And whoever will not do the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.
Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, and has extended mercy unto me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes.
These are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon in the reign of Artaxerxes the king: of the sons of Phinehas: Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar: Daniel; of the sons of David: Hattush of the sons of Shecaniah; of the sons of Parosh: Zechariah, and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males a hundred fifty; of the sons of Pahathmoab: Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males; of the sons of Shecaniah: the son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males; of the sons also of Adin: Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males; and of the sons of Elam: Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males; and of the sons of Shephatiah: Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him eighty males; of the sons of Joab: Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred eighteen males; and of the sons of Shelomith: the son of Josiphiah, and with him a hundred sixty males; and of the sons of Beba
For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him, but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.
Then I separated twelve of the chief of the priests — Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren with them — and weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering of the house of our God which the king, and his counselors, and his lords, and all Israel there present had offered.
And they delivered the king’s commissions unto the king’s lieutenants, and to the governors on this side of the river, and they furthered the people and the house of God.
And for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. ... For we were bondmen, yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
For I was the king’s cupbearer, and it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it unto the king. ... Then I was very much afraid and said unto the king, Let the king live for ever. ... Then the king said unto me, For what do you make request? ... So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. ... And the king granted me according to the good hand of my God upon me.
Then I came to the governors beyond the river and gave them the king’s letters. ... Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. ... Then I went on to the gate of the fountain and to the king’s pool, but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.
Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me, as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. ... Will you rebel against the king?
But the gate of the fountain was repaired by Shallun the son of Colhozeh, the ruler of part of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of Siloah by the king’s garden, and unto the stairs that go down from the city of David. ... After him repaired Binnui the son of Henadad another piece from the house of Azariah unto the turning, even unto the corner, Palal the son of Uzai in front of the turning and the tower which projects out from the king’s high house that was by the court of the prison.
There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute upon our lands and vineyards.
Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king — that is, twelve years — I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor.
Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand, wherein was written: It is reported among the heathen, and Geshem says you and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause you build the wall, that you may be their king according to these words. ... And you have also appointed prophets to preach of you at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah. ... And now shall it be reported to the king according to these words.
These are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city, who came with Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah.
So they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. ... So the children went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would.
Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keeps covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before you that has come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day. ... Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers kept your law, nor listened unto your commandments and your testimonies with which you did testify against them. ... And it yields much increase unto the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins.
The overseer also of the Levites at Jerusalem: Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica, of the sons of Asaph, the singers over the business of the house of God; for it was the king’s commandment concerning them that a certain portion should be for the singers due for every day. ... And Pethahiah, the son of Meshezabeel, of the children of Zerah, the son of Judah, was at the king’s hand in all matters concerning the people.
But in all this time, I was not at Jerusalem; for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days I obtained leave of the king.
Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? ... Yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel.
Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus — this is Ahasuerus who reigned from India even unto Ethiopia over a hundred twenty-seven provinces — in those days when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace, in the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants, the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces before him, when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many days, even a hundred eighty days. ... And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days in the court of the garden of the king’s palace, where were white, green, and blue hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble. ... And they gave them drink in vessels of gold — the vessels being diverse one from another — and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king. ... And the drinking was according to the law, none did compel, for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house that they should do according to every man’s pleasure. ... Also, Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.
On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas — the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king — to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the royal crown, to show the people and the princes her beauty, for she was fair to look on. ... But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by chamberlains. ... Therefore was the king very angry, and his anger burned in him.
Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for so was the king’s manner toward all that knew law and judgment, and the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan — the seven princes of Persia and Media who saw the king’s face, who sat the first in the kingdom), What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she has not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains? ... And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen has not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus; for this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes when it shall be reported the king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not. ... Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king’s princes who have heard of the deed of the queen. ... If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes that it be not altered, that Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. ... And when the king’s decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire — for it is great — all the wives shall give to their husbands honor, both to great and small.
And the saying pleased the king and the princes. ... And the king did according to the word of Memucan, for he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house and that it should be published according to the language of every people.
After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what was decreed against her. ... Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king. ... And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hegai the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the women, and let their things for purification be given them. ... And let the maiden who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. ... And the thing pleased the king, and he did so.