Study Desk

because they did not supply the people of Isra'el with food and water, but hired Bil‘am against them to put a curse on them — although our God turned the curse into a blessing.

During all this time I wasn't present in Yerushalayim; because in the thirty-second year of Artach'shashta king of Bavel, I went to see the king; then, after some time had passed, I asked permission from the king

My God, remember them; because they have defiled the office of cohen and the covenant of the cohanim and L'vi'im.

because this act of the queen's will become known to all the women, who will then start showing disrespect toward their own husbands; they will say, ‘King Achashverosh ordered Vashti the queen to be brought before him, but she wouldn't come.'

He had raised Hadassah, that is, Ester, his uncle's daughter; because she had neither father nor mother. The girl was shapely and good-looking; after her father's and mother's death, Mordekhai had adopted her as his own daughter.

Ester did not disclose her people or family ties, because Mordekhai had instructed her not to tell anyone.

All the king's servants at the King's Gate would kneel and bow down before Haman, because the king had so ordered. But Mordekhai would neither kneel nor bow down to him.

asked them to give Ester this answer: "Don't suppose that merely because you happen to be in the royal palace you will escape any more than the other Jews.

King Achashverosh said to Ester the queen and Mordekhai the Jew, "Listen! I gave Ester the house of Haman, and they hanged him on the gallows, because he threatened the lives of the Jews.

You should issue a decree in the king's name for whatever you want concerning the Jews, and seal it with the king's signet ring; because a decree written in the king's name and sealed with the king's ring can't be rescinded by anyone."

In every province and city where the king's order and decree arrived, the Jews had gladness and joy, a feast and a holiday. Many from the peoples of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews had overcome them.

the Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Achashverosh to attack anyone who tried to do them harm; and no one was able to withstand them; because all the peoples were afraid of them.

All the officials of the provinces, the army commanders, the governors and those occupied with the king's affairs helped the Jews; because they were afraid of Mordekhai.

because Haman the son of Hamdata the Agagi, the enemy of the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had thrown pur (that is, "cast lots") to crush and destroy them;

This is why these days have been called Purim, after the word pur. Thus, because of everything written in this letter, and what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had come upon them,

After a cycle of banquets, Iyov would send for them to come and be consecrated; then he would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings for each of them, because Iyov said, "My sons might have sinned and blasphemed God in their thoughts." This is what Iyov did every time.

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].

because it didn't shut the doors of the womb I was in and shield my eyes from trouble.

class="poetry"> Iyov said, "Perish the day I was born and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.' May that day be darkness, may God on high not seek it, may no light shine on it, may gloom dark as death defile it, may clouds settle on it, may it be terrified by its own blackness. "As for that night, may thick darkness seize it, may it not be joined to the days of the year, may it not be numbered among the months; may that night be desolate, may no cry of joy be heard in it; may those who curse days curse it, those who[se curses] could rouse Livyatan; may the stars of its twilight be dark, may it look for light but get none, may it never see the shimmer of dawn — because it didn't shut the doors of the womb I was in and shield my eyes from trouble. "If I had been stillborn, if I had died at birth, had there been no knees to receive me or breasts for me to suck. Then I would be lying still and in peace, I would have slept and been at rest, along with kings and their earthly advisers, who rebuilt ruins for themselves, or with princes who had [plenty of] gold, who filled their houses with silver. Or I could have been like a hidden, miscarried child that never saw light. "There the wicked cease their raging, there the weary are at rest, prisoners live at peace together without hearing a taskmaster's yells. Great and small alike are there, and the slave is free of his master. "So why must light be given to the miserable and life to the bitter in spirit? They long for death, but it never comes; they search for it more than for buried treasure; when at last they find the grave, they are so happy they shout for joy. [Why give light] to a man who wanders blindly, whom God shuts in on every side? "My sighing serves in place of my food, and my groans pour out in a torrent; for the thing I feared has overwhelmed me, what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quiet, no rest; and anguish keeps coming."

but they are disappointed, because they were confident; on arrival there, they are frustrated.