The Tyrians living there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem.

Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples but could not speak Hebrew.

I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to take an oath before God and said: “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or yourselves!

Didn’t King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations. He was loved by his God and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin.

For the queen’s action will become public knowledge to all the women and cause them to despise their husbands and say, ‘King Ahasuerus ordered Queen Vashti brought before him, but she did not come.’

The decree the king issues will be heard throughout his vast kingdom, so all women will honor their husbands, from the least to the greatest.”

Then Haman informed King Ahasuerus, “There is one ethnic group, scattered throughout the peoples in every province of your kingdom, yet living in isolation. Their laws are different from everyone else’s and they do not obey the king’s laws. It is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.

If the king approves, let an order be drawn up authorizing their destruction, and I will pay 375 tons of silver to the accountants for deposit in the royal treasury.”

Letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces telling the officials to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jewish people—young and old, women and children—and plunder their possessions on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.

There was great mourning among the Jewish people in every province where the king’s command and edict came. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.

Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa ordering their destruction, so that Hathach might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and command her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead with him personally for her people.

“Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, day or night. I and my female servants will also fast in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law. If I perish, I perish.”

Put the garment and the horse under the charge of one of the king’s most noble officials. Have them clothe the man the king wants to honor, parade him on the horse through the city square, and proclaim before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor.’”

So Haman took the garment and the horse. He clothed Mordecai and paraded him through the city square, crying out before him, “This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor.”

Harbona, one of the royal eunuchs, said: “There is a gallows 75 feet tall at Haman’s house that he made for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.”

The king commanded, “Hang him on it.”

On the twenty-third day of the third month (that is, the month Sivan), the royal scribes were summoned. Everything was written exactly as Mordecai ordered for the Jews, to the satraps, the governors, and the officials of the 127 provinces from India to Cush. The edict was written for each province in its own script, for each ethnic group in its own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.

The king’s edict gave the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate every ethnic and provincial army hostile to them, including women and children, and to take their possessions as spoils of war.

A copy of the text, issued as law throughout every province, was distributed to all the peoples so the Jews could be ready to avenge themselves against their enemies on that day.

The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses at the king’s urgent command. The law was also issued in the fortress of Susa.

In every province and every city, wherever the king’s command and his law reached, joy and rejoicing took place among the Jews. There was a celebration and a holiday. And many of the ethnic groups of the land professed themselves to be Jews because fear of the Jews had overcome them.

In each of King Ahasuerus’s provinces the Jews assembled in their cities to attack those who intended to harm them. Not a single person could withstand them; terror of them fell on every nationality.

The Jews put all their enemies to the sword, killing and destroying them. They did what they pleased to those who hated them.

The rest of the Jews in the royal provinces assembled, defended themselves, and got rid of their enemies. They killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they did not seize any plunder.

because during those days the Jews got rid of their enemies. That was the month when their sorrow was turned into rejoicing and their mourning into a holiday. They were to be days of feasting, rejoicing, and of sending gifts to one another and the poor.

the Jews bound themselves, their descendants, and all who joined with them to a commitment that they would not fail to celebrate these two days each and every year according to the written instructions and according to the time appointed.

These days are remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim will not lose their significance in Jewish life and their memory will not fade from their descendants.

in order to confirm these days of Purim at their proper time just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established them and just as they had committed themselves and their descendants to the practices of fasting and lamentation.

There was a man in the country of Uz named Job. He was a man of perfect integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil.

He had seven sons and three daughters.

His sons used to take turns having banquets at their homes. They would send an invitation to their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

Whenever a round of banqueting was over, Job would send for his children and purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought: Perhaps my children have sinned, having cursed God in their hearts. This was Job’s regular practice.

The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”

“From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered Him, “and walking around on it.”

One day when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

That messenger was still speaking when yet another came and reported: “The Chaldeans formed three bands, made a raid on the camels, and took them away. They struck down the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported: “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house.

The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”

“From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered Him, “and walking around on it.”

Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.

