Nehemiah Overcomes Opposition to His Work

¹When Sanballat heard that we Jews had begun rebuilding the wall, he became furious and began to ridicule us.

²In front of his companions and the Samaritan troops he said, “What do these miserable Jews think they're doing? Do they intend to rebuild the city? Do they think that by offering sacrifices they can finish the work in one day? Can they make building stones out of heaps of burnt rubble?”

³Tobiah was standing there beside him, and he added, “What kind of wall could they ever build? Even a fox could knock it down!”

⁴I prayed, “Hear how they make fun of us, O God! Let their ridicule fall on their own heads. Let them be robbed of everything they have, and let them be taken as prisoners to a foreign land.

⁵Don't forgive the evil they do and don't forget their sins, for they have insulted us who are building.”

⁶So we went on rebuilding the wall, and soon it was half its full height, because the people were eager to work.

⁷Sanballat, Tobiah, and the people of Arabia, Ammon, and Ashdod heard that we were making progress in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem and that the gaps in the wall were being closed, and they became very angry.

⁸So they all plotted together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion,

⁹but we prayed to our God and kept men on guard against them day and night.

¹⁰The people of Judah had a song they sang: “We grow weak carrying burdens; There's so much rubble to take away. How can we build the wall today?”

¹¹Our enemies thought we would not see them or know what was happening until they were already upon us, killing us and putting an end to our work.

¹²But time after time Jews who were living among our enemies came to warn us of the plans our enemies were making against us.

¹³So I armed the people with swords, spears, and bows, and stationed them by clans behind the wall, wherever it was still unfinished.

¹⁴I saw that the people were worried, so I said to them and to their leaders and officials, “Don't be afraid of our enemies. Remember how great and terrifying the Lord is, and fight for your relatives, your children, your wives, and your homes.”

¹⁵Our enemies heard that we had found out what they were plotting, and they realized that God had defeated their plans. Then all of us went back to rebuilding the wall.

¹⁶From then on half of my men worked and half stood guard, wearing coats of armor and armed with spears, shields, and bows. And our leaders gave their full support to the people

¹⁷who were rebuilding the wall. Even those who carried building materials worked with one hand and kept a weapon in the other,

¹⁸and everyone who was building kept a sword strapped to their waist. The man who was to sound the alarm on the bugle stayed with me.

¹⁹I told the people and their officials and leaders, “The work is spread out over such a distance that we are widely separated from one another on the wall.

²⁰If you hear the bugle, gather around me. Our God will fight for us.”

²¹So every day, from dawn until the stars came out at night, half of us worked on the wall, while the other half stood guard with spears.

²²During this time I told the men in charge that they and all their helpers had to stay in Jerusalem at night, so that we could guard the city at night as well as work in the daytime.

²³I didn't take off my clothes even at night, neither did any of my companions nor my servants nor my bodyguards. And we all kept our weapons at hand.

Oppression of the Poor

¹Some time later many of the people, both men and women, began to complain against the other Jews.

²Some said, “We have large families, we need grain to keep us alive.”

³Others said, “We have had to mortgage our fields and vineyards and houses to get enough grain to keep us from starving.”

⁴Still others said, “We had to borrow money to pay the royal tax on our fields and vineyards.

⁵We are of the same race as the other Jews. Aren't our children just as good as theirs? But we have to make slaves of our children. Some of our daughters have already been sold as slaves. We are helpless because our fields and vineyards have been taken away from us.”

⁶When I heard their complaints, I grew angry

⁷and decided to act. I denounced the leaders and officials of the people and told them, “You are oppressing your own relatives!” I called a public assembly to deal with the problem

⁸and said, “As far as we have been able, we have been buying back our Jewish relatives who had to sell themselves to foreigners. Now you are forcing your own relatives to sell themselves to you, their own people!” The leaders were silent and could find nothing to say.

⁹Then I said, “What you are doing is wrong! You ought to obey God and do what's right. Then you would not give our enemies, the Gentiles, any reason to ridicule us.

