When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, ¹  crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

In those days the aristocrats of Judah repeatedly sent letters to Tobiah, and responses from Tobiah were repeatedly coming to them.

In the days of Joiakim, these were the priests who were leaders of the families: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;

The descendants of Levi were recorded in the Book of the Chronicles ¹  as heads of families up to the days of Johanan son of Eliashib.

For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors ¹  for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanks to God.

But the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth days, and rested on the fifteenth, making it a day for banqueting and happiness.

That night – let darkness seize ¹  it; let it not be included ²  among the days of the year; let it not enter among the number of the months! ³ 

Since man’s days ¹  are determined, ²  the number of his months is under your control; ³  you have set his limit ⁴  and he cannot pass it.

If a man dies, will he live again? ¹  All the days of my hard service ²  I will wait ³  until my release comes. ⁴ 

All his days ¹  the wicked man suffers torment, ²  throughout the number of the years that ³  are stored up for the tyrant. ⁴ 

“O that I could be ¹  as ²  I was in the months now gone, ³  in the days ⁴  when God watched ⁵  over me,

Surely your goodness and faithfulness ¹  will pursue ²  me all my days, ³  and I will live in ⁴  the Lord’s house ⁵  for the rest of my life. ⁶ 

Satisfy us in the morning ¹  with your loyal love! Then we will shout for joy and be happy ²  all our days!

Make us happy in proportion to the days you have afflicted us, in proportion to the years we have experienced ¹  trouble!

Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb. ¹  All the days ordained for me were recorded in your scroll before one of them came into existence. ² 

For he does not think ¹  much about the fleeting ²  days of his life because God keeps him preoccupied ³  with the joy he derives from his activity. ⁴ 

But it will not go well with the wicked, nor will they ¹  prolong their ²  days like a shadow, ³  because they ⁴  do not stand in fear ⁵  before God.

I will reestablish honest judges as in former times, wise advisers as in earlier days. ¹  Then you will be called, ‘The Just City, Faithful Town.’”

Wild dogs will yip in her ruined fortresses, jackals will yelp in the once-splendid palaces. ¹  Her time is almost up, ²  her days will not be prolonged. ³ 

Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go at once to Perath and get ¹  the shorts I ordered you to bury there.”