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 was of high rank in the king's palace, and word about him was spreading throughout all the provinces. His influence continued to become greater and greater.

Seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

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."

Then his wife said to him, "Are you still holding firmly to your integrity? Curse God, and die!"

When Job's three friends heard about all this calamity that had happened to him, each of them came from his own country -- Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to come to show sympathy for him and to console him.

But when they gazed intently from a distance but did not recognize him, they began to weep loudly. Each of them tore his robes, and they threw dust into the air over their heads.

Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, yet no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

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

He returns no more to his house, nor does his place of residence know him any more.

If your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.

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

If someone wishes to contend with him, he cannot answer him one time in a thousand.

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

If he passes by me, I cannot see him, if he goes by, I cannot perceive him.

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

God does not restrain his anger; under him the helpers of Rahab lie crushed.

"How much less, then, can I answer him and choose my words to argue with him!

Although I am innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my judge for mercy.

If I summoned him, and he answered me, I would not believe that he would be listening to my voice --

For he is not a human being like I am, that I might answer him, that we might come together in judgment.

Then would I speak and not fear him, but it is not so with me.

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

"As for you, if you prove faithful, and if you stretch out your hands toward him,

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

Will you speak wickedly on God's behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for him?

Will you show him partiality? Will you argue the case for God?

Would it turn out well if he would examine you? Or as one deceives a man would you deceive him?

Even if he slays me, I will hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face!

Moreover, this will become my deliverance, for no godless person would come before him.

Look away from him and let him desist, until he fulfills his time like a hired man.

You overpower him once for all, and he departs; you change his appearance and send him away.

Terrifying sounds fill his ears; in a time of peace marauders attack him.

Distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him like a king ready to launch an attack,

defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield!

Let him not trust in what is worthless, deceiving himself; for worthlessness will be his reward.

The light in his tent grows dark; his lamp above him is extinguished.

His vigorous steps are restricted, and his own counsel throws him down.

A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare grips him.

A rope is hidden for him on the ground and a trap for him lies on the path.

Terrors frighten him on all sides and dog his every step.

Calamity is hungry for him, and misfortune is ready at his side.

I summon my servant, but he does not respond, even though I implore him with my own mouth.

If you say, 'How we will pursue him, since the root of the trouble is found in him!'

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.

His bones were full of his youthful vigor, but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.

his food is turned sour in his stomach; it becomes the venom of serpents within him.

The wealth that he consumed he vomits up, God will make him throw it out of his stomach.

He sucks the poison of serpents; the fangs of a viper kill him.

"Nothing is left for him to devour; that is why his prosperity does not last.

In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress overtakes him. the full force of misery will come upon him.

"While he is filling his belly, God sends his burning anger against him, and rains down his blows upon him.

If he flees from an iron weapon, then an arrow from a bronze bow pierces him.

When he pulls it out and it comes out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver, terrors come over him.

Total darkness waits to receive his treasures; a fire which has not been kindled will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.

The heavens reveal his iniquity; the earth rises up against him.

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

You may say, 'God stores up a man's punishment for his children!' Instead let him repay the man himself so that he may know it!

Let his own eyes see his destruction; let him drink of the anger of the Almighty.

No one denounces his conduct to his face; no one repays him for what he has done.

The clods of the torrent valley are sweet to him; behind him everybody follows in procession, and before him goes a countless throng.

"Is it to God that a strong man is of benefit? Is it to him that even a wise man is profitable?

Is it of any special benefit to the Almighty that you should be righteous, or is it any gain to him that you make your ways blameless?

Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us, as he goes back and forth in the vault of heaven.'

"Reconcile yourself with God, and be at peace with him; in this way your prosperity will be good.

You will pray to him and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him.

O that I knew where I might find him, that I could come to his place of residence!

I would lay out my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.

There an upright person could present his case before him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge.

"If I go to the east, he is not there, and to the west, yet I do not perceive him.

In the north when he is at work, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I see no trace of him.

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

That is why I am terrified in his presence; when I consider, I am afraid because of him.

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

The womb forgets him, the worm feasts on him, no longer will he be remembered. Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down.

But God drags off the mighty by his power; when God rises up against him, he has no faith in his life.

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?"

Does God listen to his cry when distress overtakes him?

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

Terrors overwhelm him like a flood; at night a whirlwind carries him off.

The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.

It hurls itself against him without pity as he flees headlong from its power.

It claps its hands at him in derision and hisses him away from his place.

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

I broke the fangs of the wicked, and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

let him weigh me with honest scales; then God will discover my integrity.

then what will I do when God confronts me in judgment; when he intervenes, how will I respond to him?

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

I would give him an accounting of my steps; like a prince I would approach him.

So do not say, 'We have found wisdom! God will refute him, not man!'

Job has not directed his words to me, and so I will not reply to him with your arguments.

Why do you contend against him, that he does not answer all a person's words?

If there is an angel beside him, one mediator out of a thousand, to tell a person what constitutes his uprightness;

and if God is gracious to him and says, 'Spare him from going down to the place of corruption, I have found a ransom for him,'

He entreats God, and God delights in him, he sees God's face with rejoicing, and God restores to him his righteousness.

For he repays a person for his work, and according to the conduct of a person, he causes the consequences to find him.

Who entrusted to him the earth? And who put him over the whole world?