Now I hear that they are shearing sheep for you. When your shepherds were with us, we neither insulted them nor harmed them the whole time they were in Carmel.

These men were very good to us. They did not insult us, nor did we sustain any loss during the entire time we were together ¹  in the field.

The king replied, “Kimham will cross over with me, and I will do for him whatever I deem appropriate. And whatever you choose, I will do for you.”

“Treat fairly ¹  the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and provide for their needs, ²  because they helped me ³  when I had to flee from your brother Absalom.

Forgive all the rebellious acts of your sinful people and cause their captors to have mercy on them. ¹ 

For the matter concerning the queen will spread to all the women, leading them to treat their husbands with contempt, saying, ‘When King Ahasuerus gave orders to bring Queen Vashti into his presence, she would not come.’

their troubles multiply, they desire other gods. ¹  I will not pour out drink offerings of blood to their gods, ²  nor will I make vows in the name of their gods. ³ 

The people will treat each other harshly; men will oppose each other; neighbors will fight. ¹  Youths will proudly defy the elderly and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected. ² 

Oppressors treat my ¹  people cruelly; creditors rule over them. ²  My people’s leaders mislead them; they give you confusing directions. ³ 

He will treat the poor fairly, ¹  and make right decisions ²  for the downtrodden of the earth. ³  He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, ⁴  and order the wicked to be executed. ⁵ 

Grain is crushed, though one certainly does not thresh it forever. The wheel of one’s wagon rolls over it, but his horses do not crush it.

No, this is the kind of fast I want. ¹  I want you ²  to remove the sinful chains, to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke, to set free the oppressed, ³  and to break every burdensome yoke.

I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds. I examine people’s hearts. ¹  I deal with each person according to how he has behaved. I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.

I will punish those people who have violated their covenant with me. I will make them like the calf they cut in two and passed between its pieces. ¹  I will do so because they did not keep the terms of the covenant they made in my presence. ² 

Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Babylonians. ¹  The Babylonians might hand me over to them and they will torture me.” ² 

does not engage in usury or charge interest, ¹  but refrains ²  from wrongdoing, promotes true justice ³  between men,

therefore, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I will deal with you according to your anger, and according to your envy, by which you acted spitefully against them. I will reveal myself to them when I judge you.

As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so will I deal with you – you will be desolate, Mount Seir, and all of Edom – all of it! Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”

Then compare our appearance ¹  with that of ²  the young men who are eating the royal delicacies; ³  deal with us ⁴  in light of what you see.”

“They will belong to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “in the day when I prepare my own special property. ¹  I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.