Our adversaries also boasted, ¹  “Before they are aware or anticipate ²  anything, we will come in among them and kill them, and we will bring this work to a halt!”

For we have been sold ¹  – both I and my people – to destruction and to slaughter and to annihilation! If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not have been sufficient for troubling the king.”

the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not confiscate their property.

You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners, or to fall among those who have been killed. ¹  Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again. ² 

But you have been thrown out of your grave like a shoot that is thrown away. ¹  You lie among ²  the slain, among those who have been slashed by the sword, among those headed for ³  the stones of the pit, ⁴  as if you were a mangled corpse. ⁵ 

You will not be buried with them, ¹  because you destroyed your land and killed your people. The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again.

But look, there is outright celebration! ¹  You say, “Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep, eat meat and drink wine. Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” ² 

ד (Dalet) He prepared his bow ¹  like an enemy; his right hand was ready to shoot. ²  Like a foe he killed everyone, even our strong young men; ³  he has poured out his anger like fire on the tent ⁴  of Daughter Zion.

ר (Resh) Look, O Lord! Consider! ¹  Whom have you ever afflicted ²  like this? Should women eat their offspring, ³  their healthy infants? ⁴  Should priest and prophet be killed in the Lord’s ⁵  sanctuary?

ש (Sin/Shin) The young boys and old men lie dead on the ground in the streets. My young women ¹  and my young men have fallen by the sword. You killed them when you were angry; ²  you slaughtered them without mercy. ³ 

“‘He gave it to be polished, to be grasped in the hand – the sword is sharpened, it is polished – giving it into the hand of the executioner.

They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious ¹  among women, and they executed judgments against her.

That army will pelt them with stones and slash them with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses. ¹ 

He will kill your daughters in the field with the sword. He will build a siege wall against you, erect a siege ramp against you, and raise a great shield against you.

With his horses’ hoofs he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will tumble down to the ground.

“This is what the sovereign Lord says to Tyre: Oh, how the coastlands will shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, at the massive slaughter in your midst!

Even when their enemies drive them into captivity, ¹  from there ²  I will command the sword to kill them. I will not let them out of my sight; they will experience disaster, not prosperity.” ³ 

Those who buy them ¹  slaughter them and are not held guilty; those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich.’ Their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

And Adam had marital relations ¹  with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth, saying, “God has given ²  me another child ³  in place of Abel because Cain killed him.”

When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” ¹  He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, ²  “The men of this place will kill me to get ³  Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”