for they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the set-apart seed is intermingled with the peoples of those lands. And the hand of the leaders and rulers has been foremost in this trespass.”
Haman then told Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your reign, whose laws are different from all people, and they do not do the sovereign’s laws. Therefore it is not in the sovereign’s interest to let them remain.
For how then shall it be known that I have found favour in Your eyes, I and Your people, except You go with us? Then we shall be distinguished, I and Your people, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.
“Do not fear, O Ya‛aqoḇ My servant,” declares יהוה, “for I am with you. Though I make a complete end of all the nations to which I have driven you, yet I do not make a complete end of you. But I shall reprove you in right-ruling, and by no means leave you unpunished.”
“For look, I am commanding, and I shall sift the house of Yisra’ĕl among all the nations, as one sifts with a sieve, yet not a grain falls to the ground.
Shepherd Your people with Your rod, the flock of Your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest, in the midst of Karmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gil‛aḏ, as in days of old.
“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance When He separated the sons of Aḏam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Yisra’ĕl.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a set-apart nation, a people for a possession, that you should proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light,