# verses

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The prophet Isaiah then came to King Hezekiah and asked him, 'What have these men said, and where have they come from?' Hezekiah answered, 'They have come from a distant country, from Babylon.'


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Isaiah said, 'What have they seen in your palace?' 'They have seen everything in my palace,' Hezekiah answered. 'There is nothing in my storehouses that I have not shown them.'


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"The days are coming when everything in your palace, everything that your ancestors have amassed until now, will be carried off to Babylon. Not a thing will be left," Yahweh says.


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"Sons sprung from you, sons fathered by you, will be abducted to be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." '


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Hezekiah said to Isaiah, 'This word of Yahweh that you announce is reassuring,' for he was thinking, 'And why not? So long as there is peace and security during my lifetime.'


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The rest of the history of Hezekiah, all his prowess, how he constructed the pool and the conduit to bring water into the city, is this not recorded in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?


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Manasseh was twelve years old when he came to the throne and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah.


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He did what is displeasing to Yahweh, copying the disgusting practices of the nations whom Yahweh had dispossessed for the Israelites.


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He rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had destroyed, he set up altars to Baal and made a sacred pole as Ahab king of Israel had done, he worshipped the whole array of heaven and served it.


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He built altars in the Temple of Yahweh of which Yahweh had said, 'Jerusalem is where I shall put my name.'


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He caused his son to pass through the fire of sacrifice, he also practised soothsaying and divination and set up mediums and spirit guides. He did very many more things displeasing to Yahweh, thus provoking his anger.


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He had an image of Asherah carved and placed it inside the Temple of which Yahweh had said to David and his son Solomon, 'In this Temple and in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I shall put my Name for ever.


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Nor shall I ever again set Israel's footsteps wandering outside the country which I gave to their ancestors, provided they are careful to observe all I have commanded them as laid down in the whole Law which my servant Moses prescribed for them.'


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But they would not listen, and Manasseh misled them into doing worse things than the nations whom Yahweh had destroyed for the Israelites.


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'Since Manasseh king of Judah has done these shameful deeds, doing more wicked deeds than anything which the Amorites did before him, and has led Judah too into sin with his idols,


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Yahweh, God of Israel, says this, "Look, I shall bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah as will make the ears of all who hear of it tingle.


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Over Jerusalem I shall stretch the same measuring line as over Samaria, the same plumb-rule as for the House of Ahab; I shall scour Jerusalem as someone scours a dish and, having scoured it, turns it upside down.


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I shall cast away the remnant of my heritage, delivering them into the clutches of their enemies and making them the prey and booty of all their enemies,


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because they have done what is displeasing to me and have provoked my anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until now." '


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Manasseh shed innocent blood, too, in such great quantity that he flooded Jerusalem from one end to the other, besides the sins into which he led Judah by doing what is displeasing to Yahweh.


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The rest of the history of Manasseh, his entire career, the sins he committed, is this not recorded in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?


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Then Manasseh fell asleep with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his palace, the Garden of Uzza; his son Amon succeeded him.


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Amon was twenty-two years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz, of Jotbah.


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In every respect he followed the example of his father, serving the idols which his father had served, and worshipping them.


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The people of the country, however, slaughtered all those who had plotted against King Amon and proclaimed his son Josiah as his successor.


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The rest of the history of Amon, his entire career, is this not recorded in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?


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Josiah was eight years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah, of Bozkath.


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He did what Yahweh regards as right, and in every respect followed the example of his ancestor David, not deviating from it to right or left.


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In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent the secretary Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam to the Temple of Yahweh.


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'Go to Hilkiah the high priest,' he told him, 'and tell him to melt down the silver contributed to the Temple of Yahweh and collected by the guardians of the threshold from the people.


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He is to hand it over to the masters of works attached to the Temple of Yahweh, for them to pay it over to men working on the Temple of Yahweh, to repair the damaged parts of the Temple:


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to the carpenters, builders and masons, and for buying timber and dressed stone for the Temple repairs.'


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The latter were not required to render account of the money handed over to them, since they were conscientious in their work.


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The high priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, 'I have found the Book of the Law in the Temple of Yahweh.' And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, who read it.


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Shaphan the secretary went to the king, reporting furthermore to him as follows, 'Your servants have melted down the silver which was in the Temple and have handed it over to the masters of works attached to the Temple of Yahweh.'


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Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, 'The priest Hilkiah has given me a book'; and Shaphan read it aloud in the king's presence.


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Then the king gave the following order to the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king's minister:


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'Go and consult Yahweh on behalf of me and the people about the words of the book that has been discovered; for Yahweh's furious wrath has been kindled against us because our ancestors disobeyed the word of Yahweh by not doing what this book says they ought to have done.'


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The priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to the prophetess Huldah wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas the keeper of the wardrobe; she lived in Jerusalem in the new town. They put the matter to her,


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Yahweh says this: I am going to bring disaster on this place and the people who live in it -- all the words of the book read by the king of Judah.


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Because they have abandoned me and sacrificed to other gods, so as to provoke my anger by their every action, my wrath is kindled against this place, and nothing can stop it.


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As for the king of Judah who sent you to consult Yahweh, say this to him: As regards the words you have heard . . .


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But since your heart has been touched and you have humbled yourself before Yahweh on hearing what I have decreed against this place and the people who live in it, how they will become an object of horror and cursing, and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I too have heard -- Yahweh says this.


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So look, when I gather you to your ancestors, you will be gathered into your grave in peace; you will not live to see the great disaster that I am going to bring on this place." ' They took this answer to the king.


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and the king went up to the Temple of Yahweh with all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, priests, prophets and the whole populace, high and low. In their hearing he read out the entire contents of the Book of the Covenant discovered in the Temple of Yahweh.


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The king then, standing on the dais, bound himself by the covenant before Yahweh, to follow Yahweh, to keep his commandments, decrees and laws with all his heart and soul, and to carry out the terms of the covenant as written in this book. All the people pledged their allegiance to the covenant.


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The king ordered Hilkiah with the priest next in rank and the guardians of the threshold to remove all the cult objects which had been made for Baal, Asherah and the whole array of heaven; he burnt them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and had the ashes taken to Bethel.


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He exterminated the spurious priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed and who offered sacrifice on the high places, in the towns of Judah and the neighbourhood of Jerusalem; also those who offered sacrifice to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the constellations and the whole array of heaven.


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And from the Temple of Yahweh he took the sacred pole outside Jerusalem to the Kidron valley and in the Kidron valley he burnt it, reducing it to ashes and throwing its ashes on the common burial-ground.


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He pulled down the house of the sacred male prostitutes which was in the Temple of Yahweh and where the women wove veils for Asherah.


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He brought all the priests in from the towns of Judah, and from Geba to Beersheba he rendered unsanctified the high places where these priests had offered sacrifice. He pulled down the High Place of the Gates, which stood at the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, to the left of the entry to the city.


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The priests of the high places, however, did not officiate at the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem, although they did share the unleavened bread of their brother-priests.


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He rendered unsanctified Tophet in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, so that no one could pass his son or daughter through the fire of sacrifice to Molech.


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He destroyed the horses which the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance to the Temple of Yahweh, near the apartment of Nathan-Melech the official, in the precincts, and he burned the solar chariot.


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The king pulled down altars which the kings of Judah had built on the roof and those which Manasseh had built in the two courts of the Temple of Yahweh, and broke them to pieces on the spot, throwing their rubble into the Kidron valley.


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The king rendered unsanctified the high places facing Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Olives, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Astarte the Sidonian abomination, for Chemosh the Moabite abomination, and for Milcom the Ammonite abomination.


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He also smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the sacred poles, and covered with human bones the places where they had stood.


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As for the altar which was at Bethel, the high place built by Jeroboam son of Nebat who had led Israel into sin, he demolished this altar and this high place as well, in the same way, breaking up its stones and reducing them to powder. The sacred pole he burned.


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On looking round, Josiah saw the tombs there on the hillside; he had the bones fetched from the tombs and burned them on the altar. This he rendered unsanctified, in accordance with the word of Yahweh which the man of God had proclaimed when Jeroboam was standing by the altar at the time of the feast. On looking round, Josiah caught sight of the tomb of the man of God who had foretold these things.


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'What is that monument I see?' he asked. The townspeople replied, 'It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and foretold what you have done to the altar.'


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'Let him rest,' the king said, 'and let no one disturb his bones.' So they left his bones untouched, with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.


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Josiah also destroyed all the shrines on the high places which were in the towns of Samaria and which the kings of Israel had built to provoke Yahweh's anger; he treated these places exactly as he had treated the one at Bethel.


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All the priests of the high places who were there he slaughtered on the altars, and on those altars burned human bones. Then he returned to Jerusalem.


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The king gave this order to the whole people: 'Celebrate a Passover to Yahweh your God, as prescribed in this Book of the Covenant.'


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No Passover like this had ever been celebrated since the days when the judges ruled Israel, nor throughout the entire period of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.


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The eighteenth year of King Josiah was the only time when such a Passover was celebrated in Yahweh's honour in Jerusalem.


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What is more, the spirit-guides and mediums, the household gods and idols, and all the abominations to be seen in the country of Judah and in Jerusalem, were swept away by Josiah to give effect to the words of the Law written in the book found by the priest Hilkiah in the Temple of Yahweh.


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No king before him turned to Yahweh as he did, with all his heart, all his soul, all his strength, in perfect loyalty to the Law of Moses; nor did any king like him arise again.


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Yet Yahweh did not renounce the heat of his great anger which had been aroused against Judah by all the provocations which Manasseh had caused him.


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Yahweh said, 'I shall thrust Judah away from me too, as I have already thrust Israel; I shall cast off Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the Temple of which I have said: My Name shall be there.'


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The rest of the history of Josiah, his entire career, is this not recorded in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?


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In his times, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt was advancing to meet the king of Assyria at the River Euphrates, and King Josiah went to intercept him; but Necho killed him at Megiddo in the first encounter.


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His retainers carried his body from Megiddo by chariot; they brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the country then took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him, proclaiming him king in succession to his father.


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Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah, of Libnah.


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Pharaoh Necho put him in chains at Riblah in Hamath, to prevent his reigning any longer in Jerusalem, and imposed a levy of a hundred talents of silver and ten talents of gold on the country.


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Pharaoh Necho then made Eliakim son of Josiah king in succession to Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Carrying off Jehoahaz, he took him to Egypt, where he died.


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Jehoiakim paid over the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but first had to tax the people of the country before he could raise the sum which Pharaoh demanded: he levied the silver and gold to be paid over to Pharaoh Necho from each according to his means.


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Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.


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In his times, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years, but then rebelled against him a second time.


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So he sent armed bands of Chaldaeans, Aramaeans, Moabites and Ammonites against him; he sent these against Judah to destroy it, in accordance with the word which Yahweh had spoken through his servants the prophets.


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It was entirely due to Yahweh's anger that this happened to Judah; he had resolved to thrust them away from him because of Manasseh's sins and all that he had done,


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and also because of the innocent blood which he had shed, flooding Jerusalem with innocent blood. Yahweh would not forgive.


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The rest of the history of Jehoiakim, his entire career, is this not recorded in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?


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The king of Egypt did not leave his own country again, because the king of Babylon had conquered everywhere belonging to the king of Egypt, from the Torrent of Egypt to the River Euphrates.


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Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.


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At that time the troops of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.


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Jehoiachin king of Judah-he, his mother, his retinue, his nobles and his officials -- then surrendered to the king of Babylon, and the king of Babylon took them prisoner in the eighth year of his reign.


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The latter carried off all the treasures of the Temple of Yahweh and the treasures of the palace and broke up all the golden furnishings which Solomon king of Israel had made for the sanctuary of Yahweh, as Yahweh had foretold.


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He carried all Jerusalem off into exile, all the nobles and all the notables, ten thousand of these were exiled, with all the blacksmiths and metalworkers; only the poorest people in the country were left behind.


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He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon, as also the king's mother, his officials and the nobility of the country; he made them all leave Jerusalem for exile in Babylon.


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All the men of distinction, seven thousand of them, the blacksmiths and metalworkers, one thousand of them, all the men capable of bearing arms, were led off into exile in Babylon by the king of Babylon.


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The king of Babylon deposed Jehoiachin in favour of his paternal uncle Mattaniah, whose name he changed to Zedekiah.


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Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamital daughter of Jeremiah, of Libnah.


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It was entirely due to Yahweh's anger that this happened to Jerusalem and Judah. It resulted in his casting them from his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.


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In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem with his entire army; he pitched camp in front of the city and threw up earthworks round it.


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In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, when famine was raging in the city and there was no food for the populace,


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a breach was made in the city wall. The king then made his escape under cover of dark, with all the fighting men, by way of the gate between the two walls, which is near the king's garden -- the Chaldaeans had surrounded the city -- and made his way towards the Arabah.


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The Chaldaean troops pursued the king and caught up with him in the Plains of Jericho, where all his troops deserted.


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The Chaldaeans captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, who passed sentence on him.


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He had Zedekiah's sons slaughtered before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah's eyes and, loading him with chains, carried him off to Babylon.


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In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month -- it was in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon -- Nebuzaradan commander of the guard, a member of the king of Babylon's staff, entered Jerusalem.


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The Chaldaean troops who accompanied the commander of the guard demolished the walls surrounding Jerusalem.


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Nebuzaradan commander of the guard deported the remainder of the population left in the city, the deserters who had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the common people.


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But the commander of the guard left some of the poor country people behind as vineyard workers and ploughmen.


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The Chaldaeans broke up the bronze pillars from the Temple of Yahweh, the wheeled stands and the bronze Sea, which were in the Temple of Yahweh, and took the bronze away to Babylon.


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They also took the ash containers, the scoops, the knives, the incense boats, and all the bronze furnishings used in worship.


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The commander of the guard also took the censers and the sprinkling bowls, everything made of gold and everything made of silver.


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As regards the two pillars, the one Sea and the wheeled stands, which Solomon of bronze in all these objects.


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The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and on it stood a capital of bronze, the height of the capital being five cubits; round the capital were filigree and pomegranates, all in bronze. So also for the second pillar.


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The commander of the guard took prisoner Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank, and the three guardians of the threshold.


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In the city he took prisoner an official who was in command of the fighting men, five of the king's personal friends who were discovered in the city, the secretary to the army commander, responsible for military conscription, and sixty men of distinction discovered in the city.


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Nebuzaradan commander of the guard took these men and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah,


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and at Riblah in the territory of Hamath the king of Babylon had them put to death. Thus Judah was deported from its country.


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For the people remaining in the country of Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left behind, he appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan as governor.


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When the military leaders and their men all heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they went to him at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the Maacathite, they and their men.


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To them and to their men Gedaliah swore an oath. 'Do not be afraid of the Chaldaeans,' he said, 'stay in the country, serve the king of Babylon, and all will go well with you.'


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But in the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, who was of royal descent, and ten men with him, came and murdered Gedaliah, as well as the Judaeans and Chaldaeans who were with him at Mizpah.


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Then all the people, high and low, with the military leaders, set off and went to Egypt, being afraid of the Chaldaeans.


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In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year he came to the throne, pardoned Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison.


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He treated him with kindness and allotted him a seat above those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.


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So Jehoiachin laid aside his prisoner's garb, and for the rest of his life always ate at the king's table.


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To Eber were born two sons; the first was called Peleg, because it was in his time that the earth was divided into districts, and his brother was called Joktan.


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Sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan.


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These are the kings who ruled in Edom before an Israelite king ruled: Bela son of Beor; his city was called Dinhabah.


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Husham died and Hada son of Bedad succeeded; he defeated the Midianites in Moab, and his city was called Avith.


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Baal-Hanan died and Hadad succeeded. His city was called Pai; his wife's name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab.


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Sons of Judah: Er, Onan and Shelah. These three were born to him by Bath-shua the Canaanite woman. Er, Judah's first-born, displeased Yahweh who put him to death.


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Sons of Carmi: Achar, who brought trouble on Israel by being unfaithful to the curse of destruction.


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Caleb son of Hezron fathered Jerioth by Azubah his wife; these are her sons: Jesher, Shobab and Ardon.


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Afterwards, Hezron married the daughter of Machir, father of Gilead; he married her when he was sixty years old and she bore him Segub.


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From them, however, Geshur and Aram took the Encampments of Jair and Kenath with its dependencies: sixty towns. All these used to belong to the sons of Machir father of Gilead.


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After Hezron's death, Caleb married Ephrathah, wife of Hezron his father, who bore him Ashhur father of Tekoa.


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Sons of Caleb, Jerahmeel's brother: Mesha, his first-born, who fathered Ziph. His son was Mareshah, father of Hebron.


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She gave birth to Shaaph, who fathered Madmannah, and Sheva, who fathered Machbenah and Gibea. The daughter of Caleb was Achsah.


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These were the sons of Caleb. Sons of Hur, the first-born of Ephrathah: Shobal fathered Kiriath-Jearim;


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and the clans of Kiriath-Jearim: the Ithrites, Puthites, Shumathites and Mishraites. Their descendants are the people of Zorah and Eshtaol.


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Sons of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth Beth-Joab, half of the Manahathites, the Zorathites,


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the Sophrite clans living at Jabez, the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, the Sucathites. They were the Kenites descended from Hammath, father of the House of Rechab.


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These are the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the first-born Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel; second, Daniel, by Abigail of Carmel;


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Six, therefore, were born to him in Hebron, where he reigned for three years and six months. He reigned for thirty-three years in Jerusalem.


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These are the sons who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, the four of them children of Bath-Shua daughter of Ammiel;


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Sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel and Shimei. Sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam and Hananiah; Shelomith was their sister.


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Sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah; Jeshaiah his son, Rephaiah his son, Arnan his son, Obadiah his son, Shecaniah his son.


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Reaiah son of Shobal fathered Jahath, and Jahath fathered Ahumai and Lahad. These are the Zoreathite clans.


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Penuel fathered Gedor, and Ezer fathered Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, first-born of Ephrathah and father of Bethlehem.


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Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, the Timnites, and the Ahashtarites -- these were the sons of Naarah.


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Jabez was better known than his brothers. His mother gave him the name Jabez, 'because', she said, 'in distress I gave birth to him.'


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Jabez called on the God of Israel. 'If you truly bless me,' he said, 'you will extend my lands, your hand will be with me, you will keep harm away and my distress will cease.' God granted him what he had asked.


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Sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, Jalon. She conceived Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoa,


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whose Judaean wife gave birth to Jered father of Gedor, Heber father of Soco, and Jekuthiel, father of Zanoah. These were the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh whom Mered had married.


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The sons of Hodiah's wife, sister of Naham father of Keilah the Garmite and of Eshtemoa the Maacathite . . .


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Sons of Shelah son of Judah: Er father of Lecah, Laadah father of Mareshah, and the clans of linenworkers at Beth-Ashbea,


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Jokim, the men of Cozeba, Joash and Saraph where Moab found wives and then returned to Bethlehem. (These are old traditions.)


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Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children, and the sum of their clans did not multiply as the sons of Judah did.


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These were their towns until the reign of David. Their settlements were: Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen and Ashan, five towns,


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and all the dependencies surrounding these towns as far as Baalath. That was where they lived and they had an official genealogy.


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these above named were princes in their clans in their ancestral home. Their numbers increased enormously.


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In search of pasture for their flocks, they spread from the Pass of Gerar to the eastern end of the valley,


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where they found good, fat pasture; the land was broad, untroubled, peaceful. Hamites had been living there before them.


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These Simeonites, recorded by name, arrived there in the time of Hezekiah king of Judah; they overran their tents and the dwellings which they found there. They put them under a curse of destruction still in force today and settled in their place, since there was pasturage for their flocks.


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Five hundred of them, of the Simeonites, went to Mount Seir, their leaders being Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi.


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Sons of Reuben, first-born of Israel. He was indeed the first-born but, when he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, and he was no longer reckoned as the eldest son.


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Although Judah grew greater than his brothers and a leader came from him, the birthright was Joseph's.


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Beerah his son, whom Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria carried off into exile, was the chief of the Reubenites.


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and Bela son of Azaz, son of Shema, son of Joel. It was Reuben who lived in Aroer and his territory extended as far as Nebo and Baal-Meon.


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To eastward, what he occupied extended to the edge of the desert and the River Euphrates, for they had many herds in Gilead.


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In the time of Saul, they made war on the Hagrites, whom they defeated and who were then living in their tents throughout the eastern front of Gilead.


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These were the sons of Abihail: Ben-Huri, Ben-Jaroah, Ben-Gilead, Ben-Michael, Ben-Jeshishai, Ben-Jahdo, Ben-Buz.


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They inhabited Gilead, Bashan and its dependencies, as well as all the pasture lands of Sharon on their extremities.


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In the time of Jotham king of Judah and in the time of Jeroboam king of Israel, all of them were included in the official genealogy.


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The sons of Reuben, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh had warriors, men armed with shield and sword who could handle the bow and were trained for war, to the number of forty-four thousand seven hundred and sixty fit for service.


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God came to their help, and the Hagrites and all their allies fell into their hands, for they called on God as they fought, and because they put their trust in him he heard their prayer.


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Of their livestock they carried off fifty thousand camels, two hundred and fifty thousand sheep, two thousand donkeys and a hundred thousand people.


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Because the war was of God, the slaughter was great. They continued to live in their territory until the exile.


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The sons of the half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the territory between Bashan and Baal-Hermon, Senir and Mount Hermon. They were numerous.


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These were the heads of their families: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, Jahdiel -- stout fighting men, men of renown, heads of their families.


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But since they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors and prostituted themselves to the gods of the peoples of the country whom God had destroyed before them,


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the God of Israel roused the hostility of Pul, king of Assyria, that is the wrath of Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria who deported them -- the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh -- taking them off to Halah, Habor, Hara and the river of Gozan. They are still there today.


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Johanan fathered Azariah. He it was who officiated as priest in the Temple which Solomon built in Jerusalem.


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and Jehozadak went into exile when, at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, Yahweh exiled Judah and Jerusalem.


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These are the men whom David nominated to lead the singing in the Temple of Yahweh after the ark had come to rest there.


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They were responsible for the singing before the Dwelling, the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon had built the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem and then continued their customary duties.


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These were the persons in office, with their sons: Of the sons of Kohath: Heman the singer, son of Joel, son of Samuel,


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but Aaron and his sons burned the offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense; they were entirely responsible for the most holy things and for the ritual of expiation for Israel, in accordance with all that Moses, servant of God, had commanded.


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These were their places of settlement within their prescribed territory: The sons of Aaron of the Kohathite clan -- for to these the first lot fell-


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The sons of Aaron were also given the cities of refuge, Hebron, Libnah with its pasture lands, Jattir, Eshtemoa with its pasture lands.


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and, from the tribe of Benjamin, Geba with its pasture lands, Alemeth with its pasture lands and Anathoth with its pasture lands. In all, the towns distributed among their clans numbered thirteen.


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The remaining sons of Kohath were allotted ten towns from the clans of the tribe, that is, from the half-tribe of Manasseh.


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The sons of Gershom and their clans were allotted thirteen towns from the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali and from the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.


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The sons of Merari and their clans were allotted twelve towns from the tribe of Reuben, from the tribe of Gad and from the tribe of Zebulun.


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From the tribe of the sons of Judah, from the tribe of the sons of Simeon and from the tribe of the sons of Benjamin, they also allotted them those towns to which they gave their names.


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Towns from the tribe of Ephraim were also assigned to the territory of some clans of the sons of Kohath.


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They were given the cities of refuge: Shechem in the highlands of Ephraim with its pasture lands, Gezer and its pasture lands,


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and from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Aner with its pasture lands and Bileam with its pasture lands. So much was given to the remaining families of the sons of Kohath.


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From the half-tribe of Manasseh, the sons of Gershom according to family were given Golan in Bashan with its pasture lands and Ashtaroth with its pasture lands;


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from the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its pasture lands, Hammon with its pasture lands and Kiriataim with its pasture lands.


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To the remainder of the sons of Merari: from the tribe of Zebulun, Rimmon with its pasture lands and Tabor with its pasture lands;


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in Transjordan, near Jericho, east of the Jordan, from the tribe of Reuben: Bezer in the desert with its pasture lands, Jahzah with its pasture lands,


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Sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, Shemuel, heads of their families of Tola. In the time of David, these numbered twenty-two thousand six hundred stout fighting men, grouped according to their kinship.


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responsible for fighting companies amounting to thirty-six thousand troops, according to relationship and family, for they had many women and children.


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They had kinsmen belonging to all the clans of Issachar, eighty-seven thousand stout fighting men, all belonging to one related group.


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Sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth and Iri: five, chiefs of families and warriors. Their official genealogy included twenty-two thousand and thirty-four members.


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Sons of Becher: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezar, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, Alemeth, all these were the sons of Becher.


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The official genealogy of the descendants of the chiefs of their families included twenty thousand two hundred warriors.


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Sons of Jediael: Bilhan. Sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, Ahishahar.


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All these sons of Jediael, became heads of families, stout fighting men, numbering seventeen thousand two hundred men fit for active service.


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Sons of Manasseh: Asriel, born of his Aramaean concubine. She gave birth to Machir, father of Gilead.


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Machir took a wife for Huppim and Shuppim. His sister's name was Maacah. The name of the second son was Zelophehad. Zelophehad had daughters.


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Maacah the wife of Machir gave birth to a son whom she called Peresh. His brother was called Sheresh and his sons Ulam and Rakem.


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Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son and Ezer and Elead whom the men of Gath, natives of the country, killed when they came down to raid their cattle.


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He had intercourse with his wife, who conceived and gave birth to a son whom he called Beriah because his house was in misfortune.


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They had lands and settlements in Bethel and its dependencies from Naaran on the east to Gezer and its dependencies on the west, as well as Shechem and its dependencies as far as Ayyah and its dependencies.


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Beth-Shean with its dependencies, Taanach and its dependencies, Megiddo and its dependencies and Dor with its dependencies were in the hands of the sons of Manasseh. There lived the sons of Joseph son of Israel.


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All these were the sons of Asher, heads of families, picked men, warriors and senior princes. They were registered in fighting companies to the number of twenty-six thousand men.


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These are the sons of Ehud. They were heads of families of the inhabitants of Geba and led them into exile at Manahath:


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Naaman, Ahijah and Gera. It was he who led them into exile; he became the father of Uzza and Ahihud.


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Beriah and Shema were the chiefs of the families who lived at Aijalon; they routed the inhabitants of Gath.


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and Mikloth. Mikloth fathered Shimeah. But they, unlike their brothers, lived at Jerusalem with their brothers.


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Azel had six sons, whose names were these: Azrikam, his first-born, then Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, Hanan. All these were sons of Azel.


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The sons of Ulam were warriors-archers. They had as many as a hundred and fifty sons and grandsons. All these belonged to the sons of Benjamin.


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Thus, all Israel's official genealogies had been entered in the records of the kings of Israel and Judah before they were deported to Babylon for their infidelity.


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Now the first citizens to return to their property in their cities were the Israelites, the priests, the Levites and the temple slaves.


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Ibneiah son of Jeroham; Elah son of Uzzi, son of Michri; and Meshullam son of Shephatiah, son of Reuel, son of Ibnijah.


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Their kinsmen, according to their relationship, numbered nine hundred and fifty-six. All these men were chiefs of their families.


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Azariah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the chief of the Temple of God;


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Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah; and Maasai son of Adiel, son of Jahzerah, son of Meshullam, son of Meshillemith, son of Immer.


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Their kinsmen, heads of families, numbered one thousand seven hundred and sixty-men expert in the ministerial service of the Temple of God.


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Of the Levites there were Shemaiah son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah of the sons of Merari,


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Obadiah son of Shemaiah, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun and Berechiah son of Asa, son of Elkanah, who lived in the dependencies of the Netophathites.


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and is still gatekeeper of the King's Gate to the east. They were the gatekeepers of the camps of the sons of Levi.


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Shallum son of Kore, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah, and his brothers belonging to his family, the Korahites, were also in charge of the ministerial service as doorkeepers of the Tent, as their ancestors had been keepers of the entrance to the camp of Yahweh.


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All the keepers of the gate at the thresholds were picked men; there were two hundred and twelve of them. They were grouped by relationship in their various villages. These were confirmed in office by David and Samuel the seer because of their dependability.


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They and their sons continued in charge as guards of the gates of the Temple of Yahweh, the house of the Tent.


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since the four head gatekeepers were permanently on duty. They were Levites and were in charge of the accommodation and supplies of the Temple of God.


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They spent the night in the precincts of the Temple of God, their duties being to guard it and open it every morning.


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Some of them were in charge of the implements of worship, having to count them when they took them out and when they put them away.


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Others of them were put in charge of the implements, of all the objects in the sanctuary and of the flour, the wine, the oil, the incense and the perfume.


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One of the Levites, Mattithiah -- he was the first-born of Shallum the Korahite -- had regular charge of baking operations.


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Some of their kinsmen the Kohathites were responsible for the loaves to be set out in rows Sabbath by Sabbath.


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In addition, there were the singers, the heads of the levitical families, who were accommodated in the Temple, free of other responsibilities because they were on duty day and night.


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Such were the chiefs of the levitical families, according to their relationship; these lived in Jerusalem.


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Azel had six sons; their names were these: Azrikam his first-born, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, Hanan. These were the sons of Azel.


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The Philistines gave battle to Israel and the Israelites, fleeing from the Philistines, fell and were slaughtered on Mount Gilboa.


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Saul then said to his armour-bearer, 'Draw your sword and run me through with it. I do not want these uncircumcised men to come and make fun of me.' But his armour-bearer was very much afraid and would not do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.


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When all the Israelites who were in the valley saw that the Israelites had been routed and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their towns and fled. The Philistines then came and occupied them.


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When the Philistines came on the following day to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons lying on Mount Gilboa.


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They stripped him and, taking his head and his armour, had these carried round the territory of the Philistines to proclaim the good news to their idols and their people.


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When all the inhabitants of Jabesh in Gilead heard everything that the Philistines had done to Saul,


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the warriors all set out and took the bodies of Saul and his sons away; they brought them to Jabesh and buried their bones under the tamarisk of Jabesh and fasted for seven days.


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Thus died Saul in the infidelity of which he had been guilty towards Yahweh, in that he had not obeyed the word of Yahweh and because he had consulted a necromancer for guidance.


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He had not consulted Yahweh, who therefore caused his death and transferred the monarchy to David son of Jesse.


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In days past when Saul was king, it was you who led Israel on its campaigns, and Yahweh your God promised you, "You are to shepherd my people Israel and be leader of my people Israel." '


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So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a pact with them in Yahweh's presence at Hebron, and they anointed David as king of Israel, in accordance with the word of Yahweh through Samuel.


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David and all Israel then marched on Jerusalem (that is to say, Jebus); the inhabitants of the territory were the Jebusites.


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The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, 'You will not get in here.' But David captured the citadel of Zion, that is, the City of David.


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David said, 'The first man to kill a Jebusite will be made army commander and chief.' Joab son of Zeruiah was the first man to go up, and was made commander of the army.


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He then built a wall round the city, all round, beginning from the Millo, and Joab restored the rest of the city.


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These are David's principal champions who joined forces with him in his kingdom, with all Israel, to make him king in accordance with the word of Yahweh concerning Israel.


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This is the roll of David's champions: Jashobeam son of Hachmoni, head of the Three; he it was who brandished his spear over three hundred men whom he had killed at one time.


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He was with David at Pas-Dammim when the Philistines mustered for battle there. There was a field full of barley there; and the people fled from the Philistines.


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And they took their stand in the middle of the field, held it and cut down the Philistines; and Yahweh brought about a great victory.


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Three members of the Thirty went down to David at the rock near the Cave of Adullam while a company of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of the Rephaim.


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Longingly, David said, 'If only someone would fetch me a drink of water from the well that stands by the gate at Bethlehem!'


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At this the three champions, forcing their way through the Philistine camp, drew water from the well that stands by the gate of Bethlehem and, bringing it away, presented it to David. David, however, would not drink any of it, but poured it out as a libation to Yahweh.


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'God preserve me', he said, 'from doing such a thing! Am I to drink these men's blood? For at the risk of their lives they brought it.' And so he would not drink. Such were the deeds of the three champions.


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Abishai, brother of Joab, was leader of the Thirty. He it was who brandished his spear over three hundred men whom he had killed, winning himself a name among the Thirty.


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Benaiah son of Jehoiada from Kabzeel was the hero of many exploits; he it was who slaughtered two formidable Moabites and, one snowy day, climbed down and slaughtered the lion in the storage-well.


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He also slaughtered an Egyptian, a man who was seven and a half feet tall. The Egyptian was armed with a spear in his hand like a weaver's beam, but he took him on with a staff, tore the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed the man with it.


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These are the men who rallied to David at Ziklag while he was still being kept away from Saul son of Kish; they were among the champions, the warriors.


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They were equipped with bows and could sling stones or shoot arrows from the bow with either right hand or left. Of Saul's fellow-tribesmen from Benjamin:


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Ahiezer the leader, and Joash, sons of Hassemar of Gibeah, Jeziel and Peleth, sons of Azmaveth, Berachah and Jehu of Anathoth,


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From the Gadites, some good, capable fighting men defected and came to David at the stronghold in the desert -- all skilled with shield and spear, fierce as lions and nimble as mountain gazelles.


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These Gadites were the leaders of the troops, the least of them a match for a hundred men and the greatest a match for a thousand.


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These were the men who once crossed the Jordan in the first month, when it had overflowed its banks and had driven out all the lowlanders to east and west.


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When David came forward to meet them, he responded to them by saying, 'If you have come to me with peaceful intent to help me, you will find me a good friend. But if it is to betray me to my enemies, seeing that I have done nothing wrong, may the God of our ancestors take note and condemn you.'


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Then the Spirit invested Amasai the leader of the Thirty: 'We are your men, David; with you, son of Jesse! Peace be with you, peace be with you; peace be with those who help you! For your God has helped you!' And David accepted them, including them among his more senior officers.


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Some Manassehites also defected to David as he was setting out with the Philistines to fight Saul. But he did not help the Philistines because, after consultation, their chiefs sent him away, saying, 'He will defect to his master Saul and it will cost us our heads!'


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He was on his way to Ziklag when these Manassehites deserted to him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, Zillethai, chiefs of thousands in Manasseh.


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They helped David and his band, since they were all men of standing and became officers in the army.


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Indeed reinforcements reached David day after day, so that his camp grew into a camp of prodigious size.


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These are the numbers of fully armed men who joined David at Hebron to transfer Saul's kingdom to him in accordance with the order of Yahweh:


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Benjaminites: three thousand kinsmen of Saul, most of them hitherto in the service of the House of Saul;


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of the half-tribe of Manasseh: eighteen thousand men assigned by name to go and proclaim David king;


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Issacharites, sound judges of the times when Israel should take action, and the way to do it: two hundred chiefs and all their kinsmen under their command;


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Zebulunites: fifty thousand men fit for service, marshalled for battle, with warlike weapons of every kind, staunch-hearted auxiliaries;


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Naphtalites: a thousand commanders, and with them thirty-seven thousand men armed with shield and spear;


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from Transjordan: a hundred and twenty thousand men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, with warlike weapons of every kind.


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All these warriors in battle array came to David at Hebron with the firm determination of making David king of all Israel; and the rest of Israel, too, was of one mind in wanting to make David king.


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For three days they stayed there with David, eating and drinking, their fellow-tribesmen having made preparations for them;


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their neighbours too, from as far away as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, came bringing food on donkeys, camels, mules and oxen-supplies of flour, fig cakes, bunches of raisins, wine, oil, quantities of oxen and sheep -- for there was joy in Israel.


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David conferred with the commanders of the thousands and the hundreds, in fact with all the leaders.


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Then, to the whole assembly of Israel, David said, 'If this has your approval, and if Yahweh our God wills it so, we shall send messengers to the rest of our brothers throughout the territories of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites in their towns and pasture lands, bidding them join us.


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The whole assembly agreed to this, because all the people thought that this was the right thing to do.


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So David summoned all Israel from the Shihor of Egypt to the Pass of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-Jearim.


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David and all Israel then went up to Baalah, to Kiriath-Jearim in Judah, from there to bring up the ark of God, which bears the title 'Yahweh enthroned on the winged creatures'.


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They transported the ark of God out of Abinadab's house on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio drove the cart.


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David and all Israel danced before God with all their might, singing to the accompaniment of harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets.


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When they came to the threshing-floor of the Javelin, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark, as the oxen were making it tilt.


