Esther 9:25

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.

He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you who hear.

The counsel of Yahweh stands fast forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from Yahweh.

A man’s heart plans his course, but Yahweh directs his steps.

Yahweh of Armies has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so shall it happen; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:

For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.

He executes justice for the fatherless and widow and loves the foreigner in giving him food and clothing.

You shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because it is for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you put your hand to.

But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does.

He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn’t abhor evil.

Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;

For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.

The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.

Let destruction come on him unawares. Let his net that he has hidden catch himself. Let him fall into that destruction.

Yahweh will uproot the house of the proud, but he will keep the widow’s borders intact.

He who has pity on the poor lends to Yahweh; he will reward him.

He who has a generous eye will be blessed; for he shares his food with the poor.

I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all that I please.

“For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.”

and Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against.

We were also assigned an inheritance in him, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his will,

Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on it. Then go in merrily with the king to the banquet.” This pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.

He has brought on them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own wickedness. Yahweh, our God, will cut them off.

in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.

Yahweh’s blessing brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.

There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against Yahweh.

Therefore Yahweh’s word will be to them precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, fall backward, be broken, be snared, and be taken.

“ ‘This will be the sign to you,’ says Yahweh, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for evil.’

It will happen in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.

In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath,

For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.”

The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David didn’t know it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.

but the children of the murderers he didn’t put to death; according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, as Yahweh commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin.”

On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcass, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king,

So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath was pacified.

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be restrained.

But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless.

A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

Pay back to our neighbors seven times into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached you, Lord.

For they don’t sleep unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.

A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

Behold, I have only found this: that God made man upright; but they search for many schemes.”

Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured.”

For the ruthless is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who are alert to do evil are cut off—

I waited patiently until morning. He breaks all my bones like a lion. From day even to night you will make an end of me.

“ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “It will happen in that day that things will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.

Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask him who takes away your goods to give them back again.

Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but it will crush whomever it falls on to dust.”

For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.’

then you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look, and fail with longing for them all day long. There will be no power in your hand.

that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother who killed them, and on the men of Shechem who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.

Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father in killing his seventy brothers;

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed is Yahweh, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. Yahweh has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to himself as wife.

The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wickedness that you did to David my father. Therefore Yahweh will return your wickedness on your own head.

the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy, but they didn’t lay their hand on the plunder.

He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made.

Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.

A righteous person is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked takes his place.

A false witness shall not be unpunished. He who pours out lies shall not go free.

The ways of the scoundrel are evil. He devises wicked plans to destroy the humble with lying words, even when the needy speaks right.

Therefore Yahweh says: “You have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim to you a liberty,” says Yahweh, “to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine. I will make you be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.

When Jehudi had read three or four leaves, the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.

Leave your fatherless children. I will preserve them alive. Let your widows trust in me.”

The Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”

All the people answered, “May his blood be on us, and on our children!”

He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

even as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense; and no one who believes in him will be disappointed.”

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He has taken the wise in their craftiness.”

For I do not wish to see you now in passing, but I hope to stay a while with you, if the Lord permits.

and, “a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.” For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.

Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were with the king said, “Behold, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman has made for Mordecai, who spoke good for the king, is standing at Haman’s house.” The king said, “Hang him on it!”

He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.

As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.

Let the wicked fall together into their own nets while I pass by.

A gracious woman obtains honor, but violent men obtain riches.

The king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions mauled them, and broke all their bones in pieces, before they came to the bottom of the den.

Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust.”

“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you.”

Yahweh preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but he turns the way of the wicked upside down.

There are many plans in a man’s heart, but Yahweh’s counsel will prevail.