These are the ones who came up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer (although they were unable to certify ¹  their family connection ²  or their ancestry, ³  as to whether they were really from Israel):

Haman said, “Furthermore, Queen Esther invited ¹  only me to accompany the king to the banquet that she prepared! And also tomorrow I am invited ²  along with the king.

Esther replied, “If the king is so inclined, let the Jews who are in Susa be permitted to act tomorrow also according to today’s law, and let them hang the ten sons of Haman on the gallows.”

The Jews who were in Susa then assembled on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they killed three hundred men in Susa. But they did not confiscate their property.

Even when I am old and gray, ¹  O God, do not abandon me, until I tell the next generation about your strength, and those coming after me about your power. ² 

For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; however, he must hand over ¹  the fruit of his labor ²  as an inheritance ³  to someone else who did not work for it. This also is futile, and an awful injustice! ⁴ 

For Syria’s leader is Damascus, and the leader of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will no longer exist as a nation. ¹ 

They will pass through the land ¹  destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, ²  and they will curse their king and their God ³  as they look upward.

But he does not agree with this, his mind does not reason this way, ¹  for his goal is to destroy, and to eliminate many nations. ² 

At that time ¹  the Lord will shake the tree, ²  from the Euphrates River ³  to the Stream of Egypt. Then you will be gathered up one by one, O Israelites. ⁴ 

“The rebellious ¹  children are as good as dead,” ²  says the Lord, “those who make plans without consulting me, ³  who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, ⁴  and thereby compound their sin. ⁵ 

A voice says, “Cry out!” Another asks, ¹  “What should I cry out?” The first voice responds: ²  “All people are like grass, ³  and all their promises ⁴  are like the flowers in the field.

“Listen to me in silence, you coastlands! ¹  Let the nations find renewed strength! Let them approach and then speak; let us come together for debate! ² 

They will disappoint you, ¹  those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. ²  Each strays off in his own direction, ³  leaving no one to rescue you.”

“As for those who consecrate and ritually purify themselves so they can follow their leader and worship in the sacred orchards, ¹  those who eat the flesh of pigs and other disgusting creatures, like mice ²  – they will all be destroyed together,” ³  says the Lord.

The Lord says, ¹  “Listen, ²  nation of Israel! ³  I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you. It will be a nation that was founded long ago and has lasted for a long time. It will be a nation whose language you will not know. Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand.

Everyone must be on his guard around his friends. He must not even trust any of his relatives. ¹  For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. ²  And all of his friends will tell lies about him.

I, the Lord, say: ¹  ‘You people have deserted me! You keep turning your back on me.’ ²  So I have unleashed my power against you ³  and have begun to destroy you. ⁴  I have grown tired of feeling sorry for you!” ⁵ 

The person who gathers wealth by unjust means is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. ¹  Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. ²  At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool.” ³ 

The Lord says, ‘Be very careful if you value your lives! ¹  Do not carry any loads ²  in through ³  the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.