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This roused Yahweh's anger against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he had laid his hand on the Ark, and there he died before God.


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So David did not take the ark with him into the City of David but had it put in the house of Obed-Edom of Gath.


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The ark of God remained with Obed-Edom, in his house, for three months, and Yahweh blessed Obed-Edom's family and everything that belonged to him.


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Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, with cedar wood, stone-cutters and carpenters, to build him a palace.


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David then knew that Yahweh had confirmed him as king of Israel and, for the sake of his people, had extended his sovereignty.


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When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed as king of all Israel, they all invaded to seek him out. On hearing this, David marched out towards them.


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David consulted God and asked, 'Shall I attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my power?' Yahweh replied to him, 'Attack! I shall deliver them into your power.'


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Accordingly, they went up to Baal-Perazim and there David defeated them. David said, 'Through me God has made a breach in my enemies, as though they had been breached by a flood.' This is why the place was given the name Baal-Perazim.


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David again consulted God, and God replied, 'Do not attack them from the front; go round and engage them opposite the balsam trees.


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When you hear the sound of footsteps in the tops of the balsam trees, launch your attack, for that will be God going out ahead of you to defeat the Philistine army.'


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After he had put up buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.


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David then said, 'No one but the Levites should carry the ark of God, since Yahweh has chosen them to carry the ark of Yahweh and to minister to him for ever.'


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David then summoned all Israel to Jerusalem, to move the ark of Yahweh to the place which he had prepared for it.


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David then sent for the priests Zadok and Abiathar, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab.


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To them he said, 'You are the heads of the levitical families. Sanctify yourselves, you and your kinsmen, so that you can move the ark of Yahweh, God of Israel, to the place which I have prepared for it.


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Because you were not there the first time, Yahweh our God broke out at us because we did not handle it properly.'


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and the Levites carried the ark of God with the shafts on their shoulders, as Moses had ordered in accordance with the word of Yahweh.


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David also told the heads of the Levites to appoint their kinsmen as singers with the accompaniment of musical instruments, lyres, harps, and cymbals to play joyfully.


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The Levites then appointed Heman son of Joel, Asaph son of Berechiah, one of his brothers, Ethan son of Kushaiah, one of their Merarite kinsmen;


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and with them their kinsmen of the second rank: Zechariah, Uzziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and Obed-Edom and Jehiel the gatekeepers.


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Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jehiel and Azaziah, giving the beat, were to play the harp.


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The priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer blew trumpets before the ark of God, while Obed-Edom and Jehiah were also gatekeepers for the ark.


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David, the elders of Israel and the commanders of the thousands accordingly went, amid great rejoicing, to bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh up from Obed-Edom's house,


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and since God was helping the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.


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David, all the Levites who carried the ark, the singers and Chenaniah, director of transport, wore cloaks of fine linen. David also wore a linen ephod.


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Thus, with war-cries and the sounding of the horn, the trumpets and the cymbals, and the music of lyres and harps, all Israel transported the ark of the covenant of Yahweh.


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Now, as the ark of the covenant of Yahweh entered the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul was watching from the window and, when she saw King David dancing and playing, the sight of him filled her with contempt.


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They brought the ark of God in and put it inside the tent which David had erected for it, and brought burnt offerings and made communion sacrifices in God's presence.


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And when David had finished making burnt offerings and communion sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh.


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To all the Israelites, both men and women, to each, he then distributed a loaf of bread, a portion of meat and a raisin cake.


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He appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of Yahweh, to extol, glorify and praise Yahweh, God of Israel;


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first Asaph, second Zechariah, then Uzziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel, who played the lyre and harp, while Asaph played the cymbals.


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The priests Benaiah and Jahaziel continually blew the trumpet before the ark of the covenant of God.


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give Yahweh the glory due to his name! Bring an offering and enter his courts, bow down to Yahweh in his sacred court,


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and all the trees of the forest cry out for joy at Yahweh's approach, for he is coming to judge the earth.


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Say, 'Save us, God of our salvation, gather us together and free us from the nations, so that we may give thanks to your holy name -- to be extolled whenever you are praised!'


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Blessed be Yahweh, God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! To which all the people said, 'Amen, Alleluia!'


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There before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh David left Asaph and his kinsmen to maintain a permanent ministry before the ark as each day's ritual required,


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and also Obed-Edom with his sixty-eight kinsmen. Obed-Edom son of Jeduthun, and Hosah were gatekeepers.


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Zadok the priest and the priests, his kinsmen, he left before the dwelling of Yahweh on the high place at Gibeon


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to bring burnt offerings to Yahweh unfailingly, morning and evening, on the altar of burnt offering, and to carry out all that is written in the Law of Yahweh laid down for Israel.


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With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the rest of those who were chosen and assigned by name to give thanks to Yahweh, 'for his faithful love lasts for ever'.


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With them were Heman and Jeduthun to play trumpets and cymbals, as well as instruments for accompanying sacred song. The sons of Jeduthun were in charge of the gates.


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It happened, once David had settled into his palace, that David said to the prophet Nathan, 'Here am I living in a cedar-wood palace, while the ark of the covenant of Yahweh is under awnings.'


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I have never lived in a house from the day when I brought Israel out until today, but have kept travelling from tent to tent and from shelter to shelter.


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In all my travels with all Israel, did I say to any of the judges of Israel, whom I had commanded to shepherd my people: Why do you not build me a cedar-wood temple?


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This is what you must say to my servant David: Yahweh Sabaoth says this: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel.


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I have been with you wherever you went; I have got rid of all your enemies for you. I am going to make your fame like that of the greatest men on earth.


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I am going to provide a place for my people Israel; I shall plant them there and there they will live and never be disturbed again; nor will they be oppressed by the wicked as they were in former times


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ever since I instituted judges to govern my people Israel; I shall subdue all your enemies. Yahweh moreover tells you that he will build you a dynasty.


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And when your days are over and you have gone to join your ancestors, I shall appoint your heir -- who will be one of your sons -- to succeed you, and I shall make his sovereignty secure.


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I shall be his father and he will be my son, and I shall not withdraw my favour from him, as I withdrew it from your predecessor.


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King David then went in, sat down in Yahweh's presence and said: 'Who am I, Yahweh God, and what is my lineage, that you have led me as far as this?


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Yet, to you, O God, this seemed too little, and now you extend your promises for your servant's family into the distant future, making me see as it were a whole succession of men, and it is Yahweh God himself who raises it up.


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What more can David reply to you for the honour you have given to your servant? You yourself have singled out your servant.


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For your servant, and since you were so inclined, you have had the generosity to reveal all this greatness to come.


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Is there another people on earth like your people Israel, whom a god has proceeded to redeem, to make them his people and to make them famous and do for them great and terrible deeds, by driving out nations before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? -


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'Now, Yahweh, may the promise which you have made for your servant and as regards his family hold good for ever, and do as you have said.


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May it hold good, so your name will be exalted for ever and people will say, "Israel's God is Yahweh Sabaoth; he is God for Israel." Your servant David's dynasty will be secure before you


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since you, my God, have disclosed to your servant that you are going to build him a dynasty. Hence, your servant has ventured to offer this prayer to you.


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What is more, you have deigned to bless your servant's dynasty, so that it may remain for ever before you; and since you, Yahweh, have blessed it, blessed will it be for ever.'


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After this David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. From the grip of the Philistines he wrested Gath and its dependencies.


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David also defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah, which lies in the direction of Hamath, when the latter mounted an expedition to assert his rule on the River Euphrates.


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David captured one thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers from him; David hamstrung all the chariot teams, keeping only a hundred of them.


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David then imposed governors in Aram of Damascus, and the Aramaeans became David's subjects and paid him tribute. Wherever David went, Yahweh gave him victory.


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From Tibhath and from Cun, towns belonging to Hadadezer, David captured a great quantity of bronze, with which Solomon made the bronze Sea, the pillars and the bronze implements.


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he sent his son Hadoram to King David to greet him and to congratulate him on having made war on Hadadezer and on having defeated him, since Hadadezer was at war with Tou. He also sent all sorts of objects made of gold, silver and bronze,


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which King David also consecrated to Yahweh, as well as the silver and gold which he had levied from all the nations, from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines and Amalek.


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He stationed garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David's subjects. Wherever David went, Yahweh gave him victory.


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Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in command of the Cherethites and Pelethites; David's sons took first place after the king.


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David thought, 'I shall show Hanun son of Nahash the same faithful love as his father showed me.' And David sent representatives to offer him condolences over his father. But when David's representatives reached Hanun in the Ammonites' country to present these condolences,


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the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun, 'Do you really think David means to honour your father when he sends you messengers with sympathy? On the contrary, the reason why his representatives have come to you is to explore, overthrow and reconnoitre the country.'


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Whereupon Hanun seized David's representatives, shaved them, cut their clothes off half-way up, right by their buttocks, and sent them away.


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As soon as David was told how the men had been treated, he sent someone to meet them, since the men were overcome with shame. 'Stay in Jericho,' the king said, 'until your beards have grown, and come back then.'


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When the Ammonites realised that they had antagonised David, Hanun and the Ammonites sent a thousand talents of silver to hire chariots and cavalry from the Aramaeans of Upper Mesopotamia, of Maacah and of Zobah.


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They hired thirty-two thousand chariots and the king of Maacah with his people, who came and encamped before Medeba, while the Ammonites, having left their towns and mustered, were advancing to the war.


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The Ammonites marched out and drew up their line of battle at the city gate, while the kings who had come kept their distance in the open country.


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Be brave and let us fight valiantly, for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God! And let Yahweh dispose as he thinks fit!'


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When the Ammonites saw that the Aramaeans had fled, they too fled from his brother Abishai and withdrew into the city. Joab then returned to Jerusalem.


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The Aramaeans, realising that Israel had got the better of them, sent messengers and mobilised the Aramaeans living on the other side of the River, with Shophach, commander of Hadadezer's army, at their head.


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David, being informed of this, mustered all Israel, crossed the Jordan, made contact with them and took up position near them. David drew up his line of battle facing the Aramaeans, who then engaged him.


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But the Aramaeans fled from Israel, and David killed seven thousand of their chariot teams and forty thousand men; and also Shophach, the commander of the army.


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When Hadadezer's vassals saw that Israel had got the better of them, they made peace with David and became his subjects. The Aramaeans were unwilling to give any more help to the Ammonites.


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At the turn of the year, at the time when kings go campaigning, Joab led out the troops and, having ravaged the Ammonites' territory, proceeded to lay siege to Rabbah. David, however, remained in Jerusalem. Joab reduced Rabbah and dismantled it.


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David took the crown off Milcom's head and found that it weighed a talent of gold, and in it was set a precious stone which went on David's head instead. He carried off great quantities of booty from the city.


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And he expelled its inhabitants, setting them to work with saws, iron picks and axes. David treated all the Ammonite towns in the same way. David and all the people then returned to Jerusalem.


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After this war broke out with the Philistines at Gezer. This was when Sibbecai of Hushah killed Sippai, one of the Rephaim, and the Philistines were subdued.


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Again, war with the Philistines broke out, and Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi brother of Goliath of Gath, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.


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David said to Joab and the people's princes, 'Go, and take a census of Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, then bring it back to me and let me know the total.'


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Joab replied, 'May Yahweh multiply his people to a hundred times what they are today! But my lord king, are they not all my lord's servants in any case? Why should my lord insist on this? Why should he involve Israel in guilt?'


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But the king enforced his order on Joab, and Joab set out, travelled throughout all Israel, and then returned to Jerusalem.


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Joab gave David the census results for the people: all Israel had eleven hundred thousand men who could wield a sword; Judah had four hundred and seventy thousand men who could wield a sword.


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David then said to God, 'I have committed a grave sin by doing this. But now I beg you to forgive your servant for this fault, for I have acted very foolishly.'


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"Take your choice between three years of famine; or three months of disaster at the hands of your enemies, with your enemies' sword overtaking you; or three days of Yahweh's sword, an epidemic in the country, while the angel of Yahweh wreaks havoc throughout the territory of Israel." Now decide how I am to answer him who sends me.'


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David said to Gad, 'I am very apprehensive. Better for me to fall into Yahweh's hand, since his mercies are very great, than for me to fall into the hands of human enemies.'


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Next, God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, Yahweh looked down and felt sorry about the calamity; and he said to the destroying angel, 'Enough now! Hold your hand!' The angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.


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David, raising his eyes, saw the angel of Yahweh standing between earth and heaven, a drawn sword in his hand stretched out towards Jerusalem. David and the elders then put on sackcloth and fell on their faces,


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and David said to God, 'Did I not order the people to be counted? I was the one who sinned and actually committed the wrong. But these, the flock, what have they done? Yahweh my God, let your hand lie heavy on me and on my family; but spare your people from the plague!'


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The angel of Yahweh then ordered Gad to tell David that David should go up and erect an altar to Yahweh on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.


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When David arrived Ornan was threshing wheat. He looked up and saw David and came off the threshing-floor and prostrated himself on the ground at David's feet.


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David then said to Ornan, 'Let me have the site of the threshing-floor, so that I can build an altar to Yahweh on it; let me have it at the full price -- so that the plague may be lifted from the people.' Ornan said to David,


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'Take it, and let my lord the king do what he thinks fit. Look, I shall give you the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing-sleds for the wood and the wheat for the oblation. I shall give everything.'


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'No,' said King David to Ornan, 'I insist on buying it at the full price. I will not offer Yahweh what belongs to you or bring burnt offerings which have cost me nothing.'


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There David built an altar to Yahweh and brought burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called on Yahweh, and Yahweh answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.


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Whereupon, seeing that Yahweh had answered him on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, David offered sacrifice there.


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The Dwelling which Moses had made in the desert and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at Gibeon,


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David then said, 'This is to be the house of Yahweh God and this the altar of burnt offering for Israel.'


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David then gave orders for all foreigners in Israel to be rounded up, and appointed quarrymen to cut dressed stone for building the house of God.


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David also prepared great quantities of iron to make nails for the leaves of the doors and for the clamps, and more bronze than could be weighed,


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as well as innumerable cedar-wood logs, as the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought cedar logs to David in great quantities.


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David then said, 'My son Solomon is young and immature, and the house to be built for Yahweh must be superlatively fine, the most famous and splendid in any country. I shall now make the preparations for it.' And so, before he died, David made ample preparations.


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'My son,' David said to Solomon, 'my heart was set on building a house for the name of Yahweh my God.


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But the word of Yahweh came to me, "You have shed much blood and fought great wars; it is not for you to build a house for my name, since you have shed much blood in my sight on earth.


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Look, a son will be born to you. He will be a man of peace, and I shall give him peace from his enemies on all sides; for Solomon is to be his name, and in his days I shall give Israel peace and tranquillity.


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He must build a house for my name; he will be my son and I shall be his father, and I shall make the throne of his kingdom secure over Israel for ever."


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Now, my son, may Yahweh be with you and give you success in building a house for Yahweh your God, as he has promised about you.


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And especially, may Yahweh give you discretion and discernment, may he give you his orders for Israel, so that you may observe the Law of Yahweh your God.


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Success will be yours, only if you observe the statutes and ordinances which Yahweh gave Moses as regulations for Israel. Be strong and stand fast, be fearless, be dauntless.


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Now, poor as I am, I have set aside for the house of Yahweh a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver and more bronze and iron than can be weighed, there being so much. I have also provided timber and stone, to which you may add more.


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Furthermore, you have a large number of workmen, quarrymen, masons, carpenters and all sorts of craftsmen for every kind of work,


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while your gold and silver, bronze and iron will be beyond reckoning. Set to work, then, and may Yahweh be with you!'


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'Has not Yahweh your God been with you and given you peace on all sides, having put the inhabitants of the country into my power and the country now having been subdued for Yahweh and his people?


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So now devote heart and soul to searching for Yahweh your God. Set to and build the sanctuary of Yahweh God, so that you can bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and the holy vessels of God into the house built for the name of Yahweh.'


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A census was taken of those Levites thirty years old and upwards. On a count of heads, they numbered thirty-eight thousand men;


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twenty-four thousand were responsible for the service of the House of Yahweh, six thousand were officials and judges,


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four thousand were gatekeepers and four thousand praised Yahweh on the instruments which David had made for praising him.


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Jahath was the eldest, Zizah the second, then Jeush and Beriah, who had not many children and were reckoned as one family.


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Sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart to consecrate the things that were especially holy, he and his sons for ever, to burn incense in the presence of Yahweh, to serve him and to bless in his name for ever.


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Of the sons of Eliezer, Rehabiah was the first. Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very numerous.


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Eleazar died without sons, but he did have daughters, whom their cousins, the sons of Kish, married.


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These were the sons of Levi by their families, the heads of families, and those registered by name, individually; whoever was twenty years old or upwards had his function in the service of the Temple of Yahweh.


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For David said, 'Since Yahweh, God of Israel, has given rest to his people Israel and has taken up residence in Jerusalem for ever,


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For, according to the last words of David, the Levites who had been registered were of twenty years and upwards.


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Their duty now is to help the sons of Aaron in the service of the House of Yahweh, in the care of the courts and rooms, the purification of all the holy things, the work for the service of the House of God,


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the loaves of permanent offering, the flour for the oblation, the wafers of unleavened bread, the pan-baked materials, the unmixed materials and all measures of volume and length.


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Furthermore, they have to be present every morning to give thanks and praise to Yahweh, and also in the evening,


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and at the bringing of every burnt offering to Yahweh on Sabbath, New Moon or solemn feast, appearing regularly before Yahweh in accordance with the numbers required of them.


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In serving the Temple of Yahweh they observe the ritual of the Tent of Meeting, the ritual of the sanctuary and the ritual of their kinsmen, the sons of Aaron.'


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Nadab and Abihu died in their father's lifetime leaving no children, so Eleazar and Ithamar filled the office of priest.


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With Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, David allocated them according to the classification of their duties.


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Since the sons of Eleazar were found to have more headmen than the sons of Ithamar, they allocated sixteen heads of families to the sons of Eleazar and eight heads of families to the sons of Ithamar.


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They allocated them by lot, both alike, there being religious officials and officials of God among the sons of Eleazar, as among the sons of Ithamar.


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The levitical scribe Shemaiah son of Nethanel, recorded them in the presence of the king, the leaders, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech son of Abiathar and the heads of the priestly and levitical families, so that two families were selected for Eleazar for each one selected for Ithamar.


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These were their classifications for their duties when they entered the House of Yahweh in accordance with their prescriptions laid down by Aaron their ancestor as Yahweh, God of Israel, had commanded him.


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As regards the rest of the sons of Levi: Of the sons of Amram: Shubael. Of the sons of Shubael: Jehdeiah.


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Of the sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth.


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Like their kinsmen, the sons of Aaron, these heads of families, senior and junior alike, also drew lots in the presence of King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the priestly and levitical families.


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For the liturgy, David and the religious officials selected the sons of Asaph, of Heman and of Jeduthun, who were to prophesy to the accompaniment of harps, lyres and cymbals. The list of ministrants for this service was as follows:


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Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, Asharelah; the sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph who prophesied at the king's direction.


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Of Jeduthun there were the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Hashabiah and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun who, with the harp, prophesied when thanks and praise were to be given to Yahweh.


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Of Heman there were the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-Ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth.


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All these were sons of Heman, the king's seer; at God's word they blew the horn. God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.


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Under the king's direction all these had the duty of singing to the accompaniment of cymbal, lyre and harp for the liturgy of the house of God under the direction of their fathers. Asaph, Jeduthun and Heman,


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trained in the songs of Yahweh, with their brothers, numbered two hundred and eighty-eight, all expert.


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The first to whom the lot fell was the Asaphite, Joseph. The second was Gedaliah, who with his sons and brothers made twelve.


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As regards the orders of the gatekeepers: Of the Korahites there was Meshelemiah son of Kore, one of the sons of Ebiasaph,


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and Meshelemiah's sons: Zechariah the first-born, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth,


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Obed-Edom's sons were: Shemaiah the first-born, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sacar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth,


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His son Shemaiah also had sons who wielded authority in their family, because they were men of outstanding quality.


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The sons of Shemaiah were: Othni, Rephael, Obed and Elzabad, whose brothers Elihu and Semachiah were outstanding men.


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All these were sons of Obed-Edom, who with their sons and brothers were men of standing, well fitted for their task. Obed-Edom had sixty-two.


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Hosah, one of the sons of Merari, had sons: Shimri was the first, for although he was not the first-born his father had made him the chief.


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Hilkiah was the second, Tebaliah the third, Zechariah the fourth: Hosah had thirteen sons and brothers in all.


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These orders of gatekeepers, allocated according to their headmen, had duties, just like their brothers, of serving in the house of Yahweh.


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For the eastern one, the lot fell to Shelemiah; and when they drew lots for Zechariah his son, a shrewd counsellor, his lot came out for the north.


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To Shuppim and Hosah went the west with the Gate of the Felled Tree-trunk on the upper road. The corresponding guards were as follows:


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for the east gate, six per day; for the north gate, four per day; for the south gate, four per day; for the storehouses, two each;


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The Levites, their brothers, who were responsible for the treasures of the house of God and for the treasures of consecrated gifts,


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were the sons of Ladan and belonged to the Gershonites -- the heads of the families of Ladan were descended from Ladan the Gershonite -- that is to say, the Jehielites.


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The sons of the Jehielites, Zetham and Joel his brother, were responsible for the treasures of the house of Yahweh.


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and his brothers of the line of Eliezer were Rehabiah his son, Jeshaiah his son, Joram his son, Zichri his son and Shelomoth his son.


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This Shelomoth and his kinsmen were responsible for all the consecrated treasures dedicated by King David, by the heads of families, by the commanders of the thousands and hundreds and by the commanders of the army,


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and also for all that Samuel the seer, Saul son of Kish, Abner son of Ner and Joab son of Zeruiah had dedicated. In fact, whatever was dedicated was the responsibility of Shelomoth and his kinsmen.


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Of the Izharites, Chananiah and his sons were assigned to secular duties for Israel as officials and judges.


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Of the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his kinsmen, one thousand seven hundred outstanding men were in charge of Israel west of Jordan in everything pertaining to Yahweh and to the service of the king.


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Of the Hebronites, Jerijah was the head. In the fortieth year of David's reign research was done on the lineage and relationships of the Hebronites, and men of outstanding quality from among them were found at Jazer in Gilead.


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There were twenty-seven hundred outstanding men, heads of families, whom King David put in charge of the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh in all matters pertaining to God and the king.


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The Israelites listed according to heads of families, commanders of thousands and hundreds, with their officials in the king's service who dealt with all matters affecting the companies on monthly duty, month by month throughout the year, each company consisting of twenty-four thousand men:


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The commander of the first company detailed for the first month was Jashobeam son of Zabdiel, whose company consisted of twenty-four thousand men.


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He belonged to the family of Perez and was the senior military officer of all those detailed for the first month.


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The commander of the company for the second month was Dodai the Ahohite, whose company consisted of twenty-four thousand men.


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The officer commanding the third body of men for the third month was Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the chief priest, whose company consisted of twenty-four thousand men.


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This was the Benaiah who was an important member of the Thirty and his company. His son was Ammizabad.


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The fourth for the fourth month was Asahel brother of Joab, and his son Zebadiah after him, whose company consisted of twenty-four thousand men.


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The fifth officer commanding for the fifth month was Shamhuth the Zerahite, whose company consisted of twenty-four thousand men.


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The sixth for the sixth month was Ira son of Ikkesh of Tekoa, whose company consisted of twenty-four thousand men.


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The seventh for the seventh month was Helez the Pelonite, one of the Ephraimites, whose company consisted of twenty-four thousand men.


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The eighth for the eighth month was Sibbecai of Hushah, a Zerahite, whose company consisted of twenty-four thousand men.


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The ninth for the ninth month was Abiezer of Anathoth, a Benjaminite, whose company consisted of twenty-four thousand men.


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The tenth for the tenth month was Maharai of Netophah, a Zerahite, whose company consisted of twenty-four thousand men.


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The eleventh for the eleventh month was Benaiah of Pirathon, an Ephraimite, whose company consisted of twenty-four thousand men.


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The twelfth for the twelfth month was Heldai of Netophah, of Othniel, whose company consisted of twenty-four thousand men.


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Responsible for the tribes of Israel were chief Eliezer son of Zichri for the Reubenites, Shephatiah son of Maacah for the Simeonites,


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Now in the census David did not include those who were twenty years old and under, since Yahweh had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars of heaven.


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Joab son of Zeruiah began the count but never finished. This is why retribution came upon Israel, and the number did not come up to that recorded in the annals of King David.


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Overseer of the king's supplies: Azmaveth son of Adiel. Overseer of supplies in the countryside, towns, villages and fortresses: Jonathan son of Uzziah.


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Overseer of vineyards: Shimei of Ramah. Overseer of those in the vineyards who looked after the wine cellars: Zabdi of Shepham.


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Overseer of olive and sycamore trees in the Shephelah: Baal-Hanan of Geder. Overseer of oil supplies: Joash.


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Overseer of cattle at pasture in the plains of Sharon: Shitrai of Sharon. Overseer of cattle in the valleys: Shaphat son of Adlai.


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Overseer of donkeys: Jehdeiah of Meranoth. Overseer of flocks: Jaziz the Hagrite. All the above supervised the property belonging to King David.


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Jonathan, David's uncle, a councillor, wise man and scribe, and Jehiel son of Hachmoni took care of the king's sons.


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David then summoned to Jerusalem all the officials of Israel -- the tribal chiefs, the senior officials in the royal service, the commanders of the thousands, the commanders of the hundreds and the overseers of all the property and livestock belonging to the king and to his sons -- including the court officials, the champions and all the men of standing.


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King David then rose to his feet and said: 'My brothers and my people, listen to me. I have set my heart on building a settled home for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, for the footstool for our God, but when I was ready to build it,


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God said to me, "You must not build a house for my name, for you have been a man of war and have shed blood."


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'Even so, out of my entire family, it was I whom Yahweh, God of Israel, chose to reign over Israel for ever. Having chosen Judah as leader, and my family out of the House of Judah, it pleased him out of all my father's sons to make me king of all Israel.


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Out of all my sons -- for Yahweh has given me many -- he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on Yahweh's sovereign throne over Israel.


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Furthermore, he has told me, "Solomon your son is the man to build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son and I shall be his father.


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I shall make his sovereignty secure for ever if he sturdily carries out my commandments and ordinances as he does now."


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'So now in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of Yahweh, and in the hearing of our God, I charge you to observe and adhere strictly to all the commandments of Yahweh your God, so that you may retain possession of this fine country and leave it to your sons after you as a heritage for ever.


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'And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with an undivided heart and willing mind; for Yahweh scrutinises all hearts and understands whatever plans they may devise. If you seek him, he will let you find him; but forsake him and he will cast you off for ever.


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David then gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico, the plans for the buildings, its storehouses, its upper rooms, its inner rooms and the room for the throne of mercy


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as well as the plans for everything that he had in mind: for the courts of the house of Yahweh, for all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the house of God and for the sacred treasuries,


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for the orders of priests and Levites, for all the duties to be carried out in the service of the house of Yahweh, and for all the liturgical objects to be used in the house of Yahweh;


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for the gold bullion, for all the golden liturgical objects of various uses; for the silver bullion, for all the silver liturgical objects of various uses;


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for the gold bullion for the golden lamp-stands and for their lamps, and for the silver bullion for the silver lamp-stands and their lights, depending on the function of each lamp-stand;


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for the gold bullion for each of the tables for the loaves of permanent offering and the silver for the silver tables;


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for the pure gold for the forks, the bowls and the jars, for the gold bullion for each of the golden basins and for the silver bullion for each of the silver basins;


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and for the refined gold bullion for the altar of incense; also for the gold for the model of the chariot and of the great winged creatures which cover the ark of the covenant of Yahweh with wings outspread-


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all this was in the document conveying Yahweh's instructions, by which he revealed the pattern of what was to be done.


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David then said to his son Solomon, 'Be resolute and courageous in your work, do not be afraid or disheartened, because Yahweh God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you before you have finished all the work to be done for the house of Yahweh.


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And besides, there are the orders of priests and Levites for whatever is needed in connection with the house of God, and you have at your disposal every kind of craftsman for whatever has to be done, as well as the officials and all the people entirely at your command.'


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David then addressed the whole assembly, 'Solomon my son, whom Yahweh has specifically chosen, is young and immature, and the work is great; this palace is not for any human being but for Yahweh God.


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With all the resources I can command, for the house of my God I have provided gold for what must be made of gold, silver for what must be made of silver, bronze for what must be made of bronze, iron for what must be made of iron, wood for what must be made of wood, as well as cornelian for inlay work, slabs of multi-coloured mosaic, every kind of precious stone and quantities of alabaster.


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Furthermore, because my affections are set on the house of my God, I have also given what gold and silver I personally own for the house of my God, over and above everything which I have already provided for the holy Temple-


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that is to say, three thousand talents of gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver for overlaying the walls of the buildings,


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the gold being for what must be made of gold, and the silver for what must be made of silver: and for whatever the craftsmen must make. Who, then, is willing to devote himself to Yahweh's service today?'


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At this, the heads of families, the tribal chiefs of Israel, the commanders of the thousands and the hundreds and those who managed the king's affairs,


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volunteered a gift of five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron,


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while those who owned precious stones presented them to the treasury of the house of Yahweh in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite.


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The people rejoiced at what these had given so readily, since they had presented their freewill offerings wholeheartedly to Yahweh. King David too was filled with joy.


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Hence, in the presence of the whole assembly David blessed Yahweh. David said: 'May you be blessed, Yahweh, God of Israel our ancestor, for ever and for ever!


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Yours, Yahweh, is the greatness, the power, the splendour, length of days and glory, everything in heaven and on earth is yours. Yours is the sovereignty, Yahweh; you are exalted, supreme over all.


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Wealth and riches come from you, you are ruler of all, in your hand lie strength and power, and you bestow greatness and might on whomsoever you please.


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for who am I and what is my people, for us to be able to volunteer offerings like this? - since everything has come from you and we have given you only what you bestowed in the first place,


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and we are guests before you, and passing visitors as were all our ancestors, our days on earth fleeting as a shadow and without hope.


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Yahweh our God, all this wealth, which we have provided to build a house for your holy name, has come from you and all belongs to you.


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'Knowing, my God, how you examine our motives and how you delight in integrity, with integrity of motive I have willingly given all this and have been overjoyed to see your people, now present here, willingly offering their gifts to you.


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Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel our ancestors, watch over this for ever, shape the purpose of your people's heart and direct their hearts to you,


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and give an undivided heart to Solomon my son to keep your commandments, your decrees and your statutes, to put them all into effect and to build the palace for which I have made provision.'


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David then addressed the whole assembly: 'Now bless Yahweh your God!' And the whole assembly blessed Yahweh, God of their ancestors, bowing down in homage to Yahweh, and to the king.


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On the day following this, they slaughtered sacrifices and brought burnt offerings to Yahweh on behalf of Israel -- a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, a thousand lambs with their libations, as well as many other sacrifices-


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and they ate and drank that day in Yahweh's presence with great joy. They then made Solomon son of David king a second time, anointing him as leader for Yahweh, and Zadok as priest.


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Solomon took his seat on Yahweh's throne, to reign in succession to David his father. He prospered, and all Israel obeyed him.


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All the chiefs, all the leading citizens and all King David's other sons pledged allegiance to King Solomon.


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Yahweh made Solomon exceedingly powerful, as all Israel could see, and gave him a reign of such splendour as no previous king of Israel ever had.


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He was king of Israel for a period of forty years; he reigned at Hebron for seven years, and in Jerusalem for thirty-three.


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The history of King David, from first to last, is all written down in the records of Samuel the seer, the records of Nathan the prophet and the records of Gad the seer,


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with his entire reign, his mighty deeds and the times which he, Israel and all the kings of other countries, had experienced.


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Solomon son of David then made himself secure over his kingdom. Yahweh his God was with him, making him more and more powerful.


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Solomon then spoke to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of families.


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Solomon, and the whole assembly with him, then went to the high place at Gibeon, where God's Tent of Meeting was, which Moses, servant of God, had made in the desert.


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The ark of the covenant, however, David had brought from Kiriath-Jearim to the place which he had prepared for it, having pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.


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The bronze altar which Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, had made was there, in front of Yahweh's Dwelling, where Solomon and the assembly consulted him.


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There Solomon presented a burnt offering before Yahweh on the bronze altar of the Tent of Meeting, making on it one thousand burnt offerings.


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Solomon replied to God, 'You showed most faithful love to David my father, and you have made me king in succession to him.


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Yahweh God, the promise you made to David my father has now been fulfilled, since you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.


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Therefore give me wisdom and knowledge to act as leader of this people, for how otherwise could such a great people as yours be governed?'


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'Since that is what you want,' God said to Solomon, 'since you have asked, not for riches, treasure, honour, the lives of your enemies, or even for a long life, but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people of whom I have made you king,


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therefore wisdom and knowledge are granted you. I give you riches too, and treasure, and honour such as no king had before you and none will have after you.'


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So Solomon came away from the high place at Gibeon, from the Tent of Meeting, to Jerusalem and reigned over Israel.


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Solomon then built up a force of chariots and cavalry; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses; these he kept in the chariot towns and near the king at Jerusalem.


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In Jerusalem the king made silver and gold as common as stones, and cedar wood as plentiful as sycamore in the lowlands.


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Solomon's horses were imported from Muzur and Cilicia. The king's dealers acquired them in Cilicia at the prevailing price.


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And Solomon allocated seventy thousand men to be porters and eighty thousand to quarry in the hills and three thousand six hundred overseers for them.


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And Solomon sent this message to Huram king of Tyre, 'Do as you did for my father David when you sent him cedars for him to build himself a palace to live in.


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You see, I am building a house for the name of Yahweh my God, to acknowledge his holiness so that perfumed incense may be burnt before him, the loaves of permanent offering be perpetually laid out and the burnt offerings be made morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, New Moons and solemn festivals of Yahweh our God, as prescribed to Israel for ever;


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even so, who would not find it an impossible task to build a house for him, when the heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain him? And who am I to build a house for him except to burn incense before him?


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So now send me a man skilled at working in gold, silver, bronze, iron, scarlet, crimson and violet materials, and who knows the art of engraving too; he is to work with my skilled men in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David has provided.


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Also send me cedar, juniper and algum trunks from the Lebanon, for I know that your servants know the art of felling timber in the Lebanon. And, my servants will work with your servants


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in preparing a vast quantity of timber for me, since the house which I intend to build is to be of a size to marvel at.


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Furthermore, for the upkeep of the woodcutters whom you employ to cut the timber, I shall provide twenty thousand kor of wheat, twenty thousand kor of barley, twenty thousand bat of wine and twenty thousand bat of oil.'


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In a letter sent to King Solomon, Huram king of Tyre replied, 'Because Yahweh loves his people he has made you their king!'


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Huram went on to say, 'Praised be Yahweh, God of Israel, who made heaven and earth and has given King David a wise son, endowed with discretion and discernment, to build a house for Yahweh and a palace in which to reign!-


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the son of a Danite woman by a Tyrian father. He knows the arts of working in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, wood, scarlet, violet, fine linen and crimson materials, and is competent to carry out any kind of engraving and to execute any design which may be entrusted to him, in collaboration with your skilled men and those of my lord David, your father.


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and we will fell all the wood you need from Lebanon, and bring it you in rafts by sea to Jaffa; and it will be your responsibility to transport it to Jerusalem.'


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Solomon then took a census of all the aliens resident in Israel similar to the census which his father David had taken; it was found that there were a hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred.


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He impressed seventy thousand of them as porters, eighty thousand as quarrymen in the hills and three thousand six hundred as overseers to make sure the people worked.


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Solomon then began building the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah where David his father had had a vision -- on the site which David had prepared -- on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.


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These are the dimensions which Solomon fixed for the structure of the house of God: its length in cubits, according to the old standard, was sixty cubits and its width twenty cubits;


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and the portico in front of the house was the full width of the house, that is, twenty cubits, and its height was a hundred and twenty cubits; on the inside he overlaid it with pure gold.


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The Great Hall he lined with juniper, which he overlaid with fine gold and ornamented with palm trees and festoons,


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overlaying the hall, its beams and its thresholds, its walls and its doors, with gold and engraving the walls with great winged creatures.


