Now when Mordecai learned of everything that had been done, he tore his clothes [in mourning], and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the center of the city and cried out loudly and bitterly.

Esther said, “If it pleases the king, may the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him.”

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

Haman also said, “Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the banquet she had prepared; and tomorrow also I am invited by her [together] with the king.

Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows fifty cubits high made, and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go joyfully to the banquet with the king.” And the advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.

The king’s servants said to him, “Look, Haman is standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.”

let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed;

and let the robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials. Let him dress the man whom the king delights to honor [in the royal robe] and lead him on horseback through the open square of the city, and proclaim before him, ‘This is what shall be done for the man whom the king desires to honor.’”

Then Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be spared as my petition, and my people [be spared] as my request;

Then she said, “If it pleases the king and if I have found favor before him and the matter is proper in the king’s view and I am pleasing in his sight, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, which he wrote [in order] to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.

Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he stretched out his hand against the Jews.

For [at this time] the Jews had light [a dawn of new hope] and gladness and joy and honor.

the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy; but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

Esther replied, “If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to act tomorrow also in accordance with the decree of today; and let [the dead bodies of] Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”

The Jews who were in Susa also gathered together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men in Susa, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces assembled, to defend their lives and rid themselves of their enemies, and kill 75,000 of those who hated them; but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, [to find the right time] to disturb and destroy them.

Therefore they called these days Purim after the name Pur (lot). And because of all the instructions in this letter, and what they had faced in this regard and what had happened to them,

King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) imposed a tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea.

“Let the day on which I was born perish,
And the night which announced: ‘There is a man-child conceived.’

“May that day be darkness;
Let God above not care about it,
Nor light shine on it.

“Let darkness and gloom claim it for their own;
Let a cloud settle upon it;
Let all that blackens the day terrify it (the day that I was born).

“As for that night, let darkness seize it;
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
Let it not be counted in the number of the months.

“Behold, let that night be barren [and empty];
Let no joyful voice enter it.

“Let those curse it who curse the day,
Who are skilled in rousing up Leviathan.

“Let the stars of its early dawn be dark;
Let the morning wait in vain for the light,
Let it not see the eyelids of morning (the day’s dawning),

“Or like a miscarriage which is hidden and put away, I would not exist,
Like infants who never saw light.

“Why is the light given to him who is in misery,
And life to the bitter in soul,

“Why is the light of day given to a man whose way is hidden,
And whom God has hedged in?

“Oh, that my grief could actually be weighed
And placed in the balances together with my tragedy [to see if my grief is the grief of a coward]!

“I wish that it would please God to crush me,
That He would let loose His hand and cut me off.

“Turn away [from your suspicion], let there be no injustice;
Turn away, my righteousness and vindication is still in it.

“I waste away and loathe my life; I will not live forever.
Let me alone, for my days are but a breath [futile and without substance].

“Will You never turn Your gaze away from me [it plagues me],
Nor let me alone until I swallow my spittle?

“Why then do You not pardon my transgression
And take away my sin and guilt?
For now I will lie down in the dust;
And You will seek me [diligently], but I will not be.”

“Would He not let my few days alone,
Withdraw from me that I may have a little cheer

The [sunless] land of utter gloom as darkness itself,
[The land] of the shadow of death, without order,
And [where] it shines as [thick] darkness.”

If sin is in your hand, put it far away [from you],
And do not let wrongdoing dwell in your tents;

“He uncovers mysteries [that are difficult to grasp and understand] out of the darkness
And brings black gloom and the shadow of death into light.

“They grope in darkness without light,
And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.”

“Be silent before me so that I may speak;
And let happen to me what may.

“Listen diligently to my speech,
And let my declaration fill your ears.

Withdraw Your hand from me and remove this bodily suffering,
And let not the dread of You terrify me.

“Then [Lord,] call, and I will answer;
Or let me speak, and then reply to me.

“[O God] turn your gaze from him so that he may rest,
Until he fulfills his day [on earth] like a hired man.

That you should turn your spirit against God
And let such words [as you have spoken] go out of your mouth?

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

“Let him not trust in vanity (emptiness, futility) and be led astray;
For emptiness will be his reward [for such living].

