When all our enemies heard and all the nations who were around us saw ¹  this, they were greatly disheartened. ²  They knew that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.

When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she met with his approval. ¹  The king extended to Esther the gold scepter that was in his hand, and Esther approached and touched the end of the scepter.

Now Haman went forth that day pleased and very much encouraged. ¹  But when Haman saw Mordecai at the king’s gate, and he did not rise nor tremble in his presence, ²  Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai.

Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, yet no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain ¹  was very great. ² 

So ¹  I again considered ²  all the oppression ³  that continually occurs ⁴  on earth. ⁵  This is what I saw: ⁶  The oppressed ⁷  were in tears, ⁸  but no one was comforting them; no one delivers ⁹  them from the power of their oppressors.

But she is unique! ¹  My dove, my perfect one! She is the special daughter ²  of her mother, she is the favorite ³  of the one who bore her. The maidens ⁴  saw her and complimented her; ⁵  the queens and concubines praised her:

The Beloved to Her Lover: Oh, how I wish you were ¹  my little brother, ²  nursing at my mother’s breasts; if I saw ³  you outside, I could kiss you – surely ⁴  no one would despise me! ⁵ 

Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. ¹  But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did. ² 

I looked and saw that the fruitful land had become a desert and that all of the cities had been laid in ruins. The Lord had brought this all about because of his blazing anger. ¹ 

Now and then ¹  there would be something wrong ²  with the pot he was molding from the clay ³  with his hands. So he would rework ⁴  the clay into another kind of pot as he saw fit. ⁵ 

The Lord says, ¹  “I saw the prophets of Samaria ²  doing something that was disgusting. ³  They prophesied in the name of the god Baal and led my people Israel astray. ⁴ 

In the past I saw to it that they were uprooted and torn down, that they were destroyed and demolished. But now I will see to it that they are built up and firmly planted. ¹  I, the Lord, affirm it!” ² 

In the thirtieth year, ¹  on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles ²  at the Kebar River, ³  the heavens opened ⁴  and I saw a divine vision. ⁵ 

“‘I passed by you and saw you kicking around helplessly in your blood. I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” ¹ 

When he brought me there, I saw ¹  a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring stick in his hand. He was standing in the gateway.

I saw ¹  a wall all around the outside of the temple. ²  In the man’s hand was a measuring stick 10½ feet ³  long. He measured the thickness of the wall ⁴  as 10½ feet, ⁵  and its height as 10½ feet.

Then he led me toward the south. I saw ¹  a gate on the south. He measured its jambs and its porches; they had the same dimensions as the others.

Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests which faced north. There I saw ¹  a place at the extreme western end.

And ¹  in that you saw iron mixed with wet clay, so people will be mixed ²  with one another ³  without adhering to one another, just as ⁴  iron does not mix with clay.

saying, “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, in whom I know there to be a spirit of the holy gods and whom no mystery baffles, consider ¹  my dream that I saw and set forth its interpretation!