CHAPTER 4

From Hezekiah to Malachi

Isaiah Says God's Anger Will Come by the Babylonians

In those days Hezekiah was sick to death.  He prayed to the Lord, who spoke to him and gave him a sign.  But He did not respond to the benefit done him, for his heart was proud.

Merodachbaladan, king of Babylon, had heard that he had been sick, and had recovered.  The princes of Babylon sent to him to enquire about the wonder that was done in the land.  Hezekiah was glad about them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, the gold and the spices, all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures.  There was nothing in his house, or in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them.

Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and said to him, "Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: "Look, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried off to Babylon; nothing shall be left.  And they shall take away your sons, which you will father, who shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."

Yet Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the anger of the Lord did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.

COMFORT

"But now thus says the Lord who created you, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name, you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.  When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned.

"But you have not called upon me, O Jacob! You have been weary of me, O Israel! You have not honoured me with your sacrifices, you have not bought me any sweet cane with money, nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices.  But you have made me to serve with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities.

"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and will not remember your sins.  I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins.  Return to me; for I have redeemed you.

"Sing, O you heavens, for the Lord has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the earth?  Break out into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and has glorified himself in Israel.

"Thus says the Lord, your redeemer, he who formed you from the womb, I am the Lord who makes all things, who alone stretches out the heavens, who by myself spreads abroad the earth.  Who frustrates the tokens of the liars, and makes diviners crazy.  Who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish.

"Who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers, who says to Jerusalem, you shall be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah, you shall be built, and I will raise up the deteriorated places.  Who says about Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, You shall be built; and to the temple, Your foundation shall be laid."

ONLY GOD'S RIGHTEOUS SERVANT WILL ATONE FOR SINS

"Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom my soul delights.  I have put my spirit upon him.  He shall bring righteousness to the Gentiles.  He shall not fail or be discouraged, until he has set justice in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law.

"The Lord has called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother he has made mention of my name.  He has made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he has hidden me, and made me a polished arrow.  In his quiver he has hidden me and has said to me, you are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

"Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing, and in vain; but surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.

"And now, says the Lord who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to himself: Although Israel is not gathered, yet I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.  He said, It is a small thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who announces salvation.

"Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and be very high.  Just as many were astonished at you, so his visage was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.  So he shall sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths at him, for what they had not been told they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider.

"Who has believed our report?  and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him.  He was despised, and we did not value him.

"Truly he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.  Yet we thought he had been stricken, smitten and afflicted by God.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our sins, the punishment for our peace was on him, and by his stripes we are healed.

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the sin of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.  He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he did not open his mouth.  He was taken from prison and from being judged.  He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the sin of my people he was struck.  He had done no violence, neither was any deception in his mouth, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.

"When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.  He shall see the result of the painful labour of his soul, and shall be satisfied.  By the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.  Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death.  He was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many, and prayed for the transgressors."

MANASSEH, SON OF HEZEKIAH

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign.  He reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem, and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just like the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.  He caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom.  Also he used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit.  He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.  Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem err, and act worse than the Gentiles.  Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem with it from one end to the other.

The Lord spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, "Because Manasseh, king of Judah, has done these abominations, and has acted more wickedly than all that the Amorites did, and has also made Judah sin with his idols, therefore, thus says the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am going to bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both of his ears shall tingle.  And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.

"I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hands of their enemies.  They shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, because they have done what was evil in my sight, since the day when their fathers came out of Egypt, even until this day."

"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.  But it is your iniquities which have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not listen.  For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness.  No one calls for justice, or pleads for truth.  They trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.  They hatch serpent's eggs, and weave the spider's web.  He who eats their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.

"Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works.  Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands.  Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood.  Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity.  Wasting and destruction are in their paths.  They do not know the way of peace.

The Lord spoke to Manasseh, and to his people, but they would not listen.  Therefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh among the thorns, bound him with chains, and carried him to Babylon.

When he was in affliction, he sought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed to him.  God was entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem, into his kingdom.

"Thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.  For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always angry, for the spirits would expire before me, and the souls which I have made. Because of the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry, and struck him: I hid myself, and was angry, and he went on stubbornly in the way of his heart.  I have seen his ways, and will heal him.  I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.  I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him who is far off, and to him who is near, and I will heal him."

Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.  After this he took away the strange gods and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and threw them out of the city.  And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed on it peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.

A MESSENGER OF GOOD NEWS WILL COME

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the meek.  He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to appoint to them who mourn in Zion beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, planted by the Lord, that he might be glorified.

"The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall give.  You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

"I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day or night.  You who make mention of the Lord, never keep silent, give him no rest, till he establishes, and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth."

