for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for the trouble would not be commensurate with the annoyance to the king.”

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.

However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.”

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.

“For now I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept then, I would have been at rest,

“For He inflicts pain, and gives relief;
He wounds, and His hands also heal.

“For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;
Therefore my words have been rash.

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

‘I should have been as though I had not been,
Carried from womb to tomb.’

“The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
And numbered are the years stored up for the ruthless.

“I could strengthen you with my mouth,
And the solace of my lips could lessen your pain.

“If I speak, my pain is not lessened,
And if I hold back, what has left me?

“My bone clings to my skin and my flesh,
And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

“You have sent widows away empty,
And the strength of the orphans has been crushed.

“Others have been with those who rebel against the light;
They do not want to know its ways
Nor abide in its paths.

“If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
Or I have lurked at my neighbor’s doorway,

If his loins have not thanked me,
And if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

That too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment,
For I would have denied God above.

“Have the men of my tent not said,
‘Who can find one who has not been satisfied with his meat’?

“Behold, I belong to God like you;
I too have been formed out of the clay.

“Man is also chastened with pain on his bed,
And with unceasing complaint in his bones;

“Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made;
In the net which they hid, their own foot has been caught.

You have seen it, for You have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into Your hand.
The unfortunate commits himself to You;
You have been the helper of the orphan.

Upon You I was cast from birth;
You have been my God from my mother’s womb.

Remember, O Lord, Your compassion and Your lovingkindnesses,
For they have been from of old.

Do not hide Your face from me,
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not abandon me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation!

There the doers of iniquity have fallen;
They have been thrust down and cannot rise.

I have been young and now I am old,
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
Or his descendants begging bread.

My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

For the choir director; according to the Shoshannim. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. A Song of Love.
My heart overflows with a good theme;
I address my verses to the King;
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

There they were in great fear where no fear had been;
For God scattered the bones of him who encamped against you;
You put them to shame, because God had rejected them.

But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength;
Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning,
For You have been my stronghold
And a refuge in the day of my distress.

For the choir director; according to Shushan Eduth. A Mikhtam of David, to teach; when he struggled with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and Joab returned, and smote twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.
O God, You have rejected us. You have broken us;
You have been angry; O, restore us.

For You have been a refuge for me,
A tower of strength against the enemy.

For You have been my help,
And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.

For they have persecuted him whom You Yourself have smitten,
And they tell of the pain of those whom You have wounded.

But I am afflicted and in pain;
May Your salvation, O God, set me securely on high.

By You I have been sustained from my birth;
You are He who took me from my mother’s womb;
My praise is continually of You.

For I have been stricken all day long
And chastened every morning.

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Let there be known among the nations in our sight,
Vengeance for the blood of Your servants which has been shed.

But You have cast off and rejected,
You have been full of wrath against Your anointed.

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.

For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.

But You have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
I have been anointed with fresh oil.

If the Lord had not been my help,
My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.

But the Lord has been my stronghold,
And my God the rock of my refuge.

For my days have been consumed in smoke,
And my bones have been scorched like a hearth.

My heart has been smitten like grass and has withered away,
Indeed, I forget to eat my bread.

The Lord has been mindful of us; He will bless us;
He will bless the house of Israel;
He will bless the house of Aaron.

If Your law had not been my delight,
Then I would have perished in my affliction.

A Song of Ascents, of David.
“Had it not been the Lord who was on our side,”
Let Israel now say,

“Had it not been the Lord who was on our side
When men rose up against us,

As when one plows and breaks open the earth,
Our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

For the enemy has persecuted my soul;
He has crushed my life to the ground;
He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have long been dead.

If you have been snared with the words of your mouth,
Have been caught with the words of your mouth,

Even in laughter the heart may be in pain,
And the end of joy may be grief.

By forbearance a ruler may be persuaded,
And a soft tongue breaks the bone.

If you have been foolish in exalting yourself
Or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth.

That which has been is that which will be,
And that which has been done is that which will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun.

I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.

Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.

So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done?

Then I said to myself, “As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise?” So I said to myself, “This too is vanity.”

So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

That which is has been already and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by.

Whatever exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he cannot dispute with him who is stronger than he is.

What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it?

All this I have seen and applied my mind to every deed that has been done under the sun wherein a man has exercised authority over another man to his hurt.

When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the task which has been done on the earth (even though one should never sleep day or night),

and I saw every work of God, I concluded that man cannot discover the work which has been done under the sun. Even though man should seek laboriously, he will not discover; and though the wise man should say, “I know,” he cannot discover.

So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.

‘The flowers have already appeared in the land;
The time has arrived for pruning the vines,
And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.

Their land has also been filled with silver and gold
And there is no end to their treasures;
Their land has also been filled with horses
And there is no end to their chariots.

Their land has also been filled with idols;
They worship the work of their hands,
That which their fingers have made.

So the common man has been humbled
And the man of importance has been abased,
But do not forgive them.

“The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild with smooth stones;
The sycamores have been cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”

And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved,

“They will all respond and say to you,
‘Even you have been made weak as we,
You have become like us.

‘Your pomp and the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you
And worms are your covering.’

“How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!

“But you have been cast out of your tomb
Like a rejected branch,
Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit
Like a trampled corpse.

In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in,
And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom;
But the harvest will be a heap
In a day of sickliness and incurable pain.

And the fishermen will lament,
And all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn,
And those who spread nets on the waters will pine away.

A harsh vision has been shown to me;
The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.
Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media;
I have made an end of all the groaning she has caused.

My mind reels, horror overwhelms me;
The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.

All your rulers have fled together,
And have been captured without the bow;
All of you who were found were taken captive together,
Though they had fled far away.

For You have been a defense for the helpless,
A defense for the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat;
For the breath of the ruthless
Is like a rain storm against a wall.

Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has He struck them?
Or like the slaughter of His slain, have they been slain?

Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty.
Therefore, I have called her
“Rahab who has been exterminated.”

Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.

For Topheth has long been ready,
Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.
He has made it deep and large,
A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;
The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.

Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken.
Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever,
A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks;

At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.

“Speak kindly to Jerusalem;
And call out to her, that her warfare has ended,
That her iniquity has been removed,
That she has received of the Lord’s hand
Double for all her sins.”

Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

Scarcely have they been planted,
Scarcely have they been sown,
Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,
But He merely blows on them, and they wither,
And the storm carries them away like stubble.