<p class="bodytext">From his own royal flocks and herds, Josiah supplied the people with 30,000 lambs and goats for the Passover sacrifice, as well as 3,000 cattle.<n id="1" />

A Passover like this had not been observed in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had observed a Passover like the one celebrated by Josiah, the priests, the Levites, all the people of Judah and Israel who were there, and the residents of Jerusalem.

<p class="bodytext">The rest of the events of Jehoiakim&#8217;s reign, including the horrible sins he committed and his shortcomings, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Israel and Judah.<n id="1" /> His son Jehoiachin replaced him as king.p>

I said to them, &#8220;To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews<n id="1" /> who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen,<n id="2" /> so that we can then buy them back!&#8221; They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.p>

When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a<n id="1" /> covenant with him to give his descendants<n id="2" /> the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise,<n id="3" /> for you are righteous.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;So now, our God &#8211; the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity<n id="1" /> &#8211; do not regard as inconsequential<n id="2" /> all the hardship that has befallen us &#8211; our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people &#8211; from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day!

<t /><p class="bodytext">On that day the book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing<n id="1" /> of the people. They found<n id="2" /> written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite may ever enter the assembly of God,

When those days<n id="1" /> were completed, the king then provided a seven-day<n id="2" /> banquet for all the people who were present<n id="3" /> in Susa the citadel, for those of highest standing to the most lowly.<n id="4" /> It was held in the court located in the garden of the royal palace.

If I have found favor in the king&#8217;s sight and if the king is inclined<n id="1" /> to grant my request and perform my petition, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet that I will prepare for them. At that time<n id="2" /> I will do as the king wishes.<n id="3" />p>

it was found written that Mordecai had disclosed that Bigthana<n id="1" /> and Teresh, two of the king&#8217;s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, had plotted to assassinate<n id="2" /> King Ahasuerus.p>

<p class="bodytext">Queen Esther replied, &#8220;If I have met with your approval,<n id="1" /> O king, and if the king is so inclined, grant me my life as my request, and my people as my petition.

<p class="poetry">God has made everything fit beautifully<n id="1" /> in its appropriate time,p> <p class="poetry">but<n id="2" /> he has also placed ignorance<n id="3" /> in the human heart<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">so that<n id="5" /> people<n id="6" /> cannot discover what God has ordained,<n id="7" />p> <p class="poetry">from the beginning to the end<n id="8" /> of their lives.<n id="9" />p>

<p class="poetry">In times of prosperity<n id="1" /> be joyful,p> <p class="poetry">but in times of adversity<n id="2" /> consider this:p> <p class="poetry">God has made one as well as the other,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">so that no one can discover what the future holds.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">I discovered this:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">More bitter than death is the kind of<n id="2" /> woman<n id="3" /> who is like a hunter&#8217;s snare;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">her heart is like a hunter&#8217;s net and her hands are like prison chains.p> <p class="poetry">The man who pleases God escapes her,p> <p class="poetry">but the sinner is captured by her.p>

<p class="poetry">Scarcely<n id="1" /> had I passed them byp> <p class="poetry">when I found my beloved!p> <p class="poetry">I held onto him<n id="2" /> tightly and would not let him go<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">until I brought him to my mother&#8217;s house,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">to the bedroom chamber<n id="5" /> of the one who conceived me.p>

<p class="poetry">My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,p> <p class="poetry">as one gathers up abandoned eggs,p> <p class="poetry">I gathered up the whole earth.p> <p class="poetry">There was no wing flapping,p> <p class="poetry">or open mouth chirping.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

Perhaps the <sc>Lordsc> your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God.<n id="1" /> When the <sc>Lordsc> your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said.<n id="2" /> So pray for this remnant that remains.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Certainly the <sc>Lordsc> will console Zion;p> <p class="poetry">he will console all her ruins.p> <p class="poetry">He will make her wilderness like Eden,p> <p class="poetry">her desert like the Garden of the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">Happiness and joy will be restored to<n id="1" /> her,p> <p class="poetry">thanksgiving and the sound of music.p>

<p class="poetry">You must<n id="1" /> observe the Sabbath<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">rather than doing anything you please on my holy day.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">You must look forward to the Sabbath<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and treat the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s holy day with respect.<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">You must treat it with respect by refraining from your normal activities,p> <p class="poetry">and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals.<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;When<n id="1" /> juice is discovered in a cluster of grapes,p> <p class="poetry">someone says, &#8216;Don&#8217;t destroy it, for it contains juice.&#8217;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So I will do for the sake of my servants &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">I will not destroy everyone.<n id="3" />p>