Queen Esther replied, "If I have met with your approval, O king, and if the king is so inclined, grant me my life as my request, and my people as my petition.

For we have been sold -- both I and my people -- to destruction and to slaughter and to annihilation! If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not have been sufficient for troubling the king."

She said, "If the king is so inclined and if I have met with his approval and if the matter is agreeable to the king and if I am attractive to him, let an edict be written rescinding those recorded intentions of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, which he wrote in order to destroy the Jews who are throughout all the king's provinces.

King Ahasuerus replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "Look, I have already given Haman's estate to Esther, and he has been hanged on the gallows because he took hostile action against the Jews.

Then the king said to Queen Esther, "In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman! What then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? What is your request? It shall be given to you. What other petition do you have? It shall be done."

The rest of the Jews who were throughout the provinces of the king assembled in order to stand up for themselves and to have rest from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of their adversaries, but they did not confiscate their property.

to have them observe the fourteenth and the fifteenth day of the month of Adar each year

When the days of their feasting were finished, Job would send for them and sanctify them; he would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job thought, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's customary practice.

The Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" And Satan answered the Lord, "From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it."

So the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil."

Have you not made a hedge around him and his household and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have increased in the land.

Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. And he still holds firmly to his integrity, so that you stirred me up to destroy him without reason."

Or why was I not buried like a stillborn infant, like infants who have never seen the light?

I have no ease, I have no quietness; I cannot rest; turmoil has come upon me."

Look, you have instructed many; you have strengthened feeble hands.

Your words have supported those who stumbled, and you have strengthened the knees that gave way.

Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.

I myself have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his place of residence.

Thus the poor have hope, and iniquity shuts its mouth.

For you will have a pact with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

Look, we have investigated this, so it is true. Hear it, and apply it for your own good."

But because it is heavier than the sand of the sea, that is why my words have been wild.

I have refused to touch such things; they are like loathsome food to me.

Then I would yet have my comfort, then I would rejoice, in spite of pitiless pain, for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.

My brothers have been as treacherous as a seasonal stream, and as the riverbeds of the intermittent streams that flow away.

For now you have become like these streams that are no help; you see a terror, and are afraid.

"Have I ever said, 'Give me something, and from your fortune make gifts in my favor'?

"Teach me and I, for my part, will be silent; explain to me how I have been mistaken.

"Does not humanity have hard service on earth? Are not their days also like the days of a hired man?

thus I have been made to inherit months of futility, and nights of sorrow have been appointed to me.

If I have sinned -- what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you set me as your target? Have I become a burden to you?

For we were born yesterday and do not have knowledge, since our days on earth are but a shadow.

If he is uprooted from his place, then that place will disown him, saying, 'I have never seen you!'

"Do you have eyes of flesh, or do you see as a human being sees?

"Your hands have shaped me and made me, but now you destroy me completely.

Remember that you have made me as with the clay; will you return me to dust?

"But these things you have concealed in your heart; I know that this is with you:

"Why then did you bring me out from the womb? I should have died and no eye would have seen me!

I should have been as though I had never existed; I should have been carried right from the womb to the grave!

For you have said, 'My teaching is flawless, and I am pure in your sight.'

I also have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?

"Indeed, my eyes have seen all this, my ears have heard and understood it.

See now, I have prepared my case; I know that I am right.

Since man's days are determined, the number of his months is under your control; you have set his limit and he cannot pass it.

You will call and I -- I will answer you; you will long for the creature you have made.

Does he argue with useless talk, with words that have no value in them?

"I will explain to you; listen to me, and what I have seen, I will declare,

"I have heard many things like these before. What miserable comforters are you all!

Surely now he has worn me out, you have devastated my entire household.

You have seized me, and it has become a witness; my leanness has risen up against me and testifies against me.

People have opened their mouths against me, they have struck my cheek in scorn; they unite together against me.

I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and buried my horn in the dust;

My spirit is broken, my days have faded out, the grave awaits me.

Because you have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will not exalt them.

My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow.

My days have passed, my plans are shattered, even the desires of my heart.

These ten times you have been reproaching me; you are not ashamed to attack me!

But even if it were true that I have erred, my error remains solely my concern!

My kinsmen have failed me; my friends have forgotten me.

Even youngsters have scorned me; when I get up, they scoff at me.

All my closest friends detest me; and those whom I love have turned against me.

My bones stick to my skin and my flesh; I have escaped alive with only the skin of my teeth.

Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me, for the hand of God has struck me.

Bear with me and I will speak, and after I have spoken you may mock.

Have you never questioned those who travel the roads? Do you not recognize their accounts --

But you have said, 'What does God know? Does he judge through such deep darkness?

Will you keep to the old path that evil men have walked --

My feet have followed his steps closely; I have kept to his way and have not turned aside.

I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion.

Yet I have not been silent because of the darkness, because of the thick darkness that covered my face.

They spend the night naked because they lack clothing; they have no covering against the cold.

The drought as well as the heat carry away the melted snow; so the grave takes away those who have sinned.

"How you have helped the powerless! How you have saved the person who has no strength!

How you have advised the one without wisdom, and abundantly revealed your insight!

For what hope does the godless have when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

If you yourselves have all seen this, Why in the world do you continue this meaningless talk?

If his children increase -- it is for the sword! His offspring never have enough to eat.

Far from where people live he sinks a shaft, in places travelers have long forgotten, far from other people he dangles and sways.

Proud beasts have not set foot on it, and no lion has passed along it.

He has cut out channels through the rocks; his eyes have spotted every precious thing.

Destruction and Death say, 'With our ears we have heard a rumor about where it can be found.'

"And now I have become their taunt song; I have become a byword among them.

He has flung me into the mud, and I have come to resemble dust and ashes.

You have become cruel to me; with the strength of your hand you attack me.

Have I not wept for the unfortunate? Was not my soul grieved for the poor?

I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches.

If I have walked in falsehood, and if my foot has hastened to deceit --

If my footsteps have strayed from the way, if my heart has gone after my eyes, or if anything has defiled my hands,

If my heart has been enticed by a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,

then let my wife turn the millstone for another man, and may other men have sexual relations with her.

For I would have committed a shameful act, an iniquity to be judged.

"If I have disregarded the right of my male servants or my female servants when they disputed with me,

If I have refused to give the poor what they desired, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

If I have seen anyone about to perish for lack of clothing, or a poor man without a coat,

if I have raised my hand to vote against the orphan, when I saw my support in the court,

"If I have put my confidence in gold or said to pure gold, 'You are my security!'

if I have rejoiced because of the extent of my wealth, or because of the great wealth my hand had gained,

then this also would be iniquity to be judged, for I would have been false to God above.

If I have rejoiced over the misfortune of my enemy or exulted because calamity found him --

I have not even permitted my mouth to sin by asking for his life through a curse --