Esther 8:14

And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men,

I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.

not lagging in diligence; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

Mordecai went out of the presence of the king in royal clothing of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of fine linen and purple; and the city of Susa shouted and was glad.

Yahweh said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.

but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Now those who sealed were: Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah,

The maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from him. He quickly gave her cosmetics and her portions of food, and the seven choice maidens who were to be given her out of the king’s house. He moved her and her maidens to the best place in the women’s house.

My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.

For in death there is no memory of you. In Sheol, who shall give you thanks?

For Sheol can’t praise you. Death can’t celebrate you. Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth.

In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain.

In the fourth year of king Darius, Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.

redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice,

The sons of Shem were: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.

In the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar; Arioch, king of Ellasar; Chedorlaomer, king of Elam; and Tidal, king of Goiim,

But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, you shall seek his habitation, and you shall come there.

But certain worthless fellows said, “How could this man save us?” They despised him, and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

Also, Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom.

They also brought Barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where the officers were, each man according to his duty.

So the couriers went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, “You children of Israel, turn again to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may return to the remnant of you that have escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.

In the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, I picked up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence.

So, when the king’s commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together to the citadel of Susa, to the custody of Hegai, Esther was taken into the king’s house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.

Letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their possessions.

He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s ring, and sent letters by courier on horseback, riding on royal horses that were bred from swift steeds.

In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening don’t withhold your hand; for you don’t know which will prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both will be equally good.

and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;

Yahweh’s word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,

“There is Elam and all her multitude around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised into the lower parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living, and have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit.

Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lachish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; For the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed.

You shall make an altar of earth for me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I record my name I will come to you and I will bless you.

He said, “Now hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, Yahweh, will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream.

then it shall happen that to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to Yahweh.

It shall be that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, you shall rise early and rush on the city. Behold, when he and the people who are with him come out against you, then may you do to them as you shall find occasion.”

All the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, neither will any of us turn to his house.

Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul one thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.

In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria.

Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, the bronze for the things of bronze, iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood; also onyx stones, stones to be set, stones for inlaid work, of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.

Tilgath Pilneser king of Assyria came to him, and gave him trouble, but didn’t strengthen him.

They came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was brought into God’s house, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had gathered from the hands of Manasseh, Ephraim, of all the remnant of Israel, of all Judah and Benjamin, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem,

but if you return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, to cause my name to dwell there.’

After him, Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired another portion, from the turning of the wall to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

The couriers went out in haste by the king’s commandment, and the decree was given out in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Susa was perplexed.

On that day, the number of those who were slain in the citadel of Susa was brought before the king.

The Jews who were in Susa gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and killed three hundred men in Susa; but they didn’t lay their hand on the plunder.

“Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.

“Surely I will not come into the structure of my house, nor go up into my bed;

Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve kings. He won’t serve obscure men.

When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.

It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; attack! I have stopped all of Media’s sighing.

“If you will return, Israel,” says Yahweh, “if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you will not be removed;

The king of Babylon has heard the news of them, and his hands become feeble: anguish has taken hold of him, pains as of a woman in labor.

Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh.

Daniel spoke and said, “I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the sky broke out on the great sea.

“As for me, Daniel, my spirit was grieved within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.

Then I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns. The two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.

“This is what Yahweh of Armies says: These people say, ‘The time hasn’t yet come, the time for Yahweh’s house to be built.’ ”

But I say this, brothers: the time is short, that from now on, both those who have wives may be as though they had none;

Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.

Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

Rebekah arose with her ladies. They rode on the camels, and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah, and went his way.

David said to Ahimelech, “Isn’t there here under your hand spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.”

Year after year, every man brought his tribute, vessels of silver, vessels of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules.

The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria seized him, and bound him in prison.

They each brought tribute, vessels of silver, vessels of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules every year.

So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun, but people ridiculed them and mocked them.

May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow all kings and peoples who stretch out their hand to alter this, to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree. Let it be done with all diligence.

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the palace,

in those days, when the King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Susa the palace,

Let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the beautiful young virgins to the citadel of Susa, to the women’s house, to the custody of Hegai the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women. Let cosmetics be given them;

“Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good.

The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring tribute. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.

One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter.

Turn us to yourself, Yahweh, and we will be turned. Renew our days as of old.

I saw the vision. Now it was so, that when I saw, I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam. I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai.