That is why those who speak in proverbs ¹  say, “Come to Heshbon, let it be built. Let the city of Sihon be established! ² 

Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, wrote down what happened. ¹  Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was in charge of the records.

Letters were sent ¹  to all the Jews in the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the empire of Ahasuerus – words of true peace ²  –

Then I say, “Look! I come! What is written in the scroll pertains to me. ¹ 

For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to my ¹  lord, “Sit at my right hand,

Yet the Most High ¹  does not live in houses made by human hands, ²  as the prophet says,

For it is not necessary ¹  for me to write you about this service ²  to the saints,

For where there is a will, the death of the one who made it must be proven. ¹ 

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.

King Huram ¹  of Tyre sent this letter to Solomon: “Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you their king.”

This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, ¹  who will prepare your way before you.’ ² 

This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, ¹  who will prepare your way before you.’ ² 

So ¹  he said to them, “You ²  foolish people ³  – how slow of heart ⁴  to believe ⁵  all that the prophets have spoken!

For it is written in the law of Moses, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” ¹  God is not concerned here about oxen, is he?

For a will takes effect only at death, since it carries no force while the one who made it is alive.

So you go there the next time all the people of Judah come in from their towns to fast ¹  in the Lord’s temple. Read out loud where all of them can hear you what I told you the Lord said, which you wrote in the scroll. ² 

The prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch son of Neriah while he was writing down in a scroll the words that Jeremiah spoke to him. ¹  This happened in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. ² 

The men of the ¹  city, the leaders ²  and the nobles who lived there, ³  followed the written orders Jezebel had sent them. ⁴ 

and the rest of nations whom the great and noble Ashurbanipal ¹  deported and settled in the cities ²  of Samaria and other places in Trans-Euphrates. ³ 

that the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  has a message for him. ²  Tell him, ³  ‘On your own initiative ⁴  you sent a letter ⁵  to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah ⁶  and to all the other priests and to all the people in Jerusalem. ⁷  In your letter you said to Zephaniah, ⁸