NAHUM PREDICTS THE END OF THE ASSYRIAN OPPRESSION

The burden of Nineveh.  The book of the vision of Nahum.

"God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; the Lord avenges, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he stores up anger for his enemies.  The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked.  The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who trust in him.  Darkness shall pursue his enemies.

"Look, upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace! O Judah, keep your solemn feasts, perform your vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through you; he is utterly cut off."

HABAKKUK FORESEES ANOTHER OPPRESSOR, BABYLON

The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw: "Look, among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will do a work in your days, which you will not believe, although it is told to you.

"For, look, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess homes that are not theirs.  They are terrible and dreadful.  Behold his soul, which is lifted up, is not upright.  But the just shall live, by his faith.

"When I heard, my stomach trembled, my lips quivered, I trembled in myself for rest in the day of trouble.  When he comes to the people, he will invade them with his troops.

"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no food, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like the feet of a doe."

Manasseh slept with his fathers, and Amon his son reigned in his stead.  He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as did Manasseh his father, and did not humble himself before the Lord as Manasseh did, but trespassed more and more.  His servants conspired against him, and killed him in his own house, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

THE PROPHET ZEPHANIAH

The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah, in the days of Josiah, king of Judah.

"I will utterly consume all things from off the land, says the Lord.  I will consume men and beasts; I will consume the birds of the heaven, and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks of the wicked.

"I will also stretch out my hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; those who worship the host of heaven upon the housetops, and those who have turned back from the Lord; and those who have not sought the Lord, nor enquired for him.  Hold your peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand.

"Seek the Lord, all you meek ones of the earth, who have walked in his ways.  Seek righteousness, seek meekness.  It may be that you will be hid in the day of the Lord's anger.

"Woe to her who is filthy and polluted, the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice, she did not receive correction, she did not trust in the Lord, she did not draw near to her God.  Her princes are roaring lions, her judges are evening wolves, her prophets are light and treacherous persons, her priests have polluted the sanctuary and have broken the Law.

"Wait for me, says the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey.  For my determination is to gather the nations to pour on them my indignation.  Then I will change the people to a pure language, that they may all call on the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent; for then I will take away out of the midst of you those who rejoice in your pride, and you shall no more be haughty because of my holy mountain.  I will leave in the middle of you an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.  The remnant of Israel shall not do any iniquity, nor speak lies, nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth.

"Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord your God in the midst of you is mighty.  He will save, he will rejoice over you with joy; he will rest in his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

JOSIAH SEEKS THE LORD

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years.  He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and did not go astray either to the right hand, or to the left.  For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem from the carved and molten images.  They broke down the altars of Baal in his presence and he cut down the molten images.  He broke them in pieces, and made dust of them, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

He burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.  He did so in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even as far as Naphtali.

THE PROPHET JEREMIAH

The words of Jeremiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

"The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart, and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”  Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Look, I cannot speak, for I am a child."

But the Lord said to me, "Don't say, I am a child; for you will go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you will speak.  Don't be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you.  I have set you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant."

"Go and cry out in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the Lord: I remember you, the kindness of your youth and the love of your espousals, when you followed me in the wilderness.  Israel was holiness to the Lord and the first fruits of his harvest.

"Thus says the Lord, What have your fathers found wrong in me, to make them go far away from me, walk in vanity, and become vain?

"I will still reason with you, says the Lord.  Pass over to the isles of Chittim, and look and send to Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there exists such a thing.  Has a nation ever changed their gods, which are yet no gods?  But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.  Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, says the Lord.  For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which can hold no water."

"I was like a lamb brought to the slaughter, and I did not know that they had made plans against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, so his name may no longer be remembered.  Don't prophesy in the name of the Lord, so you won't die not by our hand.

“Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine."

THE BOOK OF THE LAW REDISCOVERED

It happened in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan, the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying, "Go to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the silver brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have gathered from the people.  Let them deliver it to the workers, to repair the breaches of the house."

Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan, "I have found the book of the Law in the house of the Lord.”  Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.  Shaphan, the scribe, came to the king, and said, "Hilkiah the priest has delivered a book to me".  And he read it before the king.

And it so happened, when the king heard the words of the book of the Law, that he tore his clothes and ordered Hilkiah the priest and Shaphan the scribe saying, "Go, enquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found.  For great is the anger of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do in accordance to all that is written in it".

So Hilkiah the priest and Shaphan went to Huldah the prophetess.  She said to them, "Thus says the Lord, Tell the man who sent you to me: Look, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read, because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods.  Therefore my anger shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.

"But to the king of Judah who sent you to enquire of the Lord, you shall say: Thus says the Lord God: Because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard what I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the Lord.  I will gather you to your fathers, into your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring on this place."