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He also made the Holy of Holies, the length of which corresponded to the width of the Great Hall, being twenty cubits, with a width of twenty cubits, and this he overlaid with fine gold weighing six hundred talents,


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In the Holy of Holies he modelled two winged creatures of wrought metal work and overlaid them with gold.


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The total span of their wings was twenty cubits; one wing, being five cubits long, touched the wall of the house and the other wing, being five cubits long, touched the wing of the other winged creature;


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while one wing of the other, five cubits long, touched the other wall of the house and the other wing, five cubits long, touched the wing of the other winged creature.


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The spread of these creatures' wings was twenty cubits. They stood in an upright position, with their faces towards the Hall.


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He also made the Curtain of violet, scarlet, crimson and fine linen, working a design of winged creatures on it.


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In front of the Hall he made two pillars thirty-five cubits high, and on the top of each a capital measuring five cubits.


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He made festoons, in the Debir, to go at the tops of the pillars, and made a hundred pomegranates to go on the festoons.


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He erected the pillars in front of the Temple, one on the right, the other on the left; the one on the right he called Jachin and the one on the left, Boaz.


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Under it and completely encircling it were things like oxen, ten to the cubit round the entire Sea; the oxen were in two rows, of one and the same casting with the rest.


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It was a hand's breadth in thickness, and its rim was shaped like the rim of a cup-lily-shaped. It could hold three thousand bat.


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He made ten basins, putting five on the right and five on the left, for washing in; the things to be offered as burnt offerings were to be rinsed in these, but the Sea was for the priests to wash in.


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He made the ten golden lamp-stands according to the pattern and placed them in the Hekal, five on the right and five on the left.


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He made ten tables which he set up in the Hekal, five on the right and five on the left. He also made a hundred golden sprinkling bowls.


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He made the court of the priests and the great court with its gates and plated the gates with bronze.


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Huram made the ash containers, the scoops and the sprinkling bowls. Thus Huram completed all the work done for King Solomon for the Temple of God:


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the two pillars; the mouldings of the capitals surmounting the two pillars; the two sets of filigree to cover the two mouldings of the capitals surmounting the pillars;


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the ash containers, scoops and forks. All these utensils made by Huram-Abi for King Solomon for the Temple of Yahweh were of burnished bronze.


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The King made them by the process of sand casting, in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zeredah.


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Solomon made all the objects designed for the Temple of God, as well as the golden altar and the tables for the loaves of permanent offering;


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the snuffers, the sprinkling bowls, incense ladles and the pans, of real gold; and the entrance to the Temple, the inner doors (for the Holy of Holies) and the doors of the Temple itself, that is of the Hekal, were also made of gold.


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Thus all the work done by Solomon for the Temple of Yahweh was completed, and Solomon brought in the gifts which his father David had consecrated; and he had the silver, the gold and all the utensils put into the treasuries of the Temple of God.


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Solomon then assembled the elders of Israel to Jerusalem, all the tribal chiefs, the princes of the families of Israel, to bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh up from the City of David, that is, Zion.


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All the men of Israel assembled round the king at the time of the feast, that is, in the seventh month.


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they brought up the ark and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred utensils which were in the Tent; the levitical priests brought them up.


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King Solomon and the whole assembly of Israel present with him before the ark sacrificed countless, innumerable sheep and oxen.


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The priests brought the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place, in the Debir of the Temple, that is, in the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the winged creatures;


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for they spread their wings over the place where the ark stood, forming a canopy over the ark and its shafts.


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The shafts were so long, however, that the ends of the shafts of the ark could be seen in front of the Holy Place in front of the Debir, though they could not be seen from outside. They are still there today.


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There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses had placed in it at Horeb, when Yahweh made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.


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Now when the priests came out of the Holy Place -- for all the priests present had sanctified themselves regardless of the orders to which they belonged,


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and all the levitical singers, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun with their sons and brothers, dressed in linen, were standing to the east of the altar with cymbals, lyres and harps and with them one hundred and twenty priests blowing the trumpets,


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and the harmony between trumpeters and singers was such that only one melody could be heard as they praised and gave thanks to Yahweh -- and the singing began, to the accompaniment of trumpets, cymbals and musical instruments, and they praised Yahweh 'for he is good, for his faithful love is everlasting' -- then the Temple was filled with the cloud of the glory of Yahweh,


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and because of the cloud the priests could not stay and perform their duties. For the glory of Yahweh filled the Temple of God.


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Then the king turned round and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while the whole assembly of Israel stood.


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He said, 'Blessed be Yahweh, God of Israel, who has carried out by his hand what he promised verbally to my father David, when he said,


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"From the day I brought my people out of Egypt I chose no city, in any of the tribes of Israel, to have a temple built where my name should be, nor did I choose anyone to be prince of my people Israel;


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but I did choose Jerusalem for my name to be there, and I did choose David to rule my people Israel."


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and I have placed in it the ark containing the covenant of Yahweh, which he made with the Israelites.'


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Then in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, he stood facing the altar of Yahweh and stretched out his hands-


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for Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and five cubits high, which he had placed in the middle of the court and on which he was standing; he knelt down in front of the whole assembly of Israel, stretched out his hands to heaven-


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and said, 'Yahweh, God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or on earth, you who are loyal to the covenant and show faithful love to your servants as long as they walk wholeheartedly in your way.


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You have kept it with your servant, my father David, as you promised him you would. What you promised verbally today you have carried out by your hand.


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And now, Yahweh, God of Israel, keep the promise which you made to your servant David when you said, "You will never lack for a man to sit in my presence before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your sons are careful how they behave, following my law as you yourself have done."


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Yet will God really live with the people on earth? Why, the heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain you! How much less this temple built by me!


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Even so, listen favourably to the prayer and entreaty of your servant, Yahweh my God; listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant makes to you:


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Day and night, may your eyes watch over this temple, over this place in which you have promised to put your name. Listen to the prayer which your servant offers in this place.


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'Listen to the entreaties of your servant and of your people Israel; whenever they pray in this place, listen from the place where you reside in heaven; and when you hear, forgive.


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'If someone has wronged his neighbour and a curse is laid on him to make him swear here before your altar in this Temple,


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then listen from heaven and do justice between your servants, paying back the guilty one by making him suffer for his conduct, and acquitting the upright by rewarding him as his uprightness deserves.


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'If your people Israel are defeated by the enemy because they have sinned against you, but then return to you and acknowledge your name, and pray and seek your favour in this temple,


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then listen from heaven; forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the country which you gave to them and their ancestors.


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then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servant and of your people Israel -- for you are constantly showing them the good way which they must follow -- and send rain on your country, which you have given to your people as their heritage.


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'Should there be famine in the country, or pestilence, wind-blast or mildew, locust or caterpillar; should their enemy lay siege to their territory; should there be any plague or any disease;


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whatever be the prayer or entreaty of any individual, or of all your people Israel, each being aware of his own affliction and pain; when he stretches out his hands towards this Temple,


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then listen from heaven where you reside; forgive and, since you know what is in his heart, deal with each as his conduct deserves -- for you alone know what is in the human heart-


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so that they may revere you by following your directions, which you gave to our ancestors, throughout their lives on earth.


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'Even the foreigner, not belonging to your people Israel but coming from a distant country, attracted by your great name, your mighty hand and outstretched arm, if he comes and prays in this Temple,


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then listen from heaven where you reside, and grant all that the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may acknowledge your name and, like your people Israel, revere you, and know that this Temple, which I have built, bears your name.


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'If your people go out to war against their enemies, on whatever mission you send them, and they pray to you, turning towards this city which you have chosen and towards the Temple which I have built for your name,


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'When they sin against you -- for there is no one who does not sin -- and you are angry with them and abandon them to the enemy, and their captors carry them off to a country be it far away or near,


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if they come to their senses in the country to which they have been taken as captives and pray to you once again in the country of their captivity, saying, "We have sinned, we have acted wrongly and wickedly,"


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and turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the country of their captivity to which they have been carried away as captives, and pray, turning towards the country which you gave to their ancestors, towards the city you have chosen, and towards the Temple which I have built for your name,


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then listen from heaven where you reside, hear their prayer and entreaties, uphold their cause and forgive your people for having sinned against you.


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And now Yahweh God, go up to your resting-place, you and your fortress, the Ark! Let your priests, Yahweh God, be robed in salvation, let your faithful rejoice in what is good!


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When Solomon had finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of Yahweh filled the Temple.


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The priests could not enter the Temple of Yahweh, because the glory of Yahweh filled the Temple of Yahweh.


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When all the Israelites saw the fire come down and the glory of Yahweh resting on the Temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the earth, worshipping and praising Yahweh with 'For he is good, for his faithful love lasts for ever!'


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King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep; and thus the king and all the people dedicated the Temple of God.


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The priests stood in their places, as did the Levites with Yahweh's musical instruments which King David had provided, to render 'Give thanks to Yahweh, for his faithful love lasts for ever!' whenever David offered praise to their accompaniment. Opposite them, the priests blew trumpets, while all Israel stood.


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Solomon also consecrated the middle part of the court in front of the Temple of Yahweh; for that was where he presented the burnt offerings and the fatty parts of the communion sacrifices, since the bronze altar which Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering, the oblation and the fatty parts.


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And then Solomon and with him all Israel from the Pass of Hamath to the Torrent of Egypt -- a very great assembly -- celebrated the feast for seven days.


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On the eighth day they held the assembly, for they had devoted seven days to the dedication of the altar and seven days to the feast.


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On the twenty-third day of the seventh month Solomon dismissed the people to their homes, rejoicing and happy of heart over the goodness which Yahweh had shown to David, to Solomon and to his people Israel.


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Thus Solomon finished the Temple of Yahweh and the royal palace, and he successfully concluded everything that he was of a mind to do in the Temple of Yahweh and in his own palace.


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Then Yahweh appeared to Solomon in the night and said, 'I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.


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If I shut the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the country, or if I send pestilence among my people,


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if my people who bear my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my presence and turn from their wicked ways, then I will listen from heaven and forgive their sins and restore their country.


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for now I have chosen and consecrated this Temple, for my name to be there for ever; my eyes and my heart will constantly be there.


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And if, for your part, you walk before me as your father David did, and do everything that I have commanded you to do, and keep my laws and my ordinances,


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I shall make your royal throne secure, as I covenanted with your father David when I said: You will never lack for a male to rule in Israel.


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But if you turn away and forsake my laws and commandments which I have laid down for you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,


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then I shall uproot them from the country which I have given them, and shall disown this Temple which I have consecrated for my name and make it a proverb and a byword among all the peoples.


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And at this once-exalted Temple, everyone who passes by will be appalled, and will say, "Why has Yahweh treated this country and this Temple like this?"


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And the answer will be, "Because they deserted Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshipped and served them; that is why he has brought all these disasters on them." '


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At the end of the twenty years which it took Solomon to build the Temple of Yahweh and his own palace,


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He also built Upper Beth-Horon and Lower Beth-Horon as fortified towns with walls and gates and bars,


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also Baalath and all Solomon's storage towns, all the towns for his chariots and horses, and everything which Solomon was pleased to build in Jerusalem, in the Lebanon and throughout the territory under his rule.


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All those who survived of the Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Hivite and Jebusite peoples, who did not belong to Israel-


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those of their descendants still remaining in the country, whom the Israelites had not exterminated, these Solomon levied for forced labour, as is still the case today.


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Solomon did not, however, impose forced labour on the Israelites for his work -- for they were soldiers, his senior officers and his chariot and cavalry commanders.


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There were two hundred and fifty of King Solomon's officials in charge of the foremen who supervised the people.


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Solomon moved Pharaoh's daughter up from the City of David to the palace which he had built for her. 'I must not be responsible', he said, 'for a woman living in the palace of David king of Israel, for these buildings to which the ark of Yahweh has come are sacred.'


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Thereafter, Solomon made burnt offerings to Yahweh on the altar of Yahweh which he had built in front of the portico,


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in accordance with the regular prescriptions for burnt sacrifice as commanded by Moses, on the Sabbaths, New Moons and the three annual feasts; the feast of Unleavened Bread, the feast of Weeks and the feast of Shelters.


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Following the prescriptions of his father David, he assigned the orders of priests to their duties and the Levites to their tasks of praise and of assisting the priests in accordance with day-to-day requirements; as also the gatekeepers in their various orders to each gate -- for such was the command of David, man of God.


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Nor was there deviation on any point from the king's command as regards the priests, the Levites or even the storehouses.


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Thus, all the work was over which Solomon had put in hand when the Temple of Yahweh was founded until it was finished. The Temple of Yahweh was complete in every detail.


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Huram sent him ships through his agents, as well as experienced sailors, who went to Ophir with men in Solomon's service, where they took on four hundred and fifty talents of gold, which they brought back to King Solomon.


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The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame and came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with difficult questions, with a very large retinue with camels laden with spices and an immense quantity of gold and precious stones. Having reached Solomon, she discussed everything that she had in mind with him,


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and Solomon had an answer for all her questions; not one of them was too obscure for Solomon to answer for her.


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the food at his table, the accommodation for his officials, the organisation of his staff and the way they were dressed, his cupbearers and the way they were dressed, and the burnt offerings, which he made in the Temple of Yahweh, it left her breathless,


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and she said to the king, 'The report I heard in my own country about you and about your wisdom in handling your affairs was true, then!


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Until I came and saw for myself, I did not believe the reports, but clearly I was told less than half about the true extent of your wisdom. You surpass what was reported to me.


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How fortunate your people are! How fortunate your courtiers, continually in attendance on you and listening to your wisdom!


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Blessed be Yahweh your God. Because your God loved Israel and meant to keep it secure for ever, he has made you its king to administer law and justice.'


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And she presented the king with a hundred and twenty talents of gold and great quantities of spices and precious stones. There never were such spices as those which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.


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Similarly, the men employed by Huram and the men employed by Solomon, who brought the gold from Ophir, also brought back algum wood and precious stones.


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Of the algum wood the king made steps for the Temple of Yahweh and for the royal palace, and harps and lyres for the musicians, the like of which had never before been seen in Judah.


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And King Solomon, in his turn, presented the queen of Sheba with everything that she expressed a wish for, besides what he gave her in exchange for what she had brought to the king. After which, she went home to her own country, she and her servants.


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The weight of the gold received annually by Solomon amounted to six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold,


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besides what tolls and foreign trade brought in; all the Arab kings and the provincial governors also brought gold and silver to Solomon.


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King Solomon made two hundred great shields of beaten gold, six hundred shekels of beaten gold going into one shield;


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also three hundred small shields of beaten gold, three hundred shekels of gold going into one shield; and the king put these into the House of the Forest of Lebanon.


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The throne had six steps with a golden foot-rest attached to the throne, and arms on each side of the seat and two lions standing beside the arms,


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and twelve lions stood on either side of the six steps. Nothing like it had ever been made in any other kingdom.


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since the king's ships went to Tarshish with Huram's employees, and once every three years the merchantmen would come back laden with gold and silver, ivory, apes and baboons.


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and all the kings in the world consulted Solomon to hear the wisdom which God had implanted in his heart,


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and everyone would bring a present with him: objects of silver and of gold, robes, armour, spices, horses and mules; and this went on year after year.


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Solomon also had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand cavalrymen; these he stationed in the chariot towns and near the king in Jerusalem.


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He was overlord of all the kings from the River to the territory of the Philistines and the Egyptian border.


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In Jerusalem the king made silver as common as stones, and cedar wood as plentiful as sycamore in the Lowlands.


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The rest of the history of Solomon, from first to last, is this not all written down in the records of Nathan the prophet, in the Prophecy of Ahijah of Shiloh, and in the Vision of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat?


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When Solomon fell asleep with his ancestors, he was buried in the City of his father David; Rehoboam his son succeeded him.


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As soon as Jeroboam son of Nebat heard the news -- he was in Egypt, where he had taken refuge from King Solomon -- he returned from Egypt.


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King Rehoboam then consulted the elders, who had been in attendance on his father Solomon while he was alive, and said, 'How do you advise me to answer this people?'


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They replied, 'If you are fair to these people, pleasant to them and give them a fair reply, they will remain your servants for ever.'


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He said, 'How do you advise us to answer these people who have been saying, "Lighten the yoke which your father imposed on us"?'


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The young men who had grown up with him replied, 'This is the way to answer the people who have been saying, "Your father made our yoke heavy, you must lighten it for us!" This is the right thing to say to them, "My little finger is thicker than my father's loins!


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Although my father laid a heavy yoke on you, I shall make it heavier still! My father controlled you with the whip, but I shall apply a spiked lash!" '


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On the third day, Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam in obedience to the king's instructions, 'Come back to me in three days' time.'


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spoke to them as the young men had recommended, 'My father made your yoke heavy, but I shall add to it. My father controlled you with the whip, but I shall apply a spiked lash.'


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Thus the king refused to listen to the people, and this was brought about by God, so that Yahweh might fulfil the promise which he had made through Ahijah of Shiloh to Jeroboam son of Nebat.


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When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king thus: What share have we in David? -no heritage in the son of Jesse! Each of you, to your tents, Israel! Now look to your own house, David! So Israel went home again.


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When King Rehoboam sent Adoram who was in charge of forced labour, the Israelites stoned him to death, while King Rehoboam managed to mount his chariot and escape to Jerusalem.


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When Rehoboam reached Jerusalem, he mustered a hundred and eighty thousand picked warriors of the House of Judah and Benjamin to fight Israel and win back the kingdom for Rehoboam.


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"Yahweh says this: Do not go and make war on your brothers; let everyone go home, for this is my doing." ' They obeyed Yahweh's command and went back instead of marching against Jeroboam.


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and shields and spears in each of these towns, making them extremely strong and thus retaining control of Judah and Benjamin.


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The priests and the Levites from all over Israel left their districts to put themselves at his disposal.


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The Levites, indeed, abandoned their pasture lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from the priesthood of Yahweh.


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Jeroboam had appointed his own priests for the high places dedicated to the satyrs and calves which he had made.


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And those members of all the tribes of Israel who were determined to seek Yahweh, God of Israel, followed those priests and Levites to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahweh, God of their ancestors.


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These added strength to the kingdom of Judah and gave their support to Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years. For three years they remained loyal to David and Solomon.


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Rehoboam married Mahalath daughter of Jerimoth, son of David, and of Abihail daughter of Eliab son of Jesse,


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Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom, more than all his other wives and concubines. He had in fact a total of eighteen wives and sixty concubines and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.


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Rehoboam named Abijah son of Maacah as head, hence leader, of his brothers, with a view to making him king,


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and acted wisely by distributing his sons throughout the territories of Judah and Benjamin, some in each fortified town, where he provided plenty of food for them and found them wives.


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When Rehoboam had consolidated the kingdom and become strong, he, and all Israel with him, abandoned the Law of Yahweh;


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and thus it happened that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt marched on Jerusalem, because they had been unfaithful to Yahweh,


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with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand cavalry and countless hordes of Libyans, Sukkiim and Cushites who came from Egypt with him.


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The prophet Shemaiah then came to Rehoboam and the generals of Judah, who had fallen back on Jerusalem before Shishak's advance, and said to them, 'Yahweh says this, "You have abandoned me and so I have abandoned you into Shishak's clutches." '


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When Yahweh saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah as follows, 'They have humbled themselves. I shall not destroy them but shall grant them some degree of deliverance. My retribution will not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak;


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they are nonetheless to become his slaves, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving kings of other countries.'


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So Shishak king of Egypt advanced on Jerusalem and carried off the treasures of the Temple and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything away, including the golden shields which Solomon had made.


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To replace these, King Rehoboam made bronze shields, entrusting them to the commanders of the guard who guarded the king's palace gate.


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Whenever the king went to the Temple of Yahweh, the guards would come out carrying them, returning them to the guardroom afterwards.


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Because King Rehoboam had humbled himself, the retribution of Yahweh turned away from him so as not to destroy him completely; and there were also some good features in Judah.


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Thus he was able to strengthen his position in Jerusalem and continue as king; for Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he came to the throne and remained king for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city chosen by Yahweh from all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite.


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The history of Rehoboam, from first to last, is this not all written down in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer? Warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam went on throughout the period.


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When Rehoboam fell asleep with his ancestors, he was buried in the City of David; his son Abijah succeeded him.


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and reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. When war broke out between Abijah and Jeroboam,


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Abijah took the field with an army of four hundred thousand picked warriors, while Jeroboam took the field against him with eight hundred thousand picked warriors.


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Abijah took position on Mount Zemaraim, in the highlands of Ephraim. 'Jeroboam and all Israel,' he cried, 'listen to me!


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Do you not know that Yahweh, God of Israel, has given eternal sovereignty of Israel to David and his sons by an inviolable covenant?


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Worthless men, scoundrels, rallied to him, proving too strong for Rehoboam son of Solomon, as Rehoboam was then inexperienced and timid and unable to resist them.


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And now you propose to resist Yahweh's sovereignty as exercised by the sons of David because there is a great number of you and you have the golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods!


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Have you not driven out the priests of Yahweh, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, to make priests of your own like the peoples of foreign countries? Anyone who comes with a bull and seven rams to get himself consecrated can become priest of these gods that are no gods.


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But for our part, our God is Yahweh, and we have not abandoned him; our priests are sons of Aaron who minister to Yahweh, and those who serve are Levites;


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morning after morning, evening after evening, they present burnt offerings and perfumed incense to Yahweh, they put the bread of permanent offering on the clean table and nightly light the lamps on the golden lamp-stand; for we keep the decree of Yahweh our God, although you have abandoned him.


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See how God is with us, at our head, and his priests with trumpets to sound the alarm against you! Israelites, do not make war on Yahweh, God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed.'


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Now Jeroboam had sent a party round to ambush them from the rear; thus the main force confronted Judah and the ambush lay to their rear.


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And when Judah looked round, they found themselves being attacked from front and rear. They called on Yahweh, the priests sounded the trumpets,


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and the men of Judah raised the war cry and, as they raised the cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.


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and Abijah and his army inflicted a great slaughter on them: five hundred thousand of Israel's picked men fell, killed.


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So the Israelites were humbled on that occasion, while the Judaeans won, since they had relied on Yahweh, God of their ancestors.


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Abijah pursued Jeroboam, taking from him the towns of Bethel with its dependencies, Jeshanah with its dependencies and Ephron with its dependencies,


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nor did Jeroboam regain strength during Abijah's lifetime. Eventually Yahweh struck him and he died,


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but Abijah grew stronger than ever; he married fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.


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The rest of the history of Abijah, his conduct and his sayings, are recorded in the midrash of the prophet Iddo.


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When Abijah fell asleep with his ancestors, he was buried in the City of David; his son Asa succeeded him. In his time the country was at peace for ten years.


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Because he abolished the high places and incense altars through the towns of Judah, the kingdom under him was undisturbed.


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He rebuilt the fortified towns of Judah, since the country was at peace and free of war during those years, because Yahweh had granted him peace.


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'Let us rebuild these towns,' he told Judah, 'let us surround them with wall and tower, with gate and bar while the country is still ours, for we have sought Yahweh our God and he has sought us and given us peace all around.' They built and prospered.


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Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men of Judah armed with shields and spears and two hundred and eighty thousand men of Benjamin armed with shields and bows, all of them outstanding soldiers.


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Zerah the Cushite took the field against them with an army a million strong and three hundred chariots, and penetrated to Mareshah.


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Asa took the field against him and the battle-lines were drawn up in the Valley of Zephathah, at Mareshah.


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Asa then called on Yahweh his God and said, 'Yahweh, numbers and strength make no difference to you when you give your help. Help us, Yahweh our God, for, relying on you, we are confronting this horde in your name. Yahweh, you are our God. Human strength cannot prevail against you!'


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and Asa pursued them with his army as far as Gerar. So many of the Cushites fell that they were unable to survive. They were cut to pieces by Yahweh and his army. They carried off a great deal of booty,


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they destroyed all the towns round Gerar -- for a panic from Yahweh had seized the towns -- and plundered all the towns since they were full of loot.


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They also routed the cattle-owners and carried off great numbers of sheep and camels; then they returned to Jerusalem.


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he went out to meet Asa and said, 'Listen to me, Asa, and all you in Judah and in Benjamin: Yahweh will be with you so long as you are with him. If you seek him, he will let you find him; but if you desert him, he will desert you.


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but when in their distress they turned to Yahweh, God of Israel, and sought him, he let them find him.


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In those times there was no security for people as they went about their business, but great unrest affecting the inhabitants of all countries,


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nation being crushed by nation and city by city, since God caused confusion among them by every kind of distress.


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When Asa heard these words and the prophecy, he took courage and removed the abominable idols throughout the land of Judah and Benjamin as well as from the towns which he had captured in the highlands of Ephraim, and repaired the altar of Yahweh which stood in front of the portico of Yahweh.


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He summoned all Judah and Benjamin as well as those Ephraimites, Manassehites and Simeonites who had settled with them -- for a great many people from Israel had gone over to Asa when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him.


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that day sacrificing to Yahweh seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from the booty which they had brought back.


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anyone who would not seek Yahweh, God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether high or low, man or woman.


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They pledged their oath to Yahweh in ringing tones, with shouts of joy, to the sound of trumpet and horn;


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all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it wholeheartedly, and sought him so earnestly that he allowed them to find him; Yahweh gave them peace all round.


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King Asa even deprived his mother Maacah of the dignity of Great Lady for having made an obscenity for Asherah; Asa cut down her obscenity, smashed it and burnt it in the ravine of the Kidron.


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He deposited his father's and his own dedicated gifts of silver, gold and sacred vessels, in the Temple of Yahweh.


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In the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, Baasha king of Israel marched on Judah and fortified Ramah to block the communications of Asa king of Judah.


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Asa then took silver and gold from the treasuries of the Temple of Yahweh and the royal palace and sent this with the following message to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who lived in Damascus,


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'Let us make an alliance between me and you, between my father and your father! Look, I have sent you silver and gold. Come, break off your alliance with Baasha king of Israel, which will make him withdraw from me.'


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Ben-Hadad listened favourably to King Asa and sent the generals of his armies to attack the towns of Israel; he ravaged Ijon, Dan, Abel-Maim and all the storage towns of Naphtali.


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King Asa then had all Judah carry away the stones and timber with which Baasha had been fortifying Ramah, and used them to fortify Geba and Mizpah.


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Then it was that Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said, 'Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on Yahweh your God, the king of Aram's army will slip through your fingers.


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Did not the Cushites and Libyans form a vast army with great numbers of chariots and cavalry? Even so, because you relied on Yahweh, he gave you the upper hand;


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for Yahweh's eyes rove to and fro across the whole world to support those whose hearts are loyal to him. You have acted like a fool in this respect; hence, from now on you will have wars.'


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Enraged with the seer, Asa had him put in the stocks in prison, being angry with him over this; at the same time Asa ill-treated some of the people too.


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In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa contracted a disease in his feet, which became very severe; in his illness, however, he consulted not Yahweh but the doctors.


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He was buried in the tomb which he had ordered to be cut for him in the City of David. He was laid in the burial chamber which was filled with perfume blended from all sorts of oils, and a very great funeral fire was made for him.


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by stationing troops in all the fortified towns in Judah and by garrisoning Judah and the towns of Ephraim which his father Asa had captured.


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Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the example of his father's earlier days and did not have recourse to Baal,


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but sought Yahweh, the God of his father, following his commandments and not behaving as Israel did.


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Because of this, Yahweh put him in secure control of the kingdom, while all Judah gave Jehoshaphat presents until ample riches and honour were his.


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He was so enthusiastic about obeying Yahweh that once again he abolished the high places and sacred poles in Judah.


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In the third year of his reign he sent his leading men-Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah, to give instruction in the towns of Judah.


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With them went the Levites: Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah and Tobijah, the Levites; Elishama and Jehoram the priests went with them.


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They gave instruction in Judah, having with them the book of the Law of Yahweh, and went round all the towns of Judah instructing the people.


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A panic from Yahweh seized all the kings of the countries surrounding Judah, as a result of which they did not make war on Jehoshaphat.


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Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and a load of silver and the Arabs brought him seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred he-goats.


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He accumulated ample supplies in the towns of Judah. He also had warriors, outstanding men, in Jerusalem.


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According to family, this is how they were classified: Over the commanders of the thousands of Judah was General Adnah, who had three hundred thousand outstanding men;


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Under him was Amasiah son of Zichri, who had volunteered for Yahweh and who had two hundred thousand outstanding men;


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That outstanding soldier, Eliada, represented Benjamin, and he had two hundred thousand men armed with bow and shield;


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These were in attendance on the king, apart from those whom the king had stationed in the fortified towns all over Judah.


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After some years he paid a visit to Ahab in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered an immense number of sheep and oxen for him and his retinue, to induce him to attack Ramoth-Gilead.


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Ahab king of Israel then said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, 'Will you come with me to Ramoth-Gilead?' He replied, 'I will share in battle with you, my men with yours.'


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So the king of Israel called the prophets together, four hundred of them. 'Should we go and attack Ramoth-Gilead,' he asked, 'or should I hold back?' 'March,' they replied, 'for God will deliver it into the king's power.'


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The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, 'There is one more man through whom we can consult Yahweh, but I hate him because he never has a favourable prophecy for me, always unfavourable ones; he is Micaiah son of Imlah.' 'The king should not say such things,' said Jehoshaphat.


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The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting each on his throne, wearing their robes; in an open space just outside the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them,


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Zedekiah son of Chenaanah, who had made himself some iron horns, said, 'Yahweh says, "With horns like these, you will gore the Aramaeans till you make an end of them." '


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And all the prophets prophesied in the same vein, saying, 'March on Ramoth-Gilead! Success is sure, for Yahweh has already given it to the king!'


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The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, 'Look! What the prophets are saying is uniformly favourable to the king. So I hope you will say the same as they do and speak favourably.'


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When he came to the king, the king said, 'Micaiah, should we march to attack Ramoth-Gilead, or should I hold back?' He replied, 'Go and conquer, Yahweh will deliver them into your power!'


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The king went on, 'How often must I put you on oath to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of Yahweh?'


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Then he spoke out. I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep without a shepherd. And Yahweh said, 'These have no master, let them all go peacefully home!'


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Micaiah went on, 'Now listen to the word of Yahweh. I saw Yahweh seated on his throne with the whole array of heaven standing on his right and on his left.


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Yahweh said, "Who will entice Ahab king of Israel into marching to his death at Ramoth-Gilead?" At which some answered one way, and some another.


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A spirit then came forward and stood before Yahweh and said, "I will entice him." "How?" Yahweh asked.


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He replied, "I shall go and be a deceptive spirit in the mouths of all his prophets." Yahweh said, "You will succeed in enticing him. Go and do it."


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And now, you see, Yahweh has put a deceptive spirit into the mouths of your prophets here, for in fact Yahweh has pronounced disaster on you.'


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The king of Israel said, 'Seize Micaiah and hand him over to Amon governor of the city, and Joash the king's son,


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The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, 'I shall disguise myself to go into battle, but you put on your robes.' So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into battle.


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So, when the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, 'That is the king of Israel,' and surrounded him to attack. But when Jehoshaphat shouted his war cry, Yahweh came to his help, God drew them away from him,


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Someone, however, drawing his bow without any special aim, shot the king of Israel between the joints of his armour. 'Turn about!' he said to his charioteer. 'Get me out of the fighting; I am collapsing.'


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But the battle grew fiercer as the day went on, and the king of Israel had to be held upright in his chariot facing the Aramaeans until the evening, and at sunset he died.


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Jehu son of Hanani the seer went to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, 'Should a man give help to the wicked? Should you love those who hate Yahweh and so bring his retribution on yourself?


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All the same, there are good things to your credit, since you have removed the sacred poles from the country and have set your heart on seeking God.'


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Jehoshaphat resided in Jerusalem but regularly went on progress among the people, from Beersheba to the highlands of Ephraim, to convert them to Yahweh, God of their ancestors.


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saying to the judges, 'Be careful what you do, since you are judging not by any human power but in the name of Yahweh, who will be with you when you pronounce sentence.


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This being so, let fear of Yahweh govern you; be careful what you do, for Yahweh our God will not tolerate malpractice, partiality or the taking of bribes.'


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Jehoshaphat also appointed some of the Levites, priests and heads of Israelite families in Jerusalem to settle disputes. They lived in Jerusalem


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and Jehoshaphat gave them the following charge: 'In fear of Yahweh and with conscientious integrity, this is how you are to act:


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whatever case your brothers living in other towns refer to you, whether involving blood feuds or law and commandment, statutes and judgements, you are to instruct them in such manner that they do not incur guilt before Yahweh and that you and your brothers do not incur his anger. If you act thus, you will not incur guilt.


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Amariah the chief priest himself will be your president in all religious cases, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, leader of the House of Judah, in all civil ones, while the Levites will act as officers of the court. Be firm, put this into practice and may Yahweh protect the right!'


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Some time later, the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them the Meunites, advanced to war against Jehoshaphat.


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Jehoshaphat received the following intelligence, 'A vast horde is advancing on you from the other side of the Sea, from Edom; they are already at Hazazon-Tamar, that is, En-Gedi.'


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Jehoshaphat was alarmed and resolved to have recourse to Yahweh; he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.


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Then, standing in the Temple of Yahweh in front of the new court among the assembled people of Judah and Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat


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said, 'Yahweh, God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven, and do you not rule all the kingdoms of the nations? Your power and might are such that no one can resist you.


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Did not you, our God, dispossess the inhabitants of this country for your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham, your friend, for ever?


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saying, "If disaster, war, flood, pestilence or famine befall us, and we stand in front of this Temple, before you -- for your name is in this Temple -- and cry to you in our distress, then you will listen and rescue us."


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'Now see, the Ammonites and Moabites and the people of Mount Seir, whom you would not allow Israel to invade when they came out of Egypt -- on the contrary, Israel avoided them, and did not destroy them-


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Our God, will you not pass sentence on them, since we are helpless against this vast horde about to attack us? Because we do not know what to do, we look to you.'


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when, in the middle of the assembly, the spirit of Yahweh came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah the Levite, a member of the clan of Asaph,


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who then cried, 'Listen, all Judah and you citizens of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Yahweh says this to you, "Do not be afraid, do not be daunted by this vast horde, for the war is not your affair but God's.


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Go down against them tomorrow; they are coming up by the Slope of Ziz and you will encounter them at the end of the ravine near the desert of Jeruel.


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You will not need to fight in this battle. Take up your position, stand firm, and see what salvation Yahweh has in store for you. Judah and Jerusalem, be fearless, be dauntless; march out against them tomorrow and Yahweh will be with you." '


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Jehoshaphat bowed his head, his face to the ground, and all Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem fell down before Yahweh to worship Yahweh.


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Then the Levites -- both the Kohathites and Korahites -- stood up to praise Yahweh, God of Israel, at the top of their voices.


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Early next morning they prepared to set out for the desert of Tekoa. As they were setting out, Jehoshaphat stood up and said, 'Listen to me, Judah and you citizens of Jerusalem! Believe in Yahweh your God and you will be secure; believe in his prophets and you will be successful.'


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Then, having conferred with the people, he appointed singers who were to praise Yahweh and go out ahead of the army in sacred vestments, singing Praise Yahweh, for his faithful love endures for ever!


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The moment they began their shouts of praise, Yahweh sprang an ambush on the Ammonites, Moabites and the people of Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and that was the end of them,


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for the Ammonites and Moabites turned on the people of Mount Seir, and put them under the curse of destruction and then, having finished off the people of Seir, set to work slaughtering one another.


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When Judah reached the point overlooking the desert and looked towards the horde, there were nothing but corpses lying on the ground; no one escaped.


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When Jehoshaphat arrived to take the booty, they found quantities of cattle and innumerable possessions, clothes and valuables, which they seized for themselves; it was impossible to carry it, and it took them three days to collect it.


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On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, where they blessed Yahweh -- hence the place was given the name Valley of Beracah, which it still has today.


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Then all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem with Jehoshaphat at their head as Yahweh had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies.


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and a panic from Yahweh seized all the neighbouring kings when they heard how Yahweh had fought against the enemies of Israel.


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So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he came to the throne and he reigned for twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.


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The high places, however, were not abolished; the people had still not set their hearts on the God of their ancestors.


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The rest of the history of Jehoshaphat, from first to last, is written down in the records of Jehu son of Hanani, which are quoted in the Book of the Kings of Israel.


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Afterwards, Jehoshaphat formed a partnership with Ahaziah king of Israel, which was very wrong of him.


