"Don't imagine that because you are part of the king's household you will be the one Jew who will escape. If you keep quiet at this time, liberation and protection for the Jews will appear from another source, while you and your father's household perish. It may very well be that you have achieved royal status for such a time as this!"

"Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa and fast in my behalf. Don't eat and don't drink for three days, night or day. My female attendants and I will also fast in the same way. Afterward I will go to the king, even though it violates the law. If I perish, I perish!"

it was found written that Mordecai had disclosed that Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the entrance, had plotted to assassinate King Ahasuerus.

The king asked, "What great honor was bestowed on Mordecai because of this?" The king's attendants who served him responded, "Not a thing was done for him."

Then the king said, "Who is that in the courtyard?" Now Haman had come to the outer courtyard of the palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had constructed for him.

The king's attendants said to him, "It is Haman who is standing in the courtyard." The king said, "Let him enter."

So Haman came in, and the king said to him, "What should be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?" Haman thought to himself, "Who is it that the king would want to honor more than me?"

So Haman said to the king, "For the man whom the king wishes to honor,

Then let this clothing and this horse be given to one of the king's noble officials. Let him then clothe the man whom the king wishes to honor, and let him lead him about through the plaza of the city on the horse, calling before him, 'So shall it be done to the man whom the king wishes to honor!'"

The king then said to Haman, "Go quickly! Take the clothing and the horse, just as you have described, and do as you just indicated to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king's gate. Don't neglect a single thing of all that you have said."

So Haman took the clothing and the horse, and he clothed Mordecai. He led him about on the horse throughout the plaza of the city, calling before him, "So shall it be done to the man whom the king wishes to honor!"

Haman then related to his wife Zeresh and to all his friends everything that had happened to him. These wise men, along with his wife Zeresh, said to him, "If indeed this Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall is Jewish, you will not prevail against him. No, you will surely fall before him!"

Then King Ahasuerus responded to Queen Esther, "Who is this individual? Where is this person to be found who is presumptuous enough to act in this way?"

Harbona, one of the king's eunuchs, said, "Indeed, there is the gallows that Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke out in the king's behalf. It stands near Haman's home and is seventy-five feet high." The king said, "Hang him on it!"

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.

Mordecai wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's signet ring. He then sent letters by couriers on horses, who rode royal horses that were very swift.

The king thereby allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and to stand up for themselves -- to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any army of whatever people or province that should become their adversaries, including their women and children, and to confiscate their property.

The couriers who were riding the royal horses went forth with the king's edict without delay. And the law was presented in Susa the citadel as well.

The Jews assembled themselves in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to strike out against those who were seeking their harm. No one was able to stand before them, for dread of them fell on all the peoples.

All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and those who performed the king's business were assisting the Jews, for the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them.

Esther replied, "If the king is so inclined, let the Jews who are in Susa be permitted to act tomorrow also according to today's law, and let them hang the ten sons of Haman on the gallows."

The Jews who were in Susa then assembled on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they killed three hundred men in Susa. But they did not confiscate their property.

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.

But the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth days, and rested on the fifteenth, making it a day for banqueting and happiness.

This is why the Jews who are in the rural country -- those who live in rural cities -- set aside the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a holiday for happiness, banqueting, holiday, and sending gifts to one another.

Mordecai wrote these matters down and sent letters to all the Jews who were throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

Therefore, because of the account found in this letter and what they had faced in this regard and what had happened to them, the Jews established as binding on themselves, their descendants, and all who joined their company that they should observe these two days without fail, just as written and at the appropriate time on an annual basis.

Now all the actions carried out under his authority and his great achievements, along with an exact statement concerning the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king promoted, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia?

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And that man was pure and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.

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."

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."

Let those who curse the day curse it -- those who are prepared to rouse Leviathan.

with kings and counselors of the earth who built for themselves places now desolate,

or with princes who possessed gold, who filled their palaces with silver.

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

"Why does God give light to one who is in misery, and life to those whose soul is bitter,

to those who wait for death that does not come, and search for it more than for hidden treasures,

who rejoice even to jubilation, and are exultant when they find the grave?

Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in?

"If someone should attempt a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can refrain from speaking?

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

Call to mind now: Who, being innocent, ever perished? And where were upright people ever destroyed?

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

how much more to those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth?

"Call now! Is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

he sets the lowly on high, that those who mourn are raised to safety.

"Therefore, blessed is the man whom God corrects, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more; your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.

As a cloud is dispersed and then disappears, so the one who goes down to the grave does not come up again.

Such is the destiny of all who forget God; the hope of the godless perishes,

Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more."

He is wise in heart and mighty in strength -- who has resisted him and remained safe?

He who removes mountains suddenly, who overturns them in his anger;

he who shakes the earth out of its place so that its pillars tremble;

he who commands the sun and it does not shine and seals up the stars;

If he snatches away, who can turn him back? Who dares to say to him, 'What are you doing?'

he who crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds for no reason.

If it is a matter of strength, most certainly he is the strong one! And if it is a matter of justice, he will say, 'Who will summon me?'

If a land has been given into the hand of a wicked man, he covers the faces of its judges; if it is not he, then who is it?

Nor is there an arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both,

who would take his rod away from me so that his terror would not make me afraid.

although you know that I am not guilty, and that there is no one who can deliver out of your hand?

If he comes by and confines you and convenes a court, then who can prevent him?

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

I am a laughingstock to my friends, I, who called on God and whom he answered -- a righteous and blameless man is a laughingstock!

But the tents of robbers are peaceful, and those who provoke God are confident -- who carry their god in their hands.

With him are strength and prudence; both the one who goes astray and the one who misleads are his.

Who will contend with me? If anyone can, I will be silent and die.

Who can make a clean thing come from an unclean? No one!

how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt, who drinks in evil like water!

to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner passed among them.

For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes.

Make then my pledge with you. Who else will put up security for me?

where then is my hope? And my hope, who sees it?

You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger, will the earth be abandoned for your sake? Or will a rock be moved from its place?

Surely such is the residence of an evil man; and this is the place of one who has not known God.'"

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

whom I will see for myself, and whom my own eyes will behold, and not another. My heart grows faint within me.

he will perish forever, like his own excrement; those who used to see him will say, 'Where is he?'

People who had seen him will not see him again, and the place where he was will recognize him no longer.

Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain if we were to pray to him?'

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

men who were carried off before their time, when the flood was poured out on their foundations?

But it was he who filled their houses with good things -- yet the counsel of the wicked was far from me.

he will deliver even someone who is not innocent, who will escape through the cleanness of your hands."

But he is unchangeable, and who can change him? Whatever he has desired, he does.

"Why are times not appointed by the Almighty? Why do those who know him not see his days?

There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways and they do not stay on its paths.

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

"If this is not so, who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?"

Can his armies be numbered? On whom does his light not rise?

how much less a mortal man, who is but a maggot -- a son of man, who is only a worm!"

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

To whom did you utter these words? And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth?

Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! How faint is the whisper we hear of him! But who can understand the thunder of his power?"

"As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made my life bitter --

Those who survive him are buried by the plague, and their widows do not mourn for them.

for I rescued the poor who cried out for help, and the orphan who had no one to assist him;

I chose the way for them and sat as their chief; I lived like a king among his troops; I was like one who comforts mourners.

"But now they mock me, those who are younger than I, whose fathers I disdained too much to put with my sheep dogs.