“But now briefly ¹  we have received mercy from the Lord our God, in that he has left us a remnant and has given us a secure position ²  in his holy place. Thus our God has enlightened our eyes ³  and has given us a little relief in our time of servitude.

But if you repent ¹  and obey ²  my commandments and do them, then even if your dispersed people are in the most remote location, ³  I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for my name to reside.’

I got up during the night, along with a few men who were with me. But I did not tell anyone what my God was putting on my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no animals with me, except for the one ¹  I was riding.

I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews ¹  who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, ²  so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.

They refused to obey and did not recall your miracles that you had performed among them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to return to their bondage in Egypt. ¹  But you are a God of forgiveness, merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and unfailing in your loyal love. ²  You did not abandon them,

Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who oppressed them. But in the time of their distress they called to you, and you heard from heaven. In your abundant compassion you provided them with deliverers to rescue them from ¹  their adversaries.

And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances – those by which an individual, if he obeys them, ¹  will live. They boldly turned from you; ²  they rebelled ³  and did not obey.

Was it not because of things like these that King Solomon of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made ¹  him king over all Israel. But the foreign wives made even him sin!

But the thought of striking out against ¹  Mordecai alone was repugnant to him, for he had been informed ²  of the identity of Mordecai’s people. ³  So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (that is, the people of Mordecai) ⁴  who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

In the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), on its thirteenth day, the edict of the king and his law were to be executed. It was on this day that the enemies of the Jews had supposed that they would gain power over them. But contrary to expectations, the Jews gained power over their enemies.

The rest of the Jews who were throughout the provinces of the king assembled in order to stand up for themselves and to have rest from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand ¹  of their adversaries, but they did not confiscate their property.

But when the matter came to the king’s attention, the king ¹  gave written orders that Haman’s ²  evil intentions that he had devised against the Jews should fall on his own head. He and his sons were hanged on the gallows.

But he replied, ¹  “You’re talking like one of the godless ²  women would do! Should we receive ³  what is good from God, and not also ⁴  receive ⁵  what is evil?” ⁶  In all this Job did not sin by what he said. ⁷ 

O Lord, my God, you have accomplished many things; you have done amazing things and carried out your purposes for us. ¹  No one can thwart you! ²  I want to declare them and talk about them, but they are too numerous to recount! ³ 

For to the one who pleases him, ¹  God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner, he gives the task of amassing ²  wealth ³  – only to give ⁴  it ⁵  to the one who pleases God. This ⁶  task of the wicked ⁷  is futile – like chasing the wind!

Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years – even if he lives a long, long time, ¹  but cannot enjoy his prosperity – even if he were to live forever ²  – I would say, “A stillborn child ³  is better off than he is!” ⁴ 

I discovered this: ¹  More bitter than death is the kind of ²  woman ³  who is like a hunter’s snare; ⁴  her heart is like a hunter’s net and her hands are like prison chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is captured by her.

Rejoice, young man, while you are young, ¹  and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the impulses ²  of your heart and the desires ³  of your eyes, but know that God will judge your motives and actions. ⁴ 

The Beloved about Her Lover: I was asleep, but my mind ¹  was dreaming. ²  Listen! ³  My lover ⁴  is knocking ⁵  at the door! ⁶  The Lover to His Beloved: “Open ⁷  for me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one! My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”

During ¹  the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel marched up to Jerusalem ²  to do battle, but they were unable to prevail against it. ³