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Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah then prophesied against Jehoshaphat as follows, 'Because you have become Ahaziah's partner, Yahweh has wrecked your efforts.' The ships were wrecked and were never fit to sail for Tarshish.


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Then Jehoshaphat fell asleep with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of David; his son Jehoram succeeded him.


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Jehoram's brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah -- all of them sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.


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Their father had lavishly given them presents of silver, gold and other valuables as well as fortified towns in Judah; but the throne he bequeathed to Jehoram since he was the first-born.


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Jehoram, having taken control of his father's kingdom and secured his own position, put all his brothers to the sword and some officials of Israel too.


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Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem.


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He followed the example of the kings of Israel as the House of Ahab were doing, he having married one of Ahab's daughters; and he did what is displeasing to Yahweh.


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But Yahweh would not destroy the House of David, because of the covenant which he had made with David, promising to provide him and his sons with a lamp for ever.


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Jehoram crossed the frontier, and with him his commanders and all his chariots. Under cover of dark, he and his chariot commanders broke through the Edomites surrounding him.


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Thus Edom threw off the domination of Judah and has remained free to the present day. Libnah revolted against him at the same time, because he had abandoned Yahweh, God of his ancestors.


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What is more, he set up high places in the highlands of Judah, leading the citizens of Jerusalem and the people of Judah into apostasy.


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Something written by the prophet Elijah then came into his hands. It said, 'Yahweh, God of your ancestor David, says this, "Since you have not followed the example of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah,


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but have followed the example of the kings of Israel and have led Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem into apostasy, just as the House of Ahab has led Israel into apostasy, and have even murdered your brothers, your own family, who were better men than you,


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Yahweh is going to afflict your people, your sons, your wives and all your property with a great calamity,


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and you yourself with a severe disease affecting your bowels, as a result of which disease, continuing day after day, you will suffer protrusion of your bowels." '


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Yahweh then roused the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs living near the Cushites against Jehoram.


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They invaded Judah, forcing their way into it and carrying off all the property to be found in the king's palace, as well as his sons and his wives, so that he was left no sons at all except his youngest son Jehoahaz.


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in due time, after about two years, his bowels protruded as a result of his disease and he died in acute pain. His people did not make a funeral pyre for him, as they had for his ancestors.


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He was thirty-two years old when he came to the throne and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem. He passed away unlamented and was buried in the City of David, though not in the tombs of the kings.


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The inhabitants of Jerusalem then made his youngest son Ahaziah king in succession to him, since the marauders who had attacked the camp with the Arabs had killed all the older ones. That was why Ahaziah son of Jehoram, king of Judah became king.


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Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he came to the throne and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, descendant of Omri.


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He too followed the example of the House of Ahab, for his mother being his adviser brought about his condemnation.


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He did what is displeasing to Yahweh as the House of Ahab did, for they were his advisers after his father's death, to his undoing.


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He followed their advice and went with Jehoram son of Ahab, king of Israel, to make war on Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-Gilead. But the Aramaeans wounded Jehoram,


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who returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which he had received at Ramoth, fighting against Hazael king of Aram. Ahaziah son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to Jezreel to visit Jehoram son of Ahab because he was ailing.


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Through this visit to Jehoram God brought ruin on Ahaziah. On his arrival he went out with Jehoram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi whom Yahweh had anointed to make an end of the House of Ahab.


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While Jehu was executing sentence on the House of Ahab and came across the officers of Judah and Ahaziah's nephews who were in attendance on Ahaziah, he killed them,


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and then went in search of Ahaziah. The latter was captured while hiding in Samaria, and taken to Jehu who put him to death. But they gave him burial because, they said, 'He was the grandson of Jehoshaphat who sought Yahweh with all his heart.' As a result, there was no member of Ahaziah's family left who was strong enough to rule the kingdom.


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When Athaliah mother of Ahaziah learned that her son was dead, she promptly did away with all the royal stock of the House of Judah.


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But Jehosheba the king's daughter, surreptitiously rescued Joash son of Ahaziah from among the chiefs who were to be murdered, and put him with his nurse in the sleeping quarters; in this way Jehosheba daughter of King Joram and wife of Jehoiada the priest -- she was the sister of Ahaziah -- hid him from Athaliah, and he was not put to death.


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In the seventh year Jehoiada decided to take action and made a pact with the regimental commanders, Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah and Elishaphat son of Zichri.


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These went all over Judah, gathering the Levites from all the towns of Judah, and the heads of the Israelite families, who then came to Jerusalem,


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and the whole assembly made a pact with the king in the Temple of God. Jehoiada said to them, 'Look, the king's son is now to be king, as Yahweh has promised of the sons of David!


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This is what you must do: a third of you priests and Levites who come on duty on the Sabbath must guard the gates,


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a third the royal palace, a third the Foundation Gate, while the people must all stay in the courts of the Temple of Yahweh.


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No one must enter the Temple of Yahweh except the priests and the ministering Levites; they may come in because they are consecrated. But the people must all observe Yahweh's regulations.


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The Levites must surround the king, each man with his weapons in his hands; anyone who enters the Temple must be killed. And you will escort the king when he comes in and when he leaves.'


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The Levites and all Judah did everything as Jehoiada the priest had ordered, and each one brought his men, those coming on duty on the Sabbath and those going off duty on the Sabbath, for Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions from duty.


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Jehoiada the priest then issued the regimental commanders with King David's spears and large and small shields, which were kept in the Temple of God.


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He then positioned all the people, each man with his weapon in his hand, from the south side of the Temple to the north side of the Temple, close to the altar and the Temple, to form a circle round the king.


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Then they brought the king's son out, crowned him, gave him a copy of the covenant and made him king. When Jehoiada and his sons had anointed him, they shouted, 'Long live the king!'


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On hearing the people shouting as they ran to acclaim the king, Athaliah joined the people in the Temple of Yahweh.


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When she looked, there stood the king on his dais by the entrance, with the officers and trumpeters at the king's side, and all the people of the country rejoicing and blowing the trumpets, and the singers with their musical instruments leading the hymns of praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and shouted, 'Treason, treason!'


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Jehoiada the priest then gave the order to the regimental commanders in charge of the troops, 'Take her out between the ranks and put to the sword anyone who follows her.' For the priest had already said, 'Do not kill her inside the Temple of Yahweh.'


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So they made way for her, and when she reached the entrance to the Horses' Gate of the palace, they killed her there.


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All the people then went to the temple of Baal and demolished it; they smashed its altars and its images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.


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Jehoiada entrusted the security of the Temple of Yahweh to the priests and Levites, whom David had put in charge of the Temple of Yahweh to present the burnt offerings of Yahweh as laid down in the Law of Moses, with joy and song as ordained by David.


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He also appointed gatekeepers for the gates of the Temple of Yahweh, so that no one who was unclean might enter for any purpose at all.


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He then took the regimental commanders, the nobles, the government officials and all the people of the land and he escorted the king down from the Temple of Yahweh. Entering the palace through the Upper Gate, they placed the king on the royal throne.


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All the people of the land were delighted, and the city made no move after Athaliah had been put to death.


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Joash was seven years old when he came to the throne and he reigned for forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba.


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Calling the priests and the Levites together, he said, 'Go out to the towns of Judah and collect money from all Israel for annual repairs to the Temple of Yahweh. Do this quickly.' But the Levites were in no hurry,


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so the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said, 'Why have you not insisted on the Levites' bringing in the tax from Judah and Jerusalem for the Tent of Witness, as imposed by Moses servant of Yahweh and the community of Israel?' -- 


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Athaliah and her sons, whom she corrupted, despoiled the Temple of God and even assigned all the sacred revenues of the Temple of Yahweh to Baal.


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and a proclamation was issued throughout Judah and Jerusalem that the tax, which Moses servant of God had imposed on Israel in the desert, was to be brought to Yahweh.


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Then all the officials and all the people gladly brought in their contributions, depositing them in the chest until the payment was complete.


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Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites for royal inspection and found to contain a large sum of money, the king's secretary and the chief priest's representative would come and empty the chest and then have it returned to its place. This was done day after day and a great deal of money was collected.


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The king and Jehoiada handed it over to the foreman attached to the Temple of Yahweh, and the hired masons and carpenters set about repairing the Temple of Yahweh; and iron-workers and bronze-workers laboured to repair the Temple of Yahweh.


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The workmen got on with the task -- the repair work made good progress at their hands -- until they had restored the Temple of God to its former state and reconditioned it.


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When they had finished, they brought the balance of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and with this vessels were made for the Temple of Yahweh, vessels for the liturgy and for the burnt offerings, bowls and other gold and silver vessels. And the perpetual burnt offering was offered in the Temple of Yahweh throughout Jehoiada's lifetime.


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But Jehoiada, growing old, had his fill of days and died. He died at the age of a hundred and thirty years,


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and was buried with the kings in the City of David because he had served Israel and God and his Temple well.


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After Jehoiada's death the officials of Judah came to pay court to the king, and the king listened to their advice,


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and they abandoned the Temple of Yahweh, God of their ancestors, for the worship of sacred poles and idols. Judah and Jerusalem incurred wrath because of this guilt of theirs.


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He sent their prophets to lead them back to Yahweh; these put the case against them, but they would not listen.


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The spirit of God then invested Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said, 'God says this, "Why transgress Yahweh's commands to your certain ruin? For if you abandon Yahweh, he will abandon you."


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They then plotted against him and, at the king's order, stoned him in the court of the Temple of Yahweh.


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Thus King Joash, forgetful of the devotion which Jehoiada father of Zechariah had displayed on his behalf, murdered his son, who cried out as he died, 'Yahweh will see this and avenge it!'


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At the turn of the year, the Aramaean army made war on Joash. When they reached Judah and Jerusalem, they massacred all the nation's government officials and sent all their booty to the king of Damascus.


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Although the invading Aramaean army was only a small body of men, Yahweh allowed them to defeat a very large army because they had abandoned Yahweh, God of their ancestors; thus they executed judgement on Joash. After they had retired -- for they left him seriously wounded-


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his own retainers plotted against him to avenge the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest and murdered him in his bed. When he died he was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.


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These were the conspirators: Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonite and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabite.


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As regards his sons, the heavy tribute imposed on him, and the restoration of the Temple of God, this is recorded in the Commentary on the Book of the Kings. His son Amaziah succeeded him.


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Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.


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But he did not put their sons to death; this was in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the book of Moses, where Yahweh had commanded, 'Parents may not be put to death for children, nor children for parents, but each must be put to death for his own crime.'


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Amaziah summoned Judah and organised all Judah and Benjamin by families under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. He also made a register of those who were twenty years old and upwards, and found there were three hundred thousand picked men, ready for service and capable of wielding spear and shield.


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Furthermore, he hired a hundred thousand tough fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents of silver.


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A man of God then came to him and said, 'My lord king, do not let the Israelite troops march with you, for Yahweh is not with Israel or with any of the Ephraimites.


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For however valiantly you act in war, God will bring you down before the enemy, for God has the power to uphold or to throw down.'


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Amaziah said to the man of God, 'But what about the hundred talents which I have paid for the Israelite troops?' 'Yahweh can give you far more than that,' said the man of God.


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At this, Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home again. They were furious with Judah and went home in a great rage.


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Amaziah then, coming to a decision, led out his own troops and, having reached the Valley of Salt, struck down ten thousand Seirites.


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The men of Judah captured ten thousand more alive and, taking them to the summit of the Rock, threw them off the summit of the Rock so that they were all dashed to pieces.


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Meanwhile, the troops whom Amaziah had dismissed and not allowed to go into battle with him rased the towns of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-Horon, killing three thousand of their inhabitants and capturing great quantities of plunder.


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On returning from his slaughter of the Edomites, Amaziah brought the gods of the Seirites with him; he set these up as his gods, bowing down before them and burning incense to them.


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Yahweh's anger was aroused by Amaziah and he sent him a prophet, who said to him, 'Why do you consult those people's gods when they could not save their own people from your clutches?'


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He was still speaking when Amaziah interrupted him. 'Have we appointed you a royal counsellor? Stop, as you value your life!' So the prophet stopped, and then said, 'I know that God has decided to destroy you for having done this and for not listening to my advice.'


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After consultation, Amaziah king of Judah then sent a message to Joash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, 'Come and make a trial of strength!'


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Joash king of Israel sent back word to Amaziah king of Judah, 'The thistle of Lebanon sent a message to the cedar of Lebanon, saying, "Give my son your daughter in marriage"; but a wild animal of the Lebanon ran over the thistle and squashed it.


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"Look at me, the conqueror of Edom," you say, and now aspire to even greater glory. But stay where you belong! Why challenge disaster, to your own and Judah's ruin?'


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But Amaziah would not listen, for this was an act of God to deliver them up for having consulted the gods of Edom.


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So Joash king of Israel marched to the attack. And at Beth-Shemesh, which belongs to Judah, he and Amaziah king of Judah made their trial of strength.


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The king of Judah, Amaziah son of Joash, son of Ahaziah, was taken prisoner at Beth-Shemesh by Joash king of Israel who led him off to Jerusalem, where he demolished four hundred cubits of the city wall between the Ephraim Gate and the Corner Gate;


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he then took back with him to Samaria all the gold and silver, and all the vessels to be found in the Temple of God in the care of Obed-Edom, the treasures in the palace, and hostages besides.


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Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, lived for fifteen years after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.


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The rest of the history of Amaziah, from first to last, is this not recorded in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel?


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Some time after Amaziah had defected from Yahweh, a plot having been hatched against him in Jerusalem, he fled to Lachish where he was murdered.


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All the people then chose Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in succession to his father Amaziah.


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Uzziah was sixteen years old when he came to the throne and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.


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he consulted God throughout the lifetime of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. And as long as he consulted Yahweh, God gave him success.


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He went on campaign against the Philistines, demolished the walls of Gath, the walls of Jabneh and the walls of Ashdod, and built towns in the area of Ashdod and elsewhere in Philistine territory.


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The Meunites paid tribute to Uzziah and his fame spread as far as the frontier of Egypt, since he kept growing stronger and stronger.


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Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem, at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the Angle, and fortified them.


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He built towers in the desert too, and dug many storage-wells, for he had large herds in the lowlands and on the tableland, and farmers and vine dressers in the hills and fertile lands: for he loved the land.


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Uzziah had a trained army ready to go on campaign, organised in companies manned as detailed by the scribe Jeiel and the staff-officer Maaseiah, and commanded by Hananiah one of the king's generals.


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Under them was an army of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred men ready for war, a powerful force to support the king against the enemy.


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He also erected expertly contrived devices for the towers and angles of Jerusalem from which to shoot arrows and drop large stones. His fame spread far and wide, for he was miraculously helped to become strong.


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But once he was strong, his arrogance was such that it led to his downfall; he was unfaithful to Yahweh his God by entering the Temple of Yahweh to burn incense on the altar of incense.


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confronting King Uzziah, they said to him, 'Uzziah, you are not allowed to burn incense to Yahweh; only the Aaronite priests consecrated for the purpose may burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honour from Yahweh God.'


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Uzziah, censer in hand to burn incense, flew into a rage. But while he was raging at the priests, a virulent skin-disease broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests, in the Temple of Yahweh, there by the altar of incense.


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When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests turned towards him, there was skin-disease on his forehead and they hurried him outside, and he himself was equally anxious to get out, because Yahweh had struck him.


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King Uzziah was afflicted with skin-disease till his dying day. Because of this, he lived confined to his room and was excluded from the Temple of Yahweh, while Jotham his son, who was master of the palace, governed the people of the country.


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The rest of the history of Uzziah, from first to last, has been written by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.


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Then Uzziah fell asleep with his ancestors and was buried with them in the field beside the burial ground of the kings since, it was reasoned, he was afflicted with virulent skin-disease. His son Jotham then succeeded him.


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Jotham was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerushah daughter of Zadok.


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He did what Yahweh regards as right, just as his father Uzziah had done. Only he did not enter Yahweh's sanctuary. But the people continued to do wrong.


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It was he who built the Upper Gate of the Temple of Yahweh and carried out considerable work on the wall of the Ophel.


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He also went to war against the king of the Ammonites and defeated them; and the Ammonites had to give him a hundred talents of silver, ten thousand kor of wheat and ten thousand of barley that year. And the Ammonites paid him the same amount, the second and third years afterwards.


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The rest of the history of Jotham, all his wars and his policy, are recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.


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He was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem.


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Then Jotham fell asleep with his ancestors, and was buried in the City of David; his son Ahaz succeeded him.


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Ahaz was twenty years old when he came to the throne and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what Yahweh regards as right, as his ancestor David had done.


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he burned incense in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, caused his sons to pass through the fire of sacrifice, copying the disgusting practices of the nations whom Yahweh had dispossessed for the Israelites.


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So Yahweh his God put him at the mercy of the king of Aram, who defeated him and took large numbers of captives, carrying them off to Damascus. He also put him at the mercy of the king of Israel, who inflicted heavy casualties on him.


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In a single day, Pekah son of Remaliah killed a hundred and twenty thousand in Judah, all of them prominent men, because they had abandoned Yahweh, God of their ancestors.


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Zichri, an Ephraimite champion, killed Maaseiah the king's son, Azrikam the controller of the household and Elkanah the king's second-in-command.


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Of their brothers, the Israelites took two hundred thousand captive including wives, sons, daughters; they also took quantities of booty, carrying everything off to Samaria.


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Now there was a prophet of Yahweh there by the name of Oded, who went out to meet the troops returning to Samaria and said, 'Look, because Yahweh, God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah, he put them at your mercy, but you have slaughtered them with such fury as reached to heaven,


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and now you propose to reduce the children of Judah and Jerusalem to being your male and female slaves! Have you not yourselves committed sins against Yahweh your God?


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Now listen to me: release the captives you have taken from your brothers, for the fierce anger of Yahweh hangs over you.'


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Some of the Ephraimite chieftains -- Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechaiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum and Amasa son of Hadlai -- then protested to those returning from the war


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and said to them, 'You must not bring the captives here, for we have already sinned against Yahweh and you propose to add to our sin and guilt, although our guilt is already great, and fierce anger is hanging over Israel.'


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So in the presence of the officials and whole assembly, the soldiers gave up the captives and the booty.


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Men nominated for the purpose then took charge of the captives. From the booty they clothed all those of them who were naked; they gave them clothing and sandals, provided them with food and drink, mounted on donkeys all those who were infirm and took them back to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria.


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while the Philistines raided the towns in the lowlands and in the Negeb of Judah, capturing Beth-Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco and its dependencies, Timnah and its dependencies and Gimzo and its dependencies, and settled there.


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For Yahweh brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, since he behaved without restraint in Judah and had been unfaithful to Yahweh.


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Although Ahaz robbed the Temple of Yahweh and the palaces of the king and princes and gave the proceeds to the king of Assyria, he received no help from him.


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For he offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus who had defeated him. 'Since the gods of the kings of Aram', he thought, 'have supported them, I shall sacrifice to them, and perhaps they will help me.' But they proved to be his and all Israel's downfall.


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Ahaz then collected the equipment of the Temple of God, broke up the equipment of the Temple of God, sealed the doors of the Temple of Yahweh and put his own altars in every corner of Jerusalem;


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he set up high places in every town of Judah to burn incense to other gods, thus provoking the anger of Yahweh, God of his ancestors.


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The rest of his history, his whole policy, from first to last, is recorded in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.


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Then Ahaz fell asleep with his ancestors and was buried in the City, in Jerusalem, though he was not taken to the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah succeeded him.


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Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.


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In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the Temple of Yahweh, having repaired them.


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and said to them, 'Listen to me, Levites! First sanctify yourselves, then sanctify the Temple of Yahweh, God of your ancestors, and remove the filth from the sanctuary.


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Our ancestors were unfaithful, and did what is displeasing to Yahweh our God. They abandoned him, turned their faces away from Yahweh's home and turned their backs on him.


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They even closed the doors of the portico, put out the lamps and stopped burning incense and making burnt offerings in the sanctuary of the God of Israel.


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This was why Yahweh's anger fell on Judah and Jerusalem and he made them an object of terror, astonishment and derision, as you can see for yourselves.


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Yes, our ancestors were put to the sword, and our sons, our daughters and our wives were taken captive because of this.


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I am now determined to make a covenant with Yahweh, God of Israel, so that his fierce anger may turn away from us.


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Now, my sons, do not be remiss, for Yahweh has chosen you to stand in his presence and serve him by conducting his worship and offering him incense.'


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The Levites set about it -- Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah, from the Kohathites; Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallel, from the Merarites; Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah, from the Gershonites;


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and gathered their brothers together; they sanctified themselves, and in obedience to the king's order, in accordance with the words of Yahweh, they came to purify the Temple of Yahweh.


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The priests went into the inner part of the Temple of Yahweh to purify it. They brought all the unclean things which they found in Yahweh's sanctuary, out into the court of the Temple of Yahweh, where the Levites collected them and took them out to the Kidron Valley.


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They began sanctifying on the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day of the month had reached Yahweh's portico; thus they took eight days to sanctify the Temple of Yahweh, and by the sixteenth day of the first month everything was finished.


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They then waited on King Hezekiah and said, 'We have purified the whole Temple of Yahweh, the altar of burnt offering with all its equipment and the table for the loaves of permanent offering with all their equipment.


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We have also got ready and sanctified all the equipment which King Ahaz in his infidelity had removed during his reign. It is all ready in front of Yahweh's altar.'


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King Hezekiah lost no time but called the officials of the city together and went up to the Temple of Yahweh.


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They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs and seven goats as a sin sacrifice for the royal house, for the sanctuary and for Judah, and he ordered the Aaronite priests to offer them on Yahweh's altar.


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So they slaughtered the bulls and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it over the altar. They then slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood over the altar; and they slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled the blood over the altar.


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Then they brought the goats, the sacrifice for sin, before the king and the assembly who laid their hands on them.


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The priests slaughtered them and made a sacrifice for sin with their blood at the altar to expiate for all Israel, since the king had ordered the burnt offering and the sacrifice for sin on behalf of all Israel.


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He positioned the Levites in the Temple of Yahweh with cymbals, lyres and harps, in accordance with the ordinance of David, of Gad the king's seer and of Nathan the prophet, for such was Yahweh's order conveyed through his prophets.


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Hezekiah ordered the burnt offering to be presented on the altar. And as the burnt offering began, the hymns of Yahweh began too, and the trumpets sounded, to the accompaniment of the instruments of David king of Israel,


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while the whole congregation worshipped, the singers singing and the trumpeters sounding the trumpets, continuously until the burnt offering was over.


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When the burnt offering was finished, the king and all those present with him fell to their knees and worshipped.


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Then King Hezekiah and the officials told the Levites to sing praise to Yahweh in the words of David and Asaph the seer; and joyfully they sang their praises, then knelt in worship.


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Hezekiah spoke again, 'Now that you have consecrated yourselves to Yahweh, come forward and bring thanksgiving sacrifices to the Temple of Yahweh.' Then the congregation brought thanksgiving sacrifices and those who were generous brought burnt offerings.


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The number of burnt offerings brought by the congregation was seventy bulls, a hundred rams and two hundred lambs, all as burnt offerings for Yahweh.


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The priests were too few, however, and were unable to dismember all the burnt offerings, so their brothers, the Levites, helped them until the work was finished and the priests had sanctified themselves; for the Levites had been more conscientious about sanctifying themselves than the priests had.


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In addition to the abundance of burnt offerings, there were also the fatty pieces for communion sacrifices and the libations for the burnt offerings. And so the liturgy of Yahweh's Temple was restored,


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and Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had provided for the people, since everything had happened so suddenly.


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Hezekiah sent messengers to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, bidding them come to the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover in honour of Yahweh, God of Israel.


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For the king and his officials and the whole congregation in Jerusalem had agreed to celebrate the Passover in the second month,


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having been unable to celebrate it at the proper time, since the priests had not purified themselves in sufficient number, and the people were not assembled in Jerusalem.


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they resolved to send a proclamation throughout Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, calling on the people to come to Jerusalem and celebrate a Passover in honour of Yahweh, God of Israel, since they had not celebrated it in a body as prescribed.


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So, by order of the king, courtiers set out with letters from the king and his officials for every part of Israel and Judah, saying, 'Israelites, return to Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and he will return to those of you who are left and have escaped the grasp of the kings of Assyria.


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Do not be like your fathers and brothers who were unfaithful to Yahweh, God of their ancestors; he brought them to ruin, as you can see.


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Do not be stubborn like your ancestors. Submit to Yahweh, come to his sanctuary which he has consecrated for ever, and serve Yahweh your God, so that his fierce anger may turn away from you.


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For if you return to Yahweh, your brothers and your sons will be treated mercifully by their captors and be allowed to return to this country; for Yahweh your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn his face away from you, if you return to him.'


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The courtiers went from town to town through the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh and as far as Zebulon but the people laughed and scoffed at them;


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while in Judah the hand of God was also at work inspiring a unanimous desire to obey the order of the king and the officials in accordance with the word of Yahweh.


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A huge crowd assembled in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month. An immense crowd


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set to work removing the altars then in Jerusalem; they also removed all the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.


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They then slaughtered the Passover victims on the fourteenth day of the second month. Ashamed of themselves, the priests and Levites had in the meanwhile sanctified themselves and brought burnt offerings to the Temple of Yahweh,


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so they now stood in their positions prescribed in the Law of Moses man of God, the priests sprinkling the blood handed to them by the Levites.


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Since many people in the congregation had not sanctified themselves, the Levites took care of the slaughter of the Passover victims to consecrate them to Yahweh for all who were not clean.


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For a great many people, especially from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulon, had not purified themselves, since they did not eat the Passover as prescribed. But Hezekiah prayed for them as follows, 'May Yahweh in his goodness pardon


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everyone whose heart is set on seeking God, Yahweh, God of his ancestors, even if he has not been purified as holy things demand.'


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Amid great rejoicing, the Israelites present in Jerusalem celebrated the feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days, while day after day the Levites and the priests praised Yahweh with all their might.


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Hezekiah then encouraged all the Levites who had such understanding of Yahweh. Having finished the seven-day festival, during which they sacrificed communion sacrifices and praised Yahweh, God of their ancestors,


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the whole congregation decided to celebrate for a further seven days. So they joyfully celebrated for another seven days,


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Hezekiah king of Judah contributing a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for the congregation, and the officials another thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. And a large number of priests sanctified themselves.


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The whole congregation of Judah, the priests, the Levites, the whole congregation coming from Israel and the foreigners coming from the territory of Israel as well as those resident in Judah, rejoiced.


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There was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David, king of Israel, nothing comparable had ever occurred in Jerusalem.


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The levitical priests then stood up and blessed the people and their voice was heard, and their prayer reached his holy dwelling in heaven.


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When all this was complete, all Israel present went out to the towns of Judah, broke the pillars, cut down the sacred poles, wrecked the high places and the altars, and did away with them entirely throughout Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. Then all the Israelites returned to their towns, everyone to his property.


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Hezekiah re-established the priestly and levitical orders, each man in his proper order according to his duties, whether priest or Levite, to bring burnt offerings and communion sacrifices, to serve and to give thanks and praise within the gates of Yahweh's camp.


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He also established a king's portion from his possessions for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths, New Moons and festivals, as laid down in the Law of Yahweh.


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He furthermore requested the people living in Jerusalem to present the portion for the priests and Levites so that they might devote themselves to the Law of Yahweh.


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As soon as the order had been promulgated, the Israelites provided the first fruits of grain, new wine, olive oil, honey and every other kind of agricultural produce in abundance; they brought in an abundant tithe of everything.


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The Israelites and Judaeans living in the towns of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and the tithe of sacred gifts consecrated to Yahweh their God, laying them in heaps.


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When Hezekiah and the officials came to inspect the heaps they praised Yahweh and his people Israel.


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Azariah, the chief priest, of the family of Zadok, replied as follows, 'Since they began bringing the contributions to the Temple of Yahweh,' he said, 'we have had enough to eat and quantities left over, for Yahweh has blessed his people; this mass of stuff is left.'


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Hezekiah then ordered them to have storerooms prepared in the Temple of Yahweh and, when they had got them ready,


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they conscientiously brought in the contributions, tithes and consecrated gifts, Conaniah the Levite was put in charge of them, with Shimei his brother as his assistant,


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and with Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jeremith, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah as overseers under Conaniah and his brother Shimei, by order of King Hezekiah and of Azariah, the chief of the Temple of God.


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Kore son of Jimnah the Levite, keeper of the eastern gate, was made responsible for the voluntary offerings to God and for providing the portion set aside for Yahweh and the most holy gifts.


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Supporting him loyally in the priestly towns were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah and Shechaniah, who made the distributions to their brothers in their various orders, whether high or low,


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irrespective of their official genealogy, to the males of thirty years and upwards -- to each one who attended the Temple of Yahweh to fulfil his daily obligations -- for the performance of their duties appropriate to their orders:


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the priests being registered according to family and the Levites of twenty years and upwards according to their duties within their orders.


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And the official genealogy included all their household, their wives, their sons and their daughters, throughout the community, since these men were obliged to keep sanctifying themselves anew.


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The Aaronite priests who lived on the pasture lands belonging to their towns, had men named in every town to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to everyone included in the official genealogy of the Levites.


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Hezekiah did this throughout all Judah. He did what Yahweh his God regards as good and right and loyal.


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Everything that he undertook, whether in the service of the Temple of God or in connection with the law or the commandments, he did in absolute devotion to his God, and so succeeded.


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After these loyal actions, Sennacherib king of Assyria advanced and invaded Judah, and laid siege to the fortified towns, intending to demolish them.


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consulted his officers and warriors about sealing off the waters of the springs outside the city, and they supported him.


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So a large number of people were called out to block all the springs and cut off the watercourse flowing through the country. 'Why', they said, 'should the kings of Assyria find plenty of water when they arrive?'


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Acting with determination, he also repaired all the damaged parts of the wall, built towers on it, constructed a second wall on the outer side, strengthened the Millo of the City of David and made quantities of missiles and shields.


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He then appointed generals to command the people, summoned them to him in the square by the city gate and spoke as follows to encourage them,


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'Be strong and brave; do not be afraid or tremble when you face the king of Assyria and the whole horde he brings with him, for there are more on our side than on his.


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He has only human strength, but we have Yahweh our God to help us and fight our battles.' The people took heart at the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.


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Next, Sennacherib king of Assyria, who was then besieging Lachish with all his forces, sent his representatives to Jerusalem, to Hezekiah king of Judah, and all Judah at Jerusalem, with the following message,


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'Sennacherib king of Assyria says this, "What gives you the confidence to remain in the fortress of Jerusalem?


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Isn't Hezekiah deluding you, only to condemn you to die of famine and thirst, when he says: Yahweh our God will save us from the King of Assyria's clutches?


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Isn't Hezekiah the very man who has suppressed his high places and altars, and given the order to Judah and to Jerusalem: You must worship before one altar and on that alone offer incense?


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Don't you know what I and my ancestors have done to all the peoples of the other countries? Have the national gods of those countries had the slightest success in saving their countries from my clutches?


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Of all the gods of those nations whom my ancestors devoted to destruction, which one has been able to save his people from my clutches, for your god to be able to save you from my clutches?


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Do not let Hezekiah mislead you. Do not let him delude you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to save his people from me or from my ancestors' clutches. No more will your god be able to save you from my clutches." '


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He also wrote a letter to insult Yahweh, God of Israel, maligning him as follows, 'Just as the national gods of the other countries could not save their peoples from my clutches, so Hezekiah's god cannot save his people from my clutches.'


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They then shouted loudly in the Judaean language to the people of Jerusalem on the ramparts to frighten and confuse them, in the hope of capturing the city,


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maligning the God of Jerusalem as though he were one of the man-made gods of other peoples in the world.


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and Yahweh sent an angel who destroyed every warrior, commander and officer in the king of Assyria's camp. So he had to retire shamefacedly to his own country and when he went into the temple of his god, some of his own sons there struck him down with the sword.


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So Yahweh saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the clutches of Sennacherib king of Assyria and of everyone else, and gave them peace on every side.


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Many people then brought gifts to Yahweh in Jerusalem and valuable presents to Hezekiah king of Judah; from then on, all the other nations held him in high esteem.


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About then Hezekiah fell ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to Yahweh, who heard him and granted him a sign.


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But Hezekiah made no return for the benefit which he had received; he became proud and brought retribution on himself and on Judah and Jerusalem.


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Then, however, Hezekiah did humble himself in his pride, and so did the inhabitants of Jerusalem; as a result of which, Yahweh's retribution did not overtake them during Hezekiah's lifetime.


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Hezekiah enjoyed immense riches and honour. He built himself treasuries for gold, silver, precious stones, spices, jewels and every kind of desirable object,


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as well as storehouses for his returns of grain, new wine and olive oil, and stalls for all kinds of cattle and pens for the flocks.


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He also provided himself with donkeys in addition to his immense wealth of flocks and herds, since God had made him immensely wealthy.


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It was Hezekiah who stopped the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them straight down on the west side of the City of David. Hezekiah succeeded in all that he undertook,


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although when the envoys were sent to him by the rulers of Babylon to enquire about the extraordinary thing which had taken place in the country, God left him alone to test him and discover what lay in his heart.


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The rest of the history of Hezekiah, and his deeds of faithful love, are recorded in the Vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.


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Then Hezekiah fell asleep with his ancestors and was buried in the upper section of the tombs of the sons of David. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem paid him honours at his death. His son Manasseh succeeded him.


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Manasseh was twelve years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem.


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He rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had demolished, he set up altars to Baal and made sacred poles, he worshipped the whole array of heaven and served it.


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He built altars in the Temple of Yahweh, of which Yahweh had said, 'My name will be in Jerusalem for ever.'


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He caused his sons to pass through the fire of sacrifice in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom. He practised soothsaying, divination and sorcery, and had dealings with mediums and spirit-guides. He did very many more things displeasing to Yahweh, thus provoking his anger.


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He put a sculpted image, an idol which he had had made, inside the Temple of which God had said to David and his son Solomon, 'In this Temple and in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I shall put my name for ever.


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Nor shall I ever again remove Israel's foot from the soil on which I established your ancestors on condition that they were careful to observe all I commanded them as laid down in the whole Law, the statutes and the ordinances, given through Moses.'


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But Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into doing worse things than the nations which Yahweh had destroyed for the Israelites.


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Yahweh then brought down on them the generals of the king of Assyria's army who captured Manasseh with hooks, put him in chains and took him to Babylon.


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While in his distress, he placated Yahweh his God by genuinely humbling himself before the God of his ancestors.


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When he prayed to him, he was moved by his entreaty, heard his supplication and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Manasseh realised then that Yahweh is God.


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Afterwards, he rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David, to the west of Gihon, in the valley, up to the Fish Gate and round the Ophel, and made it very much higher. And he stationed military governors in all the fortified towns of Judah.


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He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the Temple of Yahweh, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the Temple of Yahweh and in Jerusalem, and threw them out of the city.


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He repaired the altar of Yahweh and offered communion sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve Yahweh, God of Israel.


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The rest of the history of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the prophecies of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahweh, God of Israel, can be found in the Annals of the Kings of Israel.


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His prayer and how God was moved by his entreaty, all his sins, his infidelity, the sites where he built high places and set up sacred poles and idols before humbling himself, are set down in the records of Hozai.


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Then Manasseh fell asleep with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his palace. His son Amon succeeded him.


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Amon was twenty-two years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem.


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He did what is displeasing to Yahweh, as his father Manasseh had done, for Amon sacrificed to all the images which his father Manasseh had made, and served them.


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He did not humble himself before Yahweh as his father Manasseh had done; on the contrary, Amon wilfully added to his guilt.


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Josiah was eight years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem.


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He did what is pleasing to Yahweh, and followed the example of his ancestor David, not deviating from it to right or to left.


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In the eighth year of his reign, when he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David. In the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the sacred poles and the sculpted and cast images.


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He superintended the smashing of the altars of Baal, he broke up the incense altars standing above them, he shattered the sacred poles and the sculpted and cast images and reduced them to powder, scattering the powder on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.


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he smashed the altars and sacred poles, reduced the sculpted images to powder and broke up all the incense altars throughout the territory of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.


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In the eighteenth year of his reign, after purging the country and the Temple, he commissioned Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah governor of the city and the herald Joah son of Joahaz, to repair the Temple of Yahweh his God.


