What the Bible Says About the Megilloth: Understanding Its Meaning and Significance

Scripture

¹ In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.
² The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there.
³ But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.
⁴ They took Moabite wives, the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years.
⁵ Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
⁶ Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food.
⁷ So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
⁸ But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
⁹ The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!”
¹⁰ And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”
¹¹ But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands?
¹² Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons,
¹³ would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.”
¹⁴ Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
¹⁵ And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
¹⁶ But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
¹⁸ And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
¹⁹ So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?”
²⁰ She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
²¹ I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?
²² So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

Ruth 1:1-22

Ruth 2:1-23: ¹ Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.
² And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
³ So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.
⁴ And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.”
⁵ Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”
⁶ And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.
⁷ And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.”
⁸ Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women.
⁹ Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.”
¹⁰ Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”
¹¹ But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.
¹² The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!
¹³ Then she said, “Let me find favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.”
¹⁴ And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over.
¹⁵ When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.
¹⁶ And let fall some of the bundles for her, and leave them for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”
¹⁷ So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.
¹⁸ And she took it up and went into the city.
¹⁹ And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
²⁰ And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.”
²¹ And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’”
²² And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.”
²³ So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Ruth 3:1-18: ¹ Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?
² And now is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.
³ Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
⁴ And when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.”
⁵ And she said to her, “All that you say I will do.”
⁶ So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her.
⁷ And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down.
⁸ At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet!
⁹ He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.”
¹⁰ And he said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.
¹¹ And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.
¹² And now it is true that I am a redeemer.
¹³ Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.”
¹⁴ So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”
¹⁵ And he said, “Bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city.
¹⁶ And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did you fare, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her,
¹⁷ She replied, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, ‘You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’”
¹⁸ She replied, “Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.”

Ruth 4:1-22: ¹ Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down.
² And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down.
³ Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech.
⁴ So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.”
⁵ Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.”
⁶ Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”
⁷ Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel.
⁸ So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal.
⁹ Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon.
¹⁰ Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.”
¹¹ Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem,
¹² and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.”
¹³ So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.
¹⁴ Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!
¹⁵ He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”
¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse.
¹⁷ And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
¹⁸ Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron,
¹⁹ Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab,
²⁰ Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon,
²¹ Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed,
²² Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

Song of Solomon 1:1-17: ¹ The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.
² Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine;
³ Your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you.
⁴ Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you.
⁵ I am very dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
⁶ Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept.
⁷ Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of your companions?
⁸ If you do not know, O most beautiful among women, follow in the tracks of the flock and graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents.
⁹ I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
¹⁰ Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.
¹¹ We will make for you ornaments of gold, studded with silver.
¹² While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance.
¹³ As a sachet of myrrh, that lies between my breasts.
¹⁴ My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi.
¹⁵ Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves.
¹⁶ Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful. Our couch is green.
¹⁷ The beams of our house are cedar; our rafters are pine.

Song of Solomon 2:1-17: ¹ I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.
² As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
³ As an apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
⁴ He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
⁵ Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love.
⁶ His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me.
⁷ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
⁸ The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.
⁹ My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag; behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice.
¹⁰ My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
¹¹ For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.
¹² The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land.
¹³ The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
¹⁴ O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.
¹⁵ Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.
¹⁶ My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies.
¹⁷ Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the cleft mountains.

Song of Solomon 3:1-11: ¹ On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not.
² I said, “I will arise and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves.” I sought him, but found him not.
³ The watchmen found me as they went about in the city. “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
⁴ Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me.
⁵ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
⁶ What is that coming up from the wilderness, like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?
⁷ Behold, it is the litter of Solomon! Around it are sixty mighty men, some of the mighty men of Israel.
⁸ Keep me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.
⁹ King Solomon made himself a carriage from the wood of Lebanon.
¹⁰ He made its posts of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple; its interior was inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.
¹¹ Go out, O daughters of Zion, and look upon King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day of the gladness of his heart.

