Sect. LXIX. God's blessing restored to his people, by the mouth of Zechariah the prophet ....... Sect. LXXI. King Ahasuerns makes a royal feast. Vashti his queen divorced for disobeying his Sect. LXXII. Esther, the niece of Mordecai the Jew, made queen in the room of Vashti....... Sect. LXXIII. Mordecai discovers a conspiracy, and Sect. LXXIV. Mordecai's distress. He applies to 217 Sect. LXXV. Esther goes into the presence of the king. He promises to grant her petition ...... 257 Sect. LXXVI. Haman erects a gallows for Mordecai 260 Sect. LXXVII. The king is providentially reminded to do him honour publicly. Esther petitions the king for her nation. Haman is hanged on his own gallows, and Mordecai promoted ........ 262 Sect. LXXVIII. The king's letter to reverse the sen- tence against the Jews. Great rejoicings...... 266 Sect. LXXX. Artaxerxes sends Ezra to Jerusalem with a decree, and returns the sacred vessels Sect. LXXXI. Nehemiah afflicted concerning the state of Jerusalem. Prays to God in behalf of his nation. He obtains permission from the king to visit his people at Jerusalem Seet. LXXXIII. The law read with great solemnity by Ezra. The feast of tabernacles-kept Seet. LXXXIV. A day of solemn fasting and humi- liation observed by the people. A covenant made Sect. LXXXV. Daniel's vision of the ram and the Sect. LXXXVI. Predictions of Isaiah and Ezekiel Sect. XIII. The reigns of Alexander, Janæus, Alex- ander, and Aristobulus, over Judea Sect. XIV. The Jewish government changed .... SECTION I. THE PROPHECY OF NAHUM AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF THE LORD. THE burden of Nineveh: the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. GOD is jealous, and the LORD revengeth: the LORD revengeth and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation; and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger; his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. But with an over-running flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies. What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. For while they be folden together as thorns, and VOL. IV. B while |