“You have taken a firm hold on me and have shriveled me up,
It has become a witness [against me];
And my leanness [and infirmity] rises up [as evidence] against me,
It testifies to my face [about my guilt].

“O earth, do not cover my blood,
And let there be no [resting] place for my cry [where it will cease being heard].

“But You [Lord] have closed their hearts to understanding,
Therefore You will not exalt them [by giving a verdict against me].

“These [thoughts try to] make the night into the day;
‘The light is near,’ they say in the presence of darkness [but they pervert the truth].

“Indeed, the light of the wicked will be put out,
And the flame of his fire will not shine.

“The light will be dark in his tent,
And his lamp beside him will be put out.

“He is driven and propelled from light into darkness,
And chased from the inhabited world.

“That with an iron stylus and [molten] lead
They were engraved in the rock forever!

Though he desires it and will not let it go
But holds it in his mouth,

Complete darkness (misfortune) is held in reserve for his treasures.
An unfanned fire will devour him;
It will consume the survivor in his tent.

“Listen carefully to my speech,
And let this be the consolation.

“You say, ‘God stores away [the punishment of] man’s wickedness for his children.’
Let God repay him so that he may know and experience it.

“Let his own eyes see his destruction,
And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

“That evil men are [now] reserved for the day of disaster and destruction,
They will be led away on the day of [God’s] wrath?

Or darkness, so that you cannot see,
And a flood of water covers you.

“You will also decide and decree a thing, and it will be established for you;
And the light [of God’s favor] will shine upon your ways.

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

“The murderer rises at dawn;
He kills the poor and the needy,
And at night he becomes a thief.

“Is there any number to His [vast celestial] armies?
And upon whom does His light not rise?

“He has inscribed a circular limit (the horizon) on the face of the waters
At the boundary between light and darkness.

“I hold fast my uprightness and my right standing with God and I will not let them go;
My heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

“May my enemy be as the wicked,
And he who rises up against me be as the unrighteous (unjust).

“Man dams up the streams from flowing [so that they do not trickle into the mine],
And what is hidden he brings out to the light.

When His lamp shone upon my head
And by His light I walked through darkness;

The princes stopped talking
And put their hands on their mouths;

“I smiled at them when they did not believe,
And they did not diminish the light of my face.

“When I expected good, then came evil [to me];
And when I waited for light, then came darkness.

“For what is the portion I would have from God above,
And what heritage from the Almighty on high?

Oh, let Him weigh me with accurate scales,
And let God know my integrity.

Then let me plant and [let] another eat [from the results of my labor],
And let my crops be uprooted and ruined.

“If my heart has been enticed and I was made a fool by a woman,
Or if I have [covetously] lurked at my neighbor’s door [until his departure],

Let my wife grind [meal, like a bond slave] for another [man],
And let others kneel down over her.

Then let my shoulder fall away from its socket,
And my arm be broken off at the elbow.

“No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin
By cursing my enemy and asking for his life.

“Oh, that I had one to listen to me!
Look, here is my signature (mark);
Let the Almighty answer me!
Let my adversary write out His indictment [and put His vague accusations in tangible form].

Let thorns grow instead of wheat,
And stinkweed and cockleburs instead of barley.”

So the words of Job [with his friends] are finished.

“I thought age should speak,
And a multitude of years should teach wisdom.

‘God has redeemed my life from going to the pit [of destruction],
And my life shall see the light.’”

To bring his life back from the pit [of destruction],
That he may be enlightened with the light of the living.

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

“Who put God in charge over the earth?
And who has laid on Him the whole world?

“Do not let wrath entice you into scoffing;
And do not let the greatness and the extent of the ransom turn you aside.

“Now people cannot look at the light when it is bright in the skies [without being blinded],
When the wind has passed and cleared them.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know and have understanding.

“On what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,

So that light may take hold of the corners of the earth
And shake the wickedness out of it?

“Their light is withheld from the wicked,
And the uplifted arm is broken.

“Where is the way where light dwells?
And as for darkness, where is its place,

“Where is the way that the light is distributed,
Or the east wind scattered over the earth?

“Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,
And guide [the stars of] the Bear with her sons?

“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
Let him who disputes with God answer it.”

“His sneezes flash forth light,
And his eyes are like the [reddish] eyelids of the dawn.