and that they might bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the Lord annually,

Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem so that they might celebrate the dedication with gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving and with songs to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps and lyres.

and on that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy, even the women and children rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar.

On that day men were also appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions, the first fruits and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions required by the law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who served.

On that day they read aloud from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,

and I came to Jerusalem and learned about the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, by preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God.

I also discovered that the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had gone away, each to his own field.

Did not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the sabbath.”

It came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and that they should not open them until after the sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the sabbath day.

Then I warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will use force against you.” From that time on they did not come on the sabbath.

And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the sabbath day. For this also remember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.

In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.

Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”

The drinking was done according to the law, there was no compulsion, for so the king had given orders to each official of his household that he should do according to the desires of each person.

If it pleases the king, let a royal edict be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she.

So he sent letters to all the king’s provinces, to each province according to its script and to every people according to their language, that every man should be the master in his own house and the one who speaks in the language of his own people.

Let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather every beautiful young virgin to the citadel of Susa, to the harem, into the custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let their cosmetics be given them.

He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

So it came about when the command and decree of the king were heard and many young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king’s palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women.

Esther did not make known her people or her kindred, for Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make them known.

the young lady would go in to the king in this way: anything that she desired was given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.

The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

Now it was when they had spoken daily to him and he would not listen to them, that they told Haman to see whether Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.

When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled with rage.

In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, Pur, that is the lot, was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, until the twelfth month, that is the month Adar.

If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king’s business, to put into the king’s treasuries.”

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

When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly.

Then Esther’s maidens and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them.

Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.

He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show Esther and inform her, and to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people.

“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days.”

Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews.

Now it came about on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace in front of the king’s rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance to the palace.

Esther said, “If it pleases the king, may the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him.”

Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly that we may do as Esther desires.” So the king and Haman came to the banquet which Esther had prepared.

Then Haman went out that day glad and pleased of heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate and that he did not stand up or tremble before him, Haman was filled with anger against Mordecai.

During that night the king could not sleep so he gave an order to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.

It was found written what Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who were doorkeepers, that they had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

Then the king said to Haman, “Take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate; do not fall short in anything of all that you have said.”

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.”

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.

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.

So the king’s scribes were called at that time in the third month (that is, the month Sivan), on the twenty-third day; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors and the princes of the provinces which extended from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to every province according to its script, and to every people according to their language as well as to the Jews according to their script and their language.

on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar).

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

Now in the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar), on the thirteenth day when the king’s command and edict were about to be executed, on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, it was turned to the contrary so that the Jews themselves gained the mastery over those who hated them.

On that day the number of those who were killed at the citadel in Susa was reported to the king.

So the king commanded that it should be done so; and an edict was issued in Susa, and Haman’s ten sons were hanged.

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

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.

the Jews established and made a custom for themselves and for their descendants and for all those who allied themselves with them, so that they would not fail to celebrate these two days according to their regulation and according to their appointed time annually.

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.

His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.”

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.

Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.

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.

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

“May that day be darkness;
Let not God above care for it,
Nor light shine on it.

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

“Behold, let that night be barren;
Let no joyful shout enter it.

“Why did the knees receive me,
And why the breasts, that I should suck?

“Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be,
As infants that never saw light.

So that He sets on high those who are lowly,
And those who mourn are lifted to safety.

“He frustrates the plotting of the shrewd,
So that their hands cannot attain success.

“You will know that your tent is secure,
For you will visit your abode and fear no loss.

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

“Oh that my grief were actually weighed
And laid in the balances together with my calamity!

“Oh that my request might come to pass,
And that God would grant my longing!

“Would that God were willing to crush me,
That He would loose His hand and cut me off!

“But it is still my consolation,
And I rejoice in unsparing pain,
That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

“What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should endure?

“Is it that my help is not within me,
And that deliverance is driven from me?

“For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend;
So that he does not forsake the fear of the Almighty.

“Remember that my life is but breath;
My eye will not again see good.

“Am I the sea, or the sea monster,
That You set a guard over me?

So that my soul would choose suffocation,
Death rather than my pains.

“What is man that You magnify him,
And that You are concerned about him,

That You examine him every morning
And try him every moment?

“Have I sinned? What have I done to You,
O watcher of men?
Why have You set me as Your target,
So that I am a burden to myself?

“In truth I know that this is so;
But how can a man be in the right before God?

“If I called and He answered me,
I could not believe that He was listening to my voice.

“They slip by like reed boats,
Like an eagle that swoops on its prey.

I am afraid of all my pains,
I know that You will not acquit me.

“For He is not a man as I am that I may answer Him,
That we may go to court together.

“Then I would speak and not fear Him;
But I am not like that in myself.

That You should seek for my guilt
And search after my sin?

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

‘Yet these things You have concealed in Your heart;
I know that this is within You:

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

“Would He not let my few days alone?
Withdraw from me that I may have a little cheer

“But would that God might speak,
And open His lips against you,

And show you the secrets of wisdom!
For sound wisdom has two sides.
Know then that God forgets a part of your iniquity.

“For you would forget your trouble,
As waters that have passed by, you would remember it.

“Who among all these does not know
That the hand of the Lord has done this,

“O that you would be completely silent,
And that it would become your wisdom!

“Be silent before me so that I may speak;
Then let come on me what may.