Do not plan evil in your hearts against one another. Do not favor a false oath – these are all things that I hate,’ says the Lord.”

The revelation of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: The Lord – he who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth, who forms the human spirit within a person ¹  – says,

“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate,” says the Lord who rules over all. Strike the shepherd that the flock may be scattered; ¹  I will turn my hand against the insignificant ones.

It will happen in all the land, says the Lord, that two-thirds of the people ¹  in it will be cut off and die, but one-third will be left in it. ² 

He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, ¹  so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.” ² 

“Here is ¹  my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I take great delight. ²  I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

The king’s scribes were quickly ¹  summoned – in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day. ²  They wrote out ³  everything that Mordecai instructed to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces all the way from India to Ethiopia ⁴  – a hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all – to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, and to the Jews according to their own script and their own language.

He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him ¹  a tree. ²  When Moses ³  threw it into the water, the water became safe to drink. There the Lord ⁴  made for them ⁵  a binding ordinance, ⁶  and there he tested ⁷  them.

In the first year of the reign of ¹  King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment of the promise he delivered through Jeremiah, ²  the Lord moved ³  King Cyrus of Persia to issue a written decree throughout his kingdom.

and that they should make a proclamation and disseminate this message ¹  in all their cities and in Jerusalem: ²  “Go to the hill country and bring back olive branches and branches of wild olive trees, myrtle trees, date palms, and other leafy trees to construct temporary shelters, as it is written.”

Ezra ¹  read in the book of the law of God day by day, from the first day to the last. ²  They observed the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day they held an assembly ³  as was required. ⁴ 

She said, “If the king is so inclined and if I have met with his approval and if the matter is agreeable to the king and if I am attractive to him, let an edict be written rescinding those recorded intentions of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, ¹  which he wrote in order to destroy the Jews who are throughout all the king’s provinces.

The king thereby allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and to stand up for themselves – to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any army of whatever people or province that should become their adversaries, including their women and children, ¹  and to confiscate their property.

There will be some left behind, like when an olive tree is beaten – two or three ripe olives remain toward the very top, four or five on its fruitful branches,” says the Lord God of Israel.

You are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider ¹  and believe in me, and understand that I am he. No god was formed before me, and none will outlive me. ² 

Look all around you! ¹  All of them gather to you. As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry; you will put them on as if you were a bride.

No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed; you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you. ¹  This is what the Lord will do for his servants – I will vindicate them,” ²  says the Lord.

The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has chosen ¹  me. ²  He has commissioned ³  me to encourage ⁴  the poor, to help ⁵  the brokenhearted, to decree the release of captives, and the freeing of prisoners,

For I will soon summon all the peoples of the kingdoms of the north,” says the Lord. “They will come and their kings will set up their thrones ¹  near the entrances of the gates of Jerusalem. ²  They will attack all the walls surrounding it, and all the towns in Judah. ³ 

Your own wickedness will bring about your punishment. Your unfaithful acts will bring down discipline on you. ¹  Know, then, and realize how utterly harmful ²  it was for you to reject me, the Lord your God, ³  to show no respect for me,” ⁴  says the Lord God who rules over all. ⁵