Jaala, the children of Darkon, the children of Giddel, 7:59 the children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth Hazzebaim, the children of Amon. 7:60 All the Nethinim, and the children of Solomon’s servants, were three hundred ninety-two. 7:61 These were those who went up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer; but they could not show their fathers’ houses, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel: 7:62 The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred forty-two. 7:63 Of the priests: the children of Hobaiah, the children of Hakkoz, the children of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name. 7:64 These searched for their geneological records, but couldn’t find them. Therefore were they deemed polluted and put from the priesthood. 7:65 The governor said to them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, until there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim. 7:66 The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty, 7:67 besides their male servants and their female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven: and they had two hundred forty-five singing men and singing women. 7:68 Their horses were seven hundred thirty-six; their mules, two hundred forty-five; 7:69 their camels, four hundred thirty-five; their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred twenty. 7:70 Some from among the heads of fathers’ households gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury one thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, and five hundred thirty priests’ garments. 7:71 Some of the heads of fathers’ households gave into the treasury of the work twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand two hundred minas of silver. 7:72 That which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand minas of silver, and sixty-seven priests’ garments. 7:73 So the priests, and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinim, and all Israel, lived in their cities. When the seventh month had come, the children of Israel were in their cities.

8:1 All the people gathered themselves together as one man into the broad place that was before the water gate; and they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which Yahweh had commanded to Israel. 8:2 Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. 8:3 He read therein before the broad place that was before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and of those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. 8:4 Ezra the scribe stood on a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Uriah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchijah, and Hashum, and Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam. 8:5 Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up: 8:6 and Ezra blessed Yahweh, the great God. All the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” with the lifting up of their hands. They bowed their heads, and worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground. 8:7 Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stayed in their place. 8:8 They read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading. 8:9 Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, “This day is holy to Yahweh your God. Don’t mourn, nor weep.” For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. 8:10 Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Don’t be grieved; for the joy of Yahweh is your strength.”

8:11 So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, “Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be grieved.”

8:12 All the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. 8:13 On the second day were gathered together the heads of fathers’ households of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to Ezra the scribe, even to give attention to the words of the law. 8:14 They found written in the law, how that Yahweh had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month; 8:15 and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the mountain, and get olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.”

8:16 So the people went out, and brought them, and made themselves booths, everyone on the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of God’s house, and in the broad place of the water gate, and in the broad place of the gate of Ephraim. 8:17 All the assembly of those who had come again out of the captivity made booths, and lived in the booths; for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the children of Israel had not done so. There was very great gladness. 8:18 Also day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. They kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.

9:1 Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth on them. 9:2 The seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. 9:3 They stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of Yahweh their God a fourth part of the day; and a fourth part they confessed, and worshiped Yahweh their God. 9:4 Then Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani of the Levites stood up on the stairs, and cried with a loud voice to Yahweh their God. 9:5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting! Bessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise! 9:6 You are Yahweh, even you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their army, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you. 9:7 You are Yahweh, the God who chose Abram, and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name of Abraham, 9:8 and found his heart faithful before you, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his seed, and have performed your words; for you are righteous.

9:9 “You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea, 9:10 and showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, and against all his servants, and against all the people of his land; for you knew that they dealt proudly against them, and made a name for yourself, as it is this day. 9:11 You divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters. 9:12 Moreover, in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go.

9:13 “You came down also on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 9:14 and made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them commandments, and statutes, and a law, by Moses your servant, 9:15 and gave them bread from the sky for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them.

9:16 “But they and our fathers dealt proudly and hardened their neck, didn’t listen to your commandments, 9:17 and refused to obey, neither were they mindful of your wonders that you did among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and didn’t forsake them. 9:18 Yes, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed awful blasphemies; 9:19 yet you in your manifold mercies didn’t forsake them in the wilderness: the pillar of cloud didn’t depart from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go. 9:20 You gave also your good Spirit to instruct them, and didn’t withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.

9:21 “Yes, forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing. Their clothes didn’t grow old, and their feet didn’t swell. 9:22 Moreover you gave them kingdoms and peoples, which you allotted according to their portions. So they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. 9:23 You also multiplied their children as the stars of the sky, and brought them into the land concerning which you said to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.

9:24 “So the children went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings, and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they pleased. 9:25 They took fortified cities, and a rich land, and possessed houses full of all good things, cisterns dug out, vineyards, and olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were filled, became fat, and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

9:26 “Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, and cast your law behind their back, and killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you, and they committed awful blasphemies. 9:27 Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them. In the time of their trouble, when they cried to you, you heard from heaven; and according to your manifold mercies you gave them saviors who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries. 9:28 But after they had rest, they did evil again before you; therefore left you them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them; yet when they returned, and cried to you, you heard from heaven; and many times you delivered them according to your mercies, 9:29 and testified against them, that you might bring them again to your law. Yet they dealt proudly, and didn’t listen to your commandments, but sinned against your ordinances, (which if a man does, he shall live in them), turned their backs, stiffened their neck, and would not hear. 9:30 Yet many years you put up with them, and testified against them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet would they not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

9:31 “Nevertheless in your manifold mercies you did not make a full end of them, nor forsake them; for you are a gracious and merciful God. 9:32 Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness, don’t let all the travail seem little before you, that has come on us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria to this day. 9:33 However you are just in all that has come on us; for you have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly; 9:34 neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept your law, nor listened to your commandments and your testimonies with which you testified against them. 9:35 For they have not served you in their kingdom, and in your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land which you gave before them, neither did they turn from their wicked works.

9:36 “Behold, we are servants this day, and as for the land that you gave to our fathers to eat its fruit and its good, behold, we are servants in it. 9:37 It yields much increase to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins: also they have power over our bodies, and over our livestock, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress. 9:38 Yet for all this, we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, our Levites, and our priests, seal it.”