⁷ Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther,^(A) had a lovely figure^(B) and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.

¹⁵ When the turn came for Esther (the young woman Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail^(A)) to go to the king,^(B) she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor^(C) of everyone who saw her.

⁴ Fathers,^[a] do not exasperate your children;^(A) instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.^(B)

¹⁸ And,

⁶ Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel,^(A) Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.^{(B) 7} The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar;^(C) to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.^(D)

⁷ Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth,^(A) because as nearest relative it is your right and duty^(B) to buy it.’

⁸ “Then, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, ‘Buy my field^(C) at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.’

“I knew that this was the word of the Lord; ⁹ so I bought the field^(D) at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels^[a] of silver.^{(E) 10} I signed and sealed the deed,^(F) had it witnessed,^(G) and weighed out the silver on the scales. ¹¹ I took the deed of purchase—the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy— ¹² and I gave this deed to Baruch^(H) son of Neriah,^(I) the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

¹¹ to bring^(A) before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty^(B) to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at.

⁵ “Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt^(A) before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine,^(B) just as Reuben^(C) and Simeon^(D) are mine.

3 See what great love^(A) the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!^(B) And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.^(C)