11When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. 2But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. 3It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them
12Ephraim feeds on the wind; he pursues the east wind all day and multiplies lies and violence. He makes a treaty with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt. 2The Lord has a charge to bring against Judah; he will punish Jacob according to his ways and
7This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king's share had been harvested and just as the second crop was coming up. 2When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, Sovereign Lord , forgive! How can
1Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. 2The people commended all the men
1On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand ov
1Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz. 2And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find fav
1One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for? 2Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on
1Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, Come over here, my friend, and sit down. So he went over and sat down. 2Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, Sit h
2This is what the Lord says: For three sins of Moab, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because he burned, as if to lime, the bones of Edom's king, 2I will send fire upon Moab that will consume the fortresses of Kerioth. Moab will go dow
3Hear this word the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel-against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt: 2You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins. 3Do two walk together unl
4Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, Bring us some drinks! 2The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his holiness: The time will surely come when you will be taken a
5Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lament I take up concerning you: 2Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up. 3This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The city that marches out a thousand
6Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come! 2Go to Calneh and look at it; go from there to great Hamath, and then go down to Gath in P
1On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God, 2because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but
1King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. 2A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it: Memorandum: 3In the first year of King Cyrus
6It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. 3Now Daniel so distinguished him
1After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. 2All the royal officials at the king's gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for
1When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. 2But he went only as far as the king's gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed
1On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king's hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. 2When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he wa
1That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. 2It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's officers who gua