let them bring a royal robe which the king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed;

Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried home, mourning, with his head covered.

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 origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.”

While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hastily brought Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.

for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for the trouble would not be commensurate with the annoyance to the king.”

The king arose in his anger from drinking wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king.

So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.

On that day King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had disclosed what he was to her.

The king took off his signet ring which he had taken away from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

Then Esther spoke again to the king, fell at his feet, wept and implored him to avert the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite and his plot which he had devised against the Jews.

So King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given the house of Haman to Esther, and him they have hanged on the gallows because he had stretched out his hands against the Jews.

In each and every province and in each and every city, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree arrived, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them.

The Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm; and no one could stand before them, for the dread of them had fallen on all the peoples.

Even all the princes of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and those who were doing the king’s business assisted the Jews, because the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them.

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

For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to destroy them and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to disturb them and destroy them.

But when it came to the king’s attention, he commanded by letter that his wicked scheme which he had devised against the Jews, should return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. And because of the instructions in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them,

to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established for them, and just as they had established for themselves and for their descendants with instructions for their times of fasting and their lamentations.

When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped.

Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him.

Because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb,
Or hide trouble from my eyes.

Or with princes who had gold,
Who were filling their houses with silver.

“When they become waterless, they are silent,
When it is hot, they vanish from their place.

“They were disappointed for they had trusted,
They came there and were confounded.

“Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
And the tent of the wicked will be no longer.”

‘If I am wicked, woe to me!
And if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head.
I am sated with disgrace and conscious of my misery.

‘Should my head be lifted up, You would hunt me like a lion;
And again You would show Your power against me.

‘Why then have You brought me out of the womb?
Would that I had died and no eye had seen me!

‘I should have been as though I had not been,
Carried from womb to tomb.’

“Only two things do not do to me,
Then I will not hide from Your face:

“Why do You hide Your face
And consider me Your enemy?

“Oh that You would hide me in Sheol,
That You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You,
That You would set a limit for me and remember me!

“I too could speak like you,
If I were in your place.
I could compose words against you
And shake my head at you.

“He has stripped my honor from me
And removed the crown from my head.

“Though his loftiness reaches the heavens,
And his head touches the clouds,

“Is not God in the height of heaven?
Look also at the distant stars, how high they are!

“They push the needy aside from the road;
The poor of the land are made to hide themselves altogether.

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

“He has built his house like the spider’s web,
Or as a hut which the watchman has made.

When His lamp shone over my head,
And by His light I walked through darkness;

The young men saw me and hid themselves,
And the old men arose and stood.

Because I delivered the poor who cried for help,
And the orphan who had no helper.

“Indeed, what good was the strength of their hands to me?
Vigor had perished from them.

If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
Or that the needy had no covering,

If I have lifted up my hand against the orphan,
Because I saw I had support in the gate,

If I have gloated because my wealth was great,
And because my hand had secured so much;

“Oh that I had one to hear me!
Behold, here is my signature;
Let the Almighty answer me!
And the indictment which my adversary has written,

And his anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.

Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were years older than he.

“There is no darkness or deep shadow
Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.

Because they turned aside from following Him,
And had no regard for any of His ways;

“For you say, ‘What advantage will it be to You?
What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’

You whose garments are hot,
When the land is still because of the south wind?

“Hide them in the dust together;
Bind them in the hidden place.

“Can you fill his skin with harpoons,
Or his head with fishing spears?

It came about after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.

The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold.

Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the Lord had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold.

The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys.

He had seven sons and three daughters.

But You, O Lord, are a shield about me,
My glory, and the One who lifts my head.

Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God,
For to You I pray.

The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes;
You hate all who do iniquity.

His mischief will return upon his own head,
And his violence will descend upon his own pate.

Be gracious to me, O Lord;
See my affliction from those who hate me,
You who lift me up from the gates of death,

The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made;
In the net which they hid, their own foot has been caught.

Why do You stand afar off, O Lord?
Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?

A Prayer of David.
Hear a just cause, O Lord, give heed to my cry;
Give ear to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips.

Keep me as the apple of the eye;
Hide me in the shadow of Your wings

You have delivered me from the contentions of the people;
You have placed me as head of the nations;
A people whom I have not known serve me.

Its rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

For You meet him with the blessings of good things;
You set a crown of fine gold on his head.

Your hand will find out all your enemies;
Your right hand will find out those who hate you.

All who see me sneer at me;
They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.

Look upon my enemies, for they are many,
And they hate me with violent hatred.

I hate the assembly of evildoers,
And I will not sit with the wicked.

For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle;
In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;
He will lift me up on a rock.

And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me,
And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

Do not hide Your face from me,
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not abandon me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation!

I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.

O Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong;
You hid Your face, I was dismayed.

I hate those who regard vain idols,
But I trust in the Lord.

You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man;
You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.

I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.

Evil shall slay the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

For without cause they hid their net for me;
Without cause they dug a pit for my soul.

Let destruction come upon him unawares,
And let the net which he hid catch himself;
Into that very destruction let him fall.

Do not let those who are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me;
Nor let those who hate me without cause wink maliciously.

For my iniquities are gone over my head;
As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.

But my enemies are vigorous and strong,
And many are those who hate me wrongfully.

My heart was hot within me,
While I was musing the fire burned;
Then I spoke with my tongue:

For evils beyond number have surrounded me;
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see;
They are more numerous than the hairs of my head,
And my heart has failed me.

All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me they devise my hurt, saying,

But You have saved us from our adversaries,
And You have put to shame those who hate us.