I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors, ¹  provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law, the rules and regulations given to Moses.”

“I hereby give orders that if anyone changes this directive a beam is to be pulled out from his house and he is to be raised up and impaled ¹  on it, and his house is to be reduced ²  to a rubbish heap ³  for this indiscretion. ⁴ 

The elders of the Jews continued building and prospering, while at the same time ¹  Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo continued prophesying. They built and brought it to completion by the command of the God of Israel and by the command of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

“I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue orders to all the treasurers of ¹  Trans-Euphrates, that you precisely execute all that Ezra the priestly scribe of the law of the God of heaven may request of you –

Letters were sent by the runners to all the king’s provinces stating that ¹  they should destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, from youth to elderly, both women and children, ²  on a particular day, namely the thirteenth day ³  of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), and to loot and plunder their possessions.

For I, the Lord, affirm that ¹  I will soon give the order and bring them back to this city. They will fight against it and capture it and burn it down. I will also make the towns of Judah desolate so that there will be no one living in them.”’”

“Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you are more arrogant ¹  than the nations around you, ²  you have not followed my statutes and have not carried out my regulations. You have not even ³  carried out the regulations of the nations around you!

After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come to a land restored from the ravages of war, ¹  with many peoples gathered on the mountains of Israel that had long been in ruins. Its people ²  were brought out from the peoples, and all of them will be living securely.

The king gave another order, ¹  and those men who had maliciously accused ²  Daniel were brought and thrown ³  into the lions’ den – they, their children, and their wives. ⁴  They did not even reach the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

He commanded them, “This is what you must say to my lord Esau: ‘This is what your servant ¹  Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now.

He instructed the servant leading the first herd, ¹  “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong? ²  Where are you going? Whose herds are you driving?’ ³ 

He also gave these instructions to the second and third servants, as well as all those who were following the herds, saying, “You must say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. ¹ 

You will oversee my household, and all my people will submit to your commands. ¹  Only I, the king, will be greater than you. ² 

He instructed the servant who was over his household, “Fill the sacks of the men with as much food as they can carry and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack.

Joseph was no longer able to control himself before all his attendants, ¹  so he cried out, “Make everyone go out from my presence!” No one remained ²  with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.

Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. When he met him, ¹  he hugged his neck and wept on his neck for quite some time.

So Joseph settled his father and his brothers. He gave them territory ¹  in the land of Egypt, in the best region of the land, the land of Rameses, ²  just as Pharaoh had commanded.

Then he instructed them, ¹  “I am about to go ²  to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

When Pharaoh heard ¹  about this event, ²  he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled ³  from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, ⁴  and he settled ⁵  by a certain well. ⁶ 

You are to speak ¹  everything I command you, ²  and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh that he must release ³  the Israelites from his land.