and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang, with Jezrahiah as their leader.

And they performed the worship of their God and the service of purification; so did the singers and gatekeepers, as David and his son Solomon had commanded.

In those days I saw some in Judah who were treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves or sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I protested and warned them on the day they sold the produce.

The drinking was carried on in accordance with the law; no one was compelled [to drink], for the king had directed each official of his household to comply with each guest’s wishes.

On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was joyful with wine (in high spirits), he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus [as his attendants],

So when the king’s great decree is proclaimed throughout his [extensive] kingdom, all women will give honor to their husbands, from the great to the insignificant.”

He was the guardian of Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. The young woman was beautiful of form and face; and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her in as his own daughter.

Now as for Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her in as his [own] daughter, when her turn came to go in to the king, she requested nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch [and attendant] who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther found favor in the sight of all who saw her.

Esther had not revealed her family or her people [that is, her Jewish background], just as Mordecai had instructed her; for Esther did what Mordecai told her just as when she was under his care.

The king said to Haman, “The silver is given to you, and the people also, to do with them as you please.”

Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth [day] of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar (March 7, 473 b.c.), and to seize their belongings as plunder.

A copy of the edict to be decreed as law in every province was published to all the peoples, so that they would be ready for this day.

For if you remain silent at this time, liberation and rescue will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and your father’s house will perish [since you did not help when you had the chance]. And who knows whether you have attained royalty for such a time as this [and for this very purpose]?”

“Go, gather all the Jews that are present in Susa, and observe a fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids also will fast in the same way. Then I will go in to [see] the king [without being summoned], which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and to do as I request, may the king and Haman come to the banquet that I will prepare for them; and tomorrow I will do as the king says [and express my request].”

Yet all of this does not satisfy me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to ask the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had prepared for him.

Then the king said to Haman, “Quickly take the royal robe and the horse, as you have said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing of all that you have said.”

When the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even attempt to assault the queen with me in the palace?” As the king spoke those words, the servants covered Haman’s face [in preparation for execution].

Also, concerning the Jews, write as you see fit, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for a decree which is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring may not be revoked.”

A copy of the edict was to be issued as a law in every province and as a proclamation to all peoples, so that the Jews would be ready on that day, to avenge themselves on their enemies.

The Jews assembled in their cities throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) to apprehend those who wanted to do them harm; and no one could stand before them, for the fear of them [and their God] had fallen on all the peoples.

So the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them; and they did what they pleased to those who hated them.

because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and as the month which was turned for them from grief to joy and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending choice portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

So the Jews undertook what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.

the Jews established and made it a custom for themselves and for their descendants and for all who joined them, so that they would not fail to celebrate these two days as it was written and at the appointed time annually.

to establish these days of Purim [to be observed] at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established for them, and as they had established for themselves and for their descendants with instructions regarding their times of fasting and their lamentations (expressions of needing help).

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the [spiritually] foolish women speaks [ignorant and oblivious to God’s will]. Shall we indeed accept [only] good from God and not [also] accept adversity and disaster?” In [spite of] all this Job did not sin with [words from] his lips.

“As for that night, let darkness seize it;
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
Let it not be counted in the number of the months.

“Or like a miscarriage which is hidden and put away, I would not exist,
Like infants who never saw light.

“As I have seen, those who plow wickedness
And those who sow trouble and harm harvest it.

“For man is born for trouble,
[As naturally] as sparks fly upward.

“As for me, I would seek God and inquire of Him,
And I would commit my cause to God;

“In the daytime they meet in darkness,
And at noon they grope as in the night.

“You will know also that your descendants will be many,
And your offspring as the grass of the earth.

“You will come to your grave in old age,
Like the stacking of grain [on the threshing floor] in its season.

“Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass?
Or does the ox low over his fodder?

“My brothers have acted deceitfully like a brook,
Like the torrents of brooks that vanish,

“Do you intend to reprove my words [with a convincing argument],
When the words of one in despair belong to the wind [and go ignored]?

“As a slave earnestly longs for the shade,
And as a hired man eagerly awaits his wages,

“As a cloud vanishes and is gone,
So he who goes down to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) does not come up.

“If I have sinned, what [harm] have I done to You,
O Watcher of mankind?
Why have You set me as a target for You,
So that I am a burden to myself?

“How long will you say these things?
And will the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

“If he is snatched from his place [in the garden],
Then his place will forget him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’

“Behold, God will not reject a man of integrity,
Nor will He strengthen or support evildoers.

“For God is not a [mere] man, as I am, that I may answer Him,
That we may go to court and judgment together.

‘Do You have eyes of flesh?
Do You see as a man sees?

‘Are Your days as the days of a mortal,
Are Your years as man’s years,

‘Remember now, that You have made me as clay;
So will You turn me into dust again?

