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And in each and every province and in each and every city, wherever the king's word and his law reached, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them.

But when it came before the king, he said by letter that his evil scheme, which he had devised against the Jews, should return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

And the entire work of his authority and his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had made so great, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?

For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus and was great among the Jews and pleasing to his many fellow brothers, one who sought the good of his people and one who spoke for the peace of all his seed.

His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 pairs of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the sons 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.

Have You not made a hedge about 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.

Now it happened that on the day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the firstborn,

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped.

And Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you set your heart upon My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity. So you incited Me against him to swallow him up in vain."

Satan answered Yahweh and said, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.

However, send forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You in Your face."

So Yahweh said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand, only spare his life."

Then Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh and struck Job with terrible boils from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.

Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!"

But he said to her, "You speak as one of the wickedly foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept calamity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Then Job's three friends heard of all this calamity that had come upon him. So they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to console him and comfort him.

Then they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe, and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky.

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

Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.