Song of Solomon 4:1-16: ¹ Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
² Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost its young.
³ Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.
⁴ Your neck is like the tower of David, built in rows of stone; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors.
⁵ Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters.
⁶ Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go away to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.
⁷ You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.
⁸ Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the peak of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.
⁹ You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.
¹⁰ How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils more than any spice!
¹¹ Your lips drip nectar, O bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
¹² A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed.
¹³ Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard,
¹⁴ nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the choicest spices.
¹⁵ A garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon.
¹⁶ Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow. Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its choicest fruits.

Song of Solomon 5:1-16: ¹ I came to my garden, my sister, my bride; I gathered my myrrh with my spice; I ate my honeycomb with my honey; I drank my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!
² I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.”
³ I have put off my garment; how could I put it on? I have washed my feet; how could I soil them?
⁴ My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me.
⁵ I rose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the bolt.
⁶ I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone; my soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.
⁷ The watchmen found me as they went about in the city; they beat me; they bruised me; they took away my veil, those watchmen of the walls.
⁸ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love.
⁹ What is your beloved more than another beloved, O most beautiful among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us?
¹⁰ My beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand.
¹¹ His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven.
¹² His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathed in milk, sitting beside a full pool.
¹³ His cheeks are like beds of spices, mounds of sweet-smelling herbs. His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh.
¹⁴ His arms are rods of gold, set with jewels; his body is like polished ivory, bedecked with sapphires.
¹⁵ His stature is like that of the cedars,
the choice of the trees of Lebanon.
¹⁶ His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

Song of Solomon 6:1-13: ¹ Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?
² My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to graze in the gardens and to gather lilies.
³ I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he grazes among the lilies.
⁴ You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.
⁵ Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
⁶ Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters.
⁷ Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.
⁸ There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and virgins without number.
⁹ My dove, my perfect one, is only one, the only one of her mother, pure to her who bore her. The young women saw her and called her blessed; the queens and the concubines also, and they praised her.
¹⁰ Who is this that looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?
¹¹ I went down to the nut orchard to look at the blossoms of the valley, to see whether the vines had budded, whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
¹² Before I was aware, my desire set me among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.
¹³ Return, return, O Shulammite; return, return, that we may look upon you. Why should you look upon the Shulammite, as upon a dance before two armies?

Song of Solomon 7:1-13: ¹ How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O noble daughter! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand.
² Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters.
³ Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters.
⁴ Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters.
⁵ Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters.
⁶ How beautiful and pleasant you are, O loved one, with all your delights!
⁷ Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters.
⁸ I say, “I will climb the palm tree and lay hold of its fruit.” Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your breath like apples.
⁹ And the roof of your mouth like the best wine for my beloved, flowing gently over lips and teeth.
¹⁰ I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.
¹¹ Come, my beloved, let us go out to the fields and lodge in the villages.
¹² Let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.
¹³ The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and beside our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

Song of Solomon 8:1-14: ¹ Oh that you were like a brother to me,
who nursed at my mother’s breasts.
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
and none would despise me.
² I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother, and she would teach you what to say. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranate.
³ His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me!
⁴ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
⁵ Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in labor with you; there she who bore you was in labor.
⁶ Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.
⁷ Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.
⁸ We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for?
⁹ If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver; but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
¹⁰ I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace.
¹¹ Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
¹² My own vineyard is before me; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
¹³ O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me hear it.
¹⁴ Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.

Ecclesiastes 1:1-18: ¹ The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
² Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
³ What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
⁴ A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
⁵ The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.
⁶ The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
⁷ All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
⁸ All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
⁹ What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰ Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us.
¹¹ There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.
¹² I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
¹³ And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
¹⁴ I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
¹⁵ What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
¹⁶ I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.”
¹⁷ And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
¹⁸ For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-26: ¹ I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.
² I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”
³ I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.
⁴ I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.
⁵ I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
⁶ I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.
⁷ I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.
⁸ I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.
⁹ So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem.
¹⁰ And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.
¹¹ Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
¹² So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done.
¹³ Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness.
¹⁴ The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them.
¹⁵ Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.
¹⁶ For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool!
¹⁷ So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
¹⁸ I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me,
¹⁹ and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.
²⁰ So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun,
²¹ because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
²² What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?
²³ For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
²⁴ There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God,
²⁵ for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
²⁶ For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22: ¹ For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
² a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
³ a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
⁵ a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
⁶ a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
⁷ a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
⁹ What gain has the worker from his toil?
¹⁰ I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
¹² I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;
¹³ also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.
¹⁴ I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.
¹⁵ That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.
¹⁶ Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.
¹⁷ I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.
¹⁸ I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts.
¹⁹ For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.
²⁰ All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.
²¹ Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?
²² So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?

