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"Therefore You handed them over to their enemies who oppressed them. But when they cried out to You in the time of their suffering and distress, You heard them from heaven, and according to Your great compassion You gave them people to rescue them. Who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.

"But as soon as they had rest, they again did evil before You; Therefore You abandoned them into the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them. Yet when they turned and cried out again to You, You heard them from heaven, And You rescued them many times in accordance with Your compassion,

And You admonished them and warned them to turn them back to Your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and arrogantly and did not heed Your commandments, but sinned against Your ordinances, Which by keeping, a man will live. But they turned a stubborn shoulder, stiffened their neck, and would not listen.

"However, You are just and righteous in everything that has come upon us; For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly.

"But they, in their kingdom, With Your great goodness which You gave them, With the broad and rich land which You set before them, Did not serve You or turn from their wicked deeds.

Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem; but the rest of the people cast lots to bring one [person] out of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine-tenths remained in the other cities.

These are the heads of the provinces who lived in Jerusalem, but in the cities of Judah everyone lived on his property in their cities—the Israelites, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, and the descendants of Solomon's servants.

But the temple servants were living in Ophel; Ziha and Gishpa were in charge of the temple servants.

because they did not meet the Israelites with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. Yet our God turned the curse into a blessing.

But during all this time I was not at Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes [Persian] king of Babylon I went to the king. Then after some time I asked for a leave [of absence] from the king,

But I warned them, saying, "Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do so again, I will use force against you." From that time on, they did not come on the Sabbath.

As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them knew how to speak [Hebrew] the language of Judah, but only the language of his own people.

But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command, which was delivered [to her] by the eunuchs. So the king became extremely angry and burned with rage.

And Memucan answered in the presence of the king and the officials, "Vashti the queen has not only wronged the king but [also] all the officials (royal representatives) and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.

"For the queen's conduct will become known to all women, causing them to look on their husbands with contempt (disrespect), since they will say, 'King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she did not come.'

But the plot became known to Mordecai, who informed Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in Mordecai's name.

All the king's servants who were at the king's gate [in royal service] bowed down and honored and paid homage to Haman; for this is what the king had commanded in regard to him. But Mordecai [a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin] neither bowed down nor paid homage [to him].

But he disdained laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were (his nationality); so Haman determined to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who lived throughout the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

When Esther's maids and her eunuchs came and told her [what had happened], the queen was seized by great fear. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he would remove his sackcloth, but he did not accept them.

"All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court without being summoned, he has but one law, that he is to be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And as for me, I have not been summoned to come to the king for these [last] thirty days."