Mordecai gave Hathach a copy of the written decree ordering the Jews' destruction that had been issued in Susa. Mordecai wanted him to show it to Esther, to explain it to her, and then to instruct her to go in to the king to seek his favor and plead with him for her people.

"Every servant of the king and every person in the king's provinces knows that for any man or woman who goes to the king in the inner court without being summoned there is only one law that he be put to death unless the king holds out the golden scepter to him. Only then he will live. For these last 30 days I've not been summoned to come to the king."

Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Don't suppose that because you are in the palace, you will escape any more than the other Jewish people.

Indeed, if you are silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. Who knows but that you were brought to the kingdom for a time like this?"

Then Mordecai left and did everything that Esther had ordered him.

When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, she won his favor, and the king extended to Esther the gold scepter that he was holding. Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter.

The king responded, "Bring Haman quickly so we may do what Esther has requested." So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

If I've found favor with the king and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and to honor my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I'll prepare for them tomorrow, and then I'll do what the king has said."

Haman went out that day pleased and happy, but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, and that he did not stand up and tremble in his presence, Haman was furious with Mordecai.

Then Haman told them about his splendid wealth, the number of his sons, all the ways the king had honored him, and that he had promoted him above all the other officials and ministers of the king.

Then Haman said, "Even Queen Esther brought no one except me with the king to the banquet that she held. Furthermore, I (along with the king) have also been invited by her tomorrow.

That night the king could not sleep, so he gave instructions to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read to the king.

It was found recorded there that Mordecai had reported about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the entrance to the restricted areas of the palace, and that they had conspired to assassinate King Ahasuerus.

let them bring royal robes that the king has worn and a horse on which the king has ridden, with a royal crown placed on its head.

Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. His wise friends and his wife Zeresh told him, "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is one of the Jewish people, you won't prevail against him. Instead, you will surely fall before him."

While they were still talking to him, the king's eunuchs arrived, and they quickly took him to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

The king got up from the banquet in anger and went out to the palace garden, while Haman stood there begging Queen Esther to spare his life, because he realized that the king intended to harm him.

Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, observed, "Look there! A pole is standing 50 cubits high at Haman's house that he prepared for Mordecai, whose report benefitted the king!"

That day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the property of Haman, the enemy of the Jewish people, and Mordecai came into the king's presence because Esther had told him how Mordecai was related to her.

The king took off his signet ring that he had taken from Haman and gave it to Mordecai. Esther then put Mordecai in charge of Haman's property.

The king's scribes were summoned at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, which is the month Sivan, and everything that Mordecai commanded the Jewish people, the regional authorities, the governors, and the provincial officials of the 127 provinces from India to Cush was written down for each province according to its script, for each people according to their language, and for the Jewish people according to their script and language.

What the king granted the Jewish people in every town was the right to assemble and defend themselves, to annihilate, kill, and destroy every armed force of a people or a province that was hostile to them, including children and women, and to plunder their property.

A copy of the document was to be issued as law in each and every province and published for all people, indicating that the Jewish people were to be ready to take vengeance on their enemies on that day.

On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, when the king's order and edict was about to be carried out, on the day when the enemies of the Jewish people expected to prevail over them, things were turned around so that the Jewish people themselves prevailed over those who hated them.

On that day the number of those slain in Susa the capital was reported to the king.

The Jewish people in Susa assembled again on that day, the fourteenth of Adar, and they killed 300 people in Susa, but they did not lay their hands on the spoils.

establishing that they should celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month Adar every year,

since Hammedatha's son Haman, the enemy of the Jewish people, had plotted against the Jewish people to destroy them, and he had cast the (that is, the lot) to determine when to confuse and destroy them.

But when Esther came before the king, he ordered through a letter that the evil plot that Haman had devised against the Jewish people be rescinded, and that he and his sons be hanged on poles.

Therefore these days were called , from the word . Because of all that was written in this letter, because of what they experienced in this matter, and because of what happened to them,

the Jewish people established this celebration, making it a tradition for themselves, for their descendants, and for all who joined with them that they should not fail to observe these two days each year, based on the written instructions, and at the prescribed time.

These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by each family in every province and town. These days of Purim should not be neglected by the Jewish people, and that they should not be forgotten by their descendants.

His livestock included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and many servants. Indeed, the man's stature greatly exceeded that of many people who lived in the East.

Haven't you surrounded him with a fence on all sides, around his house, and around all that he owns? You have blessed everything he puts his hands on and you have increased his livestock in the land.

Satan answered the LORD, "Skin for skin! The man will give up everything that he owns in exchange for his health.

When Job's three friends heard all these tragedies that happened to him, they each traveled from their home towns to visit him. Eliphaz came from Teman, Bildad came from Shuah, and Zophar came from Naamath. They met together and went to console and comfort him.