Ecclesiastes 4:1-16: ¹ Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them!
² And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive.
³ But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.
⁴ Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
⁵ The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.
⁶ Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
⁷ Again, I saw vanity under the sun:
⁸ There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. Yet there was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” This too is meaningless—a miserable business!
⁹ Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.
¹⁰ For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!
¹¹ Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?
¹² And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
¹³ Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.
¹⁴ for he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor.
¹⁵ I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place.
¹⁶ There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Ecclesiastes 5:1-20: ⁵ Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. When you draw near to listen, let your words be few.
² Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
³ For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.
⁴ When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.
⁵ It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.
⁶ Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?
⁷ For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear.
⁸ If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.
⁹ But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.
¹⁰ He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.
¹¹ When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?
¹² Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
¹³ There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt,
¹⁴ And those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand.
¹⁵ As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.
¹⁶ This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?
¹⁷ Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.
¹⁸ Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.
¹⁹ Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.
²⁰ For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

Ecclesiastes 6:1-12: ¹ There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind:
² a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil.
³ If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
⁴ for it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered.
⁵ It has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he.
⁶ Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place?
⁷ All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.
⁸ For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living?
⁹ Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
¹⁰ Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he.
¹¹ The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man?
¹² For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 7:1-29: ¹ A good name is better than precious ointment,
and the day of death than the day of birth.
² It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.
³ Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
⁴ The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
⁵ It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.
⁶ For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools; this also is vanity.
⁷ Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart.
⁸ Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,
and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
⁹ Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.
¹⁰ Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”
¹¹ Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun.
¹² For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
¹³ Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?
¹⁴ In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.
¹⁵ In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.
¹⁶ Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?
¹⁷ Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time?
¹⁸ It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.
¹⁹ Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.
²⁰ Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
²¹ Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you.
²² Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
²³ All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me.
²⁴ That which is, is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?
²⁵ I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness.
²⁶ And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.
²⁷ “Behold, this is what I found,” says the Preacher, “adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things—”
²⁸ which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found.
²⁹ See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.

Ecclesiastes 8:1-17: ¹ Who is like the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
² I say: Keep the king’s command, because of God’s oath to him.
³ Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases.
⁴ For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?”
⁵ Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and a wise heart will know the proper time and the just way.
⁶ For there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble lies heavy on him.
⁷ For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be?
⁸ No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it.
⁹ All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.
¹⁰ Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.
¹¹ Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.
¹² Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him.
¹³ But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
¹⁴ There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous.
¹⁵ And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.
¹⁶ When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep,
¹⁷ then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.

Ecclesiastes 9:1-18: ¹ But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God.
² It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath.
³ This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all.
⁴ But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
⁵ For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
⁶ Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.
⁷ Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.
⁸ Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.
⁹ Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.
¹⁰ Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
¹¹ Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.
¹² For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.
¹³ I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.
¹⁴ There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it.
¹⁵ But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. But no one remembered that poor man.
¹⁶ But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.
¹⁷ The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.
¹⁸ Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

Ecclesiastes 10:1-20: ¹ Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
² A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right,
but a fool’s heart to the left.
³ Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool.
⁴ If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest.
⁵ There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler:
⁶ Folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place.
⁷ I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves.
⁸ He who digs a pit will fall into it,
and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall.
⁹ He who quarries stones is hurt by them, and he who splits logs is endangered by them.
¹⁰ If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge,
he must use more strength,
but wisdom helps one to succeed.
¹¹ If the serpent bites before it is charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer.
¹² The words of a wise man’s mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him.
¹³ The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is evil madness.
¹⁴ A fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be after him?
¹⁵ The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city.
¹⁶ Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning!
¹⁷ Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness!
¹⁸ Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks.
¹⁹ Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything.
¹⁰ Curse not the king, no, not even in your thoughts, and curse not the rich in your bedroom, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.

