So now, in the sight of all Israel, the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s assembly, and in the hearing of our God, I say this:<n id="1" /> Carefully observe<n id="2" /> all the commands of the <sc>Lordsc> your God, so that you may possess this good land and may leave it as a permanent inheritance for your children after you.p>

They offer burnt sacrifices to the <sc>Lordsc> every morning and every evening, along with fragrant incense. They arrange the Bread of the Presence on a ritually clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. Certainly<n id="1" /> we are observing the <sc>Lordsc> our God&#8217;s regulations, but you have rejected him.

No one must enter the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple except the priests and Levites who are on duty. They may enter because they are ceremonially pure. All the others should carry out their assigned service to the <sc>Lordsc>.

I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors,<n id="1" /> provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law, the rules and regulations given to Moses.&#8221;

They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the silver that had been brought to God&#8217;s temple. The Levites who guarded the door had collected it from the people of<n id="1" /> Manasseh and Ephraim and from all who were left in Israel, as well as from all the people of<n id="2" /> Judah and Benjamin and the residents of<n id="3" /> Jerusalem.

<p class="bodytext">So Hilkiah and the others sent by the king<n id="1" /> went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah,<n id="2" /> the supervisor of the wardrobe.<n id="3" /> (She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh<n id="4" /> district.) They stated their business,<n id="5" />

The king stood by his pillar<n id="1" /> and renewed<n id="2" /> the covenant before the <sc>Lordsc>, agreeing to follow<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc> and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being,<n id="4" /> by carrying out the terms<n id="5" /> of this covenant recorded on this scroll.

But if you repent<n id="1" /> and obey<n id="2" /> my commandments and do them, then even if your dispersed people are in the most remote location,<n id="3" /> I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for my name to reside.&#8217;

and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king&#8217;s nature preserve,<n id="1" /> so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall<n id="2" /> and for the house to which I go.&#8221; So the king granted me these requests,<n id="3" /> for the good hand of my God was on me.

<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!

hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders<n id="1" /> and enter into a curse and an oath<n id="2" /> to adhere to<n id="3" /> the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey<n id="4" /> carefully all the commandments of the <sc>LORDsc> our Lord,<n id="5" /> along with his ordinances and his statutes.p>

Then I directed the Levites to purify themselves and come and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.p> <p class="bodytext">For this please remember me, O my God, and have pity on me in keeping with your great love.p>

And let the king appoint officers throughout all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the attractive young women to Susa the citadel, to the harem<n id="1" /> under the authority of Hegai, the king&#8217;s eunuch who oversees the women, and let him provide whatever cosmetics they desire.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">It so happened that when the king&#8217;s edict and his law became known<n id="1" /> many young women were taken to Susa the citadel to be placed under the authority of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the royal palace<n id="2" /> to be under the authority of Hegai, who was overseeing the women.

In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to a separate part<n id="1" /> of the harem, to the authority of Shaashgaz the king&#8217;s eunuch who was overseeing the concubines. She would not go back to the king unless the king was pleased with her<n id="2" /> and she was requested by name.p>

<p class="bodytext">In those days while Mordecai was sitting at the king&#8217;s gate, Bigthan<n id="1" /> and Teresh,<n id="2" /> two of the king&#8217;s eunuchs who protected the entrance,<n id="3" /> became angry and plotted to assassinate<n id="4" /> King Ahasuerus.

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>

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="poetry">Be careful what you do<n id="2" /> when you go to the temple<n id="3" /> of God;p> <p class="poetry">draw near to listen<n id="4" /> rather than to offer a sacrifice<n id="5" /> like fools,<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">for they do not realize that they are doing wrong.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">If you see the extortion<n id="1" /> of the poor,p> <p class="poetry">or the perversion<n id="2" /> of justice and fairness in the government,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">do not be astonished by the matter.p> <p class="poetry">For the high official is watched by a higher official,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and there are higher ones over them!<n id="5" />p>

Tell him, &#8216;Make sure you stay calm!<n id="1" /> Don&#8217;t be afraid! Don&#8217;t be intimidated<n id="2" /> by these two stubs of smoking logs,<n id="3" /> or by the raging anger of Rezin, Syria, and the son of Remaliah.