After all this, when Josiah had repaired the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him.  He slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.  And his servants carried him in a chariot, dead, from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre.

The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's place.  He reigned three months in Jerusalem.  Pharaohnechoh bound him, that he might not reign, and made Eliakim the son of Josiah king, and changed his name to Jehoiakim.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR, KING OF BABYLON

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, who was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah.

The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying: "From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even until this day, that is the twenty-third year, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking.  But you have not listened.

"Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not listened to my words, look! I will send for and take all the families of the north, says the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all the surrounding nations, and will completely destroy them.

"This whole land shall be desolate, and an astonishment, and those nations shall serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.  When the seventy years are finished, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, says the Lord, for their iniquity."

DANIEL AND HIS FRIENDS ARE TAKEN TO BABYLON

In the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and besieged it.  The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his power, with part of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the temple of his god.

The king spoke to Ashpenaz, master of his eunuchs, to bring certain of the Israelites, of the king's sons, and of the princes, in whom was no disfiguration, and expert in all kinds of wisdom, skilful in knowledge, and understanding science, such as had the ability to live in the king's palace, and to whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.

Now among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah who, through faith, stopped the mouths of lions and quenched the violence of fire.  Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.  The king made him a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of all the wise men of Babylon.

A SECOND GROUP DEPORTED

Jehoiakim reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.  He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as all that his fathers had done.  The king burned the roll, and the words on it which Baruch wrote at the dictation of Jeremiah.  Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.  Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers.  The king of Babylon apprehended him  in the eighth year of his reign.  He carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord.

He carried away all the princes, and all the mighty men of bravery, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths.  None remained, except the poorest of the people of the land.  He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, all those he took into captivity.

King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.  But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to the words of the Lord, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.

A LETTER OF JEREMIAH TO THE CAPTIVES AT BABYLON

"Thus says the Lord of hosts to all who have been carried away captive: Build houses for yourselves, and live in them.  Plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.  Take wives, and father sons and daughters, that you may be increased there, and not diminished.  And seek the peace of the city to which I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it.  For by its peace  you shall have peace.

"For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you, by causing you to return to this place.  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.  Then you shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me, and find me, when you search for me with all your heart."

A NEW COVENANT PROMISED BY JEREMIAH

"Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, different from as the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

"But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And they shall no longer teach each man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord.  For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord.  For I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more."

EZEKIEL, A PROPHET AMONG THE CAPTIVES AT BABYLON

In the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity, the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, in the land of the Chaldeans and the hand of the Lord was upon him there.

"As I was among the captives by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.  Look, a whirlwind coming out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire enfolding it, and a brightness about it, and out of the midst of it came what looked like four living creatures, the cherubims.  And look, in the expanse that was above the heads of the cherubims there appeared what looked like a throne; and upon the throne was what looked like the appearance of a man.  As the look of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the look of the brightness round about.  This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.  And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard the voice of one who spoke.

"And he said to me, Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you.  I send you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation.  They and their fathers have transgressed against me, even until this very day.  For they are impudent children and hard hearted.  I send you to them, and you shall say to them, "Thus says the Lord God."

"And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse, (for they are a rebellious house) yet they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.

"Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel.  Therefore hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.  Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person turn from his way and live.  Turn, turn from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

"I will judge every one of you as to his ways.  My hand shall be on the prophets who see vanity, and who divine lies.  They shall not be written in the book of the house of Israel, because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace."

"Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your birth and your nativity is of the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother an Hittite.  And as for your nativity, in the day you were born, your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to make you supple; you were not salted at all, or wrapped.  No one pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you, but you were thrown out into the open field, to make you despised, in the day that you were born.

"When I passed by you, and saw you polluted in your own blood.  I said to you, when you were in your blood, Live.  I have caused you to multiply as the sprouts of the field, and you have increased and become great, with excellent ornaments.  Your breasts are fashioned, and your hair is grown, whereas you were naked and bare.

"Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, you were at the time of love.  And I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness.  I solemnly promised you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine.  Then washed I you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil.  I clothed you also with broidered work, and shod you with badgers' skin, I girded you with fine linen, and I covered you with silk.  I adorned you also with ornaments, I put bracelets on your hands, and a chain on your neck.  You ate fine flour, honey, and oil, and you were exceedingly beautiful, and you increased to become a kingdom.  And your fame went abroad among the nations, for your beauty, for it was perfect through my gracefulness, which I put upon you.

