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Esther

Esther 8

The King’s Edict in Behalf of the Jews

1 That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her.

2 The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate.

3 Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews.

4 Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.

5 “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.

6 For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”

7 King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled him on the pole he set up.

8 Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”

9 At once the royal secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush.These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language.

10 Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.

11 The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children,and to plunder the property of their enemies.

12 The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

13 A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

14 The couriers, riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.

The Triumph of the Jews

15 When Mordecai left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration.

16 For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor.

17 In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/EST/8-d9d99fd3d5c22a59c46323fb1c481e73.mp3?version_id=111—

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Esther

Esther 9

1 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them.

2 The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them.

3 And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king’s administrators helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them.

4 Mordecai was prominent in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful.

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

6 In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.

7 They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,

9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha,

10 the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

11 The number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same day.

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

13 “If it pleases the king,” Esther answered, “give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day’s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman’s ten sons be impaled on poles.”

14 So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they impaled the ten sons of Haman.

15 The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

16 Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder.

17 This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.

18 The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.

19 That is why rural Jews—those living in villages—observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.

Purim Established

20 Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far,

21 to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar

22 as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

23 So the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them.

24 For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast thepur(that is, the lot) for their ruin and destruction.

25 But when the plot came to the king’s attention,he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head, and that he and his sons should be impaled on poles.

26 (Therefore these days were called Purim, from the wordpur.) Because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them,

27 the Jews took it on themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed.

28 These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews—nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.

29 So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim.

30 And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of Xerxes’ kingdom—words of goodwill and assurance—

31 to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting and lamentation.

32 Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, and it was written down in the records.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/EST/9-00f78b2ee37f8d6a228ab270a543ab51.mp3?version_id=111—

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Esther

Esther 10

The Greatness of Mordecai

1 King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores.

2 And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia?

3 Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/EST/10-2d77338d857151f2bc08acb02122745d.mp3?version_id=111—

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Job

Job Intro

The wisdom of Proverbs describes how godly character generally leads to success. Ecclesiastes tempers this, warning that rewards are not guaranteed, since a kind of “crookedness” has come into our world. The book of Job goes further, exploring how righteous people sometimes suffer. The book of Job uses a common literary device from the wisdom traditions of the ancient world: an extended conversation based on poetic speeches.

Job is introduced as a good man. But “the adversary” (

satan

in Hebrew) points out an apparent problem in God’s moral oversight of the universe. If goodness is always rewarded, how can we know if it’s born from love of God or desire for gain? So God allows the adversary to bring suffering into Job’s life.

Job doesn’t curse God as the adversary predicted but ends up debating with three friends: Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. Their overly rigid view of the moral universe convinces them that Job’s own wrongdoing has caused his suffering. A young man Elihu joins the conversation later, while Job continues to insist that he has done nothing wrong and deserves a hearing before God.

Finally, God reveals the power and wisdom shown in his oversight of creation. Job then humbly admits his own limited understanding. When God rebukes Job’s three friends, we see they are guilty of a far worse assumption than Job. In the end God blesses Job with twice as much as he had before. The book warns us to avoid reducing God’s moral rule to easy formulas.

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Job

Job 1

Prologue

1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.

2 He had seven sons and three daughters,

3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.

6 One day the angelscame to present themselves before theLord, and Satanalso came with them.

7 TheLordsaid to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered theLord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

8 Then theLordsaid to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied.

10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.

11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

12 TheLordsaid to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”

Then Satan went out from the presence of theLord.

13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house,

14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby,

15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house,

19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship

21 and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,

and naked I will depart.

TheLordgave and theLordhas taken away;

may the name of theLordbe praised.”

22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/1-2b43248b41d67e64f802d48fff97a81b.mp3?version_id=111—

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Job

Job 2

1 On another day the angelscame to present themselves before theLord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him.

2 And theLordsaid to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered theLord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

3 Then theLordsaid to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life.

5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

6 TheLordsaid to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”

7 So Satan went out from the presence of theLordand afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolishwoman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.

12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads.

13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/2-8d1b692f64d802fcd37da2e7de927808.mp3?version_id=111—

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Job

Job 3

Job Speaks

1 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

2 He said:

3 “May the day of my birth perish,

and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’

4 That day—may it turn to darkness;

may God above not care about it;

may no light shine on it.

5 May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more;

may a cloud settle over it;

may blackness overwhelm it.

6 That night—may thick darkness seize it;

may it not be included among the days of the year

nor be entered in any of the months.

7 May that night be barren;

may no shout of joy be heard in it.

8 May those who curse dayscurse that day,

those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.

9 May its morning stars become dark;

may it wait for daylight in vain

and not see the first rays of dawn,

10 for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me

to hide trouble from my eyes.

11 “Why did I not perish at birth,

and die as I came from the womb?

12 Why were there knees to receive me

and breasts that I might be nursed?

13 For now I would be lying down in peace;

I would be asleep and at rest

14 with kings and rulers of the earth,

who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,

15 with princes who had gold,

who filled their houses with silver.

16 Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child,

like an infant who never saw the light of day?

17 There the wicked cease from turmoil,

and there the weary are at rest.

18 Captives also enjoy their ease;

they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.

19 The small and the great are there,

and the slaves are freed from their owners.

20 “Why is light given to those in misery,

and life to the bitter of soul,

21 to those who long for death that does not come,

who search for it more than for hidden treasure,

22 who are filled with gladness

and rejoice when they reach the grave?

23 Why is life given to a man

whose way is hidden,

whom God has hedged in?

