and from the house of Gilgal, and from fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for villages have the singers built for themselves round about Jerusalem;

and by the gate of the fountain and over-against them, they have gone up by the steps of the city of David, at the going up of the wall beyond the house of David, and unto the water-gate eastward.

and from beyond the gate of Ephraim, and by the old-gate, and by the fish-gate, and the tower of Hananeel, and the tower of Meah, and unto the sheep-gate -- and they have stood at the prison-gate.

and they sacrifice on that day great sacrifices and rejoice, for God hath made them rejoice with great joy, and also, the women and the children have rejoiced, and the joy of Jerusalem is heard -- unto a distance.

because they have not come before the sons of Israel with bread and with water, and hire against them Balaam to revile them, and our God turneth the reviling into a blessing.

And during all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty and second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon did I come unto the king, and at the end of days I have asked of the king,

And I know that the portions of the Levites have not been given, and they flee each to his field -- the Levites and the singers, doing the work.

and all Judah have brought in the tithe of the corn, and of the new wine, and of the oil, to the treasuries.

And I appoint treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites; and by their hand is Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for stedfast they have been reckoned, and on them it is to give a portion to their brethren.

Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof.

In those days I have seen in Judah those treading wine-vats on sabbath, and bringing in the sheaves, and lading on the asses, and also, wine, grapes, and figs, and every burden, yea, they are bringing in to Jerusalem on the sabbath-day, and I testify in the day of their selling provision.

And the Tyrians have dwelt in it, bringing in fish, and every ware, and selling on sabbath to the sons of Judah and in Jerusalem.

And it cometh to pass, when the gates of Jerusalem have been dark before the sabbath, that I speak, and the doors are shut, and I say, that they do not open them till after the sabbath; and of my servants I have stationed at the gates; there doth not come in a burden on the sabbath-day.

and I testify against them, and say unto them, 'Wherefore are ye lodging over-against the wall? if ye repeat it, a hand I put forth upon you;' from that time they have not come in on the sabbath.

Then I directed the Levites to purify themselves and come and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. For this please remember me, O my God, and have pity on me in keeping with your great love.

Also, in those days, I have seen the Jews who have settled women of Ashdod, of Ammon, of 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?”

Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.

And I have cleansed them from every stranger, and appoint charges to priests and to Levites, each in his work,

And the king spake to the wise men that had understanding in the ordinances of the land - for the king's matters must be handled before all such as have knowledge of the law and judgment,

Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king's princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath.

He was raising Hadassah, that [is] Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she did not have a father or a mother; the young woman [had] a beautiful figure and [was] very attractive. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had taken her as his daughter.

And when the appointed time of every damsel came that she should come to the king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months in the decking of the women - for their decking must have so much time, namely six months with Balm and Myrrh, and six months with good spices; so were the women beautified -

Now when they had said this to him day after day and he gave no attention, they let Haman have news of it, to see if Mordecai's behaviour would be overlooked: for he had said to them that he was a Jew.

and it is contemptible in his eyes to put forth a hand on Mordecai by himself, for they have declared to him the people of Mordecai, and Haman seeketh to destroy all the Jews who are in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus -- the people of Mordecai.

Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a particular people that is dispersed and spread among the inhabitants throughout all the provinces of your kingdom whose laws differ from those of all other peoples. Furthermore, they do not observe the king's laws. It is not appropriate for the king to provide a haven for them.

If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king's treasuries.

The runners have gone forth, hastened by the word of the king, and the law hath been given in Shushan the palace, and the king and Haman have sat down to drink, and the city Shushan is perplexed.

And in every province and province, the place where the word of the king, even his law, is coming, a great mourning have the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and lamenting: sackcloth and ashes are spread for many.

And Esther's women and her servants came and gave her word of it. Then great was the grief of the queen: and she sent robes for Mordecai, so that his clothing of haircloth might be taken off; but he would not have them.

All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.

Then Mordecai sent this answer back to Esther: Do not have the idea that you in the king's house will be safe from the fate of all the Jews.

For if indeed you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and the family of your father will perish. Who knows? [Perhaps] you have come to a royal position for a time such as this."

Go! gather ye together all the Jews who are to be found in Shusan, and fast ye for me - and neither eat nor drink - three days, night nor day, and, I and my maidens, will fast so, - and, in this manner, will I go in unto the king, though it is not according to the law, and, when I have perished, I have perished!

Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you, up to half of the kingdom.”

And Esther answered, If it seem good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him.

If I have found favour in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do to morrow as the king hath said.

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.

Yet all of this fails to satisfy me so long as I have to see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate."

His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows 75 feet high. Ask the king in the morning to hang Mordecai on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows constructed.

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’s attendants answered him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.”

“Have him enter,” the king ordered.

So Haman came in. And the king said to him, What is to be done to the man whom the king has delight in honouring? Then the thought came into Haman's mind, Whom, more than myself, would the king have pleasure in honouring?

