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ESTHER 9

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The Jews Destroy Their Enemies
  9:1 Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s command and edict were about to be carried out, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them. 2 The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could stand against them, for the fear of them had fallen on all peoples. 3 All the officials of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and the royal agents also helped the Jews, for the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them. 4 For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai grew more and more powerful. 5 The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them. 6 In Susa the citadel itself the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men, 7 and also killed Parshandatha and Dalphon and Aspatha 8 and Poratha and Adalia and Aridatha 9 and Parmashta and Arisai and Aridai and Vaizatha, 10 the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they laid no hand on the plunder.
    
11 That very day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was reported to the king. 12 And the king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men and also the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled.” 13 And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according to this day’s edict. And let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.” 14 So the king commanded this to be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged. 15 The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and they killed 300 men in Susa, but they laid no hands on the plunder.
    
16 Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies and killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they laid no hands on the plunder. 17 This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness. 18 But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness. 19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another. The Feast of Purim Inaugurated
20 And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21 obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, 22 as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
    
23 So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them. 24 For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them. 25 But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26 Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, 27 the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, 28 that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.
    
29 Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming this second letter about Purim. 30 Letters were sent to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth, 31 that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them, and as they had obligated themselves and their offspring, with regard to their fasts and their lamenting. 32 The command of Esther confirmed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing.



ESTHER 10

« Esther 9 | Esther 10 | Job 1 »

The Greatness of Mordecai
  10:1 King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea. 2 And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor 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? 3 For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.



PROVERBS 1

« Psalm 150 | Proverbs 1 | Proverbs 2 »

The Beginning of Knowledge
  1:1 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
2
To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
3
to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
4
to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth—
5
Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
6
to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.

7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The Enticement of Sinners
8
Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching,
9
for they are a graceful garland for your head
and pendants for your neck.
10
My son, if sinners entice you,
do not consent.
11
If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;
let us ambush the innocent without reason;
12
like Sheol let us swallow them alive,
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
13
we shall find all precious goods,
we shall fill our houses with plunder;
14
throw in your lot among us;
we will all have one purse”—
15
my son, do not walk in the way with them;
hold back your foot from their paths,
16
for their feet run to evil,
and they make haste to shed blood.
17
For in vain is a net spread
in the sight of any bird,
18
but these men lie in wait for their own blood;
they set an ambush for their own lives.
19
Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain;
it takes away the life of its possessors.
The Call of Wisdom
20
Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
in the markets she raises her voice;
21
at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
22
“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
23
If you turn at my reproof,
behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;
I will make my words known to you.
24
Because I have called and you refused to listen,
have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
25
because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
26
I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when terror strikes you,
27
when terror strikes you like a storm
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
28
Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
29
Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
30
would have none of my counsel
and despised all my reproof,
31
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,
and have their fill of their own devices.
32
For the simple are killed by their turning away,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;
33
but whoever listens to me will dwell secure
and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”



PSALM 89

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I Will Sing of the Steadfast Love of the Lord
A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
89:1
I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever;
with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
2
For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;
in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
3
You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
4
‘I will establish your offspring forever,
and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah

5
Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
6
For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,
7
a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
and awesome above all who are around him?
8
O Lord God of hosts,
who is mighty as you are, O Lord,
with your faithfulness all around you?
9
You rule the raging of the sea;
when its waves rise, you still them.
10
You crushed Rahab like a carcass;
you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11
The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.
12
The north and the south, you have created them;
Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
13
You have a mighty arm;
strong is your hand, high your right hand.
14
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
15
Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,
16
who exult in your name all the day
and in your righteousness are exalted.
17
For you are the glory of their strength;
by your favor our horn is exalted.
18
For our shield belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19
Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said:
“I have granted help to one who is mighty;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
20
I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
21
so that my hand shall be established with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
22
The enemy shall not outwit him;
the wicked shall not humble him.
23
I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24
My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,
and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25
I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
26
He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
27
And I will make him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28
My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
and my covenant will stand firm for him.
29
I will establish his offspring forever
and his throne as the days of the heavens.
30
If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my rules,
31
if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
32
then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with stripes,
33
but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
or be false to my faithfulness.
34
I will not violate my covenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
35
Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
36
His offspring shall endure forever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.
37
Like the moon it shall be established forever,
a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah

38
But now you have cast off and rejected;
you are full of wrath against your anointed.
39
You have renounced the covenant with your servant;
you have defiled his crown in the dust.
40
You have breached all his walls;
you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
41
All who pass by plunder him;
he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
42
You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
you have made all his enemies rejoice.
43
You have also turned back the edge of his sword,
and you have not made him stand in battle.
44
You have made his splendor to cease
and cast his throne to the ground.
45
You have cut short the days of his youth;
you have covered him with shame. Selah

46
How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?
47
Remember how short my time is!
For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
48
What man can live and never see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

49
Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,
which by your faithfulness you swore to David?
50
Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,
and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,
51
with which your enemies mock, O Lord,
with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.

52
Blessed be the Lord forever!Amen and Amen.



PSALM 90

« Psalm 89 | Psalm 90 | Psalm 91 »

From Everlasting to Everlasting
A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
90:1
Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
2
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3
You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
4
For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.

5
You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.

7
For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.
8
You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.

9
For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10
The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11
Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?

12
So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13
Return, O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
14
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16
Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
17
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!

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