who were rebuilding the wall. Those who were carrying loads did so by keeping one hand on the work and the other on their weapon.

to bring Queen Vashti into the king’s presence wearing her royal high turban. He wanted to show the people and the officials her beauty, for she was very attractive.

For you are the God who shelters me. Why do you reject me? Why must I walk around mourning because my enemies oppress me?

May those who are trying to take my life be embarrassed and ashamed! May those who want to harm me be turned back and ashamed!

For forty years I was continually disgusted with that generation, and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; they do not obey my commands.’

and lays the beams of the upper rooms of his palace on the rain clouds. He makes the clouds his chariot, and travels along on the wings of the wind.

The fig tree has budded, the vines have blossomed and give off their fragrance. Arise, come away my darling; my beautiful one, come away with me!”

The Beloved’s Brothers: We have a little sister, and as yet she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for?

Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened.

“The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with chiseled stone; the sycamore fig trees have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.”

So a treaty curse devours the earth; its inhabitants pay for their guilt. This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, and are reduced to just a handful of people.

Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired, but you do not say, ‘I give up.’ You get renewed energy, so you don’t collapse.

Everyone must be on his guard around his friends. He must not even trust any of his relatives. For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. And all of his friends will tell lies about him.

But just watch! The wrath of the Lord will come like a storm! Like a raging storm it will rage down on the heads of those who are wicked.

Everyone was supposed to free their male and female Hebrew slaves. No one was supposed to keep a fellow Judean enslaved.

“Take up your battle positions all around Babylon, all you soldiers who are armed with bows. Shoot all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back! For she has sinned against the Lord.

“Babylon, you are my war club, my weapon for battle. I used you to smash nations. I used you to destroy kingdoms.

so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.

“Or suppose I were to send a plague into that land, and pour out my rage on it with bloodshed, killing both people and animals.

“‘See here – this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help the poor and needy.