But his citizens ¹  hated ²  him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man ³  to be king ⁴  over us!’

For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. ¹ 

Brothers and sisters, ¹  I offer an example from everyday life: ²  When a covenant ³  has been ratified, ⁴  even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it.

She wrote out orders, ¹  signed Ahab’s name to them, ²  and sealed them with his seal. She then sent the orders ³  to the leaders ⁴  and to the nobles who lived in Naboth’s city. ⁵ 

(10:1) ¹  “Because of all of this we are entering into a binding covenant ²  in written form; ³  our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have affixed their names ⁴  on the sealed document.”

I will do this so ¹  people ²  will observe and recognize, so they will pay attention and understand that the Lord’s power ³  has accomplished this, and that the Holy One of Israel has brought it into being.” ⁴ 

For I, the Lord, tell you what will happen to ¹  the children who are born here in this land and to the men and women who are their mothers and fathers. ² 

All the people and their leaders had agreed to this. They had agreed to free their male and female slaves and not keep them enslaved any longer. They originally complied with the covenant and freed them. ¹ 

Then God ¹  gave Abraham ²  the covenant ³  of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him when he was eight days old, ⁴  and Isaac became the father of ⁵  Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. ⁶ 

And when ¹  you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) – when you believed in Christ ²  – you were marked with the seal ³  of the promised Holy Spirit, ⁴ 

equip you with every good thing to do his will, working in us ¹  what is pleasing before him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. ²  Amen.

So the royal scribes ¹  were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps ²  and governors who were in every province and to the officials of every people, province by province according to its script and people by people according to its language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king’s signet ring.

When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a ¹  covenant with him to give his descendants ²  the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise, ³  for you are righteous.

Now you write in the king’s name whatever in your opinion is appropriate concerning the Jews and seal it with the king’s signet ring. Any decree that is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring cannot be rescinded.