When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.

Why did the knees receive me,
and why were there breasts for me to nurse?

or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.

There the wicked cease to make trouble,
and there the weary find rest.

The captives are completely at ease;
they do not hear the voice of their oppressor.

Both small and great are there,
and the slave is set free from his master.

A figure stood there,
but I could not recognize its appearance;
a form loomed before my eyes.
I heard a quiet voice:

Are their tent cords not pulled up?
They die without wisdom.

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He traps the wise in their craftiness
so that the plans of the deceptive
are quickly brought to an end.

He saves the needy from their sharp words
and from the clutches of the powerful.

Surely the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me;
my spirit drinks their poison.
God’s terrors are arrayed against me.

Is bland food eaten without salt?
Is there flavor in an egg white?

The wadis evaporate in warm weather;
they disappear from their channels in hot weather.

Caravans turn away from their routes,
go up into the desert, and perish.

They are ashamed because they had been confident of finding water.
When they arrive there, they are frustrated.

Since your children sinned against Him,
He gave them over to their rebellion.

For ask the previous generation,
and pay attention to what their fathers discovered,

Will they not teach you and tell you
and speak from their understanding?

Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Do reeds flourish without water?

He removes mountains without their knowledge,
overturning them in His anger.

There is no one to judge between us,
to lay his hand on both of us.

even though You know that I am not wicked
and that there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?

Their measure is longer than the earth
and wider than the sea.

if there is iniquity in your hand, remove it,
and don’t allow injustice to dwell in your tents—

You will be confident, because there is hope.
You will look carefully about and lie down in safety.

But the sight of the wicked will fail.
Their way of escape will be cut off,
and their only hope is their last breath.

He releases the bonds put on by kings
and fastens a belt around their waists.

There is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its shoots will not die.

so man lies down never to rise again.
They will not wake up until the heavens are no more;
they will not stir from their sleep.

what was declared by wise men
and was not suppressed by their ancestors,

They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;
their womb prepares deception.

Is there no end to your empty words?
What provokes you that you continue testifying?

They open their mouths against me
and strike my cheeks with contempt;
they join themselves together against me.

He breaks through my defenses again and again;
He charges at me like a warrior.

Surely mockers surround me
and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.

You have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore You will not honor them.

I cry out: “Violence!” but get no response;
I call for help, but there is no justice.

He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass through;
He has veiled my paths with darkness.

My house guests and female servants regard me as a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.

then be afraid of the sword,
because wrath brings punishment by the sword,
so that you may know there is a judgment.

Their children are established while they are still alive,
and their descendants, before their eyes.

Their homes are secure and free of fear;
no rod from God strikes them.

Their bulls breed without fail;
their cows calve and do not miscarry.

They let their little ones run around like lambs;
their children skip about,

They spend their days in prosperity
and go down to Sheol in peace.

But their prosperity is not of their own doing.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

Have you never consulted those who travel the roads?
Don’t you accept their reports?

For you took collateral from your brothers without cause,
stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked.

Yet you say: “What does God know?
Can He judge through thick darkness?

They were snatched away before their time,
and their foundations were washed away by a river.

But it was He who filled their houses with good things.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

Then an upright man could reason with Him,
and I would escape from my Judge forever.

If I go east, He is not there,
and if I go west, I cannot perceive Him.

Like wild donkeys in the desert,
the poor go out to their task of foraging for food;
the wilderness provides nourishment for their children.

They gather their fodder in the field
and glean the vineyards of the wicked.

They crush olives in their presses;
they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.

They float on the surface of the water.
Their section of the land is cursed,
so that they never go to their vineyards.

He gives them a sense of security, so they can rely on it,
but His eyes watch over their ways.

He wraps up the waters in His clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst beneath their weight.

By His breath the heavens gained their beauty;
His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

Those who survive him will be buried by the plague,
yet their widows will not weep for them.

Surely there is a mine for silver
and a place where gold is refined.

The miner strikes the flint
and transforms the mountains at their foundations.