I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, with Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah to assist them, because they were considered trustworthy. They were responsible for the distribution to their colleagues.

Remember me for this, my God, and don’t erase the deeds of faithful love I have done for the house of my God and for its services.

Then I instructed the Levites to purify themselves and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

Remember me for this also, my God, and look on me with compassion in keeping with Your abundant, faithful love.

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!

Remember them, my God, for defiling the priesthood as well as the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

I also arranged for the donation of wood at the appointed times and for the firstfruits.

Remember me, my God, with favor.

He held a feast in the third year of his reign for all his officials and staff, the army of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the officials from the provinces.

He displayed the glorious wealth of his kingdom and the magnificent splendor of his greatness for a total of 180 days.

At the end of this time, the king held a week-long banquet in the garden courtyard of the royal palace for all the people, from the greatest to the least, who were present in the fortress of Susa.

Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women of King Ahasuerus’s palace.

The king consulted the wise men who understood the times, for it was his normal procedure to confer with experts in law and justice.

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 king’s personal attendants suggested, “Let a search be made for beautiful young women for the king.

During the year before each young woman’s turn to go to King Ahasuerus, the harem regulation required her to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months.

Esther was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai who had adopted her as his own daughter. When her turn came to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai, the king’s trusted official in charge of the harem, suggested. Esther won approval in the sight of everyone who saw her.

The king held a great banquet for all his officials and staff. It was Esther’s banquet. He freed his provinces from tax payments and gave gifts worthy of the king’s bounty.

When the young women were assembled together for a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the King’s Gate.

The entire royal staff at the King’s Gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded this to be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.

In the first month, the month of Nisan, in King Ahasuerus’s twelfth year, Pur (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman for each day in each month, and it fell on the twelfth month, the month Adar.

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.”

The royal scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded. It was intended for the royal satraps, the governors of each of the provinces, and the officials of each ethnic group and written for each province in its own script and to each ethnic group in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the royal signet ring.

A copy of the text, issued as law throughout every province, was distributed to all the peoples so that they might get ready for that day.

He only went as far as the King’s Gate, since the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering the King’s Gate.

Esther’s female servants and her eunuchs came and reported the news to her, and the queen was overcome with fear. She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear so he could take off his sackcloth, but he did not accept them.

Mordecai told him everything that had happened as well as the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay the royal treasury for the slaughter of the Jews.

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.

“All the royal officials and the people of the royal provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard and who has not been summoned—the death penalty. Only if the king extends the gold scepter will that person live. I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the last 30 days.”

If you keep silent at this time, liberation and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father’s house will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.”

“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.”

“If it pleases the king,” Esther replied, “may the king and Haman come today to the banquet I have prepared for them.”

If the king approves of me and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and perform my request, may the king and Haman come to the banquet I will prepare for them. Tomorrow I will do what the king has asked.”

That day Haman left full of joy and in good spirits. But when Haman saw Mordecai at the King’s Gate, and Mordecai didn’t rise or tremble in fear at his presence, Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai.

Yet Haman controlled himself and went home. He sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh to join him.

Then Haman described for them his glorious wealth and his many sons. He told them all how the king had honored him and promoted him in rank over the other officials and the royal staff.

The king inquired, “What honor and special recognition have been given to Mordecai for this act?”

The king’s personal attendants replied, “Nothing has been done for him.”

The king asked, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman was just entering the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him.

Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king wants to honor?”

Haman thought to himself, “Who is it the king would want to honor more than me?”

Haman told the king, “For the man the king wants to honor:

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.’”

The king told Haman, “Hurry, and do just as you proposed. Take a garment and a horse for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the King’s Gate. Do not leave out anything you have suggested.”

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.”

Then Mordecai returned to the King’s Gate, but Haman, overwhelmed, hurried off for home with his head covered.

For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and extermination. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept silent. Indeed, the trouble wouldn’t be worth burdening the king.”

Angered by this, the king arose from where they were drinking wine and went to the palace garden. Haman remained to beg Queen Esther for his life because he realized the king was planning something terrible for him.

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.”

They hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s anger subsided.

For how could I bear to see the disaster that would come on my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my relatives?”

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.

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.

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.

For Mordecai exercised great power in the palace, and his fame spread throughout the provinces as he became more and more powerful.

The king gave the orders for this to be done, so a law was announced in Susa, and they hung the bodies of Haman’s 10 sons.

Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all of King Ahasuerus’s provinces, both near and far.

For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them. He cast the Pur (that is, the lot) to crush and destroy them.

For this reason these days are called Purim, from the word Pur.

Because of all the instructions in this letter as well as what they had witnessed and what had happened to them,

Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus, famous among the Jews, and highly popular with many of his relatives. He continued to seek good for his people and to speak for the welfare of all his descendants.

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.

Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing?

Suddenly a powerful wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people so that they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.

“Skin for skin!” Satan answered the Lord. “A man will give up everything he owns in exchange for his life.

May its morning stars grow dark.
May it wait for daylight but have none;
may it not see the breaking of dawn.

For that night did not shut
the doors of my mother’s womb,
and hide sorrow from my eyes.

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

Now I would certainly be lying down in peace;
I would be asleep.
Then I would be at rest

with the kings and counselors of the earth,
who rebuilt ruined cities for themselves,

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

who wait for death, but it does not come,
and search for it more than for hidden treasure,

For the thing I feared has overtaken me,
and what I dreaded has happened to me.

I cannot relax or be still;
I have no rest, for trouble comes.

fear and trembling came over me
and made all my bones shake.

A wind passed by me,
and I shuddered with fear.

For anger kills a fool,
and jealousy slays the gullible.

His children are far from safety.
They are crushed at the city gate,
with no one to rescue them.

The hungry consume his harvest,
even taking it out of the thorns.
The thirsty pant for his children’s wealth.

For distress does not grow out of the soil,
and trouble does not sprout from the ground.

But mankind is born for trouble
as surely as sparks fly upward.

For He crushes but also binds up;
He strikes, but His hands also heal.

You will be safe from slander
and not fear destruction when it comes.

You will laugh at destruction and hunger
and not fear the animals of the earth.

For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

We have investigated this, and it is true!
Hear it and understand it for yourself.

For then it would outweigh the sand of the seas!
That is why my words are rash.

If only my request would be granted
and God would provide what I hope for:

It would still bring me comfort,
and I would leap for joy in unrelenting pain
that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

Since I cannot help myself,
the hope for success has been banished from me.

A despairing man should receive loyalty from his friends,
even if he abandons the fear of the Almighty.

The caravans of Tema look for these streams.
The traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.

Have I ever said: “Give me something”
or “Pay a bribe for me from your wealth”

No doubt you would cast lots for a fatherless child
and negotiate a price to sell your friend.

Like a slave he longs for shade;
like a hired man he waits for his pay.

The eye of anyone who looks on me
will no longer see me.
Your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.

I give up! I will not live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.

Why not forgive my sin
and pardon my transgression?
For soon I will lie down in the grave.
You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.

But if you earnestly seek God
and ask the Almighty for mercy,

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

His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks.
He looks for a home among the stones.

God does not hold back His anger;
Rahab’s assistants cringe in fear beneath Him!

Even if I were in the right, I could not answer.
I could only beg my Judge for mercy.

For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him,
that we can take each other to court.