24 For sighing has become my daily food;

my groans pour out like water.

25 What I feared has come upon me;

what I dreaded has happened to me.

26 I have no peace, no quietness;

I have no rest, but only turmoil.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/3-b1fb59a560bebf011eb7d60e6fc6f42b.mp3?version_id=111—

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Job

Job 4

Eliphaz

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

2 “If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?

But who can keep from speaking?

3 Think how you have instructed many,

how you have strengthened feeble hands.

4 Your words have supported those who stumbled;

you have strengthened faltering knees.

5 But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;

it strikes you, and you are dismayed.

6 Should not your piety be your confidence

and your blameless ways your hope?

7 “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?

Where were the upright ever destroyed?

8 As I have observed, those who plow evil

and those who sow trouble reap it.

9 At the breath of God they perish;

at the blast of his anger they are no more.

10 The lions may roar and growl,

yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.

11 The lion perishes for lack of prey,

and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

12 “A word was secretly brought to me,

my ears caught a whisper of it.

13 Amid disquieting dreams in the night,

when deep sleep falls on people,

14 fear and trembling seized me

and made all my bones shake.

15 A spirit glided past my face,

and the hair on my body stood on end.

16 It stopped,

but I could not tell what it was.

A form stood before my eyes,

and I heard a hushed voice:

17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God?

Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?

18 If God places no trust in his servants,

if he charges his angels with error,

19 how much more those who live in houses of clay,

whose foundations are in the dust,

who are crushed more readily than a moth!

20 Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces;

unnoticed, they perish forever.

21 Are not the cords of their tent pulled up,

so that they die without wisdom?’

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/4-903b5aeb89bd1ae7ff46f358a4de1de6.mp3?version_id=111—

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Job

Job 5

1 “Call if you will, but who will answer you?

To which of the holy ones will you turn?

2 Resentment kills a fool,

and envy slays the simple.

3 I myself have seen a fool taking root,

but suddenly his house was cursed.

4 His children are far from safety,

crushed in court without a defender.

5 The hungry consume his harvest,

taking it even from among thorns,

and the thirsty pant after his wealth.

6 For hardship does not spring from the soil,

nor does trouble sprout from the ground.

7 Yet man is born to trouble

as surely as sparks fly upward.

8 “But if I were you, I would appeal to God;

I would lay my cause before him.

9 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,

miracles that cannot be counted.

10 He provides rain for the earth;

he sends water on the countryside.

11 The lowly he sets on high,

and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

12 He thwarts the plans of the crafty,

so that their hands achieve no success.

13 He catches the wise in their craftiness,

and the schemes of the wily are swept away.

14 Darkness comes upon them in the daytime;

at noon they grope as in the night.

15 He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth;

he saves them from the clutches of the powerful.

16 So the poor have hope,

and injustice shuts its mouth.

17 “Blessed is the one whom God corrects;

so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

18 For he wounds, but he also binds up;

he injures, but his hands also heal.

19 From six calamities he will rescue you;

in seven no harm will touch you.

20 In famine he will deliver you from death,

and in battle from the stroke of the sword.

21 You will be protected from the lash of the tongue,

and need not fear when destruction comes.

22 You will laugh at destruction and famine,

and need not fear the wild animals.

23 For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,

and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

24 You will know that your tent is secure;

you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing.

25 You will know that your children will be many,

and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

26 You will come to the grave in full vigor,

like sheaves gathered in season.

27 “We have examined this, and it is true.

So hear it and apply it to yourself.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/5-d35617413777dff6ea0d06c44bf19e2d.mp3?version_id=111—

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Job

Job 6

Job

1 Then Job replied:

2 “If only my anguish could be weighed

and all my misery be placed on the scales!

3 It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas—

no wonder my words have been impetuous.

4 The arrows of the Almighty are in me,

my spirit drinks in their poison;

God’s terrors are marshaled against me.

5 Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass,

or an ox bellow when it has fodder?

6 Is tasteless food eaten without salt,

or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow?

7 I refuse to touch it;

such food makes me ill.

8 “Oh, that I might have my request,

that God would grant what I hope for,

9 that God would be willing to crush me,

to let loose his hand and cut off my life!

10 Then I would still have this consolation—

my joy in unrelenting pain—

that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 “What strength do I have, that I should still hope?

What prospects, that I should be patient?

12 Do I have the strength of stone?

Is my flesh bronze?

13 Do I have any power to help myself,

now that success has been driven from me?

14 “Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend

forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

15 But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,

as the streams that overflow

16 when darkened by thawing ice

and swollen with melting snow,

17 but that stop flowing in the dry season,

and in the heat vanish from their channels.

18 Caravans turn aside from their routes;

they go off into the wasteland and perish.

19 The caravans of Tema look for water,

the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.

20 They are distressed, because they had been confident;

they arrive there, only to be disappointed.

21 Now you too have proved to be of no help;

you see something dreadful and are afraid.

22 Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf,

pay a ransom for me from your wealth,

23 deliver me from the hand of the enemy,

rescue me from the clutches of the ruthless’?

24 “Teach me, and I will be quiet;

show me where I have been wrong.

25 How painful are honest words!

But what do your arguments prove?

26 Do you mean to correct what I say,

and treat my desperate words as wind?

27 You would even cast lots for the fatherless

and barter away your friend.

28 “But now be so kind as to look at me.

Would I lie to your face?

29 Relent, do not be unjust;

reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.

30 Is there any wickedness on my lips?

Can my mouth not discern malice?

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/6-b9d673009eaeb0a76d92b8e2b822c4c9.mp3?version_id=111—