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When they came to the high priest Hilkiah, they handed over the money contributed to the Temple of God and collected by the levitical guardians of the threshold from Manasseh and Ephraim, from all the rest of Israel, from all Judah and Benjamin, and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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They handed it over to the masters of works attached to the Temple of Yahweh, and these gave it to the men working on the Temple of Yahweh to repair and restore the Temple;


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they gave it to the craftsmen and builders for buying dressed stone and timber for beams, to underpin the buildings which the kings of Judah had allowed to fall into decay.


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The men were conscientious in doing their work; their foremen were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites descended from Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, descended from Kohath, who supervised. The Levites -- all of whom were skilled instrumentalists-


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were in charge of the carriers and supervised all the workmen at their various jobs, while some of the Levites acted as secretaries, book-keepers and gatekeepers.


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While bringing out the money contributed to the Temple of Yahweh, the priest Hilkiah found the book of the Law of Yahweh given through Moses.


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Hilkiah then said to Shaphan the secretary, 'I have found the Book of the Law in the Temple of Yahweh.' And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.


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Shaphan took the book to the king, reporting furthermore to him as follows, 'Your servants have done everything entrusted to them.


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They have melted down the silver which was in the Temple of Yahweh and have handed it over to the supervisors and the masters of works.'


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Shaphan the secretary also informed the king, 'The priest Hilkiah has given me a book'; and Shaphan read extracts from it in the king's presence.


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Then the king gave the following order to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king's minister,


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'Go and consult Yahweh on behalf of me and of those left in Israel and Judah about the words of the book that has been discovered: for Yahweh's furious wrath has been pouring down on us because our ancestors did not obey the word of Yahweh by doing what this book says they ought to have done.'


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Hilkiah and those whom the king had designated went to the prophetess Huldah wife of Shallum, son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, the keeper of the wardrobe; she lived in Jerusalem in the new town. They spoke to her about this,


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Yahweh says this: I am going to bring disaster on this place and the people who live in it -- all the curses set down in the book read in the king of Judah's presence.


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Because they have abandoned me and burnt incense to other gods, so as to provoke my anger by their every action, my wrath is about to be poured down on this place, and nothing can stop it.


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As for the king of Judah who sent you to consult Yahweh, say this to him: Yahweh, God of Israel, says this: The words you have heard . . .


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But since your heart has been touched and you have humbled yourself before God on hearing what he has decreed against this place and the people who live in it, have torn your clothes and wept before me, I too have heard"-Yahweh says this.


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"Look, when I gather you to your ancestors, you will be gathered into your grave in peace; you will not live to see the great disaster that I am going to bring on this place and on the people who live in it." ' They took this answer to the king.


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and the king went up to the temple of Yahweh, with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, priests, Levites and all the people, high and low. In their hearing he read out the entire contents of the Book of the Covenant discovered in the Temple of Yahweh.


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The king then, standing on the dais, bound himself by the covenant before Yahweh, to follow Yahweh, to keep his commandments, decrees and laws with all his heart and soul and to carry out the terms of the covenant as written in this book.


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He made all those present in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge their allegiance to it. The citizens of Jerusalem took action in keeping with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors,


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while Josiah removed all the abominations throughout the territories belonging to the Israelites and required all inhabitants of Israel to serve Yahweh their God; throughout his lifetime they did not deviate from following Yahweh, God of their ancestors.


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Josiah then celebrated a Passover to Yahweh in Jerusalem. The Passover victims were slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month.


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Then he said to the Levites, who had understanding for all Israel and were consecrated to Yahweh, 'Put the sacred ark in the Temple built by Solomon son of David, king of Israel. You need not carry it about on your shoulders any more. Now serve Yahweh your God and Israel his people!


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Prepare yourselves by families according to your orders, as laid down in the decree of David king of Israel and that of Solomon his son,


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and take up positions in the sanctuary corresponding to the family divisions of your brothers the laity, so that there are Levites for each family division.


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Slaughter the Passover, sanctify yourselves and prepare it so that your brothers can observe it in the way the word of Yahweh through Moses requires.'


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For the laity Josiah provided small livestock, that is, lambs and young goats -- everything for the Passover offerings for all who attended -- to the number of thirty thousand, as well as three thousand bullocks; these were from the king's own possessions.


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His officials also made voluntary contributions for the people, the priests and the Levites; and Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel, the chiefs of the Temple of God, gave two thousand six hundred lambs and three hundred bullocks to the priests for the Passover offerings;


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while Conaniah, Shemaiah, Nethanel his brother, Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, the head Levites, provided five thousand lambs and five hundred bullocks as Passover offerings for the Levites.


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So the service was arranged, the priests stood in their places and the Levites in their orders as the king had commanded.


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Then they slaughtered the Passover victims and while the priests sprinkled the blood as they received it from the Levites, the latter did the skinning.


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Next they put the burnt offering aside for presentation to the family divisions of the laity, so that they could offer it to Yahweh in the way prescribed in the Book of Moses; they did the same with the bullocks.


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They roasted the Passover victim over an open fire in accordance with the regulation and boiled the consecrated offerings in pots, kettles and pans, which they then distributed to all the laity as quickly as they could.


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Afterwards they provided for themselves and the priests, since the Aaronite priests were kept busy till nightfall making the burnt offerings and offering the fat; that was why the Levites prepared the Passover for themselves and for the Aaronite priests.


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The Asaphite singers were at their places, in accordance with the command of David and Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun the king's seer; so were the gatekeepers at each gate. Because they could not leave their duties, their brothers the Levites prepared the Passover for them.


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So the whole service of Yahweh was arranged that day to celebrate the Passover and to bring burnt offerings on the altar of Yahweh, in accordance with King Josiah's command.


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On that occasion the Israelites who were present celebrated the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.


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No Passover like this one had ever been celebrated in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel, nor had any of the kings of Israel ever celebrated a Passover like the one celebrated by Josiah, the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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After all this, when Josiah had provided for the Temple, Necho king of Egypt advanced to give battle at Carchemish on the Euphrates and Josiah went to intercept him.


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Necho however sent him messengers to say, 'Why be concerned about me, king of Judah? I have not come today to attack you; my quarrel is with another dynasty. God has commanded me to move quickly, so keep well clear of the god who is with me!'


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But Josiah was not to be deflected from his determination to fight him, and would not listen to Necho's words, which came from the mouth of God. He gave battle in the plain of Megiddo.


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The archers shot King Josiah. The king then said to his retainers, 'Take me away; I am badly wounded.'


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So his retainers lifted him out of his own chariot, transferred him to one which he had in reserve and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died and was buried in the tombs of his ancestors. All Judah and Jerusalem held mourning for Josiah.


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Jeremiah composed a lament for Josiah and all the male and female singers to this day lament Josiah in their dirges; they have made it a rule in Israel; they are recorded in the Lamentations.


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The rest of the history of Josiah, his deeds of faithful love conforming to what is prescribed in the Law of Yahweh,


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The people of the land then took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and proclaimed him king of Jerusalem in succession to his father.


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Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem.


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The king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and imposed a levy of a hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold on the country.


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The king of Egypt then made his brother Eliakim king of Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Carrying off his brother Jehoahaz, Necho took him to Egypt.


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Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what is displeasing to Yahweh his God.


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To Babylon Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the objects belonging to the Temple of Yahweh and put them in his palace in Babylon.


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The rest of the history of Jehoiakim, the shameful things that he did and what happened to him in consequence, these are recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin succeeded him.


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Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what is displeasing to Yahweh.


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At the turn of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and had him taken to Babylon, with the valuables belonging to the Temple of Yahweh, and made his brother Zedekiah king of Judah and Jerusalem.


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Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem.


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He did what is displeasing to Yahweh his God. He did not listen humbly to the prophet Jeremiah who spoke for Yahweh.


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Furthermore, he rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear allegiance to him by God. He became stubborn, and obstinately refused to return to Yahweh, God of Israel.


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Furthermore, all the leaders of Judah, the priests and the people too, added infidelity to infidelity, copying all the shameful practices of the nations and defiling the Temple of Yahweh which he himself had consecrated in Jerusalem.


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Yahweh, God of their ancestors, continuously sent them word through his messengers because he felt sorry for his people and his dwelling,


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but they ridiculed the messengers of God, they despised his words, they laughed at his prophets, until Yahweh's wrath with his people became so fierce that there was no further remedy.


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So against them he summoned the king of the Chaldaeans and he put their young men to the sword within the very building of their Temple, not sparing young man or girl, or the old and infirm; he put them all at his mercy.


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All the things belonging to the Temple of God, whether large or small, the treasures of the Temple of Yahweh, the treasures of the king and his officials, everything he took to Babylon.


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He burned down the temple of God, demolished the walls of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces to the ground and destroyed everything of value in it.


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And those who had escaped the sword he deported to Babylon, where they were enslaved by him and his descendants until the rise of the kingdom of Persia,


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to fulfil Yahweh's prophecy through Jeremiah: Until the country has paid off its Sabbaths, it will lie fallow for all the days of its desolation -- until the seventy years are complete.


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In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia -- to fulfil the word of Yahweh through Jeremiah -- Yahweh roused the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to issue a proclamation and to have it publicly displayed throughout his kingdom:


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'Cyrus king of Persia says this, "Yahweh, the God of Heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build him a Temple in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him! Let him go up." '


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In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia -- to fulfil the word of Yahweh spoken through Jeremiah -Yahweh roused the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to issue a proclamation and to have it publicly displayed throughout his kingdom:


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'Cyrus king of Persia says this, "Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build him a Temple in Jerusalem, in Judah.


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Whoever among you belongs to the full tally of his people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem, in Judah, and build the Temple of Yahweh, God of Israel, who is the God in Jerusalem.


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And let each survivor, wherever he lives, be helped by the people of his locality with silver, gold, equipment and riding beasts, as well as voluntary offerings for the Temple of God which is in Jerusalem." '


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Then the heads of families of Judah and of Benjamin, the priests and the Levites, in fact all whose spirit had been roused by God, prepared to go and rebuild the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem;


text:
and all their neighbours gave them every kind of help: silver, gold, equipment, riding beasts and valuable presents, in addition to their voluntary offerings.


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Furthermore, King Cyrus handed over the articles belonging to the Temple of Yahweh which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the temple of his god.


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Cyrus king of Persia handed them over to Mithredath the treasurer who checked them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.


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thirty gold bowls; a thousand silver bowls, four hundred and ten damaged; one thousand other articles.


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In all, five thousand four hundred articles of gold and silver. Sheshbazzar took all these with him when he led the exiles back from Babylon to Jerusalem.


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These were the people of the province who returned from the captivity of the Exile, those whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town.


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They were the ones who arrived with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of the country of Israel:


text:
sons of Pahath-Moab, that is to say the sons of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve;


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The sons of the gatekeepers: sons of Shallum, sons of Ater, sons of Talmon, sons of Akkub, sons of Hatita, sons of Shobai: in all, one hundred and thirty-nine.


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The following, who came from Tel-Melah, Tel-Harsha, Cherub, Addan and Immer, could not prove that their families and ancestry were of Israelite origin:


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And among the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai -- who had married one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, whose name he adopted.


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These had looked for their entries in the official genealogies but were not to be found there, and were hence disqualified from the priesthood.


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Consequently, His Excellency forbade them to eat any of the consecrated food until a priest appeared who could consult urim and thummim.


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not counting their male and female slaves to the number of seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven. They also had two hundred male and female singers.


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When they arrived at the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem, a certain number of heads of families made voluntary offerings for the Temple of God, for its rebuilding on its site.


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In accordance with their means they gave sixty-one thousand gold drachmas, five thousand silver minas and one hundred priestly robes to the sacred treasury.


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The priests, the Levites and some of the people settled in Jerusalem; the singers, the gatekeepers and the temple slaves in their appropriate towns; and all the other Israelites in their own towns.


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When the seventh month came after the Israelites had been resettled in their towns, the people gathered as one person in Jerusalem.


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Then Jeshua son of Jozadak, with his brother priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, with his brothers, set about rebuilding the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it as prescribed in the Law of Moses man of God.


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They erected the altar on its old site, despite their fear of the people of the country, and on it they presented burnt offerings to Yahweh, burnt offerings morning and evening;


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they celebrated the feast of Shelters as prescribed, offering daily the number of burnt offerings required from day to day,


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and in addition presented the continual burnt offerings prescribed for the Sabbaths, for the New Moons and for all the festivals sacred to Yahweh, as well as those voluntary offerings made by individuals to Yahweh.


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From the first day of the seventh month they began presenting burnt offerings to Yahweh, though the foundations of the Temple of Yahweh had not yet been laid.


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They also contributed money for the masons and carpenters, and food, drink and oil for the Sidonians and Tyrians for bringing cedar wood from Lebanon by sea to Jaffa, for which Cyrus king of Persia had given permission.


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It was in the second month of the second year after their arrival at the Temple of God in Jerusalem that Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak, with the rest of their brothers, the priests, the Levites and all the people who had returned to Jerusalem from captivity, began the work by appointing some of the Levites who were twenty years old or more to superintend the work on the Temple of Yahweh.


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The Levites, Jeshua, his sons and his brothers, with Kadmiel, Binnui and his sons, the sons of Hodaviah, agreed to superintend the men working on the Temple of God.


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When the builders had laid the foundations of the Temple of Yahweh, the priests in their robes stood forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise Yahweh according to the ordinances of David king of Israel.


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They chanted praise and thanksgiving to Yahweh because for Israel, they said, 'he is good, and everlasting in his faithful love.' Then all the people raised a mighty shout of praise to Yahweh, since the foundations of the Temple of Yahweh had now been laid.


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Many of the older priests, Levites and heads of families, who had seen the first temple, wept very loudly when the foundations of this one were laid before their eyes, but many others shouted aloud for joy,


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so that nobody could distinguish the noise of the joyful shout from the noise of the people's weeping; for the people shouted so loudly that the noise could be heard far away.


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When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building the Temple of Yahweh, God of Israel,


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they came to Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the heads of families and said, 'Let us help you build, for we resort to your God as you do and we have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.'


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Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other heads of Israelite families replied, 'It is out of the question that you should join us in building a Temple for our God. We shall build for Yahweh, God of Israel, on our own, as King Cyrus king of Persia has commanded us.'


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The people of the country then set about demoralising the people of Judah and deterring them from building;


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they also bribed counsellors against them to frustrate their purpose throughout the lifetime of Cyrus king of Persia right on into the reign of Darius king of Persia.


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In the reign of Xerxes, at the beginning of his reign, they drew up an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.


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In the days of Artaxerxes, Mithredath, Tabeel and their other associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia against Jerusalem; the text of the letter was written in Aramaic writing and dialect.


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Then Rehum the governor and Shimshai the secretary wrote a letter to King Artaxerxes, denouncing Jerusalem as follows:


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'From Rehum the governor and Shimshai the secretary and their other associates, the judges, the legates, the Persian officials, the people of Uruk, Babylon and Susa -- that is, the Elamites-


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and the other peoples whom the great and illustrious Ashurbanipal deported and settled in the towns of Samaria and in the rest of Transeuphrates.'


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This is the text of the letter which they sent him: 'To King Artaxerxes, from your servants the people of Transeuphrates:


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'May the king now please be informed that the Jews, who have come up from you to us, have arrived in Jerusalem and are rebuilding the rebellious and evil city; they have begun rebuilding the walls and are laying the foundations;


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and now the king should be informed that once this city is rebuilt and the walls are restored, they will refuse to pay tribute, tax or toll, thus the king will incur a loss;


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and now, because we eat the palace salt, it is not proper for us to see this affront offered to the king; we therefore send this information to the king


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so that a search may be made in the archives of your ancestors: in which archives you will find and learn that this city is a rebellious city, the bane of kings and provinces, and that sedition has been stirred up there from ancient times; that is why this city was destroyed.


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We inform the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are restored, you will soon have no territories left in Transeuphrates.'


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The king sent this reply: 'To Rehum the governor, to Shimshai the secretary, and to their other associates resident in Samaria and elsewhere in Transeuphrates: Greetings!


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and by my orders search has been made, and it has been found that this city has rebelled against the kings in the past and that revolt and sedition have been contrived in it;


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and that powerful kings have reigned in Jerusalem, governing the whole of Transeuphrates and exacting tribute, tax and toll;


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As soon as the text of King Artaxerxes' document had been read to Rehum the governor, Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they hurried to the Jews in Jerusalem and stopped their work by force of arms.


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Work on the Temple of God in Jerusalem then ceased, and was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius King of Persia.


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When the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who was over them,


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Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak began rebuilding the Temple of God in Jerusalem; with them were the prophets of God, supporting them.


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It was then that Tattenai governor of Transeuphrates, Shethar-Bozenai and their associates came to them and asked, 'Who gave you the order to rebuild this Temple and complete this structure?


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But the eyes of their God were watching over the elders of the Jews, so they were not forced to stop until a report could reach Darius and an official reply about the matter could be received from him.


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A copy of the letter which Tattenai, governor of Transeuphrates, Shethar-Bozenai and his associates, the officials in Transeuphrates, sent to King Darius.


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'The king should be informed that we went to the province of Judah, to the Temple of the great God, which is being rebuilt with large stones; beams are being embedded in the walls; the work is being carried out energetically and is making good progress.


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Questioning these elders, we asked them, "Who gave you permission to rebuild this Temple and complete this structure?"


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We also asked them their names, to inform you, so that we could record the names of the men who were their leaders.


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'They gave us the following answer, "We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth; we are rebuilding the Temple built many years ago, which a great king of Israel had built and completed.


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But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldaean king of Babylon who destroyed this Temple and deported the people to Babylon.


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In the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, however, King Cyrus issued an official order that this Temple of God should be rebuilt;


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furthermore, those gold and silver articles belonging to the Temple of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had removed from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple of Babylon, King Cyrus in turn removed from the temple of Babylon and handed back to a certain Sheshbazzar whom he had appointed governor.


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He said to him, 'Take these articles; go and return them to the Temple which is in Jerusalem and let the Temple of God be rebuilt on its original site;'


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this Sheshbazzar then came and laid the foundations of the Temple of God in Jerusalem, and it has been under construction ever since, and is not yet finished."


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'Hence, if it please the king, let search be made in the royal treasuries in Babylon, to find out if it is true that an official order was issued by King Cyrus for this temple of God in Jerusalem to be rebuilt; and let the king's decision on this matter be sent to us.'


text:
Then, on the order of King Darius, search was made in the archives deposited in the treasuries in Babylon


text:
'In the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus issued this order: "Temple of God in Jerusalem. "The Temple is to be rebuilt as a place of offering sacrifice and its foundations retained. Its height is to be sixty cubits, its width sixty cubits,


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with three layers of large stones and one layer of timber. The cost is to be met by the royal treasury.


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Furthermore, the gold and silver articles belonging to the Temple of God which Nebuchadnezzar took from the Temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon are to be given back and returned to the temple in Jerusalem, each to its proper place, and deposited in the Temple of God."


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'Hence, Tattenai governor of Transeuphrates, Shethar-Bozenai and your associates, the officials of Transeuphrates, keep away from there!


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Leave the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews alone, to get on with their work on that Temple of God; they are permitted to rebuild that Temple of God on that site.


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And herewith are my instructions as to how you will assist these elders of the Jews in the rebuilding of that Temple of God: the cost is to be paid in full to these men from the royal revenue, that is, from the taxes of Transeuphrates, and without interruption.


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And whatever is required -- young bulls, rams, lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, oil, as the priests in Jerusalem request -- is to be given them day by day without fail,


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so that they may offer sacrifices acceptable to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.


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Furthermore I have issued an instruction that if anyone disobeys this order, a beam is to be torn from his house, he is to be impaled on it and his house is to be reduced to a rubbish-heap for his offence;


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and may the God who has caused his name to live there overthrow the king of any people who dares to defy this and destroy that Temple of God in Jerusalem! I, Darius, have issued this order. Let it be punctiliously obeyed!'


text:
Tattenai governor of Transeuphrates, Shethar-Bozenai and their associates punctiliously obeyed the instructions sent by King Darius;


text:
and the elders of the Jews made good progress over their building, thanks to the prophetic activity of the prophet Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo, completing the reconstruction in accordance with the command of the God of Israel and the order of Cyrus and of Darius.


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This Temple was completed on the twenty-third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.


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The Israelites -- the priests, the Levites and the remainder of the exiles -- joyfully celebrated the dedication of this Temple of God;


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for the dedication of this Temple of God they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats, corresponding to the number of the tribes of Israel.


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Then they installed the priests in their orders and the Levites in their positions for the ministry of the Temple of God in Jerusalem, as prescribed in the Book of Moses.


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The Levites, as one man, had purified themselves; all were pure, so they sacrificed the Passover for all the exiles, for their brothers the priests and for themselves.


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So the Israelites who had returned from exile and all those who had renounced the filthy practices of the people of the country to join them in resorting to Yahweh, God of Israel, ate the Passover.


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For seven days they joyfully celebrated the feast of Unleavened Bread, for Yahweh had given them cause to rejoice, having moved the heart of the king of Assyria in their favour to support them in their work on the Temple of God, the God of Israel.


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After these events, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah,


text:
this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a scribe versed in the Law of Moses, which Yahweh, God of Israel, had given. The king gave him everything that he asked for, since the hand of Yahweh his God was over him.


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A number of Israelites, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers and temple slaves went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of the reign of King Artaxerxes.


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for he had ordered the departure from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, since the kindly hand of his God was over him.


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For Ezra had devoted himself to studying the Law of Yahweh so as to put into practice and teach its statutes and rulings.


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This is the text of the document which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra, the priest-scribe, a student of matters pertaining to Yahweh's commandments and statutes relating to Israel:


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'Artaxerxes, king of kings, to the priest Ezra, Secretary of the Law of the God of heaven: greetings!


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'Now here are my orders. All members of the people of Israel in my kingdom, including their priests and Levites, who freely choose to go to Jerusalem, may go with you,


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for you are being sent by the king and his seven counsellors to investigate how the Law of your God, in which you are expert, is being applied in Judah and Jerusalem,


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and to transport the silver and gold which the king and his counsellors have voluntarily offered to the God of Israel who resides in Jerusalem,


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as well as all the silver and gold which you receive throughout the province of Babylon and the voluntary offerings freely contributed by the people and the priests for the Temple of their God in Jerusalem.


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'This money you will punctiliously use for the purchase of bulls, rams, lambs and the materials for the oblations and libations which go with them, offering these on the altar of the Temple of your God in Jerusalem,


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and using the remainder of the silver and gold in accordance with the will of your God as you and your brothers may think fit.


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'You will deliver the articles which have been given you for the ministry of the Temple of your God, to the God of Jerusalem,


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and whatever else is needed and you are obliged to supply for the Temple of your God, you will supply from the royal treasury.


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'I, King Artaxerxes, have issued the following instruction to all the treasurers of Transeuphrates: Whatever the priest Ezra, Secretary of the Law of the God of heaven, may request of you is to be punctiliously complied with:


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up to one hundred talents of silver, one hundred kor of wheat, one hundred bat of wine, one hundred bat of oil, and unlimited salt.


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Whatever the God of heaven demands for the Temple of the God of heaven must be diligently provided; why should retribution come on the realm of the king and of his sons?


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You are further informed that it is against the law to impose tribute, tax or toll on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple slaves or other servants of this temple of God.


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'And you, Ezra, by virtue of the wisdom of your God, which you possess, are to appoint magistrates and scribes to administer justice for the whole people of Transeuphrates, that is, for all who know the Law of your God; and you are to teach it to those who do not know it.


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And on anyone who will not comply with the Law of your God and the Law of the king let sentence be swiftly executed, whether it be death, banishment, fine or imprisonment.'


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Blessed be Yahweh, God of our ancestors, who moved the king's heart in this way to restore the beauty of the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem,


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won for me the faithful love of the king, his counsellors and all the most powerful of the king's officials! Taking heart since the hand of Yahweh my God was over me, I assembled those Israelite heads of families who were to go with me.


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These, with their genealogies, were the heads of families who set out from Babylon with me in the reign of King Artaxerxes:


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son of Shechaniah; of the sons of Parosh: Zechariah, and with him a hundred and fifty males officially registered;


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of the sons of Adonikam: the younger sons, whose names are: Eliphelet, Jeiel and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males;


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I assembled them near the canal which runs to Ahava, where we camped for three days. I noticed laymen and priests, but I could not discover any Levites there.


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I then sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshullam, judicious men,


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and sent them to Iddo, the leading man of a place called Casiphia; I told them what they were to say to Iddo and his kinsmen, living at the place called Casiphia, that is, to provide us with people to serve the Temple of our God.


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And because the hand of God was good to us, they sent us a wise man of the sons of Mahli son of Levi, son of Israel, a certain Sherebiah with his sons and kinsmen: eighteen men;


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also Hashabiah and with him his brother Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari with his kinsmen and sons: twenty men;


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and two hundred and twenty temple slaves -- descendants of the temple slaves whom David and the princes had assigned to serve the Levites -- all of them designated by name.


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There, beside the Ahava Canal, I then proclaimed a fast, to humble ourselves before our God and to pray to him for a successful journey for us, our dependants and all our belongings.


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For I should have been ashamed to ask the king for a company of cavalry to protect us from hostile people on our road, as we had already said to the king, 'The hand of our God is over all who seek him for their protection, but his mighty retribution befalls all those who forsake him.'


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I next chose twelve of the leading priests, and also Sherebiah and Hashabiah with ten of their kinsmen.


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To them I weighed out the silver, the gold and the utensils, the contributions which the king, his counsellors, his notables and all the Israelites there present had made for the Temple of our God.


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To them I weighed out and handed over six hundred and fifty talents of silver, one hundred utensils of silver valued at two talents, one hundred talents of gold,


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twenty golden bowls valued at a thousand darics and two utensils of fine burnished copper as precious as gold.


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I said to them, 'You are consecrated to Yahweh; these utensils are consecrated too; the silver and gold are a voluntary offering to Yahweh, God of your ancestors.


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Guard them carefully until you weigh them out to the leading priests, the Levites, and the heads of families of Israel in Jerusalem in the rooms of the Temple of Yahweh.'


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The priests and Levites then took charge of the silver, the gold and the utensils thus weighed, to bring them to Jerusalem to the Temple of our God.


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On the twelfth day of the first month we left the Ahava Canal to make our way to Jerusalem; the hand of our God was over us and protected us from enemies and surprise attacks on our way.


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On the fourth day the silver, the gold and the utensils were weighed in the Temple of our God and handed over to the priest Meremoth son of Uriah and, with him, Eleazar son of Phinehas; with them were the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui.


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When the exiles arrived from their captivity, they offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel -- twelve bulls on behalf of all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-two lambs, and as a sin offering twelve he-goats: the whole of this as a burnt offering to Yahweh.


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They also delivered the king's instructions to the king's satraps and the governors of Transeuphrates, who then supported the people and the Temple of God.


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Once this was done, the officials approached me to say, 'The people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, have not renounced the disgusting practices of the people of the country -- the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites-


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since they and their sons have married some of their women, as a result of which the holy race has been contaminated by the people of the country. The officials and leaders have been the worst offenders in this act of infidelity.'


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On hearing this, I tore my clothes and my cloak; I pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down in horror.


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All who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered round me, when faced with the infidelity of the exiles, while I went on sitting there in horror until the evening sacrifice.


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At the evening sacrifice I came out of my stupor and, falling on my knees in my torn clothes and cloak, stretched out my hands to Yahweh my God,


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and said: 'My God, I am ashamed, I blush to lift my face to you, my God. For our iniquities have increased, until they are higher than our heads, and our guilt has risen as high as heaven.


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From the days of our ancestors until now we have been deeply guilty and, because of our iniquities, we, our kings and our priests, have been handed over to the kings of other countries, to the sword, to captivity, to pillage, to shame, as is the case today.


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And now, for a brief moment, the favour of Yahweh our God has allowed a remnant of us to escape and given us a stable home in his holy place, so that our God can raise our spirits and revive us a little in our slavery.


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For we are slaves; but God has not forgotten us in our slavery; he has extended his faithful love to us even under the kings of Persia and revived us to rebuild the Temple of our God, restore its ruins and provide us with a refuge in Judah and in Jerusalem.


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which you gave through your servants the prophets in these terms, "The country which you are about to possess is a polluted country, polluted by the people of the country and their disgusting practices, which have filled it with their filth from end to end.


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Hence you are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, or let their daughters marry your sons, or ever concern yourselves about peace or good relations with them, if you want to grow stronger, to live off the fat of the land and bequeath it to your sons for ever."


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'After all that has befallen us because of our evil deeds and our deep guilt -- though you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have allowed us to escape like this-


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are we to break your commandments again and intermarry with people with these disgusting practices? Would you not be enraged with us to the point of destroying us, leaving neither remnant nor survivor?


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Yahweh, God of Israel, you are upright. We survive only as the remnant we are today. We come before you in our guilt; because of it we cannot stand in your presence.'


text:
While Ezra, weeping and prostrating himself in front of the Temple of God, was praying and making confession, a very large crowd of men, women and children of Israel gathered round him, the people weeping bitterly.


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Then Shechaniah son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra, 'We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the people of the country. But, in spite of this, there is still some hope for Israel.


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We will make a covenant with our God to send away all the foreign wives and their children in obedience to the advice of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let us act in accordance with the Law.


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Then Ezra stood up and put the leading priests and Levites and all Israel on oath to do what had been said. They took the oath.


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Ezra then left his place in front of the Temple of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib, where he spent the night without eating food or drinking water, because he was still mourning over the exiles' infidelity.


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A proclamation was issued throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the exiles were to assemble in Jerusalem,


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and that anyone who failed within three days to answer the summons of the officials and elders was to forfeit all his possessions and himself be excluded from the community of the exiles.


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As a result, all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled in Jerusalem within the three days; it was the twentieth day of the ninth month. All the people sat down in the square in front of the Temple of God, trembling because of the matter in hand and because of the heavy rain.


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The priest Ezra then stood up and said to them, 'You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives, thus adding to Israel's guilt.


text:
So now give thanks to Yahweh, God of your ancestors, and do his will by holding aloof from the people of the country and from foreign wives.'


text:
But there are many people here and it is the rainy season; we cannot stay out in the open; besides, this is not something that can be dealt with in one or two days, since many of us have been unfaithful over this.


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Let our officials deputise for the whole community, and all the people in our towns who have married foreign wives can come at stated times, accompanied by elders and judges from each town, until our God's fierce anger over this is turned away from us.'


text:
Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah, supported by Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite, were opposed to this.


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The exiles did as had been proposed. And the priest Ezra selected the family heads of the various families, all of them by name, who began their sittings on the first day of the tenth month to look into the matter.


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And by the first day of the first month they had dealt with all the men who had married foreign women.


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Among the priests who were found to have married foreign wives were: of the sons of Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah,


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and of the Israelites: of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah and Benaiah;


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of the sons of Pahath-Moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui and Manasseh;


text:
The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. It happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa,


text:
that Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with some men from Judah. I asked them about the Jews -- those who had escaped and those who survived from the captivity -- and about Jerusalem.


text:
They replied, 'The survivors remaining there in the province since the captivity are in a very bad and demoralised condition: the walls of Jerusalem are in ruins and its gates have been burnt down.'


text:
On hearing this I sat down and wept; for some days I mourned, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.


text:
I said, 'Yahweh, God of heaven -- the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps a covenant of faithful love with those who love him and obey his commandments-


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let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to listen to your servant's prayer, which I now offer to you day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I admit the sins of the Israelites, which we have committed against you. Both I and my father's House have sinned;


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we have acted very wickedly towards you by not keeping the commandments, laws and rulings which you enjoined on your servant Moses.


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Remember, I beg you, the promise which you solemnly made to your servant Moses, "If you are unfaithful, I shall scatter you among the peoples;


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but if you come back to me and keep my commandments and practise them, even though those who have been banished are at the very sky's end, I shall gather them from there and bring them back to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling-place for my name."


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Since they are your servants, your people, whom you have redeemed with your mighty power and strong hand,


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O Lord, let your ear now be attentive to your servant's prayer and to the prayer of your servants who want to revere your name. I beg you let your servant be successful today and win this man's compassion.' At the time I was cupbearer to the king.


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In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, since I was in charge of the wine, I took the wine and offered it to the king. Now, he had never seen me looking depressed before.


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So the king said to me, 'Why are you looking depressed? You are not sick! This must be a sadness of the heart.' Thoroughly alarmed by this,


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I said to the king, 'May the king live for ever! How can I not look depressed when the city where the tombs of my ancestors are lies in ruins and its gates have been burnt down?'


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I said to the king, 'If the king approves and your servant enjoys your favour, send me to Judah, to the city of the tombs of my ancestors, so that I can rebuild it.'


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The king -- with the queen sitting beside him-said, 'How long will your journey take, and when will you come back?' Once I had given him a definite time, the king approved my mission.


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I then said to the king, 'If the king approves, may I be given orders for the governors of Transeuphrates to let me pass through on my way to Judah?


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Also an order for Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, to supply me with timber for the beams of the gates of the citadel of the Temple, for the city walls and for the house which I am to occupy?' These the king granted me because the kindly hand of my God was over me.


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When I reached the governors of Transeuphrates, I gave them the king's orders. The king had sent an escort of army officers and cavalry along with me.


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When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the official of Ammon heard about this, they were exceedingly displeased that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.


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I got up during the night with a few other men -- I had not told anyone what my God had inspired me to do for Jerusalem -- taking no animal with me other than my own mount.


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Under cover of dark I went out through the Valley Gate towards the Dragon's Fountain as far as the Dung Gate, and examined the wall of Jerusalem where it was broken down and its gates burnt out.


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So I went up the Valley in the dark, examining the wall; I then went in again through the Valley Gate, coming back


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without the officials knowing where I had gone or what I had been doing. So far I had said nothing to the Jews: neither to the priests, the nobles, the officials nor any other persons involved in the undertaking.


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I then said to them, 'You see what a sorry state we are in: Jerusalem is in ruins and its gates have been burnt down. Come on, we must rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and put an end to our humiliating position!'


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And I told them how the kindly hand of my God had been over me, and the words which the king had said to me. At this they said, 'Let us start building at once!' and they set their hands to the good work.


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When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the official of Ammon, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they laughed at us and jeered. They said, 'What is this you are doing? Are you going to revolt against the king?'


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But I gave them this answer, 'The God of heaven will grant us success and we, his servants, mean to start building; as for you, you have neither share nor right nor memorial in Jerusalem.'


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Eliashib the high priest with his brother priests then set to work and rebuilt the Sheep Gate; they made the framework, hung its doors, fixed its bolts and bars and proceeded as far as the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel.


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The sons of Ha-Senaah rebuilt the Fish Gate; they made the framework, hung its doors and fixed its bolts and bars.


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Meremoth son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz, carried out repairs next to them; Meshullam son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel, carried out repairs next to him; and Zadok son of Baana carried out repairs next to him.


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The men of Tekoa carried out repairs next to him, though their nobles would not demean themselves to help their masters.


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Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired the gate of the New Quarter; they made the framework, hung its doors and fixed its bolts and bars.


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Next to them repairs were carried out by Melatiah of Gibeon, Jadon of Meronoth, and the men of Gibeon and Mizpah, for the sake of the governor of Transeuphrates.


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Next to them repairs were carried out by Uzziel son of Harhaiah, a member of the metal-workers' guild, and next to him repairs were carried out by Hananiah of the perfumers' guild. These renovated the wall of Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.


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Next to them repairs were carried out by Rephaiah son of Hur, who was head of one half of the district of Jerusalem.


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Next to them Jedaiah son of Harumaph carried out repairs opposite his own house; next to him repairs were carried out by Hattush son of Hashabneiah.


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Malchijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-Moab repaired another section as far as the Furnace Tower.


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Next to them repairs were carried out by Shallum son of Hallohesh, head of the other half of the district of Jerusalem, by him and his sons.


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Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate: they rebuilt it, hung its doors and fixed its bolts and bars; they also repaired a thousand cubits of wall up to the Dung Gate.


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Malchijah son of Rechab, head of the district of Beth-ha-Cherem, repaired the Dung Gate; he rebuilt it, hung its doors and fixed its bolts and bars.


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Shallum son of Col-Hozeh, head of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate; he rebuilt it, roofed it, hung its doors and fixed its bolts and bars. He also rebuilt the wall of the Pool of Siloah, adjoining the king's garden, as far as the steps going down from the City of David.


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After him, Nehemiah son of Azbuk, head of half the district of Beth-Zur, carried out repairs from a point opposite the Davidic Tombs to the artificial pool and the House of the Champions.


