He spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?”

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, “Even what they are building—if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!”

Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the sabbath day?

“According to law, what is to be done with Queen Vashti, because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?”

After these things when the anger of King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.

Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her as his daughter, came to go in to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her.

Esther had not yet made known her kindred or her people, even as Mordecai had commanded her; for Esther did what Mordecai told her as she had done when under his care.

Then Esther summoned Hathach from the king’s eunuchs, whom the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was.

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

As they drank their wine at the banquet, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition, for it shall be granted to you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.”

if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and do what I request, may the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king says.”

It was found written what Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who were doorkeepers, that they had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

The king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

So Haman came in and the king said to him, “What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?” And Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?”

And the king said to Esther on the second day also as they drank their wine at the banquet, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.”

On that day King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had disclosed what he was to her.

Thus the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying; and they did what they pleased to those who hated them.

The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman at the citadel in Susa. What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall even be granted you. And what is your further request? It shall also be done.”

Thus the Jews undertook what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.

Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. And because of the instructions in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them,

“For what I fear comes upon me,
And what I dread befalls me.

“According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity
And those who sow trouble harvest it.

“What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should endure?

“How painful are honest words!
But what does your argument prove?

“What is man that You magnify him,
And that You are concerned about him,

“Have I sinned? What have I done to You,
O watcher of men?
Why have You set me as Your target,
So that I am a burden to myself?

“Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?

“Were He to snatch away, who could restrain Him?
Who could say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’

“They are high as the heavens, what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol, what can you know?

“What you know I also know;
I am not inferior to you.

“Will you speak what is unjust for God,
And speak what is deceitful for Him?

“Be silent before me so that I may speak;
Then let come on me what may.

“What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that we do not?

“What is man, that he should be pure,
Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

“I will tell you, listen to me;
And what I have seen I will also declare;

What wise men have told,
And have not concealed from their fathers,

“Is there no limit to windy words?
Or what plagues you that you answer?

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

“If you say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’
And ‘What pretext for a case against him can we find?’

“He returns what he has attained
And cannot swallow it;
As to the riches of his trading,
He cannot even enjoy them.

‘Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him,
And what would we gain if we entreat Him?’

“For what does he care for his household after him,
When the number of his months is cut off?

“Who will confront him with his actions,
And who will repay him for what he has done?

“You say, ‘What does God know?
Can He judge through the thick darkness?

“They said to God, ‘Depart from us!’
And ‘What can the Almighty do to them?’

“I would learn the words which He would answer,
And perceive what He would say to me.

“But He is unique and who can turn Him?
And what His soul desires, that He does.

“For He performs what is appointed for me,
And many such decrees are with Him.

“What a help you are to the weak!
How you have saved the arm without strength!

“What counsel you have given to one without wisdom!
What helpful insight you have abundantly provided!

“For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off,
When God requires his life?

“I will instruct you in the power of God;
What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

“He dams up the streams from flowing,
And what is hidden he brings out to the light.

“Indeed, what good was the strength of their hands to me?
Vigor had perished from them.

“And what is the portion of God from above
Or the heritage of the Almighty from on high?

What then could I do when God arises?
And when He calls me to account, what will I answer Him?

So Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite spoke out and said,
“I am young in years and you are old;
Therefore I was shy and afraid to tell you what I think.

“So I say, ‘Listen to me,
I too will tell what I think.’

“Behold, I waited for your words,
I listened to your reasonings,
While you pondered what to say.

“If there is an angel as mediator for him,
One out of a thousand,
To remind a man what is right for him,

“He will sing to men and say,
‘I have sinned and perverted what is right,
And it is not proper for me.

“Let us choose for ourselves what is right;
Let us know among ourselves what is good.

“What man is like Job,
Who drinks up derision like water,

Teach me what I do not see;
If I have done iniquity,
I will not do it again’?

“Shall He recompense on your terms, because you have rejected it?
For you must choose, and not I;
Therefore declare what you know.

“For you say, ‘What advantage will it be to You?
What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’

“If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him?
And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him?

“If you are righteous, what do you give to Him,
Or what does He receive from your hand?

“Its noise declares His presence;
The cattle also, concerning what is coming up.

“Teach us what we shall say to Him;
We cannot arrange our case because of darkness.

“On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,

“Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You?
I lay my hand on my mouth.

It came about after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.

Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”

O sons of men, how long will my honor become a reproach?
How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception? Selah.

There is nothing reliable in what they say;
Their inward part is destruction itself.
Their throat is an open grave;
They flatter with their tongue.

What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?

If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?”

“What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness?

And those who repay evil for good,
They oppose me, because I follow what is good.

“Lord, make me to know my end
And what is the extent of my days;
Let me know how transient I am.

“And now, Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in You.

“With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity;
You consume as a moth what is precious to him;
Surely every man is a mere breath. Selah.

But to the wicked God says,
“What right have you to tell of My statutes
And to take My covenant in your mouth?

Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak
And blameless when You judge.

You love evil more than good,
Falsehood more than speaking what is right. Selah.

In God, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust;
I shall not be afraid.
What can mere man do to me?

In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

Then all men will fear,
And they will declare the work of God,
And will consider what He has done.

Come and hear, all who fear God,
And I will tell of what He has done for my soul.

Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head;
Those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies;
What I did not steal, I then have to restore.

Your way, O God, is holy;
What god is great like our God?

I will hear what God the Lord will say;
For He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones;
But let them not turn back to folly.

Indeed, the Lord will give what is good,
And our land will yield its produce.

Remember what my span of life is;
For what vanity You have created all the sons of men!

What man can live and not see death?
Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.

For You, O Lord, have made me glad by what You have done,
I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.

For He has satisfied the thirsty soul,
And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.

What ails you, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?

What shall I render to the Lord
For all His benefits toward me?