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And thou didst find his heart faithful before thee: and thou madest a covenant with him, to give him the land of the Chanaanite, of the Hethite, and of the Amorrhite, and of the Pherezite, and of the Jebusite, and of the Gergezite, to give it to his seed: and thou hast fulfilled thy words, because thou art just.

Yet in thy very many mercies thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them: because thou art a merciful and gracious God.

And thou art just in all things that have come upon us: because thou hast done truth, but we have done wickedly.

And because of all this we ourselves make a covenant, and write it, and our princes, our Levites, and our priests sign it.

Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and water: and they hired against them Balaam, to curse them, and our God turned the curse into blessing.

But in all this time I was not in Jerusalem, because in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon, I went to the king, and after certain days I asked the king:

He sent word to Esther again, saying: Think not that thou mayst save thy life only, because thou art in the king’s house, more than all the Jews:

And king Assuerus answered Esther the queen, and Mardochai the Jew: I have given Aman’s house to Esther, and I have commanded him to be hanged on a gibbet, because he durst lay hands on the Jews.

Because on those days the Jews revenged themselves of their enemies, and their mourning and sorrow were turned into mirth and joy, and that these should be days of feasting and gladness, in which they should send one to another portions of meats, and should give gifts to the poor.

And since that time these days are called Phurim, that is, of lots: because Phur, that is, the lot, was cast into the urn. And all things that were done, are contained in the volume of this epistle, that is, of this book:

Because it shut not up the doors of the womb that bore me, nor took away evils from my eyes.

From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.

They arc confounded, because I have hoped: they are come also even unto me, and are covered with shame.

He shall reprove you, because in secret you accept his person.

Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me.

Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.

Yet because their good things are not in their hand, may the counsel of the wicked be far from me.

Because the wicked man is reserved to the day of destruction, and he shall be brought to the day of wrath.

For I have not perished because of the darkness that hangs over me, neither hath the mist covered my face.

Because I had delivered the poor man that cried out; and the fatherless, that had no helper.