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After him, repairs were carried out by the Levites: Rehum son of Bani; and next to him Hashabiah, head of one half of the district of Keilah, carried out repairs for his own district.


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After him, repairs were carried out by their brothers: Binnui son of Henadad, head of the other half of the district of Keilah.


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Next to him, Ezer son of Jeshua, headman of Mizpah, repaired another section in front of the ascent to the armoury at the Angle.


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After him, Baruch son of Zabbai repaired another section from the Angle to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.


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After him, Meremoth son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz, repaired another section from the door of Eliashib's house as far as the end of Eliashib's house.


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After them repairs were carried out by Benjamin and Hasshub, opposite their own house. After them repairs were carried out by Azariah son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, beside his own house.


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After him, Binnui son of Henadad repaired another section from Azariah's house as far as the Angle at the corner.


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After him, Palal son of Uzai carried out repairs in front of the Angle and the tower projecting from the king's Upper Palace by the Court of the Guard; and after him, Pedaiah son of Parosh carried out the repairs


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After him, the men of Tekoa repaired another section from in front of the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel.


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From the Horse Gate onwards repairs were carried out by the priests, each in front of his own house.


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After them repairs were carried out by Zadok son of Immer in front of his house, and after him repairs were carried out by Shemaiah son of Shechaniah, keeper of the East Gate.


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After him Hananiah son of Shelemiah and Hanun sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section, after whom repairs were carried out by Meshullam son of Berechiah in front of his room.


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After him Malchijah, of the metal-workers' guild, repaired as far as the Hall of the temple slaves and merchants, in front of the Muster Gate, as far as the upper room at the corner.


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And between the upper room at the corner and the Sheep Gate repairs were carried out by the goldsmiths and the merchants.


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He ridiculed the Jews and in front of his kinsmen and the aristocracy of Samaria he exclaimed, 'What are these pathetic Jews doing . . .? Are they going to give up? Or offer sacrifices? Or complete the work in a day? Can they put new life into stones taken from rubbish heaps and even charred?'


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And beside him Tobiah of Ammon remarked, 'If a jackal were to jump on what they are building, it would knock their stone wall down!'


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Listen, our God, for we are despised! Make their sneers fall back on their own heads! Send them as booty to a land of captivity!


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Do not pardon their wickedness, may their sin never be erased before you, for they have insulted the builders to their face!


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Meanwhile we were rebuilding the wall, which was soon joined up all the way round to mid-height; the people put their hearts into the work.


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When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that repairs to the walls of Jerusalem were going forward -- that the gaps were beginning to fill up -- they became very angry,


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But in Judah the saying went, 'The strength of the carrier falters, the rubbish heap is so vast that by ourselves we cannot rebuild the wall!'


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And our opponents said, 'They will never know or see a thing, until we are in there among them, and then we shall massacre them and put a stop to the work.'


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Now when the Jews who lived near them had warned us ten times over, 'They are coming up against us from every place they live in,'


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men took up position in the space behind the wall at those points where it was lowest, and I organised the people by families with their swords, spears and bows.


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Aware of their anxiety, I then addressed the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, 'Do not be afraid of them. Remember the great and awe-inspiring Lord and fight for your kinsmen, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your homes.'


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Once our enemies heard that we were forewarned and that God had thwarted their plan, they withdrew and we all went back to the wall, each one to his work.


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From then on, half my own retainers went on working, while the other half stood by, armed with spears, shields, bows and armour to protect the whole House of Judah as they rebuilt the wall.


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I then said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, 'The work is great and widely spread out, and we are deployed along the wall some way from one another.


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At the same time I also told the people, 'Let every man, with his attendant, spend the night inside Jerusalem; we shall spend the night on guard and the day at work.'


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Neither I, nor my brothers, nor my attendants, nor my bodyguards, ever took off our clothes; each one kept his spear in his right hand.


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Some said, 'We are having to pledge our sons and daughters to get enough grain to eat and keep us alive.'


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Others said, 'We are having to mortgage our fields, our vineyards and our houses to get grain because of the shortage.'


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Still others said, 'We have had to borrow money on our fields and our vineyards to pay the royal tax;


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and though we belong to the same race as our brothers, and our children are as good as theirs, we shall have to sell our sons and our daughters into slavery; some of our daughters have been sold into slavery already. We can do nothing about it, since our fields and our vineyards now belong to others.'


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Having turned the matter over in my mind, I reprimanded the nobles and the officials as follows, 'Each of you is imposing a burden on his brother.' Summoning a great assembly to deal with them,


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I said to them, 'To the best of our power, we have redeemed our brother Jews who were forced to sell themselves to foreigners, and now you in turn are selling your brothers, for them to be bought back by us!' They were silent and could find nothing to say.


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'What you are doing', I went on, 'is wrong. Do you not want to walk in the fear of our God and escape the sneers of the nations, our enemies?


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This very day return them their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, and cancel the claim on the money, grain, new wine and olive oil, which you have lent them.'


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'We shall make restitution,' they replied, 'we shall claim nothing more from them; we shall do as you say.' Summoning the priests, I then made them swear to do as they had promised.


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Then, shaking out the fold of my garment, I said, 'May God thus shake out of house and possessions anyone who does not make good this promise; may he be shaken out thus and left empty!' And the whole assembly answered, 'Amen' and praised Yahweh. And the people kept this promise.


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What is more, from the time when the king appointed me to be their governor in Judah, from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ever levied the governor's subsistence allowance,


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whereas the former governors, my predecessors, had been a burden on the people, from whom they took forty silver shekels a day for food and wine, while their attendants oppressed the people too. But I, fearing God, never did this.


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Also, not acquiring any land, I concentrated on the work of this wall and all my attendants joined in the work together, too.


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Furthermore, magistrates and officials to the number of a hundred and fifty ate at my table, not to mention those who came to us from the surrounding nations.


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Every day, one ox, six fine sheep, as well as poultry, were prepared for me; every ten days, skins of wine were brought in bulk. But even so, I never claimed the governor's subsistence allowance, since the people already had burden enough to bear.


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When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and our other enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that not a single gap was left -- though at that time I had not fixed the doors to the gates-


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Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message, 'Come and meet us at Ha-Chephirim in the Vale of Ono.' But they had evil designs on me.


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So I sent messengers to them to say, 'I am engaged in a great undertaking, so I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?'


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The fifth time, with the same purpose in mind, Sanballat sent me his servant bearing an open letter.


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It ran, 'There is a rumour among the nations -- and Gashmu confirms it -- that you and the Jews are thinking of rebelling, which is why you are rebuilding the wall, and you intend to become their king;


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and that you have even briefed prophets to acclaim you in Jerusalem with the cry, "There is a king in Judah!" Now, these rumours are going to reach the king; so you had better come and discuss them with us.'


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To this I sent him the following reply, 'As regards what you say, nothing of the sort has occurred; it is a figment of your own imagination.'


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For they were all trying to terrorise us, thinking, 'They will become demoralised over the work and it will not get finished.' But my morale rose even higher.


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Then, when I went to visit Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, since he was prevented from coming to me, he said: We must gather at the Temple of God, inside the sanctuary itself; we must shut the sanctuary doors, for they are coming to kill you, they are coming to kill you tonight!


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But I retorted, 'Should a man like me run away? Would a man like me go into the Temple to save his life? I shall not go in!'


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I realised that God had not sent him to say this, but that he had produced this prophecy for me because Tobiah was paying him


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to terrorise me into doing as he said and committing a sin, so that they would have grounds for blackening my reputation and blaming me.


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Remember Tobiah, my God, for what he did; and Noadiah the prophetess, and the other prophets who tried to terrorise me.


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When all our enemies heard about it and all the surrounding nations saw it, they thought it a wonderful thing, because they realised that this work had been accomplished by the power of our God.


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During this same period, the nobles of Judah kept sending letter after letter to Tobiah, and letters from Tobiah kept arriving for them;


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for he had many sworn to his interest in Judah, since he was son-in-law to Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.


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They even cried up his good deeds in my presence, and they reported what I said back to him. And Tobiah kept sending letters to terrorise me.


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Now, when the wall had been rebuilt and I had hung the doors, the gatekeepers (the singers and the Levites) were then appointed.


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I entrusted the administration of Jerusalem to my brother Hanani, and to Hananiah the commander of the citadel, for he was a more trustworthy, God-fearing man than many others.


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I said to them, 'The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened until the sun gets hot; and the doors must be shut and barred before it begins to go down. Detail guards from the residents of Jerusalem, each to his post, in front of his own house.'


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My God then inspired me to assemble the nobles, the officials and the people for the purpose of taking a census by families. I discovered the genealogical register of those who had returned in the first group, and there I found entered:


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These are the people of the province who returned from the captivity of the Exile, those whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town.


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They were the ones who arrived with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:


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sons of Pahath-Moab, that is to say sons of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and eighteen;


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The gatekeepers: sons of Shallum, sons of Ater, sons of Talmon, sons of Akkub, sons of Hatita, sons of Shobai, one hundred and thirty-eight.


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The following, who came from Tel-Melah, Tel-Harsha, Cherub, Addon and Immer, could not prove that their families and ancestry were of Israelite origin:


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And among the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai -- who had married one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, whose name he adopted.


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not counting their slaves and maidservants to the number of seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven. They also had two hundred and forty-five male and female singers.


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A certain number of heads of families contributed to the work. His Excellency contributed one thousand gold drachmas, fifty bowls, and thirty priestly robes to the fund.


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And heads of families gave twenty thousand gold drachmas and two thousand two hundred silver minas to the work fund.


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The gifts made by the rest of the people amounted to twenty thousand gold drachmas, two thousand silver minas, and sixty-seven priestly robes.


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The priests, the Levites and some of the people lived in Jerusalem and thereabouts; the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple slaves in their appropriate towns; and all the other Israelites, in their own towns. Now when the seventh month came round -- the Israelites being in their towns-


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all the people gathered as one man in the square in front of the Water Gate, and asked the scribe Ezra to bring the Book of the Law of Moses which Yahweh had prescribed for Israel.


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Accordingly, on the first day of the seventh month, the priest Ezra brought the Law before the assembly, consisting of men, women and all those old enough to understand.


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In the square in front of the Water Gate, in the presence of the men and women, and of those old enough to understand, he read from the book from dawn till noon; all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.


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The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden dais erected for the purpose; beside him stood, on his right, Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; on his left, Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.


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In full view of all the people -- since he stood higher than them all -- Ezra opened the book; and when he opened it, all the people stood up.


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Then Ezra blessed Yahweh, the great God, and all the people raised their hands and answered, 'Amen! Amen!'; then they bowed down and, face to the ground, prostrated themselves before Yahweh.


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And Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabab, Hanan, Pelaiah, who were Levites, explained the Law to the people, while the people all kept their places.


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Ezra read from the book of the Law of God, translating and giving the sense; so the reading was understood.


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Then His Excellency Nehemiah and the priest-scribe Ezra and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all the people, 'Today is sacred to Yahweh your God. Do not be mournful, do not weep.' For the people were all in tears as they listened to the words of the Law.


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He then said, 'You may go; eat what is rich, drink what is sweet and send a helping to the man who has nothing prepared. For today is sacred to our Lord. Do not be sad: the joy of Yahweh is your stronghold.'


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And the Levites calmed all the people down, saying, 'Keep quiet; this is a sacred day. Do not be sad.'


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Then all the people went off to eat and drink and give helpings away and enjoy themselves to the full, since they had understood the meaning of what had been proclaimed to them.


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On the second day, the heads of families of the whole people, and the priests and Levites, gathered round the scribe Ezra to study the words of the Law.


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And written in the Law that Yahweh had prescribed through Moses they found that the Israelites were to live in shelters during the feast of the seventh month.


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So they issued a proclamation and had it circulated in all their towns and in Jerusalem: 'Go into the hills and bring branches of olive, pine, myrtle, palm and other leafy trees to make shelters, as it says in the book.'


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The people went out; they brought branches and made shelters for themselves, each man on his roof, in their courtyards, in the precincts of the Temple of God, in the square of the Water Gate and in the square of the Ephraim Gate.


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The whole assembly, all who had returned from the captivity, put up shelters and lived in them; this the Israelites had not done from the days of Joshua son of Nun till that day, and there was very great merrymaking.


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Each day, from the first day to the last one, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the feast for seven days; on the eighth day, as prescribed, they held a solemn assembly.


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On the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites, in sackcloth and with dust on their heads, assembled for a fast.


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Then those of Israelite stock who had severed relations with all foreigners stood up and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.


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Standing, each man in his place, they read from the Book of the Law of Yahweh their God for one quarter of the day; for another quarter they confessed their sins and worshipped Yahweh their God.


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On the Levites' platform stood Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Chenani, calling to Yahweh their God in ringing tones.


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The Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah said, 'Stand up and bless Yahweh your God! 'Blessed are you, Yahweh our God from everlasting to everlasting, and blessed be your glorious name, surpassing all blessing and praise!


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'You, Yahweh, are the one, only Yahweh, you have created the heavens, the heaven of heavens and all their array, the earth and all it bears, the seas and all they hold. To all of them you give life, and the array of heaven worships you.


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'You are Yahweh God, who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur in Chaldaea and changed his name to Abraham.


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Finding his heart was faithful to you, you made a covenant with him, to give the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites and the Girgashites to him and his descendants. And you have made good your promises, for you are upright.


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You displayed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his servants and all the people of his land; for you knew how arrogantly they treated them. You won a reputation which you keep to this day.


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You opened up the sea in front of them: they walked on dry ground right through the sea. Into the depths you hurled their pursuers like a stone into the raging waters.


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With a pillar of cloud you led them by day, with a pillar of fire by night: to light the way ahead of them by which they were to go.


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You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven; you gave them right rules, reliable laws, good statutes and commandments;


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you revealed your holy Sabbath to them; you laid down commandments, statutes and law for them through your servant Moses.


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For their hunger you gave them bread from heaven, for their thirst you brought them water out of a rock, and you told them to go in and take possession of the country which you had sworn to give them.


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They refused to obey, forgetful of the wonders which you had worked for them; they grew obstinate and made up their minds to return to their slavery in Egypt. But because you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, patient and rich in faithful love, you did not abandon them!


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'Even when they cast themselves a calf out of molten metal and said, "This is your God who brought you up from Egypt!" and committed monstrous impieties,


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you, in your great compassion, did not abandon them in the desert: the pillar of cloud did not leave them, leading them on their path by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, lighting the way ahead of them by which they were to go.


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You gave them your good spirit to instruct them, you did not withhold your manna from their mouths, you gave them water for their thirst.


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For forty years you cared for them in the desert, so that they went short of nothing, their clothes did not wear out, nor were their feet swollen.


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'You gave them kingdoms and peoples, allotting them these as frontier lands; they occupied the country of Sihon king of Heshbon, and the country of Og king of Bashan.


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You gave them as many children as there are stars in the sky, and brought them into the country which you had promised their ancestors that they would enter and possess.


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The children entered and took possession of the country and before them you subdued the country's inhabitants, the Canaanites, whom you put at their mercy, with their kings and the peoples of the country, for them to treat as they pleased;


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they captured fortified towns and a fertile countryside, they took possession of houses stocked with all kinds of goods, of storage-wells ready-hewn, of vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in profusion; so they ate, were full, grew fat and revelled in your great goodness.


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'But they grew disobedient, rebelled against you and thrust your law behind their backs; they slaughtered your prophets who had reproved them to bring them back to you, and committed monstrous impieties.


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So you put them at the mercy of their enemies who oppressed them. But when they were being oppressed and called to you, you heard them from heaven and because of your great compassion you gave them deliverers who rescued them from their oppressors' clutches.


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But once at peace again, again they did what was wrong before you; so you put them at the mercy of their enemies who then became their rulers. When they called to you again, you heard them from heaven and, because of your compassion, rescued them many times.


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You warned them, to bring them back to your law, but they became arrogant, did not obey your commandments and sinned against your rules, in whose observance is life; they turned a stubborn shoulder, were obstinate, and disobeyed.


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You were patient with them for many years and warned them by your spirit through your prophets, but they would not listen; so you put them at the mercy of the people of the country.


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But, because of your great compassion, you did not destroy them completely nor abandon them, for you are a gracious, compassionate God.


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Now, our God -- the great God, the Mighty and Awe-inspiring One, maintaining the covenant and your faithful love- count as no small thing this misery which has befallen us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, and all your people from the times of the Assyrian kings to the present day.


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Our kings, our princes, our priests and our ancestors did not keep your law or pay attention to your commandments and obligations which you imposed upon them.


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Even in their own kingdom, despite your great goodness which you bestowed on them, despite the wide and fertile country which you had lavished on them, they did not serve you or renounce their evil deeds.


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See, we are slaves today, slaves in the country which you gave to our ancestors for them to eat the good things it produces.


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Its abundant produce goes to the kings whom, for our sins, you have set over us, who rule over our persons and over our cattle as they please. We are in great distress.'


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In view of all this we make a firm agreement, in writing. Our princes, our Levites, our priests and the rest of the people have put their names to the document under seal.


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And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple slaves and all those who had severed relations with the people of the country to adhere to the law of God, as also their wives, their sons, their daughters, that is, all those who had reached the age of discretion,


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have joined their esteemed brothers in a solemn oath to follow the law of God given through Moses, servant of God, and to observe and practise all the commandments of Yahweh our Lord, with his rules and his statutes.


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We will not give our daughters in marriage to the peoples of the country, nor allow their daughters to marry our sons.


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If the people of the country bring goods or foodstuff of any kind to sell on the Sabbath day, we will buy nothing from them on Sabbath or holy day. In the seventh year, we will forgo the produce of the soil and the exaction of all debts.


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We recognise the following obligations: to give one-third of a shekel yearly for the service of the Temple of our God:


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for the loaves of permanent offering, for the perpetual oblation, for the perpetual burnt offering, for the sacrifices on Sabbaths, on New Moons and on festivals, for the consecrated gifts, the sin offerings to expiate for Israel, in short, for the whole work of the Temple of our God;


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Furthermore, as regards deliveries of wood for burning on the altar of our God as the law prescribes, we have arranged, by drawing lots, how these deliveries are to be made at the Temple of our God by the priests, the Levites and the people by families, at stated times every year. We will no longer neglect the Temple of our God.


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and further, to bring yearly to the Temple of our God the first-fruits of our soil and the first-fruits of all our orchards,


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also the first-born of our sons and of our cattle, as the law prescribes, the first-born of our herds and flocks should be taken to the Temple of our God for the priests officiating in the Temple of our God.


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Furthermore, we shall bring the best of our dough, of every kind of fruit, of the new wine and of the oil to the priests, to the storerooms of the Temple of our God, and the tithe on our soil to the Levites -- the Levites will themselves collect the tithes from all the towns of our religion.


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An Aaronite priest will accompany the Levites when they collect the tithes, and the Levites will bring a tenth part


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a, b of the tithes to the Temple of our God, into the treasury storerooms; for these rooms are where the Israelites and the Levites are to bring the contributions of corn, wine and oil, and where the vessels of the sanctuary are, and the officiating priests, the gatekeepers and the singers.


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Now the leaders of the people took up residence in Jerusalem; so the rest of the people drew lots: one man in ten was to come and live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the other nine were to stay in the towns outside.


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In the towns of Judah each man lived on his own property, but these are the provincial leaders, the Israelites, the priests, the Levites, the temple slaves and the descendants of Solomon's slaves, who made their homes in Jerusalem:


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Of the sons of Judah and the sons of Benjamin who made their homes in Jerusalem there were: Of the sons of Judah: Athaiah son of Uzziah, son of Zechariah, son of Amariah, son of Shephatiah, son of Mehalalel, of the descendants of Perez;


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and Maaseiah son of Baruch, son of Col-Hozeh, son of Hazaiah, son of Adaiah, son of Joiarib, son of Zechariah, descendant of Shelah.


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The total number of the descendants of Perez living in Jerusalem was four hundred and sixty-eight outstanding people.


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These are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu son of Meshullam, son of Joed, son of Pedaiah, son of Kolaiah, son of Maaseiah, son of Ithiel, son of Jeshaiah,


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Seraiah, son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the chief of the Temple of God,


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and their kinsmen who performed the Temple liturgy: eight hundred and twenty-two; Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pelaliah, son of Amzi, son of Zechariah, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah,


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and his kinsfolk, heads of families: two hundred and forty-two; and Amashai son of Azarel, son of Ahzai, son of Meshillemoth, son of Immer,


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and his kinsfolk, outstanding people: one hundred and twenty-eight. Their chief was Zabdiel son of Haggadol.


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Mattaniah son of Mica, son of Zabdi, son of Asaph, who led the praises and intoned the thanksgiving associated with the prayer, Bakbukiah being his junior colleague; and Obadiah son of Shammua, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun.


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The gatekeepers: Akkub, Talmon and their kinsmen, who kept watch at the gates: one hundred and seventy-two.


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The rest of Israel, including the priests and Levites, made their homes throughout the towns of Judah, each man on his own inheritance,


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The official in charge of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, son of Hashabiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Mica, of the sons of Asaph, who led the singing in the liturgy of the Temple of God;


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for the singers were under royal orders, with regulations laying down what was required of them day by day.


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Petahiah son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah son of Judah, was the king's minister for all matters connected with the people.


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and in the villages near their lands. Some of the sons of Judah made their homes in Kiriath-Arba and its dependencies, Dibon and its dependencies, Jekabzeel and its dependencies,


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Zanoah, Adullam and their villages, Lachish and its lands, and Azekah and its dependencies; thus, they settled from Beersheba as far as the Valley of Hinnom.


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Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah -- these were the heads of the priests and their kinsmen in the days of Jeshua.


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The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, Mattaniah -- this last, with his brothers, was in charge of the songs of praise,


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In the days of Joiakim the heads of the priestly families were: family of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;


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In the time of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan and Jaddua, the heads of the families of priests were registered in the Book of Chronicles, up to the reign of Darius the Persian.


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The Levites who were heads of families were registered in the Book of Chronicles up to the time of Johanan, grandson of Eliashib.


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The heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, while their brothers who formed an alternate choir for the hymns of praise and thanksgiving, as David, man of God, had prescribed, section corresponding to section,


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were Mattaniah, Bakbukiah and Obadiah. Meshullam, Talmon and Akkub were the gatekeepers guarding the stores at the gates.


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These lived in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra the priest-scribe.


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At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem the Levites were sent for, wherever they lived, to come to Jerusalem and joyfully perform the dedication with hymns of thanksgiving and songs to the accompaniment of cymbals, lyres and harps.


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Accordingly, the levitical singers assembled from the district round Jerusalem, from the villages of the Netophathites,


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from Beth-Gilgal and from their farms at Geba and Azmaveth -- for the singers had built themselves villages all round Jerusalem.


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When the priests and Levites had purified themselves, they then purified the people, the gates and the wall.


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I then made the leaders of Judah come on to the top of the wall and appointed two large choirs. One made its way along the top of the wall, to the right, towards the Dung Gate;


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of the priests, with trumpets; then Zechariah son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph,


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with his kinsmen, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Juda, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David, man of God. The scribe Ezra walked at their head.


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At the Fountain Gate they went straight on up the steps of the City of David, along the top of the rampart by the stairway of the wall, above the Palace of David as far as the Water Gate, on the east.


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The other choir made its way to the left; I and half the leaders of the people followed them along the top of the wall from the Tower of the Furnaces to the Broad Wall,


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from the Ephraim Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred as far as the Sheep Gate, and they came to a halt at the Prison Gate.


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as well as the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, Hananiah with the trumpets,


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and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam and Ezer. The singers sang loudly under the direction of Jezrahiah.


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There were great sacrifices offered that day and the people rejoiced, God having given them good cause for rejoicing; the women and children rejoiced too, and the joy of Jerusalem could be heard from far away.


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For the rooms intended for the treasures, contributions, first-fruits and tithes, supervisors were then appointed whose business it was to collect in them those portions from the town lands awarded by the Law to the priests and Levites. For Judah rejoiced in the officiating priests and Levites,


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since they -- with the singers and gatekeepers -- performed the liturgy of their God and the rites of purification as ordained by David and his son Solomon.


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For from ancient times, from the days of David and Asaph, they had been the leaders in rendering hymns of praise and thanksgiving to God.


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In the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, all Israel supplied regular daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers, and gave the dedicated contributions to the Levites; and the Levites gave the dedicated contributions to the Aaronites.


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At that time they were reading to the people from the Book of Moses, when they found this written in it, 'No Ammonite or Moabite is to be admitted to the assembly of God, and this is for all time,


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since they did not come to meet the Israelites with bread and water, and even hired Balaam to oppose them by cursing them; but our God turned the curse into a blessing.'


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Earlier, Eliashib the priest, who was in charge of the rooms of the Temple of our God, and who was close to Tobiah,


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had provided him with a large room where they previously used to store the meal offerings, incense, utensils, tithes of corn, wine and oil, that is, the part of the Levites, singers and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests.


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While all this was going on I was away from Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had gone to see the king. But after some time I asked the king for permission to leave,


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and returned to Jerusalem, where I learned about the crime which Eliashib had committed for Tobiah's benefit, by providing him with a room in the courts of the Temple of God.


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I was extremely displeased and threw all Tobiah's household goods out of the room and into the street.


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I then gave orders for the room to be purified, and had the utensils of the Temple of God, the meal offerings and the incense, all replaced.


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I also learned that the Levites had not been receiving their allocations, as a result of which the Levites and singers who performed the liturgy had all withdrawn to their farms.


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I then reprimanded the officials. 'Why is the Temple of God deserted?' I asked. And I collected them together again and brought them back to their posts;


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As supervisors of the storehouses I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, Pedaiah one of the Levites and, as their assistant, Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, since they were considered reliable people; their duty was to make the distributions to their kinsmen.


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Remember me for this, my God, and do not blot out the good deeds which I have done for the Temple of my God and its observances!


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At the same time I saw people in Judah treading the winepress, bringing in sacks of grain and loading donkeys on the Sabbath; they were also bringing wine, grapes, figs and every kind of merchandise into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I forbade them to sell the food.


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Tyrians living there were bringing in fish and every kind of merchandise which they were selling to the Judaeans on the Sabbath in Jerusalem itself.


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So I also reprimanded the leading men of Judah, saying to them, 'What a wicked way to behave, profaning the Sabbath day!


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Was this not exactly what your ancestors did, with the result that our God brought all this misery down on us and on this city? And now you are adding to the wrath hanging over Israel by profaning the Sabbath yourselves!'


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So when the gates of Jerusalem were getting dark at the approach of the Sabbath, I gave orders for the doors to be shut and directed that they were not to be opened again until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my attendants at the gates to make sure that no merchandise was brought in on the Sabbath day.


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until I reprimanded them. I said to them, 'Why are you spending the night in front of the wall? Do it again, and I shall use force on you.' After this, they did not come on the Sabbath.


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I then ordered the Levites to purify themselves and act as guards at the gates, so that the Sabbath day might be kept holy. Remember this also to my credit, have pity on me in the greatness of your faithful love.


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as regards their children, half of them spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, but could no longer speak the language of Judah.


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I reprimanded them, I cursed them, I struck several of them and tore out their hair and adjured them by God, 'You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons or let their daughters marry your sons, or marry them yourselves!


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Was it not because of women like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Although among many nations there was no king like him and he was loved by his God, and God made him king of all Israel, even then foreign women led him into sinning!


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Were you obedient when you committed this very grave crime: breaking faith with our God by marrying foreign wives?'


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One of the sons of Jehoiada, son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite; I drove him from my presence.


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Remember them, my God, for having defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priests and Levites!


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And so I purged them of everything foreign; I drew up regulations for the priests and Levites, defining each man's duty,


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as well as for the deliveries of wood at the proper times, and for the first-fruits. Remember this, my God, to my credit!


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The tale of Tobit son of Tobiel, son of Ananiel, son of Aduel, son of Gabael, of the lineage of Asiel and tribe of Naphtali.


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In the days of Shalmaneser king of Assyria, he was exiled from Thisbe, which is south of Kedesh-Naphtali in Upper Galilee, above Hazor, some distance to the west, north of Shephat.


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I, Tobit, have walked in paths of truth and in good works all the days of my life. I have given much in alms to my brothers and fellow country-folk, exiled like me to Nineveh in the country of Assyria.


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In my young days, when I was still at home in the land of Israel, the whole tribe of Naphtali my ancestor broke away from the House of David and from Jerusalem, though this was the city chosen out of all the tribes of Israel for their sacrifices; here, the Temple -- God's dwelling-place -- had been built and hallowed for all generations to come.


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All my brothers and the House of Naphtali sacrificed on every hill-top in Galilee to the calf that Jeroboam king of Israel had made at Dan.


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Often I was quite alone in making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, fulfilling the Law that binds all Israel perpetually. I would hurry to Jerusalem with the first yield of fruits and beasts, the tithe of cattle and the sheep's first shearings.


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I would give these to the priests, the sons of Aaron, for the altar. To the Levites ministering at Jerusalem I would give my tithe of wine and corn, olives, pomegranates and other fruits. Six years in succession I took the second tithe in money and went and paid it annually at Jerusalem.


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I gave the third to orphans and widows and to the strangers who live among the Israelites; I brought it them as a gift every three years. When we ate, we obeyed both the ordinances of the law of Moses and the exhortations of Deborah the mother of our ancestor Ananiel; for my father had died and left me an orphan.


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When I came to man's estate, I married a woman from our kinsfolk whose name was Anna; she bore me a son whom I called Tobias.


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When the banishment into Assyria came, I was taken away and went to Nineveh. All my brothers and the people of my race ate the food of the heathen,


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Until his death I used to travel to Media, where I transacted business on his behalf, and I deposited sacks of silver worth ten talents with Gabael the brother of Gabrias at Rhages in Media.


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On the death of Shalmaneser his son Sennacherib succeeded; the roads into Media were barred, and I could no longer go there.


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I gave my bread to the hungry and clothes to those who lacked them; and I buried, when I saw them, the bodies of my country-folk thrown over the walls of Nineveh.


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I also buried those who were killed by Sennacherib. When Sennacherib was beating a disorderly retreat from Judaea after the King of heaven had punished his blasphemies, he killed a great number of Israelites in his rage. So I stole their bodies to bury them; Sennacherib looked for them and could not find them.


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A Ninevite went and told the king it was I who had buried them secretly. When I knew that the king had been told about me and saw myself being hunted by men who would put me to death, I was afraid and fled.


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All my goods were seized; they were all confiscated by the treasury; nothing was left me but my wife Anna and my son Tobias.


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Less than forty days after this, the king was murdered by his two sons, who then fled to the mountains of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon succeeded. Ahikar the son of my brother Anael, was appointed chancellor of the exchequer for the kingdom and given the main ordering of affairs.


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Ahikar then interceded for me and I was allowed to return to Nineveh, since Ahikar had been chief cupbearer, keeper of the signet, administrator and treasurer under Sennacherib king of Assyria, and Esarhaddon had kept him in office. He was a relation of mine; he was my nephew.


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In the reign of Esarhaddon, therefore, I returned home, and my wife Anna was restored to me with my son Tobias. At our feast of Pentecost (the feast of Weeks) there was a good dinner. I took my place for the meal;


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the table was brought to me and various dishes were brought. I then said to my son Tobias, 'Go, my child, and seek out some poor, loyal-hearted man among our brothers exiled in Nineveh, and bring him to share my meal. I will wait until you come back, my child.'


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So Tobias went out to look for some poor man among our brothers, but he came back again and said, 'Father!' I replied, 'What is it, my child?' He went on, 'Father, one of our nation has just been murdered; he has been strangled and then thrown down in the market place; he is there still.'


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I sprang up at once, left my meal untouched, took the man from the market place and laid him in one of my rooms, waiting until sunset to bury him.


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remembering the words of the prophet Amos concerning Bethel: I shall turn your festivals into mourning and all your singing into lamentation.


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My neighbours laughed and said, 'See! He is not afraid any more.' (You must remember that a price had been set on my head earlier for this very thing.) 'Once before he had to flee, yet here he is, beginning to bury the dead again.'


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That night I took a bath; then I went into the courtyard and lay down by the courtyard wall. Since it was hot I left my face uncovered.


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I did not know that there were sparrows in the wall above my head; their hot droppings fell into my eyes. This caused white spots to form, which I went to have treated by the doctors. But the more ointments they tried me with, the more the spots blinded me, and in the end, I became completely blind. I remained without sight four years; all my brothers were distressed on my behalf; and Ahikar provided for my upkeep for two years, until he left for Elymais.


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she used to deliver whatever had been ordered from her and then receive payment. Now on the seventh day of the month of Dystros, she finished a piece of work and delivered it to her customers. They paid her all that was due, and into the bargain presented her with a kid for a meal.


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When the kid came into my house, it began to bleat. I called to my wife and said, 'Where does this creature come from? Suppose it has been stolen! Let the owners have it back; we have no right to eat stolen goods'.


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She said, 'No, it was a present given me over and above my wages.' I did not believe her, and told her to give it back to the owners (I felt deeply ashamed of her). To which, she replied, 'What about your own alms? What about your own good works? Everyone knows what return you have had for them.'


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You are just, O Lord, and just are all your works. All your ways are grace and truth, and you are the Judge of the world.


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Therefore, Lord, remember me, look on me. Do not punish me for my sins or for my needless faults or those of my ancestors.


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For we have sinned against you and broken your commandments; and you have given us over to be plundered, to captivity and death, to be the talk, the laughing-stock and scorn of all the nations among whom you have dispersed us.


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And now all your decrees are true when you deal with me as my faults deserve, and those of my ancestors. For we have neither kept your commandments nor walked in truth before you.


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So now, do with me as you will; be pleased to take my life from me; so that I may be delivered from earth and become earth again. Better death than life for me, for I have endured groundless insult and am in deepest sorrow. Lord, be pleased to deliver me from this affliction. Let me go away to my everlasting home; do not turn your face from me, O Lord. Better death for me than life prolonged in the face of unrelenting misery: I can no longer bear to listen to insults.


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It chanced on the same day that Sarah the daughter of Raguel, who lived in Media at Ecbatana, also heard insults from one of her father's maids.


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For she had been given in marriage seven times, and Asmodeus, the worst of demons, had killed her bridegrooms one after another before ever they had slept with her as man with wife. The servant-girl said, 'Yes, you kill your bridegrooms yourself. That makes seven already to whom you have been given, and you have not once been in luck yet.


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Just because your bridegrooms have died, that is no reason for punishing us. Go and join them, and may we be spared the sight of any child of yours!'


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That day, she grieved, she sobbed, and she went up to her father's room intending to hang herself. But then she thought, 'Suppose they were to blame my father! They would say, "You had an only daughter whom you loved, and now she has hanged herself for grief." I cannot cause my father a sorrow which would bring down his old age to the dwelling of the dead. I should do better not to hang myself, but to beg the Lord to let me die and not live to hear any more insults.'


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And at this, by the window, with outstretched arms she said this prayer: You are blessed, O God of mercy! May your name be blessed for ever, and may all things you have made bless you everlastingly.


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I have not dishonoured your name or my father's name in this land of exile. I am my father's only daughter, he has no other child as heir; he has no brother at his side, nor has he any kinsman left for whom I ought to keep myself. I have lost seven husbands already; why should I live any longer? If it does not please you to take my life, then look on me with pity; I can no longer bear to hear myself defamed.


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and Raphael was sent to bring remedy to them both. He was to take the white spots from the eyes of Tobit, so that he might see God's light with his own eyes; and he was to give Sarah the daughter of Raguel as bride to Tobias son of Tobit, and to rid her of Asmodeus, that worst of demons. For it was to Tobias before all other suitors that she belonged by right. Tobit was coming back from the courtyard into the house at the same moment as Sarah the daughter of Raguel was coming down from the upper room.


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and thought, 'I have come to the point of praying for death; I should do well to call my son Tobias and tell him about the money before I die.'


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He summoned his son Tobias and told him, 'When I die, give me an honourable burial. Honour your mother, and never abandon her all the days of your life. Do all that she wants, and give her no reason for sorrow.


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Remember, my child, all the risks she ran for your sake when you were in her womb. And when she dies, bury her at my side in the same grave.


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'My child, be faithful to the Lord all your days. Never entertain the will to sin or to transgress his laws. Do good works all the days of your life, never follow ways that are not upright;


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for if you act in truthfulness, you will be successful in all your actions, as everyone is who practises what is upright.


