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.

So I quarreled with the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the day of the Sabbath?

Did not your ancestors do this also, and our God brought on us all of this disaster and on this city [too]? Now you are adding fierce wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath!"

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.

But I warned them and said to them, "Why are you spending the night opposite the wall? If you do [it again], I will lay hands against you." From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath.

And of their sons, half are speaking Ashdoditish -- and are not knowing to speak Jewish -- and according to the language of people and people.

So I rebuked them, cursed them, struck some of their men, tore out their hair, and made them take this oath in the name of God: "You are not to give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

Are we then without protest to let you do all this great evil, sinning against our God by taking strange women for your wives?

Remember them, my God, for they are polluters of the priesthood, and of the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites!

in the third year of his reign, he hath made a banquet to all his heads and his servants; of the force of Persia and Media, the chiefs and heads of the provinces are before him,

And at the fulness of these days hath the king made to all the people who are found in Shushan the palace, from great even unto small, a banquet, seven days, in the court of the garden of the house of the king --

and the giving of drink in vessels of gold, and the vessels are divers vessels, and the royal wine is abundant, as a memorial of the king.

On the seventh day, as the heart of the king is glad with wine, he hath said to Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who are ministering in the presence of the king Ahasuerus,

and he who is near unto him is Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, Memucan, seven heads of Persia and Media seeing the face of the king, who are sitting first in the kingdom --

And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus.

and the young woman is good in his eyes, and she receiveth kindness before him, and he hasteneth her purifications and her portions -- to give to her, and the seven young women who are provided -- to give to her, from the house of the king, and he changeth her and her young women to a good place in the house of the women.

Now every girl, when her turn came, had to go in to King Ahasuerus, after undergoing, for a space of twelve months, what was ordered by the law for the women (for this was the time necessary for making them clean, that is, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with sweet perfumes and such things as are needed for making women clean):

and the thing is sought out, and found, and they are hanged both of them on a tree, and it is written in the book of the Chronicles before the king.

After these things hath the king Ahasuerus exalted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and lifteth him up, and setteth his throne above all the heads who are with him,

and all servants of the king, who are in the gate of the king, are bowing and doing obeisance to Haman, for so hath the king commanded for him; and Mordecai doth not bow nor do obeisance.

And the king's servants who [were] at the gate of the king said to Mordecai, "Why [are] you transgressing the command of the king?"

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.

And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king's laws: therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them.

If it pleases the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who are in charge of the king's business, to bring it into the king's treasuries."

Then the king told Haman, “The money and people are given to you to do with as you see fit.”

And scribes of the king are called, on the first month, on the thirteenth day of it, and it is written according to all that Haman hath commanded, unto lieutenants of the king, and unto the governors who are over province and province, and unto the heads of people and people, province and province, according to its writing, and people and people according to its tongue, in the name of the king Ahasuerus it hath been written and sealed with the signet of the king,

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.

Mordecai told the messenger to reply to Esther, “Don’t think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king’s palace.

For if you altogether hold your peace at this time, then shall relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but you and your father's house shall be destroyed: and who knows whether you are come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

On that night hath the sleep of the king fled away, and he saith to bring in the book of memorials of the Chronicles, and they are read before the king,

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.

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 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:

Then were the king's scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the satraps, and the governors and princes of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, a hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to its own writing, and unto every people according to their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.

that the king hath given to the Jews who are in every city and city, to be assembled, and to stand for their life, to cut off, to slay, and to destroy the whole force of the people and province who are distressing them, infants and women, and their spoil to seize.

and in every province and province, and in every city and city, the place where the word of the king, even his law, is coming, gladness and joy are to the Jews, a banquet, and a good day; and many of the peoples of the land are becoming Jews, for a fear of the Jews hath fallen upon them.

And all heads of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the governors, and those doing the work that the king hath, are lifting up the Jews, for a fear of Mordecai hath fallen upon them;

Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do tomorrow also according unto this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.

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.

And the rest of the Jews, who are in the provinces of the king, have been assembled, even to stand for their life, and to rest from their enemies, and to slay among those hating them five and seventy thousand, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand;

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.

This is why the Jews who are in the rural country -- those who live in rural cities -- set aside the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a holiday for happiness, banqueting, holiday, and sending gifts to one another.

And Mordecai writeth these things, and sendeth letters unto all the Jews who are in all provinces of the king Ahasuerus, who are near and who are far off,

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,

These days [are] to be remembered and [are] to be kept in every generation, and in family, province, and city; and these days of Purim are not [to be] neglected among the Jews, and their memory shall not come to an end among their offspring.

And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?

And there are borne to him seven sons and three daughters,

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 the day is, that his sons and his daughters are eating, and drinking wine, in the house of their brother, the first-born.

While this one is speaking another also hath come and saith, 'Thy sons and thy daughters are eating, and drinking wine, in the house of their brother, the first-born.

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

Then his wife said to him, "Are you still persisting in your blamelessness? {Curse} God and die."

But he replied to her, "You're talking like foolish women do. Are we to accept what is good from God but not tragedy?" Throughout all of this, Job did not sin by what he said.

And three of the friends of Job hear of all this evil that hath come upon him, and they come in each from his place -- Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite -- and they are met together to come in to bemoan him, and to comfort him;

Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to arouse leviathan.

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

along with kings and counselors of the earth, who used to build for themselves what are now only ruins,

Or with princes -- they have gold, They are filling their houses with silver.

There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary are at rest.

[the] prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear [the] oppressor's voice.

The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.

To those who are longing for death even though it does not come? To those who search for it more than for hidden treasure?

Who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?

For my sighing comes before I eat, and my groanings are poured out like the waters.

Should anyone try to speak with you
when you are exhausted?
Yet who can keep from speaking?

But now it is come upon you, and you faint; it touches you, and you are troubled.

"{Think} now, who has perished [who is] innocent? Or where [are] the upright destroyed?

By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the strong lion's whelps are scattered abroad.

How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth?

They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish forever without any regarding it.

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

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His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.

but people are born to trouble, as surely as the sparks fly upward.

which doeth things, that are unsearchable, and marvelous without number.

To set up on high those that are low; that those who mourn may be lifted to safety.

Which destroyeth the devices of the subtle, so that they are not able to perform the things that they take in hand;

[He] is capturing [the] wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are rushed.

Therefore there is hope for those who are poor, and iniquity shuts its mouth.

And you shall know that your offspring [are] many, and your descendants like the vegetation of the earth.

You will come to your grave in a full age, As stacks of grain are harvested in their season.

For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.

For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison thereof drinks up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.

The things that my soul refused to touch are as loathsome food to me.

My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed; like a streambed of wadis they flow away,

Which are black by reason of the ice, and in which the snow is hid:

At the time they diminish, they are dried up; when heat affecteth them, they vanish from their place:

The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish.

They are disappointed, because they trusted; they came {here} and they are confounded.

For now you are nothing; you see my terror, and are afraid.

How forceful are right words! but what does your arguing prove?

Do you intend to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?

Anger on the fatherless ye cause to fall, And are strange to your friend.

Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of a hireling?

So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

The eye of him that has seen me shall see me no more: your eyes are upon me, and I am not.

I loathe it; I would not live always: let me alone; for my days are vanity.