Let that day be dark; let God above not care about it; let no light shine over it.

Let darkness carry that night away; let it not take its place joyfully among the days of the year; let it not be entered into the calendar.

"Yes, let that night be barren; let it not appear with its joyful shout.

"Because that night refused to shut the doors of my mother's womb; it failed to keep me from seeing this trouble.

In that place, the wicked stop causing trouble, and there, those whose strength is exhausted are at rest.

In that place, those who once were prisoners will be at ease together; they won't hear the voice of oppressors.

For the dreaded thing that I feared has happened to me, what caused me to worry has engulfed me.

It's been my experience that those who plow the soil of iniquity and those who sow the seed of trouble will reap their harvest!

They perish by the breath of God; they are consumed by the storm that is his anger.

Full grown lions die when they cannot find prey; that's when the lion cubs are scattered.

A fear fell upon me, along with trembling that caused all my bones to shake in terror.

"Can a mortal person be more righteous than God? Or can the purity of the valiant exceed that of his maker?'

He is always doing great things that cannot be explained, countless awesome deeds.

He frustrates the plans of the crafty; so that what they work for never succeeds.

You'll know that your home is secure; when you search your possessions, and nothing will be missing.

You'll know that you'll have many children; and that your offspring will be like the grass of the earth.

You'll go to your grave at a ripe old age; like a stack of grain that's harvested at just the right time.

that God would just be willing to crush me; that he would let loose and eliminate me!

But my brothers have acted treacherously like a cascading river, like torrential rivers that overflow.

Have I said anything that's unjust? I can discern evil, can't I?"

Remember that my life is a breath; my eyes won't go back to seeing good things.

Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you keep watching me?

"What is a human being, that you make so much of him; that you set your affections on him,

"Indeed, I'm fully aware that this is so, but how can a person become right with God?

He shakes the earth from its orbit, so that its foundations shudder.

He commands the sun so that it doesn't shine and seals up the stars.

He does great things that cannot be explained, and awesome deeds that cannot be counted.

"Were I to be summoned, and he were to answer me, I wouldn't even believe that he was listening to what I have to say.

He's not a man like me, so that I can answer him, or that we can enter into litigation with one another.

Otherwise, I would speak without being terrified of him, because I'm not like that inside myself."

Although you know that I'm not guilty, there's no one to deliver me from you!

""Please remember that you've made me like clay and you'll return me to dust.

and disclose his wise secrets? After all, there's so much more to understanding. So be aware that God will exact from you less than your sin deserves."

You'll forget your suffering; you'll remember it like water that has evaporated.

You'll be secure, because there is hope; you'll see that you're at rest and safe.

The tents of robbers are at rest, and those who provoke God are secure, that is, those who carry their god in their pocket.

Who among all of these doesn't know that the LORD's hand made them,

and that the life of every living thing rests in his control, along with the breath of every living human being?

"Look, now! I've prepared my case for court. I know that I'm going to win.

So I'm a man who wears out like something rotten, like a garment that has become moth-eaten."

"There is hope for the tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots won't stop growing.

the presence of water will make it to bud so that it sprouts new branches like a young plant.

You'll call and I'll answer you; you'll long for your creatures that your hands have made.

Water wears away stones; floods wash away topsoil from the land but you destroy the hope of human beings just like that!

Should he engage in unprofitable argument, or give a speech that benefits no one?

What do you know that we don't know, or that you understand and that isn't clear to us?

Are God's encouragements inconsequential to you, even a word that has been spoken gently to you?

that you turn your anger against God and speak words like this?

"What is mankind, that he can be blameless? Or does being born of a woman mean he'll be in the right?

He wanders around for food where is it? He knows that a time of darkness is near.

He will live in devastated towns, in abandoned houses that are about to become heaps of rubble.

"He is like a vine that drops its unripe grapes; like an olive tree that loses its blossoms.

Will windy words like yours never end? What is upsetting you that you keep on arguing?

"If my hope were that my house is the afterlife itself, if I were to make my bed in darkness,

Will it go down to the bars that lock the doors of the afterlife? Will we descend together into the dust?"

"He is petrified by terror that surrounds him on all sides; they chase at his heels.

"There's nothing in his tent that belongs to him; sulfur is scattered all over his dwelling place.

Even if it's true that I've erred, my error only affects me.

then at least you must know that God has accused me of wrong, and trapped me with his net."

Why are you chasing me, as God has been doing? Aren't you satisfied that I'm sick?

"As for me, I know that my Vindicator is alive; And he, the Last One, will take his stand on the soil.

Make sure that you remain wary of God's sword, for God's wrath brings with it the sword of punishment, by which you'll know there's a judgment."

"An eye that gazes at him won't do so again; and his place won't even recognize him.

because he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he didn't build.