Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ¹  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

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?”

My God placed it on my heart to gather the leaders, ¹  the officials, and the ordinary people so they could be enrolled on the basis of genealogy. I found the genealogical records ²  of those who had formerly returned. Here is what I found written in that record: ³ 

And this very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media who have heard the matter concerning the queen will respond in the same way to all the royal officials, and there will be more than enough contempt and anger!

Then the king prepared a large banquet for all his officials and his servants – it was actually Esther’s banquet. He also set aside a holiday for the provinces, and he provided for offerings at the king’s expense. ¹ 

Haman then recounted to them his fabulous wealth, ¹  his many sons, ²  and how the king had magnified him and exalted him over the king’s other officials and servants.

“I, the Lord, also solemnly assert: ‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem ¹  or who have gone to live in Egypt are like those bad figs. I consider them to be just like those bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. ² 

When the king and all his bodyguards ¹  and officials heard what he was prophesying, ²  the king sought to have him executed. But Uriah found out about it and fled to Egypt out of fear. ³ 

I took them to the Lord’s temple. I took them into the room where the disciples of the prophet Hanan son of Igdaliah stayed. ¹  That room was next to the one where the temple officers stayed and above the room where Maaseiah son of Shallum, one of the doorkeepers ²  of the temple, stayed.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent out a summons to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, ¹  and all the other authorities of the province to attend the dedication of the statue that he ²  had erected.

So the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other provincial authorities assembled for the dedication of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected. They were standing in front of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had erected. ¹ 

Now ¹  in Egypt the Midianites ²  sold Joseph ³  to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard. ⁴ 

So he asked Pharaoh’s officials, who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?” ¹ 

You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God – the heads of your tribes, ¹  your elders, your officials, every Israelite man,

The officials of Succoth said, “You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give ¹  bread to your army?” ² 

Benaiah son of Jehoiada supervised ¹  the Kerethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were the king’s leading officials. ² 

David said, ¹  “Of these, 24,000 are to direct the work of the Lord’s temple; 6,000 are to be officials and judges;

After Jehoiada died, the officials of Judah visited the king and declared their loyalty to him. ¹  The king listened to their advice. ² 

In Judah God moved the people to unite and carry out the edict the king and the officers had issued at the Lord’s command. ¹ 

He carried away to Babylon all the items in God’s temple, whether large or small, as well as what was in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the king and his officials.