Study Desk

So in the days of Zerubbabel and [later of] Nehemiah, all Israel would give the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers; and they set apart the consecrated portion for the Levites, and the Levites set apart the consecrated portion for the sons of Aaron [the priests].

On that day they read aloud from the book of Moses so that the people could hear [its words], and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite could ever enter the assembly of God,

It was very displeasing to me, so I threw all of Tobiah's household furnishings out of the room.

I also discovered that the portions due the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone away, each one back to his own field.

Then I reprimanded the officials and said, "Why is the house of God neglected?" So I gathered the Levites and singers together and restored them at their posts.

In those days I saw some in Judah who were treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves or sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I protested and warned them on the day they sold the produce.

Now when it began to get dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath [began], I commanded that the doors be shut and not be opened until after the Sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load [of merchandise] would enter [Jerusalem] on the Sabbath day.

So once or twice the merchants and sellers of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem.

But I warned them, saying, "Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do so again, I will use force against you." From that time on, they did not come on the Sabbath.

So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, "You shall not give your daughters [in marriage] to their sons, nor take [any of] their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

"Did not Solomon king of Israel sin [greatly against God] regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin [by turning to other gods and so, judged by God, he lost his kingdom].

One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, so I chased him away from me.

But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command, which was delivered [to her] by the eunuchs. So the king became extremely angry and burned with rage.

"If it pleases the king, let a royal command be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of the Persians and Medes so that it cannot be repealed or modified, that Vashti is no longer to come before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better and more worthy than she.

"So when the king's great decree is proclaimed throughout his [extensive] kingdom, all women will give honor to their husbands, from the great to the insignificant."

So he sent letters to all the royal provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, saying that every man should be the master and rule in his own home and that he should speak [in the household] in the language of his own people.

So it came about when the king's command and his decree were proclaimed and when many young women were gathered together in the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king's palace [and placed] in the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women.

Now the young woman pleased Hegai and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with beauty preparations and her [portion of] food, and he gave her seven choice maids from the king's palace; then he transferred her and her maids to the best place in the harem.

Esther did not reveal [the Jewish background of] her people or her family, for Mordecai had instructed her not to do so.

So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, to his royal palace in the tenth month, that is, the month of Tebeth (Dec-Jan), in the seventh year of his reign.