When the governor ¹  had read ²  the letter, ³  he asked ⁴  what province he was from. ⁵  When he learned ⁶  that he was from Cilicia, ⁷ 

Therefore, brothers and sisters, ¹  stand firm and hold on to the traditions that we taught you, whether by speech or by letter. ² 

But if anyone does not obey our message through this letter, take note of him and do not associate closely with him, so that he may be ashamed.

Hezekiah took the letter ¹  from the messengers and read it. ²  Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord.

And during the reign ¹  of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, ²  Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues ³  wrote to King Artaxerxes ⁴  of Persia. This letter ⁵  was first written in Aramaic but then translated. [Aramaic:] ⁶ 

Dear friends, this is already the second letter I have written ¹  you, in which ²  I am trying to stir up ³  your pure mind by way of reminder:

When they received the letter, they seized the king’s sons and executed all seventy of them. ¹  They put their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Jezreel.

This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and his colleagues who were the officials of Trans-Euphrates sent to King Darius.

He sent it with Elasah son of Shaphan ¹  and Gemariah son of Hilkiah. ²  King Zedekiah of Judah had sent these men to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. ³  The letter said:

not to be easily ¹  shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly from us, ²  to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.

I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, which is how I write in every letter. ¹ 

In the letter he wrote: “Station Uriah in the thick of the battle and then withdraw from him so he will be cut down and killed.”

“You have with you the sons of your master, chariots and horses, a fortified city, and weapons. So when this letter arrives, ¹ 

Then, as soon as the copy of the letter from King Artaxerxes was read in the presence of Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their colleagues, they proceeded promptly to the Jews in Jerusalem ¹  and stopped them with threat of armed force. ² 

What follows ¹  is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priestly scribe. ²  Ezra was ³  a scribe in matters pertaining to the commandments of the Lord and his statutes over Israel:

For this reason these days are known as Purim, after the name of pur.

But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tiny stroke of a letter ¹  in the law to become void. ² 

I ¹  tell you the truth, ²  until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter ³  will pass from the law until everything takes place.

King Huram ¹  of Tyre sent this letter to Solomon: “Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you their king.”

revealing ¹  that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, ²  written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets ³  but on tablets of human hearts.