"But you trusted in your own beauty, and played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your fornications on every one who passed by.  His it was.  You also committed fornication with the Egyptians your neighbours, to provoke me to anger.  You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable.  Yes, you played the harlot with them, and you could not be satisfied.  You multiplied your fornication also to Chaldea, and you were not satisfied with that.  You also took your beautiful jewels, made of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and committed whoredom with them.  Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and have sacrificed to them to be devoured.  You have slain my children, and delivered them up, to cause them to pass through the fire?

"Your elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters who lives at your left hand.  Your younger sister, who lives at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.  You were corrupted more than them in all your ways.  Sodom your sister has not done, either she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters.

"See, this was the sin of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness, in her and in her daughters.  Neither did she help the cause of the poor and needy.  They were haughty, and committed abominations before me.  Therefore I took them away.

"Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins, but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done.  You also, who have judged your sisters, bear your own shame for your sins that you have committed, more abominable than theirs.  They are more righteous than you are.  Yes, be confounded, you too, and bear your shame, in that you have made your sisters seem just.

"Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you, made in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant.  Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, the elder and the younger.  I will give them to you as daughters.  And I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall know that I am the Lord."

A GOOD WORD BY JEREMIAH, AS DISASTER APPROACHES

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah.  Then the king of Babylon's army was besieging Jerusalem and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the house of the king of Judah.  For Zedekiah, king of Judah, had shut him up.

"Now therefore, thus says the God of Israel, concerning this city, of which you say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.  Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in my anger, and in my fury; and I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

"And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them.  I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they will not leave me.  Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will truly plant them in this land, with my whole heart and with my whole soul.

"Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will perform the good thing which I promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.  In those days, and at that time, I will cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to David, who shall carry out judgment and righteousness in the land.  In those days Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely and this is the name which she shall be called, The Lord is our righteousness.

"David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and sacrifices continually.  Just as the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the seed of David my servant, and of the Levites who serve me."

THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM

The city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.  Famine was rife in the city.  Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled out of the city by night.  But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered away from him.  They took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he judged him.

The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.  He killed also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.  Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with chains, and had him carried off to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death.

Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, burned the house of the Lord, the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem.  And all the army of the Chaldeans broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.

Then Nebuzaradan carried away captive the rest of the people who remained in the city, and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population, but left certain ones of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen.

The captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said to him," See, I loose you from the chains upon your hand.  Where it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there."

THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH

"How does the city sit solitary, which was full of people!

How has she become as a widow! She who was great among the nations and princess among the provinces.  How has she become tributary!

“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which has happened to me, by which the Lord has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.

“What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? The opening in your wall is great like the sea; who can heal you?"

"I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his anger. I was a derision to all my people and their song all day long.

“He has filled me with bitterness, he has made me drunken with wormwood. He has broken my teeth with gravel, he has covered me with ashes.

“You have removed my soul far off from peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. I said, My strength and my hope has perished, far from the Lord.

“Remembering my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall, this I call to mind, therefore have I hope:

It is by the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, because his compassion does not fail.

It is new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

“You, O Lord, remain for ever, your throne stands from generation to generation. Why do you forget us forever, and forsake us for so long a time? Turn  us to yourself, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old."

A PSALM OF THE CAPTIVES

"By the rivers of Babylon we sat down, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

Hanging our harps on the willows in the midst of it.

For there those who had carried us away captive required a song from us;

And those who ruined us required mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.

If I do not remember you, let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth.

If I do not prefer Jerusalem above my principal joy."

EZEKIEL TELLS OF THE NEW HEART GOD WILL GIVE

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: I do not do his for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations, where you went.

"I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.  Then will I sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness.  From all your idols, will I cleanse you.  A new heart also I will give you, and a new spirit I will put in you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my spirit in you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.  And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

"My servant David shall be their prince for ever.  Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them.  It shall be an everlasting covenant with them and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.  My tabernacle also shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

THE IDEAL TEMPLE OF THE OLD COVENANT

"In the fourteenth year after the city was smitten, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me, in visions of God, into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, near which was what seemed to be the structure of a city on the south.

"And look, there was a man, whose appearance resembled brass, with a measuring rod, and he stood in the gate.  And the man said to me, Son of man, look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and fix your heart on all that I shall show you! For it is that I might show it to you that you have been brought here.  Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.  They have defiled my holy name by their abominations, therefore I have consumed them in my anger.  Now let them put away their adultery, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.  He brought me to the temple, and took measures.

"You, son of man, show the building to the family of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the pattern.  And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form of the house, and the appearance of it, and its exits, and the entrances of it, and all its regulations.  Write them in their sight, that they may keep all of it, and all its ordinances, and do them.

"And you shall say to the rebellious house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: O you house of Israel, all your past abominations are enough, in that you have brought strangers into my sanctuary, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary to pollute it, even in my house, and have broken my covenant because of all your abominations."

