Letters were sent to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth,
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.
The command of Esther confirmed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing.
King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea.
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?
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.
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.
His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?
Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,
and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.
And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.
And the Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”
Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.
And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.
But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.
And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
“Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’
Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.
Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.
Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,
because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes.
“Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?
Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,
Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?
There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.
There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master.
“Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,
who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?
For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.
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