to the one who remembered us when we were down, ¹  for his loyal love endures,

As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former status, Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former status, and you and your daughters will be restored to your former status.

The ¹  younger of them said to his ²  father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate ³  that will belong ⁴  to me.’ So ⁵  he divided his ⁶  assets between them. ⁷ 

On that same day King Ahasuerus gave the estate ¹  of Haman, that adversary of the Jews, to Queen Esther. Now Mordecai had come before the king, for Esther had revealed how he was related to her.

Men are nothing but a mere breath; human beings are unreliable. ¹  When they are weighed in the scales, all of them together are lighter than air. ² 

Now in the region around that place ¹  were fields belonging to the chief official ²  of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably as guests for three days.

King Ahasuerus replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have already given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he has been hanged on the gallows because he took hostile action ¹  against the Jews.

When ¹  they received it, they began to complain ²  against the landowner,

The king then removed his signet ring (the very one he had taken back from Haman) and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther designated Mordecai to be in charge of Haman’s estate.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner ¹  who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.

An inheritance gained easily ¹  in the beginning will not be blessed ²  in the end. ³ 

“Then there will arise in his place a despicable person ¹  to whom the royal honor has not been rightfully conferred. He will come on the scene in a time of prosperity and will seize the kingdom through deceit.

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and get his inheritance!’

But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and the inheritance will be ours!’

because he has looked upon the humble state of his servant. ¹  For ²  from now on ³  all generations will call me blessed, ⁴ 

But when the tenants saw him, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir; let’s kill him so the inheritance will be ours!’

Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, ¹  is no different from a slave, though he is the owner ²  of everything.

The king then told Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your property ¹  in Anathoth. You deserve to die, ²  but today I will not kill you because you did carry the ark of the sovereign Lord before my father David and you suffered with my father through all his difficult times.” ³ 

He must eat the same share they do, despite any profits he may gain from the sale of his family’s inheritance. ¹ 

‘Surely our enemies ¹  are destroyed, and fire consumes their wealth.’