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'Set aside part of your goods for almsgiving. Never turn your face from the poor and God will never turn his from you.


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Measure your alms by what you have; if you have much, give more; if you have little, do not be afraid to give less in alms.


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'My child, avoid all loose conduct. Choose a wife of your father's stock. Do not take a foreign wife outside your father's tribe, because we are the children of the prophets. Remember Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our ancestors from the beginning. All of them took wives from their own kindred, and they were blessed in their children, and their race will inherit the earth.


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You, too, my child, must love your own brothers; never presume to despise your brothers, the sons and daughters of your people; choose your wife from among them. For pride brings ruin and much worry; idleness causes need and poverty, for the mother of famine is idleness.


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'Do not keep back until next day the wages of those who work for you; pay them at once. If you serve God you will be rewarded. Be careful, my child, in all you do, well-disciplined in all your behaviour.


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Do to no one what you would not want done to you. Do not drink wine to the point of drunkenness; do not let excess be your travelling companion.


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'Give your bread to those who are hungry, and your clothes to those who lack clothing. Of whatever you own in plenty, devote a proportion to almsgiving; and when you give alms, do it ungrudgingly.


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Bless the Lord God in everything; beg him to guide your ways and bring your paths and purposes to their end. For wisdom is not the property of every nation; their desire for what is good is conferred by the Lord. At his will he lifts up or he casts down to the depths of the dwelling of the dead. So now, my child, remember these precepts and never let them fade from your heart.


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'Now, my child, I must tell you I have left ten talents of silver with Gabael son of Gabrias, at Rhages in Media.


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Do not be afraid, my child, if we have grown poor. You have great wealth if you fear God, if you shun every kind of sin and if you do what is pleasing to the Lord your God.'


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But how am I to recover the silver from him? He does not know me, nor I him. What token am I to give him for him to believe me and hand the silver over to me? And besides, I do not know what roads to take for this journey into Media.'


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Then Tobit answered his son Tobias, 'Each of us set his signature to a note which I cut in two, so that each could keep half of it. I took one piece, and put the other with the silver. To think it was twenty years ago I left this silver in his keeping! And now, my child, find a trustworthy travelling companion -- we shall pay him for his time until you arrive back -- and then go and collect the silver from Gabael.'


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Tobias went out to look for a man who knew the way to go with him to Media. Outside he found Raphael the angel standing facing him, though he did not guess he was an angel of God.


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He said, 'Where do you come from, friend?' The angel replied, 'I am one of your brother Israelites; I have come to these parts to look for work.' Tobias asked, 'Do you know the road to Media?'


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The other replied, 'Certainly I do, I have been there many times; I have knowledge and experience of all the ways. I have often been to Media and stayed with Gabael one of our kinsmen who lives at Rhages in Media. It usually takes two full days to get from Ecbatana to Rhages; Rhages lies in the mountains, and Ecbatana is in the middle of the plain.'


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Tobias said, 'Wait for me, friend, while I go and tell my father; I need you to come with me; I shall pay you for your time.'


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Tobias went in and told his father that he had found one of their brother Israelites. And the father said, 'Fetch him in; I want to find out about his family and tribe. I must see if he is going to be a reliable companion for you, my child.' So Tobias went out and called him, 'Friend,' he said, 'my father wants you.'


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The angel came into the house; Tobit greeted him, and the other answered, wishing him happiness in plenty. Tobit replied, 'Can I ever be happy again? I am a blind man; I no longer see the light of heaven; I am sunk in darkness like the dead who see the light no more. I am a man buried alive; I hear people speak but cannot see them.' The angel said, 'Take comfort; before long God will heal you. Take comfort.' Tobit said, 'My son Tobias wishes to go to Media. Will you join him as his guide? Brother, I will pay you.' He replied, 'I am willing to go with him; I know all the ways; I have often been to Media, I have crossed all its plains and mountains, and I know all its roads.'


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'What does my tribe matter to you?' the angel said. Tobit said, 'I want to be quite sure whose son you are and what your name is.'


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'Welcome and greetings, brother! Do not be offended at my wanting to know the name of your family; I find you are my kinsman of a good and honourable line. I know Ananias and Nathan, the two sons of the great Shemaiah. They used to go to Jerusalem with me; we have worshipped together there and they have never strayed from the right path. Your brothers are worthy men; you come of good stock; welcome.'


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He went on, 'I engage you at a drachma a day, with the same expenses as my own son's. Complete the journey with my son


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and I shall go beyond the agreed wage.' The angel replied, 'I shall complete the journey with him. Do not be afraid. On the journey outward all will be well; on the journey back all will be well; the road is safe.'


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Tobit said, 'Blessings on you, brother!' Then he turned to his son. 'My child', he said, 'prepare what you need for the journey, and set off with your brother. May God in heaven protect you abroad and bring you both back to me safe and sound! May his angel go with you and protect you, my child!' Tobias left the house to set out and kissed his father and mother. Tobit said, 'A happy journey!'


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His mother burst into tears and said to Tobit, 'Why must you send my child away? Is he not the staff of our hands, as he goes about before us?


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He said, 'Do not think such thoughts. Going away and coming back, all will be well with our child. You will see for yourself when he comes back safe and sound! Do not think such thoughts; do not worry on their account, my sister.


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The boy left with the angel, and the dog followed behind. The two walked on, and when the first evening came they camped beside the Tigris.


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The boy had gone down to the river to wash his feet, when a great fish leapt out of the water and tried to swallow his foot. The boy gave a shout


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and the angel said, 'Catch the fish; do not let it go.' The boy mastered the fish and pulled it onto the bank.


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The angel said, 'Cut it open; take out gall, heart and liver; set these aside and throw the entrails away, for gall and heart and liver have curative properties.'


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The boy cut the fish open and took out gall and heart and liver. He fried part of the fish for his meal and kept some for salting. Then they walked on again together until they were nearly in Media.


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Then the boy asked the angel this question, 'Brother Azarias, what can the fish's heart, liver and gall cure?'


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He replied, 'You burn the fish's heart and liver, and their smoke is used in the case of a man or woman plagued by a demon or evil spirit; any such affliction disappears for good, leaving no trace.


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As regards the gall, this is used as an eye ointment for anyone having white spots on his eyes; after using it, you have only to blow on the spots to cure them.'


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when Raphael said to the boy, 'Brother Tobias.' 'Yes?' he replied. The angel went on, 'Tonight we are to stay with Raguel, who is a kinsman of yours. He has a daughter called Sarah,


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but apart from Sarah he has no other son or daughter. Now you are her next of kin; she belongs to you before anyone else and you may claim her father's inheritance. She is a thoughtful, courageous and very lovely girl, and her father loves her dearly.


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You have the right to marry her. Listen, brother; this very evening I shall speak about the girl to her father and arrange for her to be betrothed to you, and when we come back from Rhages we can celebrate the marriage. I assure you, Raguel has no right whatever to refuse you or to betroth her to anyone else. That would be asking for death, as prescribed in the Book of Moses, once he is aware that kinship gives you the pre-eminent right to marry his daughter. So listen, brother. This very evening we shall speak about the girl and ask for her hand in marriage. When we come back from Rhages we shall fetch her and take her home with us.'


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Tobias replied to Raphael, 'Brother Azarias, I have been told that she has already been given in marriage seven times and that each time her bridegroom has died in the bridal room. He died the same night as he entered her room; and I have heard people say it was a demon that killed them,


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and this makes me afraid. To her the demon does no harm because he loves her, but as soon as a man tries to approach her, he kills him. I am my father's only son, and I have no wish to die. I do not want my father and mother to grieve over me for the rest of their lives; they have no other son to bury them.'


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The angel said, 'Have you forgotten your father's advice? After all, he urged you to choose a wife from your father's family. Listen then, brother. Do not worry about the demon; take her. This very evening, I promise, she will be given you as your wife.


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Then once you are in the bridal room, take the heart and liver of the fish and lay a little of it on the burning incense. The reek will rise,


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the demon will smell it and flee, and there is no danger that he will ever be found near the girl again. Then, before you sleep together, first stand up, both of you, and pray. Ask the Lord of heaven to grant you his grace and protection. Do not be afraid; she was destined for you from the beginning, and you are the one to save her. She will follow you, and I pledge my word she will give you children who will be like brothers to you. Do not worry.' And when Tobias heard Raphael say this, when he understood that Sarah was his sister, a kinswoman of his father's family, he fell so deeply in love with her that he could no longer call his heart his own.


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As they entered Ecbatana, Tobias said, 'Brother Azarias, take me at once to our brother Raguel's.' And he showed him the way to the house of Raguel, whom they found sitting beside his courtyard door. They greeted him first, and he replied, 'Welcome and greetings, brothers.' And he took them into his house.


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Then, finding words, he said, 'Blessings on you, child! You are the son of a noble father. How sad it is that someone so bright and full of good deeds should have gone blind!' He fell on the neck of his kinsman Tobias and wept.


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Raguel killed a ram from the flock, and they gave them a warm welcome. They washed and bathed and sat down to table. Then Tobias said to Raphael, 'Brother Azarias, will you ask Raguel to give me my sister Sarah?'


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Raguel overheard the words, and said to the young man, 'Eat and drink, and make the most of your evening; no one else has the right to take my daughter Sarah -- no one but you, my brother. In any case even I am not at liberty to give her to anyone else, since you are her next of kin. However, my boy, I must be frank with you:


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I have tried to find a husband for her seven times among our kinsmen, and all of them have died the first evening, on going to her room. But for the present, my boy, eat and drink; the Lord will grant you his grace and peace.' Tobias spoke out, 'I will not hear of eating and drinking till you have come to a decision about me.' Raguel answered, 'Very well. Since, by the prescription of the Book of Moses she is given to you, Heaven itself decrees she shall be yours. I therefore entrust your sister to you. From now on you are her brother and she is your sister. She is given to you from today for ever. The Lord of heaven favour you tonight, my child, and grant you his grace and peace.'


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Raguel called for his daughter Sarah, took her by the hand and gave her to Tobias with these words, 'I entrust her to you; the law and the ruling recorded in the Book of Moses assign her to you as your wife. Take her; bring her home safe and sound to your father's house. The God of heaven grant you a good journey in peace.'


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Then he turned to her mother and asked her to fetch him writing paper. He drew up the marriage contract, and so he gave his daughter as bride to Tobias according to the ordinance of the Law of Moses.


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She went and made the bed in this room as he had ordered, and took her daughter to it. She wept over her, then wiped away her tears and said, 'Courage, daughter! May the Lord of heaven turn your grief to joy! Courage, daughter!' And she went out.


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When they had finished eating and drinking and it seemed time to go to bed, the young man was taken from the dining room to the bedroom.


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Tobias remembered Raphael's advice; he went to his bag, took the fish's heart and liver out of it and put some on the burning incense.


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The reek of the fish distressed the demon, who fled through the air to Egypt. Raphael pursued him there, shackled him and strangled him forthwith.


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The parents meanwhile had gone out and shut the door behind them. Tobias rose from the bed, and said to Sarah, 'Get up, my sister! You and I must pray and petition our Lord to win his grace and his protection.'


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She stood up, and they began praying for protection, and this was how he began: You are blessed, O God of our fathers; blessed too is your name for ever and ever. Let the heavens bless you and all things you have made for evermore.


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You it was who created Adam, you who created Eve his wife to be his help and support; and from these two the human race was born. You it was who said, 'It is not right that the man should be alone; let us make him a helper like him.'


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And so I take my sister not for any lustful motive, but I do it in singleness of heart. Be kind enough to have pity on her and on me and bring us to old age together.


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and lay down for the night. But Raguel rose and called his servants, who came and helped him dig a grave.


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and said, 'Will you send a maid to the room to see if Tobias is still alive? For if he is dead, we may be able to bury him without anyone else knowing.'


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They sent the maid, lit the lamp, opened the door and the maid went in. She found the two fast asleep together;


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Then Raguel blessed the God of heaven with these words: You are blessed, my God, with every blessing that is pure; may you be blessed for evermore!


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You are blessed for having made me glad. What I feared has not happened, instead you have shown us your boundless mercy.


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You are blessed for taking pity on this only son, this only daughter. Grant them, Master, your mercy and your protection; let them live out their lives in happiness and in mercy.


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He told his wife to make an ovenful of bread; he went to his flock, brought back two oxen and four sheep and gave orders for them to be cooked; and preparations began.


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He called Tobias and said, 'I will not hear of your leaving here for a fortnight. You are to stay where you are, eating and drinking, with me. You will make my daughter happy again after all her troubles.


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After that, take away a half of all I have, and take her safe and sound back to your father. When my wife and I are dead you shall have the other half. Courage, my boy! I am your father, and Edna is your mother. We are your parents in future, as we are your sister's. Courage, my son!'


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Go to Gabael's house, give him the receipt and see about the money; then invite him to come with you to my wedding feast.


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You know that my father must be counting the days and that I cannot lose a single one without worrying him.


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You see what Raguel has pledged himself to do; I am bound by his oath.' So Raphael left for Rhages in Media with the four servants and two camels. They stayed with Gabael, and Raphael showed him the receipt. He told him about the marriage of Tobias son of Tobit and gave him his invitation to the wedding feast. Gabael started counting out the sacks to him -- the seals were intact -- and they loaded them on to the camels.


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Early in the morning they set off together for the feast, and reached Raguel's house where they found Tobias dining. He rose to greet Gabael, who burst into tears and blessed him with the words, 'Excellent son of a father beyond reproach, just and generous in his dealings! The Lord give heaven's blessing to you, to your wife, to your wife's father and mother! Blessed be God for granting me the sight of this living image of my cousin Tobit!'


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Every day, meanwhile, Tobit kept reckoning the days required for the journey there and the journey back. The full number went by, and still his son had not come.


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Then he thought, 'I hope he has not been delayed there! I hope Gabael is not dead, so that no one will give him the silver.'


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His wife Anna kept saying, 'My son is dead! He is no longer among the living!' And she began to weep and mourn over her son. She kept saying,


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And Tobit would reply, 'Hush, my sister! Do not worry. All is well with him. Something has happened there to delay them. His companion is someone we can trust, one of our kinsmen at that. Do not lose heart, my sister.


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He will soon be here.' But all she would say was, 'Leave me alone; do not try to deceive me. My child is dead.' And every day she would go abruptly out to watch the road by which her son had left. She trusted no eyes but her own. Once the sun had set she would come home again, only to weep and moan all night, unable to sleep. After the fourteen days of feasting that Raguel had sworn to keep for his daughter's marriage, Tobias came to him and said, 'Let me go now; my father and mother must have lost all hope of seeing me again. So I beg you, father, to let me return to my father's house; I have told you the plight he was in when I left him.'


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Raguel said to Tobias, 'Stay, my son, stay with me. I shall send messengers to your father Tobit to give him news of you.'


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Without more ado, Raguel committed Sarah his bride into his keeping. He gave Tobias half his wealth, slaves, men and women, oxen and sheep, donkeys and camels, clothes and money and household things.


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And so he let them leave happily. To Tobias he said these parting words, 'Good health, my son, and a happy journey! May the Lord of heaven be gracious to you and to your wife Sarah! I hope to see your children before I die.'


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To his daughter Sarah he said, 'Go now to your father-in-law's house, since henceforward they are as much your parents as those who gave you life. Go in peace, my daughter, I hope to hear nothing but good of you, as long as I live.' He said goodbye to them and let them go. Edna in her turn said to Tobias, 'Dear son and brother, may it please the Lord to bring you back again! I hope to live long enough to see the children of you and my daughter Sarah before I die. In the sight of the Lord I give my daughter into your keeping. Never make her unhappy as long as you live. Go in peace, my son. Henceforward I am your mother and Sarah is your sister. May we all live happily for the rest of our lives!' And she kissed them both and saw them set out happily.


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Tobias left Raguel's house with his mind at ease. In his gladness he blessed the Lord of heaven and earth, the King of all that is, for the happy issue of his travels. He gave this blessing to Raguel and his wife Edna, 'May it be my happiness to honour you for the rest of my life!'


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let us go on ahead of your wife and prepare the house ourselves while she travels behind with the others.'


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She was sure at once it must be he and said to the father, 'Here comes your son, with his companion.'


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Raphael said to Tobias before he reached his father, 'I give you my word that your father's eyes will open.


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You must put the fish's gall to his eyes; the medicine will smart and will draw a filmy white skin off his eyes. And your father will no more be blind but will be able to see the light.'


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The mother ran forward and threw her arms round her son's neck. 'Now I can die,' she said, 'I have seen you again.' And she wept.


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Tobit rose to his feet and stumbled across the courtyard through the door. Tobias came on towards him


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(he had the fish's gall in his hand). He blew into his eyes and said, steadying him, 'Take courage, father!' With this he applied the medicine, left it there a while,


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and wept. He exclaimed, 'I can see you, my son, the light of my eyes!' And he said: Blessed be God! Blessed be his great name! Blessed be all his holy angels! Blessed be his great name for evermore!


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For, having afflicted me, he has had pity on me and now I see my son Tobias! Tobias went indoors, joyfully blessing God at the top of his voice. Then he told his father everything; how his journey had been successful and he had brought the silver back; how he had married Sarah the daughter of Raguel; how she was following him now, close behind, and could not be far from the gates of Nineveh.


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Tobit set off to the gates of Nineveh to meet his daughter-in-law, giving joyful praise to God as he went. When the people of Nineveh saw him walking without a guide and stepping forward as briskly as of old, they were astonished.


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Tobit described to them how God had taken pity on him and had opened his eyes. Then Tobit met Sarah the bride of his son Tobias, and blessed her in these words. 'Welcome, daughter! Blessed be your God for sending you to us, my daughter. Blessings on your father, blessings on my son Tobias, blessings on yourself, my daughter. Welcome now to your own house in joyfulness and in blessedness. Come in, my daughter.' That day brought joy to the Jews of Nineveh,


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When the wedding feast was over, Tobit called his son Tobias and said, 'My son, you ought to think about paying the amount due to your fellow traveller; give him more than the figure agreed on.'


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'Father,' he replied, 'how much am I to give him for his help? Even if I give him half the goods he brought back with me, I shall not be the loser.


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He has brought me back safe and sound, he has cured my wife, he has brought the money back too, and now he has cured you as well. How much am I to give him for all this?'


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So Tobias called his companion and said, 'Take half of what you brought back, in payment for all you have done, and go in peace.'


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Then Raphael took them both aside and said, 'Bless God, utter his praise before all the living for the favour he has shown you. Bless and extol his name. Proclaim before all people the deeds of God as they deserve, and never tire of giving him thanks.


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It is right to keep the secret of a king, yet right to reveal and publish the works of God as they deserve. Do what is good, and no evil can befall you.


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'Prayer with fasting and alms with uprightness are better than riches with iniquity. Better to practise almsgiving than to hoard up gold.


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Almsgiving saves from death and purges every kind of sin. Those who give alms have their fill of days;


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'I am going to tell you the whole truth, hiding nothing from you. I have already told you that it is right to keep the secret of a king, yet right too to reveal in a worthy way the words of God.


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So you must know that when you and Sarah were at prayer, it was I who offered your supplications before the glory of the Lord and who read them; so too when you were burying the dead.


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When you did not hesitate to get up and leave the table to go and bury a dead man, I was sent to test your faith,


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I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ever ready to enter the presence of the glory of the Lord.'


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As far as I was concerned, when I was with you, my presence was not by any decision of mine, but by the will of God; he is the one whom you must bless as long as you live, he the one that you must praise.


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Now bless the Lord on earth and give thanks to God. I am about to return to him who sent me from above. Write down all that has happened.' And he rose in the air.


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When they stood up again, he was no longer visible. They praised God with hymns; they thanked him for having performed such wonders; had not an angel of God appeared to them?


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For he both punishes and pardons; he sends people down to the depths of the underworld and draws them up from utter Destruction; no one can escape his hand.


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Declare his praise before the nations, you who are the children of Israel! For if he has scattered you among them,


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there too he has shown you his greatness. Extol him before all the living; he is our Lord and he is our God; he is our Father, and he is God for ever and ever.


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Though he punishes you for your iniquities, he will take pity on you all; he will gather you from every nation wherever you have been scattered.


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If you return to him with all your heart and all your soul, behaving honestly towards him, then he will return to you and hide his face from you no longer. Consider how well he has treated you; loudly give him thanks. Bless the Lord of justice and extol the King of the ages. I for my part sing his praise in the country of my exile; I make his power and greatness known to a nation that has sinned. Sinners, return to him; let your conduct be upright before him; perhaps he will be gracious to you and take pity on you.


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Jerusalem, Holy City, God has scourged you for what you have done but will still take pity on the children of the upright.


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Thank the Lord as he deserves and bless the King of the ages, that your Temple may be rebuilt with joy within you; within you he may comfort every exile, and within you he may love all those who are distressed, for all generations to come.


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A bright light will shine over all the regions of the earth; many nations will come from far away, from all the ends of the earth, to dwell close to the holy name of the Lord God, with gifts in their hands for the King of heaven. Within you, generation after generation will proclaim their joy, and the name of her who is Elect will endure through the generations to come.


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Cursed be any who affront you, cursed be any who destroy you, who throw down your walls, who rase your towers, who burn your houses! Eternally blessed be he who rebuilds you!


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Then you will exult, and rejoice over the children of the upright, for they will all have been gathered in and will bless the Lord of the ages.


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Blessed are those who love you, blessed those who rejoice over your peace, blessed those who have mourned over all your punishment! For they will soon rejoice within you, witness all your blessedness in days to come.


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because Jerusalem will be built anew and his house for ever and ever. What bliss, if one of my family be left to see your glory and praise the King of heaven! The gates of Jerusalem will be built of sapphire and of emerald, and all your walls of precious stone, the towers of Jerusalem will be built of gold and their battlements of pure gold.


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The streets of Jerusalem will be paved with ruby and with stones from Ophir; the gates of Jerusalem will resound with songs of exultation; and all her houses will say, 'Alleluia! Blessed be the God of Israel.' Within you they will bless the holy name for ever and ever.


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The end of the hymns of Tobit. Tobit died when he was a hundred and twelve years old and received an honourable burial in Nineveh.


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He had been sixty-two when he went blind; and after his cure, he lived in comfort, practising almsgiving and continually praising God and extolling his greatness.


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'My son, take your children and hurry away to Media, since I believe the word of God pronounced over Nineveh by Nahum. Everything will come true, everything happen that the emissaries of God, the prophets of Israel, have predicted against Assyria and Nineveh; not one of their words will prove empty. It will all take place in due time. You will be safer in Media than in Assyria or in Babylonia. Since I for my part know and believe that everything God has said will come true; so it will be, and not a word of the prophecies will fail. 'A census will be taken of our brothers living in the land of Israel and they will be exiled far from their own fair country. The entire territory of Israel will become a desert, and Samaria and Jerusalem will become a desert, and the house of God, for a time, will be laid waste and burnt.


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Then once again God will take pity on them and bring them back to the land of Israel. They will rebuild his house, although it will be less beautiful than the first, until the time is fulfilled. But after this, all will return from captivity and rebuild Jerusalem in all her glory, and the house of God will be rebuilt within her as the prophets of Israel have foretold.


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And all the people of the whole earth will be converted and will reverence God with all sincerity. All will renounce their false gods who have led them astray into error,


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and will bless the God of ages in uprightness. All the Israelites spared in those days will remember God in sincerity of heart. They will come and gather in Jerusalem and thereafter dwell securely in the land of Abraham, which will be theirs. And those who sincerely love God will rejoice. And those who commit sin and wickedness will vanish from the earth.


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'And now, my children, I lay this duty on you; serve God sincerely, and do what is pleasing to him. And lay on your children the obligation to behave uprightly, to give alms, to keep God in mind and to bless his name always, sincerely and with all their might.


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As soon as you have buried your mother next to me, go the same day, whenever it may be, and do not linger in this country where I see wickedness and perfidy unashamedly triumphant. Consider, my child, all the things done by Nadab to his foster-father Ahikar. Was not Ahikar forced to go underground, though still a living man? But God made the criminal pay for his outrage before his victim's eyes, since Ahikar came back to the light of day, while Nadab went down to everlasting darkness in punishment for plotting against Ahikar's life. Because of his good works Ahikar escaped the deadly snare Nadab had laid for him, and Nadab fell into it to his own ruin.


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So, my children, you see what comes of almsgiving, and what wickedness leads to, I mean to death. But now breath fails me.' They laid him back on his bed; he died and was buried with honour.


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When his mother died, Tobias buried her beside his father. Then he left for Media with his wife and children. He lived in Ecbatana with Raguel, his father-in-law.


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He treated the ageing parents of his wife with every care and respect, and later buried them in Ecbatana in Media. Tobias inherited the patrimony of Raguel besides that of his father Tobit.


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Before he died he witnessed the ruin of Nineveh. He saw the Ninevites taken prisoner and deported to Media by Cyaxares king of Media. He blessed God for everything he inflicted on the Ninevites and Assyrians. Before his death he had the opportunity of rejoicing over the fate of Nineveh, and he blessed the Lord God for ever and ever. Amen.


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It was the twelfth year of Nebuchadnezzar who reigned over the Assyrians in the great city of Nineveh. Arphaxad was then reigning over the Medes in Ecbatana.


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He surrounded this city with walls of dressed stones three cubits thick and six cubits long, making the rampart seventy cubits high and fifty cubits wide.


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the gates themselves being seventy cubits high and forty wide to allow his forces to march out in a body and his infantry to parade freely.


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About this time King Nebuchadnezzar gave battle to King Arphaxad in the great plain lying in the territory of Ragae.


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Supporting him were all the peoples from the highlands, all from the Euphrates and Tigris and Hydaspes, and those from the plains who were subject to Arioch, king of the Elymaeans. Thus many nations had mustered to take part in the battle of the Cheleoudites.


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Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians sent a message to all the inhabitants of Persia, to all the inhabitants of the western countries, Cilicia, Damascus, Lebanon, Anti-Lebanon, to all those along the coast,


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to the people of Samaria and its outlying towns, to those beyond Jordan, as far away as Jerusalem, Bethany, Chelous, Kadesh, the river of Egypt, Tahpanhes, Rameses and the whole territory of Goshen,


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beyond Tanis too and Memphis, and to all the inhabitants of Egypt as far as the frontiers of Ethiopia.


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But the inhabitants of these countries ignored the summons of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians and did not rally to him to make war. They were not afraid of him, since in their view he appeared isolated. Hence they sent his ambassadors back with nothing achieved and in disgrace.


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Nebuchadnezzar was furious with all these countries. He swore by his throne and kingdom to take revenge on all the territories of Cilicia, Damascus and Syria, of the Moabites and of the Ammonites, of Judaea and Egypt as far as the limits of the two seas, and to ravage them with the sword.


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In the seventeenth year, he gave battle with his whole army to King Arphaxad and in this battle defeated him. He routed Arphaxad's entire army and all his cavalry and chariots;


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he occupied his towns and advanced on Ecbatana; he seized its towers and plundered its market places, reducing its former magnificence to a mockery.


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He later captured Arphaxad in the mountains of Ragae and, thrusting him through with his spears, destroyed him once and for all.


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He then retired with his troops and all who had joined forces with him: a vast horde of armed men. Then he and his army gave themselves up to carefree feasting for a hundred and twenty days.


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In the eighteenth year, on the twenty-second day of the first month, a rumour ran through the palace that Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians was to have his revenge on all the countries, as he had threatened.


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Summoning his general staff and senior officers, he held a secret conference with them, and with his own lips pronounced utter destruction on the entire area.


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When the council was over, Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians sent for Holofernes, general-in-chief of his armies and subordinate only to himself. He said to him,


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'Thus speaks the Great King, lord of the whole world, "Go; take men of proven valour, about a hundred and twenty thousand foot soldiers and a strong company of horse with twelve thousand cavalrymen;


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Bid them have earth and water ready, because in my rage I am about to march on them; the feet of my soldiers will cover the whole face of the earth, and I shall plunder it.


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Their wounded will fill the valleys and the torrents, and rivers, blocked with their dead, will overflow.


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Now go! Begin by conquering this whole region for me. If they surrender to you, hold them for me until the time comes to punish them.


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But if they resist, look on no one with clemency, hand them over to slaughter and plunder throughout the territory entrusted to you.


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For by my life and by the living power of my kingdom I have spoken. All this I shall do by my power.


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And you, neglect none of your master's commands, act strictly according to my orders without further delay." '


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Leaving the presence of his sovereign, Holofernes immediately summoned all the marshals, generals and officers of the Assyrian army


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and detailed the picked troops as his master had ordered, about a hundred and twenty thousand men and a further twelve thousand mounted archers.


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He then secured vast numbers of camels, donkeys and mules to carry the baggage, and innumerable sheep, oxen and goats for food supplies.


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He then set out for the campaign with his whole army, in advance of King Nebuchadnezzar, to overwhelm the whole western region with his chariots, his horsemen and his picked body of foot.


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A motley gathering followed in his rear, as numerous as locusts or the grains of sand on the ground; there was no counting their multitude.


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Thus they set out from Nineveh and marched for three days towards the Plain of Bectileth. From Bectileth they went on to pitch camp near the mountains that lie to the north of Upper Cilicia.


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From there Holofernes advanced into the highlands with his whole army, infantry, horsemen, chariots.


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He cut his way through Put and Lud, carried away captive all the sons of Rassis and sons of Ishmael living on the verge of the desert south of Cheleon,


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marched along the Euphrates, crossed Mesopotamia, rased all the fortified towns controlling the Wadi Abron and reached the sea.


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Next he attacked the territories of Cilicia, butchering all who offered him resistance, advanced on the southern frontiers of Japheth, facing Arabia,


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made his way down to the Damascus plain at the time of the wheat harvest, set fire to the fields, destroyed the flocks and herds, sacked the towns, laid the countryside waste and put all the young men to the sword.


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Fear and trembling seized all the coastal peoples; those of Sidon and Tyre, those of Sur, Ocina and Jamnia. The populations of Azotos and Ascalon were panic-stricken.


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'We are servants of the great King Nebuchadnezzar; we lie prostrate before you. Treat us as you think fit.


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Our cattle-farms, all our land, all our wheat fields, our flocks and herds, all the sheep-folds in our encampments are at your disposal. Do with them as you please.


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He then made his way down to the coast with his army and stationed garrisons in all the fortified towns, levying outstanding men there as auxiliaries.


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The people of these cities and of all the other towns in the neighbourhood welcomed him, wearing garlands and dancing to the sound of tambourines.


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But he demolished their shrines and cut down their sacred trees, carrying out his commission to destroy all local gods so that the nations should worship Nebuchadnezzar alone and people of every language and nationality should hail him as a god.


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Thus he reached the edge of Esdraelon, in the neighbourhood of Dothan, a village facing the great ridge of Judaea.


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He pitched camp between Geba and Scythopolis and stayed there a full month to re-provision his forces.


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When the Israelites living in Judaea heard how Holofernes, general-in-chief of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians, had treated the various nations, plundering their temples and destroying them,


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they were thoroughly alarmed at his approach and trembled for Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord their God.


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They had returned from captivity only a short time before, and the resettlement of the people in Judaea and the reconsecration of the sacred furnishings, of the altar, and of the Temple, which had been profaned, were of recent date.


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They therefore alerted the whole of Samaria, Kona, Beth-Horon, Belmain, Jericho, Choba, Aesora and the Salem valley.


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They occupied the summits of the highest mountains and fortified the villages on them; they laid in supplies for the coming war, as the fields had just been harvested.


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Joakim the high priest, resident in Jerusalem at the time, wrote to the inhabitants of Bethulia and of Betomesthaim, two towns facing Esdraelon, towards the plain of Dothan.


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He ordered them to occupy the mountain passes, the only means of access to Judaea, for there it would be easy for them to halt an attacking force, the narrowness of the approach not allowing men to advance more than two abreast.


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The Israelites carried out the orders of Joakim the high priest and of the people's Council of Elders in session at Jerusalem.


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They, their wives, their children, their cattle, all their resident aliens, hired or slave, wrapped sackcloth round their loins.


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All the Israelites in Jerusalem, including women and children, lay prostrate in front of the Temple, and with ashes on their heads stretched out their hands before the Lord.


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They draped the altar itself in sackcloth and fervently joined together in begging the God of Israel not to let their children be carried off, their wives distributed as booty, the towns of their heritage destroyed, the Temple profaned and desecrated for the heathen to gloat over.


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The Lord heard them and looked kindly on their distress. The people fasted for many days throughout Judaea as well as in Jerusalem before the sanctuary of the Lord Almighty.


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Joakim the high priest and all who stood before the Lord, the Lord's priests and ministers, wore sackcloth round their loins as they offered the perpetual burnt offering and the votive and voluntary offerings of the people.


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With ashes on their turbans they earnestly called on the Lord to look kindly on the House of Israel.


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Holofernes, general-in-chief of the Assyrian army, received the intelligence that the Israelites were preparing for war, that they had closed the mountain passes, fortified all the high peaks and laid obstructions in the plains.


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Holofernes was furious. He summoned all the princes of Moab, all the generals of Ammon and all the satraps of the coastal regions.


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'Men of Canaan,' he said, 'tell me: what people is this that occupies the hill-country? What towns does it inhabit? How large is its army? What are the sources of its power and strength? Who is the king who rules it and commands its army?


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Achior, leader of all the Ammonites, replied, 'May my lord be pleased to listen to what your servant is going to say. I shall give you the facts about these mountain folk whose home lies close to you. You will hear no lie from the mouth of your servant.


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They once came to live in Mesopotamia, because they did not want to follow the gods of their ancestors who lived in Chaldaea.


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They abandoned the way of their ancestors to worship the God of heaven, the God they learnt to acknowledge. Banished from the presence of their own gods, they fled to Mesopotamia where they lived for a long time.


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When God told them to leave their home and set out for Canaan, they settled there and accumulated gold and silver and great herds of cattle.


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Next, famine having overwhelmed the land of Canaan, they went down to Egypt where they stayed till they were well nourished. There they became a great multitude, a race beyond counting.


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But the king of Egypt turned against them and exploited them by forcing them to make bricks; he degraded them, reducing them to slavery.


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They cried to their God, who struck the entire land of Egypt with incurable plagues, and the Egyptians expelled them.


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and led them forward by way of Sinai and Kadesh-Barnea. Having driven off all the inhabitants of the desert,


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they settled in the land of the Amorites and in their strength exterminated the entire population of Heshbon. Then, having crossed the Jordan, they took possession of all the hill-country,


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driving out the Canaanites before them and the Perizzites, Jebusites, Shechemites and all the Girgashites, and lived there for many years.


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All the while they did not sin before their God, prosperity was theirs, for they have a God who hates wickedness.


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But when they turned from the path he had marked out for them some were exterminated in a series of battles, others were taken captive to a foreign land. The Temple of their God was rased to the ground and their towns were seized by their enemies.


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Then having turned once again to their God, they came back from the places to which they had been dispersed and scattered, regained possession of Jerusalem, where they have their Temple, and reoccupied the hill-country which had been left deserted.


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So, now, master and lord, if this people has committed any fault, if they have sinned against their God, let us first be sure that they really have this reason to fail, then advance and attack them.


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But if their nation is guiltless, my lord would do better to abstain, for fear that their Lord and God should protect them. We should then become the laughing-stock of the whole world.'


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When Achior had ended this speech, all the people crowding round the tent began protesting. Holofernes' own senior officers, as well as all the coastal peoples and the Moabites, threatened to tear him limb from limb.


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'Why should we be afraid of the Israelites? They are a weak and powerless people, quite unable to stand a stiff attack.


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When the uproar of those crowding round the council had subsided, Holofernes, general-in-chief of the Assyrian army, reprimanded Achior in front of the whole crowd of foreigners and Ammonites.


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'Achior, who do you think you are, you and the Ephraimite mercenaries, playing the prophet like this with us today, and trying to dissuade us from making war on the people of Israel? You claim their God will protect them. And who is God if not Nebuchadnezzar? He himself will display his power and wipe them off the face of the earth, and their God will certainly not save them.


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But we, his servants, shall destroy them as easily as a single individual. They can never resist the strength of our cavalry.


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We shall burn them all. Their mountains will be drunk with their blood and their plains filled with their corpses. Far from being able to resist us, every one of them will die; thus says King Nebuchadnezzar, lord of the whole world. For he has spoken, and his words will not prove empty.


