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And Josaphat had yet great wealth and glory, and he connected himself by marriage with the house of Achaab.

And the king of Israel said to Josaphat, There is yet one man by whom to enquire of the Lord; but I hate him, for he does not prophesy concerning me for good, for all his days are for evil: this is Michaias the son of Jembla. And Josaphat said, Let not the king say so.

yet now, behold, they make attempts against us, to come forth to cast us out from our inheritance which thou gavest us.

nevertheless the high places yet remained; and as yet the people did not direct their heart to the Lord God of their fathers.

yet he sent prophets to them, to turn them to the Lord; but they hearkened not: and he testified to them, but they obeyed not.

For the army of Syria came with few men, yet God gave into their hands a very large army, because they had forsaken the God of their fathers; and he brought judgments on Joas.

but only troubled him in his affliction: and he departed yet more from the Lord, and king Achaz said,

And Ezekias told them yet farther to prepare chambers for the house of the Lord; and they prepared them,

And in the eighth year of his reign, and he being yet a youth, he began to seek the Lord God of his father David: and in the twelfth year of his reign he began to purge Juda and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the ornaments for the altars, and the molten images.

Joachim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Zechora, daughter of Nerias of Rama. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers did. In his days came Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon into the land, and he served him three years, and then revolted from him. And the Lord sent against them the Chaldeans, and plundering parties of Syrians, and plundering parties of the Moabites, and of the children of Ammon, and of Samaria; but after this they departed, according to the word of the Lord by the hand of his servants the prophets. Nevertheless the wrath of the Lord was upon Juda, so that they should be removed from his presence, because of the sins of Manasses in all that he did, and for the innocent blood which Joakim shed, for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; yet the Lord would not utterly destroy them.

For we are slaves, yet in our servitude the Lord our God has not deserted us; and he has extended favour to us in the sight of the kings of the Persians, to give us a quickening, that they should raise up the house of our God, and restore the desolate places of it, and to give us a fence in Juda and Jerusalem.

O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous; for we remain yet escaped, as at this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee on this account.

And Sechenias the son of Jeel, of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Esdras, We have broken covenant with our God, and have taken strange wives of the nations of the land: yet now there is patience of hope to Israel concerning this thing.

And Juda said, The strength of the enemies is broken, yet there is much rubbish, and we shall not be able to build the wall.

And now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children are as their children: yet, behold, we are reducing our sons and our daughters to slavery, and some of our daughters are enslaved: and there is no power of our hands, for our fields and our vineyards belong to the nobles.

And there came to me for one day one calf, and I had six choice sheep and a goat; and every ten days wine in abundance of all sorts: yet with these I required not the bread of extortion, because the bondage was heavy upon this people.

Yet thou in thy great compassions didst not forsake them in the wilderness: thou didst not turn away from them the pillar of the cloud by day, to guide them in the way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to enlighten for them the way wherein they should walk.

Yet thou didst bear long with them many years, and didst testify to them by thy Spirit by the hand of thy prophets: but they hearkened not; so thou gavest them into the hand of the nations of the land.

Did not Solomon king of Israel sin thus? though there was no king like him among many nations, and he was beloved of God, and God made him king over all Israel; yet strange women turned him aside.

While they were yet speaking, the chamberlains arrived, to hasten Aman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.