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For this reason these days are known as Purim, after the name of pur.

to establish these days of Purim in their proper times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established, and just as they had established both for themselves and their descendants, matters pertaining to fasting and lamentation.

Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus. He was the highest-ranking Jew, and he was admired by his numerous relatives. He worked enthusiastically for the good of his people and was an advocate for the welfare of all his descendants.

When the days of their feasting were finished, Job would send for them and sanctify them; he would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job thought, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's customary practice.

Then Satan answered the Lord , "Is it for nothing that Job fears God?

Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. And he still holds firmly to his integrity, so that you stirred me up to destroy him without reason."

But Satan answered the Lord , "Skin for skin! Indeed, a man will give up all that he has to save his life!

When Job's three friends heard about all this calamity that had happened to him, each of them came from his own country—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to come to show sympathy for him and to console him.

Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, yet no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

Let its morning stars be darkened; let it wait for daylight but find none, nor let it see the first rays of dawn,

For now I would be lying down and would be quiet, I would be asleep and then at peace

with kings and counselors of the earth who built for themselves places now desolate,

to those who wait for death that does not come, and search for it more than for hidden treasures,

For my sighing comes in place of my food, and my groanings flow forth like water.

For the very thing I dreaded has happened to me, and what I feared has come upon me.

The mighty lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

For wrath kills the foolish person, and anger slays the silly one.

For evil does not come up from the dust, nor does trouble spring up from the ground,

"But as for me, I would seek God, and to God I would set forth my case.

For he wounds, but he also bandages; he strikes, but his hands also heal.