Ecclesiastes 11:1-10: Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.
² Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.
³ If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
⁴ He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.
⁵ As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.
⁶ In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.
⁷ Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
⁸ So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.
⁹ Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
¹⁰ Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

Ecclesiastes 12:1-14: Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
² before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain,
³ in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed,
⁴ and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low—
⁵ they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way;
⁶ before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,
⁷ and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
⁸ Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.
⁹ Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care.
¹⁰ The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.
¹¹ The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.
¹² My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
¹³ The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Lamentations 1:1-22: ¹ How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations!
² She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
she has none to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.
³ Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.
⁴ The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the festival; all her gates are desolate; her priests groan; her virgins have been afflicted, and she herself suffers bitterly.
⁵ Her foes have become the head; her enemies prosper, because the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe.
⁶ From the daughter of Zion all her majesty has departed. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture; they fled without strength before the pursuer.
⁷ Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and wandering all the precious things that were hers from days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the foe, and there was none to help her, her foes gloated over her; they mocked at her downfall.
⁸ Jerusalem sinned grievously; therefore she became filthy; all who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns her face away.
⁹ Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
she took no thought of her future;
therefore her fall is terrible;
she has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed!”
¹⁰ The enemy has stretched out his hands over all her precious things; for she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, those whom you forbade to enter your congregation.
¹¹ All her people groan as they search for bread;
they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength.
¹² “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.”
¹³ “From on high he sent fire;
into my bones he made it descend;
he spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back;
he has left me stunned,
faint all the day long.
¹⁴ “My transgressions were bound into a yoke; by his hand they were fastened together; they were set upon my neck; he caused my strength to fail; the Lord gave me into the hands of those whom I cannot withstand.”
¹⁵ “The Lord rejected all my mighty men in my midst;
he summoned an assembly against me
to crush my young men;
the Lord has trodden as in a winepress
the virgin daughter of Judah.”
¹⁶ “For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.”
¹⁷ Zion stretches out her hands,
but there is none to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
that his neighbors should be his foes;
Jerusalem has become
a filthy thing among them.
¹⁸ “The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word; but hear, all you peoples, and see my suffering; my young women and my young men have gone into captivity.”
¹⁹ “I called to my lovers, but they deceived me; my priests and elders perished in the city, while they sought food to revive their strength.”
²⁰ “Look, O Lord, for I am in distress; my stomach churns; my heart is wrung within me, because I have been very rebellious. In the street the sword bereaves; in the house it is like death.”
²¹ They heard my groaning, yet there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it. You will bring the day you have announced, and they will be like me.
²² Let all their evildoing come before you, and deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my transgressions; for my groans are many, and my heart is faint.

Lamentations 2:1-22: ¹ How the Lord in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.
² The Lord has swallowed up without mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath he has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought down to the ground in dishonor
the kingdom and its rulers.
³ He has cut down in fierce anger all the might of Israel; he has withdrawn from them his right hand in the face of the enemy; he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob, consuming all around.
⁴ He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.
⁵ The Lord has become like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel; he has swallowed up all its palaces; he has laid in ruins its strongholds, and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
⁶ He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins his meeting place;
the Lord has made Zion forget festival and Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
⁷ The Lord has scorned his altar, disowned his sanctuary; he has delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord as on the day of festival.
⁸ The Lord determined to lay in ruins the wall of the daughter of Zion; he stretched out the measuring line; he did not restrain his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to lament; they languished together.
⁹ Her gates have sunk into the ground;
he has ruined and broken her bars;
her king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and her prophets find
no vision from the Lord.
¹⁰ The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth; the young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
¹¹ My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city.
¹² They cry to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
as they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosom.
¹³ What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is vast as the sea; who can heal you?
¹⁴ Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading.
¹⁵ All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”
¹⁶ All your enemies open their mouths against you; they hiss, they gnash their teeth, they cry: “We have swallowed her! Ah, this is the day we longed for; now we have it; we see it!”
¹⁷ The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out his word,
which he commanded long ago;
he has thrown down without pity;
he has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the might of your foes.
¹⁸ Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite!
¹⁹ “Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.”
²⁰ Look, O Lord, and see!
With whom have you dealt thus?
Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of their tender care?
Should priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
²¹ In the dust of the streets lie the young and the old; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without pity.
²² You summoned as if to a festival day my terrors on every side, and on the day of the anger of the Lord no one escaped or survived; those whom I held and raised my enemy destroyed.