"Afterward he brought me again to the door of the house; and, look, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house, toward the east.  Then he brought me out by the way of the north gate, and led me around outside to the furthest gate that looks eastward, and, behold, waters were flowing out on the right side.

"And the man who had a line in his hand measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters.  The waters came up to the ankles.  Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters.  The waters came up to the knees.  Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through.  The waters came up to the loins.  Afterward he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass over, for the waters had risen, as waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.

"And he said to me, Son of man, have you seen this?  When I turned, look, on the bank of the river were very many trees, on the one side and on the other.  Then he said to me, These waters issue out toward the east, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea.  On coming into the sea its salt waters shall be healed.  And it shall happen, that every living thing which moves, wherever the rivers come, shall live, and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come there.  They shall be healed and every thing shall live where the river comes.

"And by the river, on its bank, on both sides, shall grow all kinds of trees for food, whose leaf shall not fade, nor shall their fruit cease.  It shall produce new fruit each month, because the waters issued out of the sanctuary.  The fruit of it shall be for food, and its leaves for medicine."

THE ANCIENT OF DAYS AND THE SON OF MAN

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream.  He wrote out the dream, and summed up these matters: "I saw in a vision by night, and look, the four winds stirred up the great sea and four great beasts came up from it, different from one another.

"The first was like a lion, the second like a bear and another like a leopard.  Then look! a fourth beast, dreadful, terrible, and very strong, with great iron teeth.  It devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped on the rest of them with its feet and it was different from all the beasts that preceded it, and it had ten horns.

"I was considering the horns, when look! another little horn came up among them, and plucked up by the roots three of the first horns.  And see! in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth boasting.

"I watched until thrones were thrown down, and the Ancient of days was enthroned, whose garment was white like snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool.  His throne was like a flaming fire, and its wheels flamed out.  A river of fire issued out from in front of him.  Thousands of thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.  The judges were put in place, and the books were opened.

"I saw then the result of the boastful sounds which the horn was uttering: as I continued looking, finally the beast was killed, and its body destroyed, fed to the fiery flame.

"Then I saw night visions, and look, someone like a Son of man was coming on the clouds of heaven.  He came toward the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.  And authority was given to him, and glory, and a kingdom, so that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him.  His rule dominates forever, and will not pass away.

"One of those who stood near made known to me the meaning of these things: These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, who shall arise from the earth, but it will be the saints of the most High who shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, for ever and ever.

"The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth and break it in pieces.  The ten horns arising from this kingdom are ten kings.  And another one shall arise after them, different from the others, and he shall subdue three kings.  He shall utter great discourses against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High.  He shall have the purpose of changing times and laws and they shall in fact be given into his power for a time, times and half a time.

"However, the court shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end.  And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High.  Their kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them."

A PSALM OF HOPE FOR ZION

Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you!

My enemies reproach me all day.

For you have lifted me up and thrown me far away.

Bur you, O Lord, shall endure forever

And the remembrance of you to all generations.

You will rise up and have mercy on Zion;

For the time to favour her, yes, the set time, has come.

THE FALL OF THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE

Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords.  He ordered the gold and silver vessels brought in, which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that he, his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink from them.  They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, and stone.

At that same hour, the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote, opposite the candlestick, upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace.  And the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.  Then the king's expression changed and his thoughts were disturbed, so much so that the joints of his hips became loose, and his knees knocked together.

The king cried out to have the astrologers and the soothsayers brought in and said, "Whoever reads this writing, and explains to me the meaning of it, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold around his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”  But none of the king's wise men could read the writing, or make known its interpretation.  Then king Belshazzar was greatly troubled.

Then the queen came into the banquet house and said, "O king, live for ever! Don't let your thoughts be troubled.  There is a man in your kingdom, who has the spirit of the holy gods, whom king Nebuchadnezzar your father made chief of the magicians, astrologers and soothsayers.  Let Daniel now be called, and he will give the interpretation."

Then Daniel was brought in before the king.  The king said to him, "Are you that Daniel, who belonged to the captives of Judah, whom the king, my father, brought out of the Jews' land?  I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations, and remove uncertainty.  Now, if you can read the writing, and explain to me the meaning of it, you shall be clothed in scarlet, and have a chain of gold around your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom."

Then Daniel said before the king, "Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to someone else.  Yet I will read the writing to the king, and make the meaning known to him.

"O king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour.  But he was driven from among men and his heart was made like the beasts till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appoints over it whomever he wishes.  And you, his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven.  And they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you, and your lords, your wives, and your concubines, have drunk wine in them and have praised the gods of silver, and gold, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear.  And you have not glorified the God whose hand holds your breath.

