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and said, "If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight and the thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to annihilate the Jews who are in all the king's provinces.

I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes."

Am I a sea, or a sea serpent, That You set a guard over me?

Have I sinned?What have I done to You, O watcher of men?Why have You set me as Your target,So that I am a burden to myself? [fn]

"I am blameless, yet I do not know myself; I despise my life.

I am afraid of all my sufferings; I know that You will not hold me innocent.

If I am condemned, Why then do I labor in vain?

"For He is not a man, as I am, That I may answer Him, And that we should go to court together.

Although You know that I am not wicked, And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?

If I am wicked, woe to me; Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace; See my misery!

For you have said, "My doctrine is pure, And I am clean in your eyes.'

But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these?

"I am one mocked by his friends, Who called on God, and He answered him, The just and blameless who is ridiculed.

What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.

"Though I speak, my grief is not relieved; And if I remain silent, how am I eased?

"If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice.

He breaks me down on every side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree.

Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants, Count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.

My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am repulsive to the children of my own body.

Even when I remember I am terrified, And trembling takes hold of my flesh.