Lamentations 3:1-66: ¹ I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of his wrath;
² He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
³ Surely against me he turns his hand
again and again the whole day.
⁴ He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones;
⁵ He has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;
⁶ He has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago.
⁷ He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy.
⁸ though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
⁹ He has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked.
¹⁰ He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding;
¹¹ He turned to me his hand all the day.
¹² He bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow.
¹³ He pierced my kidneys with his arrows;
¹⁴ I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,
the object of their taunts all day long.
¹⁵ He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood.
¹⁶ He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;
¹⁷ my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is;
¹⁸ so I say, “My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the Lord.”
¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
²⁰ My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
²¹ But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
²⁶ It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
²⁷ It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
²⁸ Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;
²⁹ Let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
³⁰ let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.
³¹ For the Lord will not cast off forever,
³² Though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
³³ for he does not afflict from his heart
or grieve the children of men.
³⁴ To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,
³⁵ to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High,
³⁶ to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
the Lord does not approve.
³⁷ Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
³⁹ Why should a living man complain,
a man, about the punishment of his sins?
⁴⁰ Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord.
⁴¹ Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
⁴² “We have transgressed and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven.
⁴³ “You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity;”
⁴⁴ “You have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.”
⁴⁵ “You have made us scum and garbage
among the peoples.”
⁴⁶ “All our enemies open their mouths against us;”
⁴⁷ “Panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and destruction;”
⁴⁸ my eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
⁴⁹ “My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite,”
⁵⁰ till the Lord looks down and sees from heaven.
⁵¹ My eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the daughters of my city.
⁵² “They chased me like a bird, those who were my enemies without cause;
⁵³ They flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me;
⁵⁴ water closed over my head; I said, ‘I am lost.’
⁵⁵ “I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit;”
⁵⁶ You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.
⁵⁷ You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’
⁵⁸ “You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life.”
⁵⁹ You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; judge my cause.
⁶⁰ You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.
⁶¹ “You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.”
⁶² the lips of my assailants and their whispering against me all the day.
⁶³ Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the object of their taunts.
⁶⁴ You will repay them, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.
⁶⁵ You will give them dullness of heart; your curse will be on them.
⁶⁶ You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under your heavens, O Lord.

Lamentations 4:1-22: ¹ How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed!
² The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are regarded as earthen pots, the work of a potter’s hands!
³ Even jackals offer the breast; they nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
⁴ The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives to them.
⁵ Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple embrace ash heaps.
⁶ For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands were wrung for her.
⁷ Her princes were purer than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
the beauty of their form was like sapphire.
⁸ Now their face is blacker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets;
their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it has become as dry as wood.
⁹ Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted away, pierced by lack of the fruits of the field.
¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people.
¹¹ The Lord gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations.
¹² The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
¹³ This was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous.
¹⁴ They wandered, blind, through the streets; they were so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments.
¹⁵ “Away! Unclean!” people cried at them. “Away! Away! Do not touch!” So they became fugitives and wanderers; people said among the nations, “They shall stay with us no longer.”
¹⁶ The Lord himself has scattered them;
he will regard them no more;
no honor was shown to the priests,
no favor to the elders.
¹⁷ Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help; in our watching we watched for a nation that could not save.
¹⁸ They dogged our steps
so that we could not walk in our streets;
our end drew near; our days were numbered,
for our end had come.
¹⁹ Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains; they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
²⁰ The breath of our nostrils, the Lord’s anointed, was captured in their pits, of whom we said, “Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.”
²¹ Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
you who dwell in the land of Uz;
but to you also the cup shall pass;
you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.
²² The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished; he will keep you in exile no longer; but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish; he will uncover your sins.

