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

to establish these days of Purim in their proper times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established, and just as they had established both for themselves and their descendants, matters pertaining to fasting and lamentation.

Now all the actions carried out under his authority and his great achievements, along with an exact statement concerning the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king promoted, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia?

After the Lord had spoken these things to Job, he ¹  said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger is stirred up ²  against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right, ³  as my servant Job has.

For the music director; by the Lord’s servant David, who sang ²  to the Lord the words of this song when ³  the Lord rescued him from the power ⁴  of all his enemies, including Saul. ⁵  He said: ⁶  “I love ⁷  you, Lord, my source of strength! ⁸ 

For the music director; according to the tune of “Lilies;” ²  by the Korahites, a well-written poem, ³  a love song. My heart is stirred by a beautiful song. ⁴  I say, “I have composed this special song ⁵  for the king; my tongue is as skilled as the stylus of an experienced scribe.” ⁶ 

Do not curse a king even in your thoughts, and do not curse the rich ¹  while in your bedroom; ²  for a bird ³  might report what you are thinking, ⁴  or some winged creature ⁵  might repeat your ⁶  words. ⁷ 

many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of the God of Jacob, so ¹  he can teach us his requirements, ²  and ³  we can follow his standards.” ⁴  For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; ⁵  the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. ⁶ 

So the Lord’s word to them will sound like meaningless gibberish, senseless babbling, a syllable here, a syllable there. ¹  As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk, ²  and be injured, ensnared, and captured. ³ 

To you this entire prophetic revelation ¹  is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read ²  and say, “Read this,” he responds, “I can’t, because it is sealed.”

But the chief adviser said, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. ¹  His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!” ² 

Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn in grief ¹  and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.

Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard – these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me. ¹ 

‘Look, a time is coming when everything in your palace and the things your ancestors ¹  have accumulated to this day will be carried away to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord.

I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; ¹  I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. ²  I will turn the darkness in front of them into light, and level out the rough ground. ³  This is what I will do for them. I will not abandon them.

The sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman, ¹  so that I know how to help the weary. ²  He wakes me up every morning; he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do. ³ 

In the same way, the promise that I make does not return to me, having accomplished nothing. ¹  No, it is realized as I desire and is fulfilled as I intend.” ² 

You must ¹  observe the Sabbath ²  rather than doing anything you please on my holy day. ³  You must look forward to the Sabbath ⁴  and treat the Lord’s holy day with respect. ⁵  You must treat it with respect by refraining from your normal activities, and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals. ⁶ 

“As for me, this is my promise to ¹  them,” says the Lord. “My spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and descendants from this time forward,” ²  says the Lord.

My hand made them; ¹  that is how they came to be,” ²  says the Lord. I show special favor ³  to the humble and contrite, who respect what I have to say. ⁴