Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus. He was the highest-ranking ¹  Jew, and he was admired by his numerous relatives. ²  He worked enthusiastically ³  for the good of his people and was an advocate for the welfare of ⁴  all his descendants. ⁵ 

“Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. ¹  You delivered me ²  from the pit of oblivion. ³  For you removed all my sins from your sight. ⁴ 

This is what the Lord says to his chosen ¹  one, to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold ²  in order to subdue nations before him, and disarm kings, ³  to open doors before him, so gates remain unclosed:

Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel ¹  (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant ²  vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.

After looking around ¹  at them in anger, grieved by the hardness of their hearts, ²  he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ³ 

The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, ¹  and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common. ² 

We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, we are dishonored!

Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

Then I heard the man clothed in linen who was over the waters of the river as he raised both his right and left hands to the sky ¹  and made an oath by the one who lives forever: “It is for a time, times, and half a time. Then, when the power of the one who shatters ²  the holy people has been exhausted, all these things will be finished.”

“‘If a man has sexual intercourse with ¹  his sister, whether the daughter of his father or his mother, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. ²  He has exposed his sister’s nakedness; he will bear his punishment for iniquity. ³ 

“Drink, my lord,” she replied, and quickly lowering ¹  her jug to her hands, she gave him a drink.

chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements ¹  in the land they possessed. This was Esau, the father of the Edomites.

Joseph’s master took him and threw him into the prison, ¹  the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. So he was there in the prison. ² 

The warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care. He was in charge of whatever they were doing. ¹ 

But his bow will remain steady, and his hands ¹  will be skillful; because of the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of ²  the Shepherd, the Rock ³  of Israel,

Likewise ¹  for its length on the north side, there are to be ²  hangings for one hundred fifty feet, with twenty posts and their twenty bronze bases, with silver hooks and bands ³  on the posts.

You are to sanctify the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution, ¹  which were waved and lifted up as a contribution from the ram of consecration, from what belongs to Aaron and to his sons.

Moses turned and went down from the mountain with ¹  the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. The tablets were written on both sides – they were written on the front and on the back.

When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone; ¹  and they were afraid to approach him.

You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him. ¹