¹⁰I have let the people borrow money and grain from me, and so have my companions and those who work for me. Now let's give up all our claims to repayment.

¹¹Cancel all the debts they owe you—money or grain or wine or olive oil. And give them back their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses right now!”

¹²The leaders replied, “We'll do as you say. We'll give the property back and not try to collect the debts.” I called in the priests and made the leaders swear in front of them to keep the promise they had just made.

¹³Then I took off the sash I was wearing around my waist and shook it out. “This is how God will shake any of you who don't keep your promise,” I said. “God will take away your houses and everything you own, and will leave you with nothing.” Everyone who was present said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord. And the leaders kept their promise.

Nehemiah's Unselfishness

¹⁴During all the twelve years that I was governor of the land of Judah, from the twentieth year that Artaxerxes was emperor until his thirty-second year, neither my relatives nor I ate the food I was entitled to have as governor.

¹⁵Every governor who had been in office before me had been a burden to the people and had demanded forty silver coins a day for food and wine. Even their servants had oppressed the people. But I acted differently, because I honored God.

¹⁶I put all my energy into rebuilding the wall and did not acquire any property. Everyone who worked for me joined in the rebuilding.

¹⁷I regularly fed at my table a hundred and fifty of the Jewish people and their leaders, besides all the people who came to me from the surrounding nations.

¹⁸Every day I served one beef, six of the best sheep, and many chickens, and every ten days I provided a fresh supply of wine. But I knew what heavy burdens the people had to bear, and so I did not claim the allowance that the governor is entitled to.

¹⁹I pray you, O God, remember to my credit everything that I have done for this people.

Queen Vashti Defies King Xerxes

^1-2From his royal throne in Persia's capital city of Susa, King Xerxes ruled 127 provinces, all the way from India to Ethiopia.

³In the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his officials and administrators. The armies of Persia and Media were present, as well as the governors and noblemen of the provinces.

⁴For six whole months he made a show of the riches of the imperial court with all its splendor and majesty.

⁵After that, the king gave a banquet for all the people in the capital city of Susa, rich and poor alike. It lasted a whole week and was held in the gardens of the royal palace.

⁶The courtyard there was decorated with blue and white cotton curtains, tied by cords of fine purple linen to silver rings on marble columns. Couches made of gold and silver had been placed in the courtyard, which was paved with white marble, red feldspar, shining mother-of-pearl, and blue turquoise.

⁷Drinks were served in gold cups, no two of them alike, and the king was generous with the royal wine.

⁸There were no limits on the drinks; the king had given orders to the palace servants that everyone could have as much as they wanted.

⁹Meanwhile, inside the royal palace Queen Vashti was giving a banquet for the women.

¹⁰On the seventh day of his banquet the king was drinking and feeling happy, so he called in the seven eunuchs who were his personal servants, Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas.

¹¹He ordered them to bring in Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown. The queen was a beautiful woman, and the king wanted to show off her beauty to the officials and all his guests.

¹²But when the servants told Queen Vashti of the king's command, she refused to come. This made the king furious.

¹³Now it was the king's custom to ask for expert opinion on questions of law and order, so he called for his advisers, who would know what should be done.

¹⁴Those he most often turned to for advice were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan—seven officials of Persia and Media who held the highest offices in the kingdom.

¹⁵He said to these men, “I, King Xerxes, sent my servants to Queen Vashti with a command, and she refused to obey it! What does the law say that we should do with her?”

¹⁶Then Memucan declared to the king and his officials: “Queen Vashti has insulted not only the king but also his officials—in fact, every man in the empire!

¹⁷Every woman in the empire will start looking down on her husband as soon as she hears what the queen has done. They'll say, ‘King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to come to him, and she refused.’

¹⁸When the wives of the royal officials of Persia and Media hear about the queen's behavior, they will be telling their husbands about it before the day is out. Wives everywhere will have no respect for their husbands, and husbands will be angry with their wives.

¹⁹If it please Your Majesty, issue a royal proclamation that Vashti may never again appear before the king. Have it written into the laws of Persia and Media, so that it can never be changed. Then give her place as queen to some better woman.

