When these things had been accomplished ¹  and the rage of King Ahasuerus had diminished, he remembered ²  Vashti and what she had done and what had been decided ³  against her.

“I ¹  am weary ²  of my life; I will complain without restraint; ³  I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

May the evil deeds of the wicked ¹  come to an end! ²  But make the innocent ³  secure, ⁴  O righteous God, you who examine ⁵  inner thoughts and motives! ⁶ 

How long must I worry, ¹  and suffer in broad daylight? ²  How long will my enemy gloat over me? ³ 

They devise ¹  unjust schemes; they disguise ²  a well-conceived plot. ³  Man’s inner thoughts cannot be discovered. ⁴ 

May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, and do not give Jerusalem priority over whatever gives me the most joy. ¹ 

for he is ¹  like someone calculating the cost ²  in his mind. ³  “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you;

Until the dawn arrives ¹  and the shadows flee, I will go up to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.

We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord; we turned back from following our God. We stir up ¹  oppression and rebellion; we tell lies we concocted in our minds. ² 

You must change ¹  the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. ² 

You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. ¹  They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. ²  They always talk about you, but they really care nothing about you. ³ 

When my life ¹  was ebbing away, ²  I called out to ³  the Lord, and my prayer came to your holy temple. ⁴ 

Others said, “These are not the words ¹  of someone possessed by a demon. A demon cannot cause the blind to see, ²  can it?” ³ 

Then they prayed, ¹  “Lord, you know the hearts of all. Show us which one of these two you have chosen

who said by the Holy Spirit through ¹  your servant David our forefather, ²  ‘Why do the nations ³  rage, ⁴  and the peoples plot foolish ⁵  things?

And God, who knows the heart, ¹  has testified ²  to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, ³ 

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people ¹  who suppress the truth by their ²  unrighteousness, ³ 

because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.

Now receive the one who is weak in the faith, and do not have disputes over differing opinions. ¹ 

And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. ¹