Gather the people – men, women, and children, as well as the resident foreigners in your villages – so they may hear and thus learn about and fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the words of this law.

to establish these days of Purim in their proper times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established, and just as they had established both for themselves and their descendants, matters pertaining to fasting and lamentation.

For observing the festival is a requirement for Israel; ¹  it is an ordinance given by the God of Jacob.

So ¹  I again considered ²  another ³  futile thing on earth: ⁴ 

take them and purify ¹  yourself along with them and pay their expenses, ²  so that they may have their heads shaved. ³  Then ⁴  everyone will know there is nothing in what they have been told ⁵  about you, but that you yourself live in conformity with ⁶  the law. ⁷ 

You must observe my regulations ¹  and you must be sure to walk in my statutes. ²  I am the Lord your God.

It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves on the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening until evening you must observe your Sabbath.” ¹ 

In the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, ¹  you are to observe it at its appointed time; you must keep ²  it in accordance with all its statutes and all its customs.” ³ 

He ¹  has not looked on iniquity in Jacob, ²  nor has he seen trouble ³  in Israel. The Lord their God is with them; his acclamation ⁴  as king is among them.

The Lord commanded us to obey all these statutes and to revere him ¹  so that it may always go well for us and he may preserve us, as he has to this day.

For if you carefully observe all of these commandments ¹  I am giving you ²  and love the Lord your God, live according to his standards, ³  and remain loyal to him,

You must then do as they have determined at that place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught.

On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had dedicated the altar for seven days and celebrated the festival for seven more days.

You must serve me as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations. ¹ 

Everyone who does not observe both the law of your God and the law of the king will be completely ¹  liable to the appropriate penalty, whether it is death or banishment or confiscation of property or detainment in prison.”

While applying ¹  my mind ²  to everything ³  that happens in this world, ⁴  I have seen all this: Sometimes one person ⁵  dominates ⁶  other people ⁷  to their harm. ⁸ 

When I tried ¹  to gain ²  wisdom and to observe the activity ³  on earth – even though it prevents anyone from sleeping day or night ⁴  –

I will put my Spirit within you; ¹  I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes ²  and carefully observe my regulations. ³ 

“‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you will celebrate the Passover, and for seven days bread made without yeast will be eaten.

(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they perform a ritual washing, ¹  holding fast to the tradition of the elders.