Lamentations 5:1-22: ¹ Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
look, and see our disgrace!
² Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
³ We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are like widows.
⁴ We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought.
⁵ Our pursuers are at our necks;
we are weary; we are given no rest.
⁶ We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, to get bread enough.
⁷ Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities.
⁸ Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand.
⁹ We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness.
¹⁰ Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine.
¹¹ Women are raped in Zion,
young women in the towns of Judah.
¹² Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders.
¹³ Young men are compelled to grind at the mill,
and boys stagger under loads of wood.
¹⁴ The old men have left the city gate,
the young men their music.
¹⁵ The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning.
¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!
¹⁷ For this our heart has become sick,
for these things our eyes have grown dim,
¹⁸ for Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it.
¹⁹ But you, O Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures to all generations.
²⁰ Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days?
²¹ Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old—
²² Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old.

Esther 1:1-22: ¹ Now in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces,
² in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel,
³ in the third year of his reign he gave a feast for all his officials and servants. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were before him,
⁴ He displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness for many days, 180 days.
⁵ And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Susa the citadel, both great and small, a feast lasting for seven days in the court of the garden of the king’s palace.
⁶ There were white cotton curtains and violet hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rods and marble pillars, and also couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and precious stones.
⁷ Drinks were served in golden vessels, vessels of different kinds, and the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king.
⁸ By the king’s command they served drinks in golden vessels, each one different from the other, and the royal wine was lavished according to the king’s bounty.
⁹ Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women in the palace that belonged to King Ahasuerus.
¹⁰ On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha and Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus,
¹¹ to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at.
¹² But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. At this the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him.
¹³ Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for this was the king’s procedure toward all who were versed in law and judgment,
¹⁴ while they were in high spirits, they commanded the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus,
¹⁵ According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?”
¹⁶ And Memucan answered before the king and the officials, “Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king, but also all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.
¹⁷ For the queen’s behavior will be made known to all women, causing them to look at their husbands with contempt, since they will say, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.’
¹⁸ This very day the noble women of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s behavior will say the same to all the king’s officials, and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty.
¹⁹ If it please the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be repealed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she.
²⁰ And when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, for it is vast, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.”
²¹ And the proposal pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Memucan proposed.
²² He sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, that every man be master in his own household and speak according to the language of his people.

Esther 2:1-23: ¹ After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.
² Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king.
³ And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the citadel, under custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women.
⁴ And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so.
⁵ Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite,
⁶ who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away.
⁷ He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.
⁸ So when the king’s order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa the citadel in custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king’s palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women.
⁹ And the young woman pleased him and won his favor. And he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food, and with seven chosen young women from the king’s palace, and advanced her and her young women to the best place in the harem.
¹⁰ Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known.
¹¹ And every day Mordecai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her.
¹² Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women.
¹³ Then in this way the girl came to the king: whatever she desired was given her to go with her from the harem to the king’s palace.
¹⁴ In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.
¹⁵ When the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. And Esther won favor in the sight of all who saw her.
¹⁶ And when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign,
¹⁷ the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
¹⁸ Then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants; it was Esther’s feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.
¹⁹ Now when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate.
²⁰ Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known.
²¹ In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
²² But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai.
²³ When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.

Esther 3:1-15: ¹ After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him.
² And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage.
³ Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king’s command?”
⁴ Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king’s command?”
⁵ And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury.
⁶ But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
⁷ In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.
⁸ Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them.
⁹ If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.”
¹⁰ So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews.
¹¹ Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring.
¹² Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring.
¹³ Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.
¹⁴ A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation to all the peoples to be ready for that day.
¹⁵ The couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.

