and found his heart faithful before you, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his seed, and have performed your words; for you are righteous.

However you are just in all that has come on us; for you have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly;

neither have our kings, our leaders, our priests, nor our fathers, kept your law, nor listened to your commandments and your testimonies with which you testified against them.

For they have not served you in their kingdom, and in your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land which you gave before them, neither did they turn from their wicked works.

It yields much increase to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins: also they have power over our bodies, and over our livestock, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

Remember me, my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its observances.

Remember them, my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.

Today, the princesses of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's deed will tell all the king's officials. This will cause much contempt and wrath.

"All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, know, that whoever, whether man or woman, comes to the king into the inner court without being called, there is one law for him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the king might hold out the golden scepter, that he may live. I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days."

For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Who knows if you haven't come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

Esther said, "If it seems good to the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him."

If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I will prepare for them, and I will do tomorrow as the king has said."

And let the clothing and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble officials, and let him clothe the man whom the king delights to honor with them, and have him ride on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, 'Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.'"

Then the king said to Haman, "Hurry and take the clothing and the horse, as you have said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate. Let nothing fail of all that you have spoken."

Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him, but you will surely fall before him."

Then Esther the queen answered, "If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.

For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondservants and bondmaids, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king's loss."

She said, "If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right to the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king's provinces.

Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, "See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged on the gallows, because he laid his hand on the Jews.

The king said to Esther the queen, "The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in the citadel of Susa, including the ten sons of Haman; what then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces. Now what is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your further request? It shall be done."

It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts." Job did so continually.

The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."

The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil."

Haven't you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said, "The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, "The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you."

and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you."

The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, and said, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."

The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause."

Let the stars of its twilight be dark. Let it look for light, but have none, neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,

For now should I have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,

I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; but trouble comes."

Behold, you have instructed many, you have strengthened the weak hands.

Your words have supported him who was falling, You have made firm the feeble knees.

According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.

I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

Look this, we have searched it, so it is. Hear it, and know it for your good."

For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore have my words been rash.

"Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant the thing that I long for,

Be it still my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn't spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

Isn't it that I have no help in me, That wisdom is driven quite from me?

My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;

"Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?

If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience.

If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, 'I have not seen you.'

They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey.

Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees?

"'Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.

Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?

Haven't you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?

You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit.

"'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.

I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. They shall have no way to flee. Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit."

But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who doesn't know such things as these?

Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.

See now, I have set my cause in order. I know that I am righteous.

Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can't pass;

You would call, and I would answer you. You would have a desire to the work of your hands.

Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

"I will show you, listen to me; that which I have seen I will declare:

(Which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;

"I have heard many such things. You are all miserable comforters.

Shall vain words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer?

But now, God, you have surely worn me out. You have made desolate all my company.

You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me. My leanness rises up against me. It testifies to my face.

They have gaped on me with their mouth. They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully. They gather themselves together against me.

I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and have thrust my horn in the dust.

"Earth, do not cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest.

For you have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore you shall not exalt them.

If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,

If I have said to corruption, 'You are my father;' to the worm, 'My mother,' and 'my sister;'

Why are we counted as animals, which have become unclean in your sight?

His memory shall perish from the earth. He shall have no name in the street.

He shall have neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining where he sojourned.

You have reproached me ten times. You aren't ashamed that you attack me.

If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.

My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.

All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.

My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

"Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.

yet he shall perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him shall say, 'Where is he?'

Allow me, and I also will speak; After I have spoken, mock on.

What is Shaddai, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?'

Haven't you asked wayfaring men? Do you not know their evidences,

For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

You haven't given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden,

My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned aside.

I haven't gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.

Drought and heat consume the snow waters, so does Sheol those who have sinned.

"How have you helped him who is without power. How have you saved the arm that has no strength.

How have you counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge.

To whom have you uttered words? Whose spirit came forth from you?