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That same day King Achashverosh gave the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Ester the queen. Also Mordekhai appeared before the king, for Ester had revealed his relationship to her.

The king removed his signet ring, which he had taken back from Haman, and gave it to Mordekhai. Then Ester put Mordekhai in charge of Haman's house.

Again Ester spoke to the king; she fell at his feet and begged him with tears to put an end to the mischief Haman the Agagi had caused by the scheme he had worked out against the Jews.

She said, "If it pleases the king, if I have won his favor, if the matter seem right to the king and if I have his approval, then let an order be written rescinding the letters devised by Haman the son of Hamdata the Agagi, which he wrote to destroy the Jews in all the royal provinces.

For Mordekhai had become a powerful person in the king's palace, and his fame had spread through all the provinces; Mordekhai continued to grow increasingly powerful.

but when Ester came before the king, he ordered by letters that [Haman's] wicked scheme, which he had plotted against the Jews, should recoil on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

All the acts of his power and might, along with a full account of the high honor to which the king advanced Mordekhai, are written in the Annals of the Kings of Media and Persia.

For Mordekhai the Jew was second only to King Achashverosh; he was a great man among the Jews, popular with all his many countrymen. He sought the good of his people and interceded for the welfare of all their descendants.

It was the custom of his sons to give banquets, each on his set day in his own house; and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

You've put a protective hedge around him, his house and everything he has. You've prospered his work, and his livestock are spread out all over the land.

Adonai said to the Adversary, "Here! Everything he has is in your hands, except that you are not to lay a finger on his person." Then the Adversary went out from the presence of Adonai .

Iyov got up, tore his coat, shaved his head, fell down on the ground and worshipped;

Adonai asked the Adversary, "Did you notice my servant Iyov, that there's no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil, and that he still holds on to his integrity, even though you provoked me against him to destroy him for no reason?"

The Adversary answered Adonai , "Skin for skin! A person will give up everything he has to save his life.

But if you reach out your hand and touch his flesh and bone, without doubt he'll curse you to your face!"

Adonai said to the Adversary, "Here! He is in your hands, except that you are to spare his life."

Then the Adversary went out from the presence of Adonai and struck Iyov down with horrible infected sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

His wife asked him, "Why do you still hold on to your integrity? Curse God, and die!"

Now when Iyov's three friends heard of all the calamities that had overwhelmed him, they all came. Each came from his own home — Elifaz from Teiman, Bildad from Shuach and Tzofar from Na‘amah. They had agreed to meet together in order to come and offer him sympathy and comfort.

Then they sat down with him on the ground. For seven days and seven nights, no one spoke a word to him; because they saw how much he was suffering. At length, Iyov broke the silence and cursed the day of his [birth].