Esther 4:1-17: ¹ When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry.
² And in every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.
³ And in every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.
⁴ When Esther’s young women and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.
⁵ Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was.
⁶ And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said.
⁷ And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.
⁸ Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people.
⁹ And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said.
¹⁰ Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say,
¹¹ “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”
¹² And they told Mordecai what Esther had said.
¹³ Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.
¹⁴ For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
¹⁵ Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai,
¹⁶ “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”
¹⁷ So Mordecai went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

Esther 5:1-14: ¹ On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, in front of the king’s quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace.
² And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.
³ Then the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.”
⁴ And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for the king.”
⁵ Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, so that we may do as Esther has asked.” So the king and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared.
⁶ And as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king said to Esther, “What is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.”
⁷ Then Esther answered, “My wish and my request is:
⁸ If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my wish and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the feast that I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.”
⁹ And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai.
¹⁰ Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sent and brought his friends and his wife Zeresh.
¹¹ And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king.
¹² And Haman said, “Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king.
¹³ Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”
¹⁴ Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.” This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.

Esther 6:1-14: ¹ On that night the king could not sleep. And he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.
² And it was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
³ And the king said, “What honor or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” The king’s young men who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”
⁴ And the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
⁵ And the king’s young men told him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.”
⁶ So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” And Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?”
⁷ And Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor,
⁸ let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and the horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown is set.
⁹ And let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials. And let them dress the man whom the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the square of the city, proclaiming before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.’”
¹⁰ Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry; take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.”
¹¹ Then Haman took the robes and the horse, and he dressed Mordecai and led him through the square of the city, proclaiming before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.”
¹² Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered.
¹³ And Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him but will surely fall before him.”
¹⁴ While they were yet talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the feast that Esther had prepared.

Esther 7:1-10: ¹ So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther.
² And on the second day, as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king again said to Esther, “What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.”
³ Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request.
⁴ For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.”
⁵ Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has dared to do this?”
⁶ And Esther said, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.
⁷ And the king arose in his wrath from the wine-drinking and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king.
⁸ And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. And the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face.
⁹ Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.”
¹⁰ So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated.

Esther 8:1-17: ¹ On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her.
² And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
³ Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews.
⁴ When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, Esther rose and stood before the king.
⁵ And she said, “If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king.
⁶ For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”
⁷ Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he intended to lay hands on the Jews.
⁸ But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.”
⁹ The king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.
¹⁰ And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king’s service, bred from the royal stud.
¹¹ By these letters the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods,
¹² on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.
¹³ A copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province, being publicly displayed to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies.
¹⁴ The couriers mounted on their swift horses that were used in the king’s service went out, hurried by the king’s command, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel.
¹⁵ Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.
¹⁶ The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor.
¹⁷ In every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

Esther 9:1-32: ¹ Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s command and edict were about to be carried out, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them.
² The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could stand against them, for the fear of them had fallen on all peoples.
³ All the officials of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and the royal agents also helped the Jews, for the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them.
⁴ For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai grew more and more powerful.
⁵ So the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them.
⁶ In Susa the citadel itself the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men,
⁷ And Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
⁸ But the land lay quiet before Mordecai.
⁹ The king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.
¹⁰ the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they laid no hand on the plunder.
¹¹ On that day the number of those who were killed in Susa the citadel was reported to the king.
¹² And the king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and also the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what is your further request? It shall be fulfilled.”
¹³ And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according to this day’s edict. And let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.”
¹⁴ So the king commanded this to be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged.
¹⁵ The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and they killed 300 men in Susa, but they laid no hands on the plunder.
¹⁶ Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies and killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them, but they laid no hands on the plunder.
¹⁷ This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
¹⁸ But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness.
¹⁹ Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another.
²⁰ And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,
²¹ to command them to keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
²² as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
²³ The Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.
²⁴ For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them.
²⁵ But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
²⁶ Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. So, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them,
²⁷ the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year,
²⁸ that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.
²⁹ Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming this second letter about Purim.
³⁰ Letters were sent to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth,
³¹ to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them, and as they had obligated themselves and their offspring, with regard to their fasts and their lamenting.
³² The command of Esther confirmed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing.

Esther 10:1-3: ¹ King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea.
² And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?
³ For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.