²⁰When your proclamation is made known all over this huge empire, every woman will treat her husband with proper respect, whether he's rich or poor.”

²¹The king and his officials liked this idea, and the king did what Memucan suggested.

²²To each of the royal provinces he sent a message in the language and the system of writing of that province, saying that every husband should be the master of his home and speak with final authority.

Esther Becomes Queen

¹Later, even after the king's anger had cooled down, he kept thinking about what Vashti had done and about his proclamation against her.

²So some of the king's advisers who were close to him suggested, “Why don't you make a search to find some beautiful young virgins?

³You can appoint officials in every province of the empire and have them bring all these beautiful young women to your harem here in Susa, the capital city. Put them in the care of Hegai, the eunuch who is in charge of your women, and let them be given a beauty treatment.

⁴Then take the young woman you like best and make her queen in Vashti's place.” The king thought this was good advice, so he followed it.

⁵There in Susa lived a Jew named Mordecai son of Jair; he was from the tribe of Benjamin and was a descendant of Kish and Shimei.

⁶When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took King Jehoiachin of Judah into exile from Jerusalem, along with a group of captives, Mordecai was among them.

⁷He had a cousin, Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah; she was a beautiful young woman, and had a good figure. At the death of her parents, Mordecai had adopted her and brought her up as his own daughter.

⁸When the king had issued his new proclamation and many young women were being brought to Susa, Esther was among them. She too was put in the royal palace in the care of Hegai, who had charge of the harem.

⁹Hegai liked Esther, and she won his favor. He lost no time in beginning her beauty treatment of massage and special diet. He gave her the best place in the harem and assigned seven young women specially chosen from the royal palace to serve her.

¹⁰Now, on the advice of Mordecai, Esther had kept it secret that she was Jewish.

¹¹Every day Mordecai would walk back and forth in front of the courtyard of the harem, in order to find out how she was getting along and what was going to happen to her.

¹²The regular beauty treatment for the women lasted a year—massages with oil of myrrh for six months and with oil of balsam for six more. After that, each woman would be taken in turn to King Xerxes.

¹³When she went from the harem to the palace, she could wear whatever she wanted.

¹⁴She would go there in the evening, and the next morning she would be taken to another harem and put in the care of Shaashgaz, the eunuch in charge of the king's concubines. She would not go to the king again unless he liked her enough to ask for her by name.

¹⁵The time came for Esther to go to the king. Esther—the daughter of Abihail and the cousin of Mordecai, who had adopted her as his daughter; Esther—admired by everyone who saw her. When her turn came, she wore just what Hegai, the eunuch in charge of the harem, advised her to wear.

¹⁶So in Xerxes' seventh year as king, in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, Esther was brought to King Xerxes in the royal palace.

¹⁷The king liked her more than any of the other women, and more than any of the others she won his favor and affection. He placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

¹⁸Then the king gave a great banquet in Esther's honor and invited all his officials and administrators. He proclaimed a holiday for the whole empire and distributed gifts worthy of a king.

Mordecai Saves the King's Life

¹⁹Meanwhile Mordecai had been appointed by the king to an administrative position.

²⁰As for Esther, she had still not let it be known that she was Jewish. Mordecai had told her not to tell anyone, and she obeyed him in this, just as she had obeyed him when she was a little girl under his care.

²¹During the time that Mordecai held office in the palace, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the palace eunuchs who guarded the entrance to the king's rooms, became hostile to King Xerxes and plotted to assassinate him.

²²Mordecai learned about it and told Queen Esther, who then told the king what Mordecai had found out.

²³There was an investigation, and it was discovered that the report was true, so both men were hanged on the gallows. The king ordered an account of this to be written down in the official records of the empire.

²⁷The Lord gave us mind and conscience; we cannot hide from ourselves.

²⁸A king will remain in power as long as his rule is honest, just, and fair.

²⁹We admire the strength of youth and respect the gray hair of age.

³⁰Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways.