אֵת

When the people of the land bring merchandise or any kind of grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we will not buy from them on a Sabbath or holy day. Every seventh year we will let the fields lie fallow and will cancel every debt.

We will also bring the firstfruits of our land and of every fruit tree to the house of the LORD year by year.

And we will bring the firstborn of our sons and our livestock, as it is written in the Law, and will bring the firstborn of our herds and flocks to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God.

Moreover, we will bring to the priests at the storerooms of the house of our God the firstfruits of our dough, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees, and of our new wine and oil. A tenth of our produce belongs to the Levites, so that they shall receive tithes in all the towns where we labor.

A priest of Aaron’s line is to accompany the Levites when they collect the tenth, and the Levites are to bring a tenth of these tithes to the storerooms of the treasury in the house of our God.

For the Israelites and the Levites are to bring the contributions of grain, new wine, and oil to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are kept and where the ministering priests, the gatekeepers, and the singers stay. Thus we will not neglect the house of our God.”

Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim was the father of Eliashib, Eliashib was the father of Joiada,

Joiada was the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan was the father of Jaddua.

At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from all their homes and brought to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing, accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.

After the priests and Levites had purified themselves, they purified the people, the gates, and the wall.

Then I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall, and I appointed two great thanksgiving choirs. One was to proceed along the top of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate.

…because they had not met the Israelites with food and water, but had hired Balaam to call down a curse against them (although our God had turned the curse into a blessing).

As soon as the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all of foreign descent.

…and had prepared for Tobiah a large room where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the temple articles, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests.

And I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.

Then I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God restored to them, along with the grain offerings and frankincense.

Then I rebuked the nobles of Judah and asked, “What is this evil you are doing—profaning the Sabbath day?

Did not your forefathers do the same things, so that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city? And now you are rekindling His wrath against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!”

Then I instructed the Levites to purify themselves and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this as well, O my God, and show me mercy according to Your abundant loving devotion.

In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.

Must we now hear that you too are doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”

And for a full 180 days he displayed the glorious riches of his kingdom and the magnificent splendor of his greatness.

…to bring Queen Vashti before him, wearing her royal crown, to display her beauty to the people and officials. For she was beautiful to behold.

“According to law,” he asked, “what should be done with Queen Vashti, since she refused to obey the command of King Xerxes delivered by the eunuchs?”

For the conduct of the queen will become known to all women, causing them to despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes ordered Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she did not come.’

This very day the noble women of Persia and Media who have heard about the queen’s conduct will say the same thing to all the king’s officials, resulting in much contempt and wrath.

Some time later, when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.

…and let the king appoint commissioners in each province of his kingdom to assemble all the beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the women, and let them be given beauty treatments.

And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, because she did not have a father or mother. The young woman was lovely in form and appearance, and when her father and mother had died, Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter.

And the young woman pleased him and obtained his favor, so he quickly provided her with beauty treatments and the special diet. He assigned to her seven select maidservants from the palace and transferred her with them to the best place in the harem.

Esther did not reveal her people or her lineage, because Mordecai had instructed her not to do so.

And every day Mordecai would walk back and forth in front of the court of the harem to learn about Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her.