Study Desk

to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established for them, and just as they had established for themselves and for their descendants, with instructions for their times of fasting and their mourning.

And every accomplishment of his authority and power, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai with which the king honored him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia?

His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send word and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

and the Sabeans attacked and took them. They also killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

Now when Job's three friends heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, 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 sympathize with him and comfort him.

When they looked from a distance and did not recognize him, they raised 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.

Who are filled with jubilation, And rejoice when they find the grave?

"By the breath of God they perish, And by the blast of His anger they come to an end.

'Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces; Unregarded, they perish forever.

"His sons are far from safety, They are also oppressed at the gate, And there is no one to save them.

"By day they meet with darkness, And grope at noon as in the night.

"The paths of their course wind along, They go up into wasteland and perish.

"They were put to shame, for they had trusted, They came there and were humiliated.

"My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, And they come to an end without hope.

"Will they not teach you and tell you, And bring forth words from their minds?

"It is God who removes the mountains, and they do not know how, When He overturns them in His anger.

"Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.

"They grope in darkness with no light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken person.