On the second day of the banquet of wine the king asked Esther, “What is your request, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your petition? Ask up to half the kingdom, and it shall be done!”

For this reason these days are known as Purim, after the name of pur.

Who has ascended into heaven, and then descended? ¹  Who has gathered up the winds in his fists? ²  Who has bound up the waters in his cloak? ³  Who has established all the ends of the earth? ⁴  What is his name, and what is his son’s name? ⁵  – if you know!

For no one knows what is best for a person during his life ¹  – during the few days of his fleeting life – for ²  they pass away ³  like a shadow. Nor can anyone tell him what the future will hold for him on earth. ⁴ 

The Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, ¹  when one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, ‘What burdensome message ²  do you have from the Lord?’ Tell them, ‘You are the burden, ³  and I will cast you away. ⁴  I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁵ 

The officials may hear that I have talked with you. They may come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you. ¹  Do not hide anything from us. If you do, we will kill you.’ ² 

They said to him, “Tell us, whose fault is it that this disaster has overtaken us? ¹  What’s your occupation? Where do you come from? What’s your country? And who are your people?” ² 

My people, recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you, ¹  how Balaam son of Beor responded to him. Recall how you journeyed from Shittim to Gilgal, so you might acknowledge that the Lord has treated you fairly.” ² 

He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord really wants from you: ¹  He wants you to ²  promote ³  justice, to be faithful, ⁴  and to live obediently before ⁵  your God.

Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her ¹  to be my wife? ²  Here is your wife! ³  Take her and go!” ⁴ 

But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, ¹  what will you give me since ²  I continue to be ³  childless, and my heir ⁴  is ⁵  Eliezer of Damascus?” ⁶ 

The Lord said to Abraham, “Why ¹  did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really ²  have a child when I am old?’

“Hear me, my lord. The land is worth ¹  400 pieces of silver, ²  but what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.”

But the children struggled ¹  inside her, and she said, “If it is going to be like this, I’m not so sure I want to be pregnant!” ²  So she asked the Lord, ³ 

Then Abimelech exclaimed, “What in the world have you done to us? ¹  One of the men ²  might easily have had sexual relations with ³  your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!”

But Isaac asked his son, “How in the world ¹  did you find it so quickly, ²  my son?” “Because the Lord your God brought it to me,” ³  he replied. ⁴ 

He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is nothing else than the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!”

“What have you done?” Laban demanded of Jacob. “You’ve deceived me ¹  and carried away my daughters as if they were captives of war! ² 

Why did you run away secretly ¹  and deceive me? ²  Why didn’t you tell me so I could send you off with a celebration complete with singing, tambourines, and harps? ³ 

When you searched through all my goods, did you find anything that belonged to you? ¹  Set it here before my relatives and yours, ²  and let them settle the dispute between the two of us! ³