above the princes and servants off 7 And Haman answered the king, the king. For the man whom the king delighteth to honour,

3 And the king said, What ho- 12 And Mordecai came again to nour and dignity hath been done to the king's gate. But Haman hasted Mordecai for this? Then said the to his house mourning, and having king's servants that ministered unto his head covered. him, There is nothing done for him. t 4 And the king said, Who is in the court? (Now Haman was come into the outward court of the king's house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.)

2 And the king said again to gallows that he had prepared for Esther on the second day at the ban-Mordecai. Then was the king's quet of wine, What is thy petition. wrath pacified. queen Esther? and it shall be grantCHAP. VIII. qu thee: and what is thy request? Ahasuerus give the house of that day did the king

Haman, the Jews' enemy, unto Es

and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom. f 3 Then Esther the pueen answer-ther the queen. And Mordecai ed and said, If I have found favour came before the king; for Esther in thy sight, O king, and if it please had told what he was unto her. the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request:

4 For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bond-men and boud-women, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage.

f 5¶ Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do

so?

2 And the king took off his ring which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

3 ¶ And Esther spake yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews.

4 Then the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther. So Esther arose, and stood before the king,

6 And Esther said, The adver-k 5 And said, If it please the king, sary and enemy is this wicked Ha- and if I have found favour in his sight, man. Then Haman was afraid be- and the thing seem right before the fore the king and the queen. king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, f7 And the king arising from the let it be written to reverse the letters banquet of wine in his wrath went devised by Haman the son of Haminto the palace-garden and Haman medatha the Agagite, which he stood up to make request for his life wrote to destroy the Jews which are to Esther the queen; for he saw in all the king's provinces: that there was evil determined against him by the king.

6 For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?

8 Then the king returned out of the palace-garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman 7 Then the king Ahasuerus was fallen upon the bed whereon said unto Esther the queen and to Esther was. Then said the king, Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have Will he force the queen also before given Esther the house of Haman, me in the house? As the word went and him they have hanged upon the out of the king's mouth, they co-gallows, because he laid his hand vered Haman's face. upon the Jews.

f9 And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon.

10 So they hanged Haman on the

8 Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh 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 no man reverse.

9 Then were the king's scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the

CHAP. IX.

twelfth month, that is, the month A dar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in exe

three and twentieth day thereof; and every city, whithersoever the king's it was written, according to all that commandment and his decree came, Mordecai commanded, unto the the Jews had joy and gladness, a Jews, and to the lieutenants, and feast and a good day. And many the deputies and rulers of the pro- of the people of the land became vinces which are from India unto Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell Ethiopia, a hundred twenty and upon them. seven provinces, unto every province according the writing f] thereof, and unto every people in ter their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language. 10 And he wrote in the king Aha-cution, in the day that the enemies suerus' name, and sealed it with the of the Jews hoped to have power king's ring, and sent letters by posts over them, (though it was turned to on horseback, and riders on mules, the contrary, that the Jews had rule camels, and young dromedaries: over them that hated them;) f11 Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey,

2 The Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear of them fell upon all people.

f3 And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the 12 Upon one day in all the pro-deputies, and officers of the king vinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, helped the Jews; because the fear upon the thirteenth day of the of Mordecai fell upon them. twelfth month, which is the month Adar.

f13 The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

4 For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.

f5 Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruc14 So the posts that rode upon tion, and did what they would unto mules and camels went out, being those that hated them.

hastened and pressed on by the 6 And in Shushan the palace the king's commandment. And the de-Jews slew and destroyed five huncree was given at Shushan the pa-dred men.

lace.

f15 And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple and the city of Shushan rejoiced, and was glad :

ness, and joy, and honour.

7 And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,

8 And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,

9 And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridaj, and Vajezatha,

10 The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of

16 The Jews had light, and glad-the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand. 11 On that day the number of

17 And in every province, and in

those that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king.

f121 And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done.

13 Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to-morrow also according unto this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.

14 And the king commanded it so to be done and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.

ƒ20 T And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,

21 To establish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, f22 As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.

f23 And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them;

24 Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the ene15 For the Jews that were in Shu-my of all the Jews, had devised shan gathered themselves together against the Jews to destroy them, on the fourteenth day also of the and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, month Adar, and slew three hun- to consume them, and to destroy dred men at Shushan; but on the them; prey they laid not their hand. f16 But the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey, f26 Wherefore they called these f17 On the thirteenth day of the days Purim after the name of Pur. month Adar; and on the fourteenth Therefore for all the words of this day of the same rested they, and letter, and of that which they had made it a day of feasting and giad-seen concerning this matter, and

ness.

f18 But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.

25 But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

which had come unto them,
I 27 The Jews ordained, and took
upon them, and upon their seed, and
upon all such as joined themselves
unto them, so as it should not fail,
that they would keep these two days
according to their writing, and
according to their appointed time
every year;

28 And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should

not fail from among the Jews, nor 32 And the decree of Esther conthe memorial of them perish from firmed these matters of Purim; and their seed. it was written in the book.

29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim.

30 And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth,

f

CHAP. X.

ND the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea.

2 And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Me

31 To confirm these days of Pu-dia and Persia ? rim in their times appointed, accord-f 3 For Mordecai the Jew was ing as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the fastings and their cry.

next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.

¶ The Book of JOB.

CHAP. I.
HERE was a man in the

of

was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

If 6 ¶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present

Satan came also among them.

7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. c 8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

t 9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?

4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.! 10 Hast not thou made a hedge f5 And it was so, when the days about him, and about his house, and of their feasting were gone about, about all that he hath on every side? that Job sent and sanctified them, thou hast blessed the work of his and rose up early in the morning, hands, and his substance is increasand offered burnt-offerings accorded in the land.

ing to the number of them all: for 11 But put forth thy hand now, Job said. It may be that my sons and touch all that he hath, and he have sinned, and cursed God in will curse thee to thy face.

their hearts. Thus did Job continu- t 12 And the LORD said unto Saally. tan, Behold, all that he hath is in