I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home; and he said, “Let us meet together in God’s house, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple; for they will come to kill you. Yes, in the night will they come to kill you.”
I said, “Should a man like me flee? Who is there that, being such as I, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.”
When all our enemies heard of it, all the nations that were around us were afraid, and they lost their confidence; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.
Now when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed,
I put my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the governor of the fortress, in charge of Jerusalem; for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.
I said to them, “Don’t let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot; and while they stand guard, let them shut the doors, and you bar them: and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, everyone in his watch, with everyone near his house.”
These are the children of the province, who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, everyone to his city;
“You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea,
and showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, and against all his servants, and against all the people of his land; for you knew that they dealt proudly against them, and made a name for yourself, as it is today.
You divided the sea before them, so that they went through the middle of the sea on the dry land; and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters.
Moreover, in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go.
and gave them bread from the sky for their hunger, and brought water out of the rock for them for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them.
yet you in your manifold mercies didn’t forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud didn’t depart from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither did the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go.
“Yes, forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing. Their clothes didn’t grow old, and their feet didn’t swell.
Moreover you gave them kingdoms and peoples, which you allotted according to their portions. So they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.
You also multiplied their children as the stars of the sky, and brought them into the land concerning which you said to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.
Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, and Azekah and its towns. So they encamped from Beersheba to the valley of Hinnom.
at Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah,
and above the gate of Ephraim, and by the old gate, and by the fish gate, and the tower of Hananel, and the tower of Hammeah, even to the sheep gate: and they stood still in the gate of the guard.
because they didn’t meet the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, to curse them; however our God turned the curse into a blessing.
Mordecai walked every day in front of the court of the women’s house, to find out how Esther was doing, and what would become of her.
In those days, while Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, who were doorkeepers, were angry, and sought to lay hands on the King Ahasuerus.
This thing became known to Mordecai, who informed Esther the queen; and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name.
So Hathach went out to Mordecai, to city square which was before the king’s gate.
He also gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given out in Shushan to destroy them, to show it to Esther, and to declare it to her, and to urge her to go in to the king, to make supplication to him, and to make request before him, for her people.
Then Mordecai asked them to return this answer to Esther: “Don’t think to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house any more than all the Jews.
For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Now on the third day, Esther put on her royal clothing, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, next to the king’s house. The king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, next to the entrance of the house.
When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight; and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther came near, and touched the top of the scepter.
It was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who were doorkeepers, who had tried to lay hands on the King Ahasuerus.
The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had come into the outer court of the king’s house, to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
Then Esther the queen answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases 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 male and female slaves, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king’s loss.”
Esther said, “An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
On that day, King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the Jews’ enemy, to Esther the queen. Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was to her.
The king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and begged him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his plan that he had planned against the Jews.
Then the king held out to Esther the golden scepter. So Esther arose, and stood before the king.
She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right to 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 can I endure to see the evil that would come to my people? How can I endure to see the destruction of my relatives?”
Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged on the gallows, because he laid his hand on the Jews.
Write also to the Jews, as it pleases you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring; for the writing which is written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may not be reversed by any man.”
He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s ring, and sent letters by courier on horseback, riding on royal horses that were bred from swift steeds.
In those letters, the king granted the Jews who were in every city to gather themselves together, and to defend their life, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, their little ones and women, and to plunder their possessions,
A copy of the letter, that the decree should be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, that the Jews should be ready for that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
So the couriers who rode on royal horses went out, hastened and pressed on by the king’s commandment. The decree was given out in the citadel of Susa.
Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the month, when the king’s commandment and his decree came near to be put in execution, on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to conquer them, (but it was turned out the opposite happened, that the Jews conquered those who hated them),
the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus, to lay hands on those who wanted to harm them. No one could withstand them, because the fear of them had fallen on all the people.
All the princes of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and those who did the king’s business helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them.
The Jews struck all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and with slaughter and destruction, and did what they wanted to those who hated them.
The king said to Esther the queen, “The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in the citadel of Susa, including the ten sons of Haman; what then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your further request? It shall be done.”
The Jews who were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and killed three hundred men in Shushan; but they didn’t lay their hand on the plunder.
The other Jews who were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, defended their lives, had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them; but they didn’t lay their hand on the plunder.
because 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 consume them, and to destroy them;
Therefore they called these days “Purim”, from the word “Pur.” Therefore because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and that which had come to them,
Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh.
and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.”
So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.
His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them,
who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields;
so that he sets up on high those who are low, those who mourn are exalted to safety.
He frustrates the plans of the crafty, So that their hands can’t perform their enterprise.
But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand of the mighty.
For he wounds, and binds up. He injures, and his hands make whole.
He will deliver you in six troubles; yes, in seven no evil shall touch you.
In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power of the sword.
You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.
At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the animals of the earth.
For you shall be allied with the stones of the field. The animals of the field shall be at peace with you.
You shall know that your tent is in peace. You shall visit your fold, and shall miss nothing.
or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand?’ or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?’
Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me?
He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.
Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid;
Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit.
If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?
Surely then you shall lift up your face without spot; Yes, you shall be steadfast, and shall not fear:
Life shall be clearer than the noonday. Though there is darkness, it shall be as the morning.
You shall be secure, because there is hope. Yes, you shall search, and shall take your rest in safety.
Also you shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid. Yes, many shall court your favor.
Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.
withdraw your hand far from me; and don’t let your terror make me afraid.
You also put my feet in the stocks, and mark all my paths. You set a bound to the soles of my feet,
“Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them):
know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.
He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.
Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry.
Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see. He walks on the vault of the sky.’
The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you.
You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to you. Light shall shine on your ways.
But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does.