"Then the part of the hand was sent from him; and this writing was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.  This is the interpretation of it: MENE, God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it.  TEKEL, you are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting.  PERES; your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”  Then Belshazzar gave order, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold around his neck, and made a proclamation that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

That night  Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was killed.

THE 490 YEARS REQUIRED TO MAKE ZION RIGHTEOUS

"In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the race of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood, by books, the number of years concerning which the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah the prophet, namely that he would end the desolation of Jerusalem in seventy years.  And I turned my face to the Lord God, to make request by prayer and supplication, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

"While I was praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplications before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, was made to fly swiftly, and touched me about the time of the evening offering.  And he informed me, and said, O Daniel, I have now come to give you skill in understanding, therefore understand this:

"Seventy weeks have been pre-determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish their transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy one.

"Know therefore and understand, that from the giving of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.  The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troubled times.

"And after the sixty-two weeks, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself.  And the people of the coming prince shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and its end shall be with a flood.  Until the end of the war desolations are pre-determined.

"And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week and shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.  Because of the many abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the end, which is determined to be poured out on the desolator.

"Michael shall stand up, the great prince who defends the cause of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation; and at that time your people shall be saved, every one who shall be found written in the book.

"And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.  And those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the sky; and those who turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."

CYRUS ORDERS THE JEWS TO REBUILD THEIR TEMPLE

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order that the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord moved the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, to make a proclamation through all his kingdom, and put it in writing, saying,

"Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.  Who is there among you belonging to his people?  May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem and build the house of the Lord God of Israel.  He is the God who is in Jerusalem.

"And each member of that remnant, let the men of his place help him, with silver, and gold, and with goods, beside freewill offerings for the house of the God who is in Jerusalem."

And the vessels also of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought into the temple of Babylon, Cyrus the king took them out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one named Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor.  He said to him, "Take these vessels, go, carry them to Jerusalem, and let the house of the God be built in its place."

These are the men of the province who went up out of the captivity, among those who had been carried away to Babylon and came again to Jerusalem and Judah, every one to his city: the whole congregation together numbered 42,360, beside their servants and their maids, of whom there were 7,337;  there were among them 200 singing men and women.

Then Joshua the son of Jozadak, his brothers the priests and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brothers built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.  They offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, morning and evening.  Now, in the second year of their coming to build the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity  began to advance the work of the house of the Lord.

And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites with cymbals, to praise the Lord, as in the ordinance of David.  They sang together by course, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, because he is good, for his mercy endures for ever toward Israel.  And all the people shouted with a great shout.  They praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord had been laid.

However, the people living in the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, troubled them in building, and hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, during all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE COMPLETED DESPITE OPPOSITION

Then the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, in order for the temple to be built.  Before these days there was no peace to him who went out or came in, because of their affliction.

In the second year of Darius the king, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the high priest, saying, "Thus says the Lord of hosts: This people say, The time has not come that the Lord's house should be built."

Then came the word of the Lord, "Is it time for you to dwell in your paneled houses, and this house to lie in ruins?  Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, says the Lord."

In the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, "Thus says the Lord: I am jealous for Jerusalem with a great jealousy, and I am very displeased with the nations who are at ease.  Therefore thus says the Lord; I return to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, says the Lord of hosts.”  Then Zerubbabel and Joshua rose up and began to build the house of God, and with them were the prophets of God helping them.

At the same time there came to them Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shetharboznai, and their companions, and said to them, "Who has commanded you to build this house, and to make this wall?  What are the names of the men who do this building?" But the eyes of their God were upon the elders of the Jews, that they could not cause them to cease, until the matter came to Darius.  Then they gave answer by letter concerning the matter.

In the seventh month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying, "Speak now to Zerubbabel and to Joshua, and to the rest of the people, saying, Who is left among you who saw this house in its first glory?  and how do you see it now?  Is it not in your eyes, as nothing in comparison?  Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord, and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest, and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord, and work: for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts.  Just as the promise of my covenant with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remains among you: fear not! For thus says the Lord of hosts, yet once, in a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, the sea, and the dry land.  I will shake all nations, and the riches of all nations shall come.  I will fill this house with glory.

The word of the Lord to Zechariah, the prophet: "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, look, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the Lord.  And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you."

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion: behold, your King comes to you.  He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon a donkey, and upon a colt, the foal of an donkey."

"I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication and they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be bitter about him, as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn."

The elders of the Jews built, and finished it, in accordance with the commandment of the God of Israel, and in accordance with the commandment of Cyrus and Darius, kings of Persia, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.  And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy.

ESTHER

V. 1 In the days of Ahasuerus, who reigned from India even as far as Ethiopia, 9:20 all the Jews who were in all the provinces of the king, both near and far, v 22 rested from their enemies, and turned from sorrow to joy.

