Study Desk

The archers shot King Josiah, and he said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am severely wounded!”

So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing important work and cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?”

“What’s more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she had prepared. I am invited again tomorrow to join her with the king.

Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually violate the queen while I am in the house?” As soon as the statement left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

She said, “If it pleases the king and I have found favor before him, if the matter seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let a royal edict be written. Let it revoke the documents the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.

Am I the sea or a sea monster,that you keep me under guard?

Though I am blameless,I no longer care about myself;I renounce my life.

Then I would speak and not fear him.But that is not the case; I am on my own.

I am disgusted with my life.

even though you know that I am not wickedand that there is no one who can rescue from your power?

If I am wicked, woe to me!And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head.I am filled with shameand have drunk deeply of my affliction.

If I am proud, you hunt me like a lionand again display your miraculous power against me.

You have said, “My teaching is sound,and I am pure in your sight.”

But I also have a mind like you;I am not inferior to you.Who doesn’t know the things you are talking about?

I am a laughingstock to my friends,by calling on God, who answers me.The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.

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

Now then, I have prepared my case;I know that I am right.

He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined.He uproots my hope like a tree.

My house guests and female servants regard me as a stranger;I am a foreigner in their sight.

This is why my unsettling thoughts compel me to answer,because I am upset!