‘You renew Your witnesses against me
And increase Your indignation and anger toward me;
Hardship after hardship is with me [attacking me time after time].

‘I should have been as though I had not existed;
[I should have been] carried from the womb to the grave.’

The [sunless] land of utter gloom as darkness itself,
[The land] of the shadow of death, without order,
And [where] it shines as [thick] darkness.”

“His wisdom is as high as the heights of heaven. What can you do?
It is deeper than Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead). What can you know?

“But a hollow (empty-headed) man will become intelligent and wise
[Only] when the colt of a wild donkey is born as a man.

“For you would forget your trouble;
You would remember it as waters that have passed by.

“And your life would be brighter than the noonday;
Darkness [then] would be like the morning.

“But I have intelligence and understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these [of God’s wisdom and might]?

“Now ask the animals, and let them teach you [that God does not deal with His creatures according to their character];
And ask the birds of the air, and let them tell you;

“Who among all these does not recognize [in all these things that good and evil are randomly scattered throughout nature and human life]
That the hand of the Lord has done this,

“Does the ear not put words to the test,
Just as the palate tastes its food [distinguishing between the desirable and the undesirable]?

“He makes priests walk barefoot,
And He overturns men firmly seated and secure.

“Will you show partiality for Him [and be unjust to me so that you may gain favor with Him]?
Will you contend and plead for God?

“Will it be well for you when He investigates you [and your tactics against me]?
Or will you deceive Him as one deceives a man?

“Why do You hide Your face [as if offended]
And consider me Your enemy?

While I waste away like a rotten thing,
Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

“[O God] turn your gaze from him so that he may rest,
Until he fulfills his day [on earth] like a hired man.

“As water evaporates from the sea,
And a river drains and dries up,

“But as a mountain, if it falls, crumbles into nothing,
And as the rock is moved from its place,

Water wears away the stones,
Its floods and torrents wash away the soil of the earth,
So You [O Lord] destroy the hope of man.

“Should a wise man [such as you] utter such windy and vain knowledge [as we have just heard]
And fill himself with the east wind [of withering, parching, and violent accusations]?

“Are the consolations of God [as we have interpreted them to you] too trivial for you,
[Or] were we too gentle toward you [in our first speech] to be effective?

That you should turn your spirit against God
And let such words [as you have spoken] go out of your mouth?

“He will not escape from darkness [fleeing disaster];
The flame [of God’s wrath] will wither his branch,
And by the blast of His mouth he will go away.

“I also could speak like you,
If you were in my place;
I could compose and join words together against you
And shake my head at you.

“I have sewed sackcloth over my skin [as a sign of mourning]
And have defiled my horn (symbol of strength) in the dust.

“Oh, that a man would mediate and plead with God [for me]
Just as a man [mediates and pleads] with his neighbor and friend.

“But as for all of you, come back again,
Even though I do not find a wise man among you.

“But if I look to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) as my home,
If I make my bed in the darkness,

“Why are we regarded as beasts,
As if [we are] stupid (senseless) in your eyes?

“Those in the west are astonished and appalled at his fate,
And those in the east are seized with horror.

“He has also kindled His wrath [like a fire] against me
And He considers and counts me as one of His adversaries.

“Those who live [temporarily] in my house and my maids consider me a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.

“Why do you persecute me as God does?
Why are you not satisfied with my flesh (anguish)?

Whom I, even I, will see for myself,
And my eyes will see Him and not another!
My heart faints within me.

“He flies away like a dream and cannot be found;
Yes, he is chased away like a vision of the night.

“When he fills his belly,
God will send His fierce anger on him
And will rain it upon him while he is eating.

“As for me, is my complaint to man or about him?
And why should I not be impatient and my spirit troubled?

“The [dirt] clods of the valley are sweet to him [and gently cover him],
Moreover, all men will follow after him [to a grave],
While countless ones go before him.

“But He knows the way that I take [and He pays attention to it].
When He has tried me, I will come forth as [refined] gold [pure and luminous].

“Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert,
The poor go to their work, diligently seeking food;
As bread for their children in the desert.

“The murderer rises at dawn;
He kills the poor and the needy,
And at night he becomes a thief.

“They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone;
Moreover, they are brought low and like everything [they are] gathered up and taken out of the way;
Even like the heads of grain they are cut off.

“As God lives, who has taken away my right and denied me justice,
And the Almighty, who has caused bitterness and grief for my soul,

As long as my life is within me,
And the breath of God is [still] in my nostrils,

“I hold fast my uprightness and my right standing with God and I will not let them go;
My heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

“May my enemy be as the wicked,
And he who rises up against me be as the unrighteous (unjust).

“[As for] the earth, out of it comes food,
But underneath [its surface, down deep] it is turned over as fire.

“Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
As in the days when God watched over me,

As I was in the prime of my days,
When the friendship and counsel of God were over my tent,

“Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest,
And I shall multiply my days as the sand.