V. 24 Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews how to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to destroy them.  But when Esther, the queen, came before the king, he commanded by letters that this wicked scheme, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.  Wherefore they called these days Purim.

V. 29 And Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. v 30 And he sent the letters to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, 31 in order to confirm these days of Purim in their set times, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had ordered them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed the matters of the fastings and of their cry

10:3 Mordecai the Jew was next to king Ahasuerus

EZRA, THE SCRIBE OF THE LAW

Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah went up from Babylon.  He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, and the king granted him all his requests, because of the hand of the Lord his God upon him.  Some of the children of Israel, of the priests, the Levites, the singers and the porters, went up to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.  And they delivered the king's commissions to the king's lieutenants, and to the governors on this side the river.  They helped the people, and the house of God.

"Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing the same abominations, even like the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.  For they have taken some of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons, so that the holy seed is mixed with the people of the land.  The princes and rulers have been mainly responsible in this trespass.

"When I heard this, I tore my garment and my mantle, and plucked out the hair of my head and beard, and sat down astonished.  Then every one who trembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled with me."

Ezra the priest, with certain chiefs of the fathers, all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.  And they finished dealing with all the men who had taken foreign wives by the first day of the first month.  And they gave their word that they would put away their wives.  As they were guilty, they each offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.

A LETTER TO ARTAXERXES AGAINST JERUSALEM

Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king like this: "Your servants, the men on this side the river, Be it known to the king, that the Jews which came up from you to us have come to Jerusalem, are building the rebellious and wicked city, and have set up its walls, and joined the foundations.  Be it known now to the king, that, if this city is built, and the walls set up again, then they will not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and so you shall damage the revenue of the kings.

"Now because we are maintained by the king's palace, and it was not proper for us to allow something to the king's prejudice, we have certified to the king that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers and so you may know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they have fomented sedition within it in former times.  For that reason this city was destroyed.  We certify to the king that, if this city is rebuilt and its walls set up, that will deprive you of everything on this side of the river."

ARTAXERXES' REPLY TO REHUM'S LETTER

Then the king sent an answer to Rehum the chancellor, "Peace. The letter which you sent to us has been plainly read before me.  And I commanded, and search has been made, and it has been found that this city in former times has revolted against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been committed in it.  There have also been mighty kings over Jerusalem, who ruled over all  the countries beyond the river.  So command these men to cease, that this city may not be built, until authorization shall be given from me."

AUTHORIZATION TO REBUILD THE WALL OF JERUSALEM

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah: "It happened in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came and said to me, The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and shame.  The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.  When I heard these words, I sat down and mourned for several days, and fasted, and prayed.

"And it happened 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 to the king.  Now I had not been sad before in his presence.  Therefore the king said to me, Why is your face sad, since you are not sick?  This can be nothing else but sorrow of heart.  Then I was very much afraid, and said to the king, Let the king live for ever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burnt with fire?

"Then the king said to me, What do you request?  So I prayed to the God of heaven and I said, If it please the king, and if your servant has found favour in your sight, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may build it.  And the king said to me, How long will your journey last?  So it pleased the king to send me and I set him a time.

"So I came Jerusalem and was there three days.  Then I said to them, You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates are burned.  Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may not be reproached any more.  Then I told them how the hand of my God had been good upon me, and the king's words that he had spoken to me.  And they said, Let us rise and build.

"But it so happened, that when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and mocked the Jews.  All of them conspired together to come to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder.  Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night.  When our enemies heard that God had brought their plans to nothing, we returned all of us to the wall, every one to his work.  So the wall was finished in fifty-two days.

"When all our enemies and all the nations that were about us saw these things, they were ashamed of themselves, for they perceived that this work was brought about by our God."

PRAISE

"Praise the Lord: for it is good to sing praises to our God;

The Lord builds up Jerusalem: he gathers together the outcasts of Israel.

He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.

He counts the number of the stars, he calls them all by their names.

Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite.

The Lord lifts up the meek: he throws the wicked down to the ground.

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp to our God.

The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his mercy.

Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion.

For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within."

PROPHECIES OF MALACHI

"A son honours his father, and a servant his master.  If then I am a father, where is my honour, and if I am a master, where is the respect for me?  says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name.  And you say, In what way have we despised your name?

"You offer polluted food on my altar; and you say, In what way have we polluted?  In that you say, The table of the Lord is contemptible.  When you offer the blind for sacrifice, and the lame and the sick, is it not evil?  Go offer it now to your governor! Will he be pleased with you?  says the Lord of hosts.  For my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering, for my name shall be great among the nations.

