The musicians, the descendants of Asaph, manned their posts, as prescribed by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s prophet. ¹  The guards at the various gates did not need to leave their posts, for their fellow Levites made preparations for them.

At the beginning of the year King Nebuchadnezzar ordered him to be brought ¹  to Babylon, along with the valuable items in the Lord’s temple. In his place he made his relative ²  Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the leaders of Israel said to them, “You have no right ¹  to help us build the temple of our God. We will build it by ourselves for the Lord God of Israel, just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.”

This Ezra is the one who came up from Babylon. He was a scribe who was skilled in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given. The king supplied him with everything he requested, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

I was embarrassed to request soldiers and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy ¹  along the way, because we had said to the king, “The good hand of our God is on everyone who is seeking him, but his great anger ²  is against everyone who forsakes him.”

and said to the king, “If the king is so inclined ¹  and if your servant has found favor in your sight, dispatch me to Judah, to the city with the graves of my ancestors, so that I can rebuild it.”

I said to the king, “If the king is so inclined, let him give me letters for the governors of Trans-Euphrates ¹  that will enable me to travel safely until I reach Judah,

and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king’s nature preserve, ¹  so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall ²  and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, ³  for the good hand of my God was on me.

Then I related to them how the good hand of my God was on me and what ¹  the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let’s begin rebuilding right away!” ²  So they readied themselves ³  for this good project.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard all this, ¹  they derided us and expressed contempt toward us. They said, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

Shallun son of Col-Hozeh, head of the district of Mizpah, worked on the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it, put on its roof, and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars. In addition, he rebuilt the wall of the Pool of Siloam, ¹  by the royal garden, as far as the steps that go down from the City of David.

From the day that I was appointed ¹  governor ²  in the land of Judah, that is, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes – twelve years in all – neither I nor my relatives ³  ate the food allotted to the governor. ⁴ 

Those who were closest to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan. These men were the seven officials of Persia and Media who saw the king on a regular basis ¹  and had the most prominent offices ²  in the kingdom.

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.’

He sent letters throughout all the royal provinces, to each province according to its own script and to each people according to its own language, ¹  that every man should be ruling his family ²  and should be speaking the language of his own people. ³ 

This young woman pleased him, ¹  and she found favor with him. He quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her rations; he also provided her with the seven specially chosen ²  young women who were from the palace. He then transferred her and her young women to the best quarters in the harem. ³ 

At the end of the twelve months that were required for the women, ¹  when the turn of each young woman arrived to go to King Ahasuerus – for in this way they had to fulfill their time of cosmetic treatment: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfume and various ointments used by women –

And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she met with his loving approval ¹  more than all the other young women. ²  So he placed the royal high turban on her head and appointed her queen ³  in place of Vashti.

Some time later ¹  King Ahasuerus promoted ²  Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, exalting him and setting his position ³  above that of all the officials who were with him.

Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a particular people ¹  that is dispersed and spread among the inhabitants ²  throughout all the provinces of your kingdom whose laws differ from those of all other peoples. Furthermore, they do not observe the king’s laws. It is not appropriate for the king to provide a haven for them. ³