Have them bring a royal garment that the king himself has worn and a horse the king himself has ridden, which has a royal diadem on its head.

Let the clothing and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that they may array the man whom the king delights to honor with them, and have him ride on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, 'Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!'"

Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sits at the king's gate: let nothing fail of all that you have spoken.

And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the descendants of the Jews, before whom you have begun to fall, you shall not prevail against him, but shall surely fall before him.

They are yet speaking with him, and eunuchs of the king have come, and haste to bring in Haman unto the banquet that Esther hath made.

The king and Haman went in to have a drink with Queen Esther.

Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request:

For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss.

And the king hath turned back out of the garden of the house unto the house of the banquet of wine, and Haman is falling on the couch on which Esther is, and the king saith, 'Also to subdue the queen with me in the house?' the word hath gone out from the mouth of the king, and the face of Haman they have covered.

And said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king's provinces:

for how do I endure when I have looked on the evil that doth find my people? and how do I endure when I have looked on the destruction of my kindred?'

Then king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews.

The runners, riding on the dromedary, and the mules, have gone out, hastened and pressed by the word of the king, and the law hath been given in Shushan the palace.

Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's command and his decree drew near to be executed, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)

the Jews have been assembled in their cities, in all provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to put forth a hand on those seeking their evil, and no man hath stood in their presence, for their fear hath fallen on all the peoples.

and in Shushan the palace have the Jews slain and destroyed five hundred men;

ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, adversary of the Jews, they have slain, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand.

And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the citadel, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? now what is your petition? and it shall be granted you: or what is your request further? and it shall be done.

Esther answered, “If it pleases the king, may the Jews who are in Susa also have tomorrow to carry out today’s law, and may the bodies of Haman’s 10 sons be hung on the gallows.”

And the king saith -- 'to be done so;' and a law is given in Shushan, and the ten sons of Haman they have hanged.

And the Jews who are in Shushan are assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they slay in Shushan three hundred men, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand.

The rest of the Jews who were throughout the provinces of the king assembled in order to stand up for themselves and to have rest from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of their adversaries, but they did not confiscate their property.

And the Jews who are in Shushan have been assembled, on the thirteenth day of it, and on the fourteenth of it, even to rest on the fifteenth of it, and to make it a day of banquet and of joy.

to have them observe the fourteenth and the fifteenth day of the month of Adar each year

as days on which the Jews have rested from their enemies, and the month that hath been turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to a good day, to make them days of banquet and of joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the needy.

And the Jews have received that which they had begun to do, and that which Mordecai hath written unto them,

and in her coming in before the king, he said with the letter, 'Let his evil device that he devised against the Jews turn back upon his own head,' and they have hanged him and his sons on the tree,

therefore they have called these days Purim -- by the name of the lot -- therefore, because of all the words of this letter, and what they have seen concerning this, and what hath come unto them,

the Jews have established and received upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all those joined unto them, and it doth not pass away, to be keeping these two days according to their writing, and according to their season, in every year and year;

All of his powerful and magnificent accomplishments and the detailed account of Mordecai’s great rank to which the king had honored him, have they not been written in the Historical Records of the Kings of Media and Persia?

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.

And it was so, when the days of their feasting were finished, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

So Yahweh said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Then Satan answered Yahweh and said, "From roaming on the earth and from walking about in it."

And the LORD said unto Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one that fears God, and turns away from evil?

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

And a messenger hath come in unto Job and saith, 'The oxen have been plowing, and the she-asses feeding by their sides,

And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone am escaped to tell you.

While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said, "The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone am escaped to tell you.

and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you."

So Yahweh {asked} Satan, "From where have you come?" And Satan answered Yahweh and said, "From roaming on the earth and from walking about in it."

And the LORD said unto Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one that fears God, and turns away from evil? and still he holds fast his integrity, although you moved me against him, to destroy him without cause.

But he said to her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. We have also received good from God, and should we not receive evil? In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

and they lift up their eyes from afar and have not discerned him, and they lift up their voice and weep, and rend each his robe, and sprinkle dust on their heads -- heavenward.

And they sit with him on the earth seven days and seven nights, and there is none speaking unto him a word when they have seen that the pain hath been very great.

That night--let the thick dark take it; let it not have joy among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.

As for that night, let it have no fruit; let no voice of joy be sounded in it;

Let the stars of its twilight be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

because it shut not up the womb that bare me. For then should these sorrows have been hid from mine eyes.

Why from the womb do I not die? From the belly I have come forth and gasp!

Wherefore have knees been before me? And what are breasts, that I suck?

For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then would I have been at rest,

or with high officials {who have gold}, who fill up their houses [with] silver.

Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants that have not seen the light.

There the wicked have ceased troubling, And there rest do the wearied in power.

There, are those let out free which have been in prison, so that they hear no more the voice of the oppressor.

"Wherefore is the light given to him that is in misery? And life unto them that have heavy hearts?