Then they presented the decrees of the king to the king’s satraps and to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, who gave help to the people and to the temple of God.

So I stationed people at the lower places behind the wall in the exposed places. ¹  I stationed the people by families, with their swords, spears, and bows.

I brought the leaders of Judah up on top of the wall, and I appointed two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed ¹  on the top of the wall southward toward the Dung Gate.

I also discovered that the grain offerings for the Levites had not been provided, and that as a result the Levites and the singers who performed this work had all gone off to their fields.

to establish these days of Purim in their proper times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established, and just as they had established both for themselves and their descendants, matters pertaining to fasting and lamentation.

Look at the land of the Chaldeans, these people who have lost their identity! ¹  The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals. They erected their siege towers, ²  demolished ³  its fortresses, and turned it into a heap of ruins. ⁴ 

An Ethiopian, Ebed Melech, ¹  a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put ²  in the cistern. While the king was holding court ³  at the Benjamin Gate,

He will come and attack Egypt. Those who are destined to die of disease will die of disease. Those who are destined to be carried off into exile will be carried off into exile. Those who are destined to die in war will die in war. ¹ 

A total ruin I will make it! ¹  It will come to an end when the one arrives to whom I have assigned judgment.’ ² 

When the scouts survey ¹  the land and see a human bone, they will place a sign by it, until those assigned to burial duty have buried it ²  in the valley of Hamon-Gog.

You must divide it equally just as I vowed to give it to your forefathers; ¹  this land will be assigned as your inheritance. ² 

At the end of the ten days their appearance was better and their bodies were healthier ¹  than all the young men who had been eating the royal delicacies.

When the king spoke with them, he did not find among the entire group ¹  anyone like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, or Azariah. So they entered the king’s service. ² 

During the reign ¹  of Herod ²  king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zechariah who belonged to ³  the priestly division of Abijah, ⁴  and he had a wife named Elizabeth, ⁵  who was a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ 

So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; ¹  we have only done what was our duty.’” ² 

But I do not consider my life ¹  worth anything ²  to myself, so that ³  I may finish my task ⁴  and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news ⁵  of God’s grace.

Then ¹  I saw another angel ascending from the east, ²  who had ³  the seal ⁴  of the living God. He ⁵  shouted out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given permission ⁶  to damage the earth and the sea: ⁷ 

Also, the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution offering you must eat in a ceremonially ¹  clean place, you and your sons and daughters with you, for they have been given as your allotted portion and the allotted portion of your sons from the peace offering sacrifices of the Israelites. ² 

“‘When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman, ¹  although she is a slave woman designated for another man and she has not yet been ransomed, or freedom has not been granted to her, there will be an obligation to pay compensation. ²  They must not be put to death, because she was not free.

I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the work for the Israelites in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the Israelites, so there will be no plague among the Israelites when the Israelites come near the sanctuary.” ¹