So he stayed there ¹  a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. ² 

giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ¹  in the saints’ ²  inheritance in the light.

From James, ¹  a slave ²  of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. ³  Greetings!

After Saul had secured his royal position over Israel, he fought against all their ¹  enemies on all sides – the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. In every direction that he turned he was victorious. ² 

We put all of these under divine judgment ¹  just as we had done to King Sihon of Heshbon – every occupied city, ²  including women and children.

Nathan said, “My master, O king, did you announce, ‘Adonijah will be king after me; he will sit on my throne’?

However, for your father David’s sake I will not do this while you are alive. I will tear it away from your son’s hand instead.

This sin caused Jeroboam’s dynasty ¹  to come to an end and to be destroyed from the face of the earth.

but instead sought the God of his ancestors ¹  and obeyed ²  his commands, unlike the Israelites. ³ 

When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she was determined to destroy the entire royal line ¹  of Judah. ² 

The king of Egypt prevented him from ruling in Jerusalem and imposed on the land a special tax ¹  of one hundred talents ²  of silver and a talent of gold.

¹ The following events happened ²  in the days of Ahasuerus. ³  (I am referring to ⁴  that Ahasuerus who used to rule over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces ⁵  extending all the way from India to Ethiopia. ⁶ )

A copy of this edict was to be presented as law throughout every province; it was to be made known to all the inhabitants, ¹  so that they would be prepared for this day.

This was to take place on a certain day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus – namely, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar).

Mordecai was of high rank ¹  in the king’s palace, and word about him was spreading throughout all the provinces. His influence ²  continued to become greater and greater.

Mordecai wrote these matters down and sent letters to all the Jews who were throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

Your justice is like the highest mountains, ¹  your fairness like the deepest sea; you preserve ²  mankind and the animal kingdom. ³ 

Even before the mountains came into existence, ¹  or you brought the world into being, ²  you were the eternal God. ³ 

The Lord made a reliable promise to David; ¹  he will not go back on his word. ²  He said, ³  “I will place one of your descendants ⁴  on your throne.

If your sons keep my covenant and the rules I teach them, their sons will also sit on your throne forever.”