The first time you did not carry it; that is why the Lord God attacked us, because we did not ask him about the proper way to carry it.” ¹ 

for gold and silver items, and for all the work of the craftsmen. Who else wants to contribute to the Lord today?”

You must serve me as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations. ¹ 

Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem. ¹  He went out among the people from Beer Sheba to the hill country of Ephraim and encouraged them to follow ²  the Lord God of their ancestors. ³ 

They assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves. Then they went in to purify the Lord’s temple, just as the king had ordered, in accordance with the word ¹  of the Lord.

Our kings, our leaders, our priests, and our ancestors have not kept your law. They have not paid attention to your commandments or your testimonies by which you have solemnly admonished them.

Esther was still not divulging her lineage or her people, ¹  just as Mordecai had instructed her. ²  Esther continued to do whatever Mordecai said, just as she had done when he was raising her.

Everyone rejects God; ¹  they are all morally corrupt. ²  None of them does what is right, ³  not even one!

Your people willingly follow you ¹  when you go into battle. ²  On the holy hills ³  at sunrise ⁴  the dew of your youth ⁵  belongs to you. ⁶ 

To obey the Lord is the fundamental principle for wise living; ¹  all who carry out his precepts acquire good moral insight. ²  He will receive praise forever. ³ 

Next, I decided to consider ¹  wisdom, as well as foolish behavior and ideas. ²  For what more can the king’s successor do than what the king ³  has already done?

The Beloved to the Maidens: I adjure you, ¹  O maidens of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and by the young does ²  of the open fields: ³  Do not awaken or arouse ⁴  love ⁵  until it pleases! ⁶ 

This is what the Lord, your protector, ¹  says, the Holy One of Israel: ²  “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you how to succeed, who leads you in the way you should go.

He sprouted up like a twig before God, ¹  like a root out of parched soil; ²  he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, ³  no special appearance that we should want to follow him. ⁴ 

All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. ¹ 

As for foreigners who become followers of ¹  the Lord and serve him, who love the name of the Lord and want to be his servants – all who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it, and who are faithful to ²  my covenant –

They are unfamiliar with peace; their deeds are unjust. ¹  They use deceitful methods, and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace. ² 

You assist ¹  those who delight in doing what is right, ²  who observe your commandments. ³  Look, you were angry because we violated them continually. How then can we be saved? ⁴ 

“As for those who consecrate and ritually purify themselves so they can follow their leader and worship in the sacred orchards, ¹  those who eat the flesh of pigs and other disgusting creatures, like mice ²  – they will all be destroyed together,” ³  says the Lord.

However, you must confess that you have done wrong, ¹  and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God. You must confess ²  that you have given yourself to ³  foreign gods under every green tree, and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the Lord.