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As for you, Achior, you Ammonite mercenary, who in a rash moment said these words, you will not see my face again until the day when I have taken my revenge on this brood from Egypt.


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And then the swords of my soldiers and the spears of my officers will pierce your sides. You will fall among their wounded, the moment I turn on Israel.


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My servants will now take you into the hill-country and leave you near one of the towns in the passes;


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No need to look so sad if you cherish the secret hope that they will not be captured! I have spoken; none of my words will prove idle.'


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Holofernes having commanded his tent-orderlies to seize Achior, to take him to Bethulia and to hand him over to the Israelites,


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the orderlies took him, escorted him out of the camp and across the plain, and then, making for the hill-country, reached the springs below Bethulia.


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As soon as the men of the town sighted them, they snatched up their weapons, left the town and made for the mountain tops, while all the slingers pelted them with stones to prevent them from coming up.


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However, they managed to take cover at the foot of the slope, where they bound Achior and left him lying at the bottom of the mountain and returned to their master.


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The Israelites then came down from their town, stopped by him, unbound him and took him to Bethulia, where they brought him before the chief men of the town,


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who at that time were Uzziah son of Micah of the tribe of Simeon, Chabris son of Gothoniel and Charmis son of Melchiel.


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These summoned all the elders of the town. The young men and the women also hurried to the assembly. Achior was made to stand with all the people surrounding him, and Uzziah questioned him about what had happened.


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He answered by telling them what had been said at Holofernes' council, and what he himself had said in the presence of the Assyrian leaders, and how Holofernes had bragged of what he would do to the House of Israel.


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'Lord God of heaven,' they cried, 'take notice of their arrogance and have pity on the humiliation of our race. Look kindly today on those who are consecrated to you.'


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After the assembly Uzziah took him home and gave a banquet for the elders; all that night they called on the God of Israel for help.


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The following day Holofernes issued orders to his whole army and to the whole host of auxiliaries who had joined him, to break camp and march on Bethulia, to occupy the mountain passes and so open the campaign against the Israelites.


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The troops broke camp that same day. The actual fighting force numbered one hundred and twenty thousand infantry and twelve thousand cavalry, not to mention the baggage train with the vast number of men on foot concerned with that.


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They penetrated the valley in the neighbourhood of Bethulia, near the spring, and deployed on a wide front from Dothan to Balbaim and, in depth, from Bethulia to Cyamon, which faces Esdraelon.


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When the Israelites saw this horde, they were all appalled and said to each other, 'Now they will lick the whole country clean. Not even the loftiest peaks, the gorges or the hills will be able to stand the weight of them.'


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He reconnoitred the slopes leading up to the town, located the water-points, seized them and posted pickets over them and returned to the main body.


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The chieftains of the sons of Esau, all the leaders of the Moabites and the generals of the coastal district then came to him and said,


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These Israelites do not rely so much on their spears as on the height of the mountains where they live. And admittedly it is not at all easy to scale these heights of theirs.


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'This being the case, master, avoid engaging them in a pitched battle and then you will not lose a single man.


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Stay in camp, keep all your troops there too, while your servants seize the spring which rises at the foot of the mountain,


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since that is what provides the population of Bethulia with their water supply. Thirst will then force them to surrender their town. Meanwhile, we and our men will climb the nearest mountain tops and form advance posts there to prevent anyone from leaving the town.


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Hunger will waste them, with their wives and children, and before the sword can reach them they will already be lying in the streets outside their houses.


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Accordingly, a troop of Moabites moved forward with a further five thousand Assyrians. They penetrated the valley and seized the Israelites' waterpoints and springs.


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Meanwhile the Edomites and Ammonites went and took up positions in the highlands opposite Dothan, sending some of their men to the south-east opposite Egrebel near Chous on the Wadi Mochmur. The rest of the Assyrian army took up positions in the plain, covering every inch of the ground; their tents and equipment made an immense encampment, so vast were their numbers.


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The Israelites called on the Lord their God, dispirited because the enemy had surrounded them and cut all line of retreat.


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For thirty-four days the Assyrian army, infantry, chariots, cavalrymen, had them surrounded. Every water-jar the inhabitants of Bethulia had was empty,


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their storage-wells were drying up; on no day could a man drink his fill, since their water was rationed.


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Their little children pined away, the women and young men grew weak with thirst; they collapsed in the streets and gateways of the town; they had no strength left.


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Young men, women, children, the whole people thronged clamouring round Uzziah and the chief men of the town, shouting in the presence of the assembled elders,


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'May God be judge between you and us! For you have done us great harm, by not suing for peace with the Assyrians.


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And now there is no one to help us. God has delivered us into their hands to be prostrated before them in thirst and utter helplessness.


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After all, we should be much better off as their booty than we are now; no doubt we shall be enslaved, but at least we shall be alive and not see our little ones dying before our eyes or our wives and children perishing.


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By heaven and earth and by our God, the Lord of our fathers, who is punishing us for our sins and the sins of our ancestors, we implore you to take this course now, today.'


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Then Uzziah spoke to them, 'Take heart, brothers! Let us hold out five days more. By then the Lord our God will take pity on us, for he will not desert us altogether.


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With that he dismissed the people to their various quarters. The men went to man the walls and towers of the town, sending the women and children home. The town was full of despondency.


text:
Judith was informed at the time of what had happened. She was the daughter of Merari son of Ox, son of Joseph, son of Oziel, son of Elkiah, son of Ananias, son of Gideon, son of Raphaim, son of Ahitub, son of Elijah, son of Hilkiah, son of Eliab, son of Nathanael, son of Salamiel, son of Sarasadai, son of Israel.


text:
He was supervising the men as they bound up the sheaves in the field when he caught sunstroke and had to take to his bed. He died in Bethulia, his home town, and was buried with his ancestors in the field that lies between Dothan and Balamon.


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She had had an upper room built for herself on the roof. She wore sackcloth next to the skin and dressed in widow's weeds.


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She fasted every day of her widowhood except for the Sabbath eve, the Sabbath itself, the eve of New Moon, the feast of New Moon and the joyful festivals of the House of Israel.


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Now she was very beautiful, charming to see. Her husband Manasseh had left her gold and silver, menservants and maidservants, herds and land; and she lived among all her possessions


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Hearing how the water shortage had demoralised the people and how they had complained bitterly to the headman of the town, and being also told what Uzziah had said to them and how he had given them his oath to surrender the town to the Assyrians in five days' time,


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Judith immediately sent the serving-woman who ran her household to summon Chabris and Charmis, two elders of the town.


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When these came in she said: 'Listen to me, leaders of the people of Bethulia. You were wrong to speak to the people as you did today and to bind yourself by oath, in defiance of God, to surrender the town to our enemies if the Lord did not come to your help within a set number of days.


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If you cannot sound the depths of the human heart or unravel the arguments of the human mind, how can you fathom the God who made all things, or sound his mind or unravel his purposes? No, brothers, do not provoke the anger of the Lord our God.


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Although it may not be his will to help us within the next five days, he has the power to protect us for as many days as he pleases, just as he has the power to destroy us before our enemies.


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But you have no right to demand guarantees where the designs of the Lord our God are concerned. For God is not to be threatened as a human being is, nor is he, like a mere human, to be cajoled.


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Rather, as we wait patiently for him to save, let us plead with him to help us. He will hear our voice if such is his good pleasure.


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'And indeed of recent times and still today there is not one tribe of ours, or family, or village, or town that has worshipped gods made by human hand, as once was done,


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which was the reason why our ancestors were delivered over to sword and sack, and perished in misery at the hands of our enemies.


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We for our part acknowledge no other God but him; and so we may hope he will not look on us disdainfully or desert our nation.


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'If indeed they capture us, as you expect, then all Judaea will be captured too, and our holy places plundered, and we shall answer with our blood for their profanation.


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The slaughter of our brothers, the captivity of our country, the unpeopling of our heritage, will recoil on our own heads among the nations whose slaves we shall become, and our new masters will look down on us as an outrage and a disgrace;


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for our surrender will not reinstate us in their favour; no, the Lord our God will make it a thing to be ashamed of.


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So now, brothers, let us set an example to our brothers, since their lives depend on us, and the sanctuary -- Temple and altar -- rests on us.


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'All this being so, let us rather give thanks to the Lord our God who, as he tested our ancestors, is now testing us.


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Remember how he treated Abraham, all the ordeals of Isaac, all that happened to Jacob in Syrian Mesopotamia while he kept the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother.


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For as these ordeals were intended by him to search their hearts, so now this is not vengeance that God is exacting on us, but a warning inflicted by the Lord on those who are near his heart.'


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Uzziah replied, 'Everything you have just said comes from an honest heart and no one will contradict a word of it.


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Not that today is the first time your wisdom has been displayed; from your earliest years all the people have known how shrewd you are and of how sound a heart.


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But, parched with thirst, the people forced us to act as we had promised them and to bind ourselves by an inviolable oath.


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You are a devout woman; pray to the Lord, then, to send us a downpour to fill our storage-wells, so that our faintness may pass.'


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Judith replied, 'Listen to me, I intend to do something, the memory of which will be handed down to the children of our race from age to age.


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Tonight you must be at the gate of the town. I shall make my way out with my attendant. Before the time fixed by you for surrendering the town to our enemies, the Lord will make use of me to rescue Israel.


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Uzziah and the chief men said, 'Go in peace. May the Lord show you a way to take revenge on our enemies.'


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Judith threw herself face to the ground, scattered ashes on her head, undressed as far as the sackcloth she was wearing and cried loudly to the Lord. At the same time in Jerusalem the evening incense was being offered in the Temple of God. Judith said:


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Lord, God of my ancestor Simeon, you armed him with a sword to take vengeance on the foreigners who had undone a virgin's belt to her shame, laid bare her thigh to her confusion, violated her womb to her dishonour, since, though you said, 'This must not be,' they did it.


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For this you handed their leaders over to slaughter, and their bed, defiled by their treachery, was itself betrayed in blood. You struck the slaves with the chieftains and the chieftains with their retainers.


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You left their wives to be carried off, their daughters to be taken captive, and their spoils to be shared out among the sons you loved, who had been so zealous for you, had loathed the stain put on their blood and called on you for help. O God, my God, now hear this widow too;


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for you have made the past, and what is happening now, and what will follow. What is, what will be, you have planned; what has been, you designed.


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Your purposes stood forward; 'See, here we are!' they said. For all your ways are prepared and your judgements delivered with foreknowledge.


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See the Assyrians, with their army abounding glorying in their horses and their riders, exulting in the strength of their infantry. Trust as they may in shield and spear, in bow and sling, in you they have not recognised the Lord, the breaker of battle-lines;


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yours alone is the title of Lord. Break their violence with your might, in your anger bring down their strength. For they plan to profane your holy places, to defile the tabernacle, the resting place of your glorious name, and to hack down the horn of your altar.


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Observe their arrogance, send your fury on their heads, give the strength I have in mind to this widow's hand.


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By guile of my lips strike down slave with master, and master with retainer. Break their pride by a woman's hand.


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Your strength does not lie in numbers, nor your might in strong men; since you are the God of the humble, the help of the oppressed, the support of the weak, the refuge of the forsaken, the Saviour of the despairing.


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Please, please, God of my father, God of the heritage of Israel, Master of heaven and earth, Creator of the waters, King of your whole creation, hear my prayer.


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Give me a beguiling tongue to wound and kill those who have formed such cruel designs against your covenant, against your holy dwelling-place, against Mount Zion, against the house belonging to your sons.


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And demonstrate to every nation, every tribe, that you are the Lord, God of all power, all might, and that the race of Israel has no protector but you.


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she got up from the floor, summoned her maid and went down into the rooms which she used on Sabbath days and festivals.


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There she removed the sackcloth she was wearing and taking off her widow's dress, she washed all over, anointed herself plentifully with perfumes, dressed her hair, wrapped a turban round it and put on the robe of joy she used to wear when her husband Manasseh was alive.


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She put sandals on her feet, put on her necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings and all her jewellery, and made herself beautiful enough to beguile the eye of any man who saw her.


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Then she handed her maid a skin of wine and a flask of oil, filled a bag with barley girdle-cakes, cakes of dried fruit and pure loaves, and wrapping all these provisions up gave them to her as well.


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They then went out, making for the town gate of Bethulia. There they found Uzziah waiting with the two elders of the town, Chabris and Charmis.


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When they saw Judith, her face so changed and her clothes so different, they were lost in admiration of her beauty. They said to her:


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May the God of our ancestors keep you in his favour! May he crown your designs with success to the glory of the children of Israel, to the greater glory of Jerusalem!


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Judith worshipped God, and then she said, 'Have the town gate opened for me so that I can go out and fulfil all the wishes you expressed to me.' They did as she asked and gave orders to the young men to open the gate for her.


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This done, Judith went out accompanied by her maid, while the men of the town watched her all the way down the mountain and across the valley, until they lost sight of her.


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As the women were making straight through the valley, an advance unit of Assyrians intercepted them,


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and, seizing Judith, began to question her. 'Which side are you on? Where do you come from? Where are you going?' 'I am a daughter of the Hebrews,' she replied, 'and I am fleeing from them since they will soon be your prey.


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I am on my way to see Holofernes, the general of your army, to give him trustworthy information. I shall show him the road to take if he wants to capture all the hill-country without losing one man or one life.'


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As the men listened to what she was saying, they stared in astonishment at the sight of such a beautiful woman.


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'It will prove the saving of you,' they said to her, 'coming down to see our master of your own accord. You had better go to his tent; some of our men will escort you and hand you over to him.


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Once you are in his presence do not be afraid. Tell him what you have just told us and you will be well treated.'


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They then detailed a hundred of their men as escort for herself and her attendant, and these led them to the tent of Holofernes.


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News of her coming had already spread through the tents, and there was a general stir in the camp. She was still outside the tent of Holofernes waiting to be announced, when a crowd began forming round her.


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They were immediately impressed by her beauty and impressed with the Israelites because of her. 'Who could despise a people who have women like this?' they kept saying. 'Better not leave one of them alive; let any go and they could twist the whole world round their fingers!'


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Holofernes was resting on his bed under a canopy of purple and gold studded with emeralds and precious stones.


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The men announced her and he came out to the entrance to the tent, with silver torches carried before him.


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When Judith confronted the general and his adjutant, the beauty of her face astonished them all. She fell on her face and did homage to him, but his servants raised her from the ground.


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'Courage, woman,' Holofernes said, 'do not be afraid. I have never hurt anyone who chose to serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of the whole world.


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Even now, if your nation of mountain dwellers had not insulted me, I would not have raised a spear against them. This was their fault, not mine.


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But tell me, why have you fled from them and come to us? . . . Anyhow, this will prove the saving of you. Courage! You will live through this night, and many after.


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No one will hurt you. On the contrary, you will be treated as well as any who serve my lord King Nebuchadnezzar.'


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Judith said, 'Please listen favourably to what your slave has to say. Permit your servant to speak in your presence, I shall speak no word of a lie to my lord tonight.


text:
You have only to follow your servant's advice and God will bring your work to a successful conclusion; in what my lord undertakes he will not fail.


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Long life to Nebuchadnezzar, king of the whole world, who has sent you to set every living soul to rights; may his power endure! Since, thanks to you, he is served not only by human beings, but because of your might the wild animals themselves, the cattle, and the birds of the air are to live in the service of Nebuchadnezzar and his whole House.


text:
'We have indeed heard of your genius and adroitness of mind. It is known everywhere in the world that throughout the empire you have no rival for ability, wealth of experience and brilliance in waging war.


text:
We have also heard what Achior said in his speech to your council. The men of Bethulia having spared him, he has told them everything that he said to you.


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Now, master and lord, do not disregard what he said; keep it in your mind, since it is true; our nation will not be punished, the sword will indeed have no power over them, unless they sin against their God.


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But as it is, my lord need expect no repulse or setback, since death is about to fall on their heads, for sin has gained a hold over them, provoking the anger of their God each time that they commit it.


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As they are short of food and their water is giving out, they have resolved to fall back on their cattle and decided to make use of all the things that God has, by his laws, forbidden them to eat.


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Not only have they made up their minds to eat the first-fruits of corn and the tithes of wine and oil, though these have been consecrated by them and set apart for the priests who serve in Jerusalem in the presence of our God, and may not lawfully even be handled by ordinary people,


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but they have sent men to Jerusalem -- where the inhabitants are doing much the same -- to bring them back authorisation from the Council of Elders.


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Now this will be the outcome: when the permission arrives and they act on it, that very day they will be delivered over to you for destruction.


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'When I, your servant, came to know all this, I fled from them. God has sent me to do things with you at which the world will be astonished when it hears.


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Your servant is a devout woman; she honours the God of heaven day and night. I therefore propose, my lord, to stay with you. I, your servant, shall go out every night into the valley and pray to God to let me know when they have committed their sin.


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I shall then come and tell you, so that you can march out with your whole army; and none of them will be able to resist you.


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I shall be your guide right across Judaea until you reach Jerusalem; there I shall enthrone you in the very middle of the city. And then you can round them up like shepherd-less sheep, with never a dog daring to bark at you. Foreknowledge tells me this; this has been foretold to me and I have been sent to reveal it to you.'


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Her words pleased Holofernes, and all his adjutants. Full of admiration at her wisdom they exclaimed,


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'There is no woman like her from one end of the earth to the other, so lovely of face and so wise of speech!'


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Holofernes said, 'God has done well to send you ahead of the others. Strength will be ours, and ruin theirs who have insulted my lord.


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As for you, you are as beautiful as you are eloquent; if you do as you have promised, your God shall be my God, and you yourself shall make your home in the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar and be famous throughout the world.'


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With that he had her brought in to where his silver dinner service was already laid, and had his own food served to her and his own wine poured out for her.


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But Judith said, 'I would rather not eat this, in case I incur some fault. What I have brought will be enough for me.'


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'Suppose your provisions run out,' Holofernes asked, 'how could we get more of the same sort? We have no one belonging to your race here.'


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'May your soul live, my lord,' Judith answered, 'the Lord will have used me to accomplish his plan, before your servant has finished these provisions.'


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Holofernes' adjutants then took her to a tent where she slept until midnight. A little before the morning watch, she got up.


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She had already sent this request to Holofernes, 'Let my lord kindly give orders for your servant to be allowed to go out and pray,'


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and Holofernes had ordered his guards not to prevent her. She stayed in the camp for three days; she went out each night to the valley of Bethulia and washed at the spring where the picket had been posted.


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As she went she prayed to the Lord God of Israel to guide her in her plan to relieve the children of her people.


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Having purified herself, she would return and stay in her tent until her meal was brought her in the evening.


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On the fourth day Holofernes gave a banquet, inviting only his own staff and none of the other officers.


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He said to Bagoas, the officer in charge of his personal affairs, 'Go and persuade that Hebrew woman you are looking after to come and join us and eat and drink in our company.


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We shall be disgraced if we let a woman like this go without seducing her. If we do not seduce her, everyone will laugh at us!'


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Bagoas then left Holofernes and went to see Judith. 'Would this young and lovely woman condescend to come to my lord?' he asked. 'She will occupy the seat of honour opposite him, drink the joyful wine with us and be treated today like one of the Assyrian ladies who stand in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar.'


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'Who am I', Judith replied, 'to resist my lord? I shall not hesitate to do whatever he wishes, and doing this will be my joy to my dying day.'


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So she got up and put on her dress and all her feminine adornments. Her maid preceded her, and on the floor in front of Holofernes spread the fleece which Bagoas had given Judith for her daily use to lie on as she ate.


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Judith came in and took her place. The heart of Holofernes was ravished at the sight; his very soul was stirred. He was seized with a violent desire to sleep with her; and indeed since the first day he saw her, he had been waiting for an opportunity to seduce her.


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'I am delighted to do so, my lord, for since my birth I have never felt my life more worthwhile than today.'


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Holofernes was so enchanted with her that he drank far more wine than he had drunk on any other day in his life.


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It grew late and his staff hurried away. Bagoas closed the tent from the outside, having shown out those who still lingered in his lord's presence. They went to their beds wearied with too much drinking,


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Judith then told her maid to stay just outside the bedroom and wait for her to come out, as she did every morning. She had let it be understood she would be going out to her prayers and had also spoken of her intention to Bagoas.


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By now everyone had left Holofernes, and no one, either important or unimportant, was left in the bedroom. Standing beside the bed, Judith murmured to herself: Lord God, to whom all strength belongs, prosper what my hands are now to do for the greater glory of Jerusalem;


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now is the time to recover your heritage and to further my plans to crush the enemies arrayed against us.


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coming closer to the bed she caught him by the hair and said, 'Make me strong today, Lord God of Israel!'


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She then rolled his body off the bed and pulled down the canopy from the bedposts. After which, she went out and gave the head of Holofernes to her maid


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who put it in her food bag. The two then left the camp together, as they always did when they went to pray. Once they were out of the camp, they skirted the ravine, climbed the slope to Bethulia and made for the gates.


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From a distance, Judith shouted to the guards on the gates, 'Open the gate! Open! For the Lord our God is with us still, displaying his strength in Israel and his might against our enemies, as he has done today!'


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Everyone, great and small, came running down, since her arrival was unexpected. They threw the gate open, welcomed the women, lit a fire to see by and crowded round them.


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Then Judith raised her voice and said, 'Praise God! Praise him! Praise the God who has not withdrawn his mercy from the House of Israel, but has shattered our enemies by my hand tonight!'


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She pulled the head out of the bag and held it for them to see. 'This is the head of Holofernes, general-in-chief of the Assyrian army; here is the canopy under which he lay drunk! The Lord has struck him down by the hand of a woman!


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Glory to the Lord who has protected me in the course I took! My face seduced him, only to his own undoing; he committed no sin with me to shame me or disgrace me.'


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Overcome with emotion, the people all prostrated themselves and worshipped God, exclaiming with one voice, 'Blessings on you, our God, for confounding your people's enemies today!'


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Uzziah then said to Judith: May you be blessed, my daughter, by God Most High, beyond all women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth, who guided you to cut off the head of the leader of our enemies!


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The trust which you have shown will not pass from human hearts, as they commemorate the power of God for evermore.


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God grant you may be always held in honour and rewarded with blessings, since you did not consider your own life when our nation was brought to its knees, but warded off our ruin, walking in the right path before our God. And the people all said, 'Amen! Amen!'


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When morning comes and the sun is up, let every man take his arms and every able-bodied man leave the town. Appoint a leader for them, as if you meant to march down to the plain against the Assyrian advanced post. But you must not do this.


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The Assyrians will gather up their equipment, make for their camp and wake up their commanders; they in turn will rush to the tent of Holofernes and not be able to find him. They will then be seized with panic and flee at your advance.


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All you and the others who live in the territory of Israel will have to do is to give chase and slaughter them as they retreat.


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'But before you do this, call me Achior the Ammonite, for him to see and identify the man who held the House of Israel in contempt, the man who sent him to us as someone already doomed to die.'


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So they had Achior brought from Uzziah's house. No sooner had he arrived and seen the head of Holofernes held by a member of the people's assembly than he fell on his face in a faint.


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They lifted him up. He then threw himself at Judith's feet and, prostrate before her, exclaimed: May you be blessed in all the tents of Judah and in every nation; those who hear your name will be seized with dread!


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'Now tell me everything that you have done in these past few days.' And surrounded by the people, Judith told him everything she had done from the day she left Bethulia to the moment when she was speaking.


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Achior, recognising all that the God of Israel had done, believed ardently in him and, accepting circumcision, was permanently incorporated into the House of Israel.


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At daybreak they hung the head of Holofernes on the ramparts. Every man took his arms and they all went out in groups to the slopes of the mountain.


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Seeing this, the Assyrians sent word to their leaders, who in turn reported to the generals, the captains of thousands and all the other officers;


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and these in their turn reported to the tent of Holofernes. 'Rouse our master,' they said to his major-domo, 'these slaves have dared to march down on us to attack -- and to be wiped out to a man!'


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Bagoas went inside and struck the curtain dividing the tent, thinking that Holofernes was sleeping with Judith.


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But as no one seemed to hear, he drew the curtain and went into the bedroom, to find him thrown down dead on the threshold, with his head cut off.


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He then went into the tent which Judith had occupied and could not find her either. Then, rushing out to the men, he shouted,


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'The slaves have rebelled! A single Hebrew woman has brought shame on the House of Nebuchadnezzar. Holofernes is lying dead on the ground, without his head!'


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When they heard this, the leaders of the Assyrian army tore their tunics in consternation, and the camp rang with their wild cries and their shouting.


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Panic-stricken and trembling, no two of them could keep together, the rout was complete, with one accord they fled along every track across the plain or through the mountains.


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The men who had been bivouacking in the mountains round Bethulia were fleeing too. Then all the Israelite warriors charged down on them.


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Uzziah sent messengers to Betomasthaim, Bebai, Choba, Kola, throughout the whole territory of Israel, to inform them of what had happened and to urge them all to hurl themselves on the enemy and annihilate them.


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As soon as the Israelites heard the news, they fell on them as one man and massacred them all the way to Choba. The men of Jerusalem and the entire mountain country also rallied to them, once they had been informed of the events in the enemy camp. Then the men of Gilead and Galilee attacked them on the flank and struck at them fiercely till they neared Damascus and its territory.


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All the other inhabitants of Bethulia fell on the Assyrian camp and looted it to their great profit.


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The Israelites returning from the slaughter seized what was left. The hamlets and villages of the mountain country and the plain also captured a great deal of booty, since there were vast stores of it.


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Joakim the high priest and the entire Council of Elders of Israel, who were in Jerusalem, came to gaze on the benefits that the Lord had lavished on Israel and to see Judith and congratulate her.


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On coming to her house, they blessed her with one accord, saying: You are the glory of Jerusalem! You are the great pride of Israel! You are the highest honour of our race!


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By doing all this with your own hand you have deserved well of Israel, and God has approved what you have done. May you be blessed by the Lord Almighty in all the days to come! And the people all said, 'Amen!'


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The people looted the camp for thirty days. They gave Judith the tent of Holofernes, all his silver plate, his divans, his drinking bowls and all his furniture. She took this, loaded her mule, harnessed her carts and heaped the things into them.


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All the women of Israel, hurrying to see her, formed choirs of dancers in her honour. Judith took wands of vine-leaves in her hand and distributed them to the women who accompanied her;


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she and her companions put on wreaths of olive. Then she took her place at the head of the procession and led the women as they danced. All the men of Israel, armed and garlanded, followed them, singing hymns.


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With all Israel round her, Judith broke into this song of thanksgiving and the whole people sang this hymn:


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Break into song for my God, to the tambourine, sing in honour of the Lord, to the cymbal, let psalm and canticle mingle for him, extol his name, invoke it!


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For the Lord is a God who breaks battle-lines; he has pitched his camp in the middle of his people to deliver me from the hands of my oppressors.


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Assyria came down from the mountains of the north, came with tens of thousands of his army. Their multitude blocked the ravines, their horses covered the hills.


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He threatened to burn up my country, destroy my young men with the sword, dash my sucklings to the ground, make prey of my little ones, carry off my maidens;


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For their hero did not fall at the young men's hands, it was not the sons of Titans struck him down, no proud giants made that attack, but Judith, the daughter of Merari, who disarmed him with the beauty of her face.


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She laid aside her widow's dress to raise up those who were oppressed in Israel; she anointed her face with perfume,


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Her sandal ravished his eye, her beauty took his soul prisoner and the scimitar cut through his neck!


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These were struck with fear when my lowly ones raised the war cry, these were seized with terror when my weak ones shouted, and when they raised their voices these gave ground.


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The children of mere girls ran them through, pierced them like the offspring of deserters. They perished in the battle of my Lord!


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I shall sing a new song to my God. Lord, you are great, you are glorious, wonderfully strong, unconquerable.


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May your whole creation serve you! For you spoke and things came into being, you sent your breath and they were put together, and no one can resist your voice.


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Should mountains be tossed from their foundations to mingle with the waves, should rocks melt like wax before your face, to those who fear you, you would still be merciful.


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A little thing indeed is a sweetly smelling sacrifice, still less the fat burned for you in burnt offering; but whoever fears the Lord is great for ever.


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Woe to the nations who rise against my race! The Lord Almighty will punish them on judgement day. He will send fire and worms in their flesh and they will weep with pain for evermore.


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When they reached Jerusalem they fell on their faces before God and, once the people had been purified, they presented their burnt offerings, voluntary offerings and gifts.


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All Holofernes' property given her by the people, and the canopy she herself had stripped from his bed, Judith vowed to God as a dedicated offering.


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For three months the people gave themselves up to rejoicings in front of the Temple in Jerusalem, where Judith stayed with them.


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When this was over, everyone returned home. Judith went back to Bethulia and lived on her property; as long as she lived, she enjoyed a great reputation throughout the country.


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She had many suitors, but all her days, from the time her husband Manasseh died and was gathered to his people, she never gave herself to another man.


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Her fame spread more and more, the older she grew in her husband's house; she lived to the age of one hundred and five. She emancipated her maid, then died in Bethulia and was buried in the cave where Manasseh her husband lay.


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The House of Israel mourned her for seven days. Before her death she had distributed her property among her own relations and those of her husband Manasseh.


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Never again during the lifetime of Judith, nor indeed for a long time after her death, did anyone trouble the Israelites.


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It was in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus whose empire stretched from India to Ethiopia and comprised one hundred and twenty-seven provinces. (a) In the second year of the reign of the Great King, Ahasuerus, on the first day of Nisan, a dream came to Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, (b) a Jew living at Susa and holding high office at the royal court. (c) He was one of the captives whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported from Jerusalem with Jeconiah king of Judah. (d) This was his dream. There were cries and noise, thunder and earthquakes, and disorder over the whole earth. (e) Then two great dragons came forward, each ready for the fray, and set up a great roar. (f) At the sound of them every nation made ready to wage war against the nation of the just. (g) A day of darkness and gloom, of affliction and distress, oppression and great disturbance on earth! (h) The entire upright nation was thrown into consternation at the fear of the evils awaiting it and prepared for death, crying out to God. (i) Then from its cry, as from a little spring, there grew a great river, a flood of water. (j) Light came as the sun rose, and the humble were raised up and devoured the mighty. (k) On awakening from this dream and vision of God's designs, Mordecai thought deeply about the matter, trying his best all day to discover what its meaning might be. (l) Mordecai was lodging at court with Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the palace. (m) Having got wind of their plotting and gained knowledge of their designs, he discovered that they were preparing to assassinate King Ahasuerus, and he warned the king against them. (n) The king gave orders for the two officers to be tortured; they confessed and were executed. (o) He then had these events entered in his Record Book, while Mordecai himself also wrote an account of them. (p) The king then appointed Mordecai to an office at court and rewarded him with presents. (q) But Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, who enjoyed high favour with the king, determined to injure Mordecai in revenge for the affair of the king's two officers.


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in the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet at his court for all his officers-of-state and ministers, Persian and Median army-commanders, nobles and provincial governors.


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Thus he displayed the riches and splendour of his empire and the pomp and glory of his majesty; the festivities went on for a long time, a hundred and eighty days.


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When this period was over, for seven days the king gave a banquet for all the people living in the citadel of Susa, to high and low alike, on the esplanade in the gardens of the royal palace.


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There were white and violet hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple thread to silver rings on marble columns, couches of gold and silver on a pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and precious stones.


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For drinking there were golden cups of various design and plenty of wine provided by the king with royal liberality.


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The royal edict did not, however, make drinking obligatory, the king having instructed the officials of his household to treat each guest according to the guest's own wishes.


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On the seventh day, when the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven officers in attendance on the person of King Ahasuerus,


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to bring Queen Vashti before the king, crowned with her royal diadem, in order to display her beauty to the people and the officers-of-state, since she was very beautiful.


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But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command delivered by the officers. The king was very angry at this and his rage grew hot.


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Addressing himself to the wise men who were versed in the law -- it being the practice to refer matters affecting the king to expert lawyers and jurists-


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he summoned Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, seven Persian and Median officers-of-state who had privileged access to the royal presence and occupied the leading positions in the kingdom.


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'According to law,' he said, 'what is to be done to Queen Vashti for not obeying the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the officers?'


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In the presence of the king and the officers-of-state, Memucan replied, 'Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also all the officers-of-state and all the peoples inhabiting the provinces of King Ahasuerus.


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The queen's conduct will soon become known to all the women, who will adopt a contemptuous attitude towards their own husbands. They will say, "King Ahasuerus himself commanded Queen Vashti to appear before him and she did not come."


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Before the day is out, the wives of the Persian and Median officers-of-state will be telling every one of the king's officers-of-state what they have heard about the queen's behaviour; and that will mean contempt and anger all round.


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If it is the king's pleasure, let him issue a royal edict, to be irrevocably incorporated into the laws of the Persians and Medes, to the effect that Vashti is never to appear again before King Ahasuerus, and let the king confer her royal dignity on a worthier woman.


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Let this edict issued by the king be proclaimed throughout his empire -- which is great -- and all the women will henceforth bow to the authority of their husbands, both high and low alike.'


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He sent letters to all the provinces of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each nation in its own language, ensuring that every husband should be master in his own house.


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Some time after this, when the king's wrath had subsided, Ahasuerus remembered Vashti, how she had behaved, and the measures taken against her.


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The king's gentlemen-in-waiting said, 'A search should be made on the king's behalf for beautiful young virgins,


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and the king appoint commissioners throughout the provinces of his realm to bring all these beautiful young virgins to the citadel of Susa, to the harem under the authority of Hegai the king's eunuch, custodian of the women. Here he will give them whatever they need for enhancing their beauty,


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and the girl who pleases the king can take Vashti's place as queen.' This advice pleased the king and he acted on it.


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Now in the citadel of Susa there lived a Jew called Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin,


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who had been deported from Jerusalem among the captives taken away with Jeconiah king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,


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and was now bringing up a certain Hadassah, otherwise called Esther, his uncle's daughter, who had lost both father and mother; the girl had a good figure and a beautiful face, and on the death of her parents Mordecai had adopted her as his daughter.


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On the promulgation of the royal command and edict a great number of girls were brought to the citadel of Susa where they were entrusted to Hegai. Esther, too, was taken to the king's palace and entrusted to Hegai, the custodian of the women.


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The girl pleased him and won his favour. Not only did he quickly provide her with all she needed for her dressing room and her meals, but he gave her seven special maids from the king's household and transferred her and her maids to the best part of the harem.


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Mordecai walked up and down in front of the courtyard of the harem all day and every day, to learn how Esther was and how she was being treated.


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Each girl had to appear in turn before King Ahasuerus after a delay of twelve months fixed by the regulations for the women; this preparatory period was occupied as follows: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with spices and lotions commonly used for feminine beauty treatment.


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When each girl went to the king, she was given whatever she wanted to take with her, since she then moved from the harem into the royal household.


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She went there in the evening, and the following morning returned to another harem entrusted to the care of Shaashgaz, the king's officer, custodian of the concubines. She did not go to the king any more, unless he was particularly pleased with her and had her summoned by name.


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But when it was the turn of Esther the daughter of Abihail, whose nephew Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter, to go into the king's presence, she did not ask for anything beyond what had been assigned her by Hegai, the king's officer, custodian of the women. Esther won the approval of all who saw her.


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She was brought to King Ahasuerus in his royal apartments in the tenth month, which is called Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign;


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and the king liked Esther better than any of the other women; none of the other girls found so much favour and approval with him. So he set the royal diadem on her head and proclaimed her queen instead of Vashti.


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The king then gave a great banquet, Esther's banquet, for all his officers-of-state and ministers, decreed a holiday for all the provinces and distributed largesse with royal prodigality.


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she did not divulge her parentage or race, in obedience to the orders of Mordecai, whose instructions she continued to follow as when she had been under his care.


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At this time Mordecai was attached to the Chancellery and two malcontents, Bigthan and Teresh, officers in the king's service as Guards of the Threshold, plotted to assassinate King Ahasuerus.


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Mordecai came to hear of this and informed Queen Esther, who in turn, on Mordecai's authority, told the king.


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The matter was investigated and proved to be true. The two conspirators were sent to the gallows, and the incident was recorded in the Annals, in the royal presence.


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Shortly afterwards, King Ahasuerus singled out Haman son of Hammedatha, a native of Agag, for promotion. He raised him in rank, granting him precedence over all his colleagues, the other officers-of-state,


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and all the royal officials employed at the Chancellery used to bow low and prostrate themselves whenever Haman appeared -- such was the king's command. Mordecai refused either to bow or to prostrate himself.