"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.  And the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come into his temple, even the messenger of the covenant.  But who can support the day of his coming?  Who shall stand when he appears?  For he is like a refiner's fire and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and he shall purify the sons of Levi as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord a righteous offering.

"For, behold, the day is coming that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, and all who act wickedly, shall be stubble.  The day that is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, and shall leave of them neither root nor branch.  But to you who fear my name the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go out, and leap as calves coming out of the stall.

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.  And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

Verses used to construct this history:

Chapter 4:  Isa53 5 ISAIAH PROPHESIES WRATH 2Ch32 24,25; Isa39 1; 2Ch32 31; Isa39 2,3,6,7; 2Ch32 26; Isa39 8; COMFORT Isa43 1,2,22-25; Isa44 22-28.  ONLY SERVANT ATONES Isa42 1,2,4; Isa49 1-6; Isa52 7,13-15; Isa53 1,3-12.  MANASSEH 2Ch33 1,6,9; 2Ki21 16,10-15; Isa59 1,2,5-8; 2Ch33 10-12; Isa57 15-21; 2Ch33 13,15,16;  MESSENGER Isa61 1-3,11; Isa62 1,2,6,7.  NAHUM SEES END OF ASSYRIA Na1 1-3,7,8;,15.  HABAKKUK SEES ANOTHER OPPRESSOR Hab1 1,5-7; Hab2 4; Hab3 16-19.  2Ch33 21,22,24,25.  ZEPHANIAH Zep1 1,2,4,6,7, 18  Zep2 3; Zep3 1-4,8,9,1-14,17.  JOSIAH SEEKS THE Lord 2Ch34 1-5.  JEREMIAH Jer1 1,2,5-10,18,19; Jer2 2,3,5,9-13; Jer4 1-4; Jer11 18-23.  LAW DISCOVERED 2Ki22 3-20; 2Ch35 20; 2Ki23 29,30,33,34 NEBUCHADNEZZAR Jer46 1,2; Jer25 1-3,8,9,11,12.  DANIEL TO BABYLON Da1 1-3,6; Heb11 33,34; Da1 17; Da2 47,48.  SECOND GROUP DEPORTED 2Ki23 36, 37; Jer36 27; 2Ki24 6,10-15; Jer37 1,2; Jer29 1,4-7,10,13.  Jer30 1; Jer31 31-34.  EZEKIEL AMONG CAPTIVES Eze1 1-5; Eze10 15,1; Eze1 26,28; Eze2 1-5; Eze3 17; Eze33 11,20; Eze13 9,10; Eze16 2-11,13,15,26-29,17,20,21,46,47, 49,50,52,59-61,63 A GOOD WORD Jer32 1,2,36-41; Jer33 14-17,22.  DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM Jer52 5-16; Jer40 2,4.  LAMENTATIONS La1 12; La2:13; La3 1,14, 19,21-23; La4 22; La519,21.  PSALM OF CAPTIVES Ps137 1-4.  EZEKIEL RE NEW HEART Eze36 22,27,34; Eze37 25-27.  OLD COVENANT TEMPLE Eze40 1-4; Eze41 1; Eze43 8,10-12; Eze44 6,7; Eze47 1,3,5,6,9,12; 2Ki25 27.  A SON OF MAN Da7 1-11,13,14, 16-18,23-27; PSALM OF HOPE Ps102 1,2,8, 9,11,13,14.  THE FALL OF BABYLON Da5 1-13,16-18,21-28,30; Da9 1; Da6 28.  490 years Da9 1-3,20-27.  Da12 1-3.  CYRUS ORDERS BUILD TEMPLE Ezr1 1-4; Ezr5 13-15; Ezr2 1,64,65; Ezr3 2,3,8-11; Ezr4 4,5 TEMPLE FINISHED Ezr5 1;Zec8 9,10; Hag1 1,2,4,8; Zec1 7,14-16; Ezr5 2,3,5; Hag2 1,4-7,9; Zec1 1; Zec2 10,11; Ezr6 14-16; Zec9 9; Zec12 10.  ESTHER Es1 1; Es9 20,24; Es7 1; Es9 29; Es10 3.  EZRA  Ezr7 1,6,8,27; Ezr8 1-4, 36; Ezr10 16,17,19.  LETTER TO ARTAXERXES Ezr4 8,12-16.  ARTAXERXES TO REHUM Ezr4 17-21.  AUTHORIZATION & REBUILD Ne1 1; Ne2 1-6,11; Ne2 9-11,16-18; Ne4 1-3,8,9,15; Ne6 15,16.  PRAISE Ps147 1-7,11-13.  MALACHI Mal1 1,6-8,11; Mal3 1-3; Mal4 1,2,5,6.

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