Quotes About Faith

Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed,

along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam,

Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah,

over the Gate of Ephraim, the Jeshanah Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate. And they stopped at the Gate of the Guard.

as well as the priests with their trumpets—Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah—

because they had not met the Israelites with food and water, but had hired Balaam to call down a curse against them (although our God had turned the curse into a blessing).

Then I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God restored to them, along with the grain offerings and frankincense.

I also learned that because the portions for the Levites had not been given to them, all the Levites and singers responsible for performing the service had gone back to their own fields.

So I rebuked the officials and asked, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” Then I gathered the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts,

Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my deeds of loving devotion for the house of my God and for its services.

Then I rebuked the nobles of Judah and asked, “What is this evil you are doing—profaning the Sabbath day?

but I warned them, “Why are you camping in front of the wall? If you do it again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on, they did not return on the Sabbath.

In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

Now there was at the citadel of Susa a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish.

He had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon among those taken captive with Jeconiah king of Judah.

Esther did not reveal her people or her lineage, because Mordecai had instructed her not to do so.

When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the kingís gate.

Esther still had not revealed her lineage or her people, just as Mordecai had instructed. She obeyed Mordecaiís command, as she had done under his care.

In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the kingís gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the kingís eunuchs who guarded the entrance, grew angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

When Mordecai learned of the plot, he reported it to Queen Esther, and she informed the king on Mordecaiís behalf.

All the royal servants at the kingís gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded that this be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.

Then the royal servants at the kingís gate asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the command of the king?”

Day after day they warned him, but he would not comply. So they reported it to Haman to see whether Mordecaiís behavior would be tolerated, since he had told them he was a Jew.

And when he learned the identity of Mordecaiís people, he scorned the notion of laying hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he sought to destroy all of Mordecaiís people, the Jews, throughout the kingdom of Xerxes.