Job 39

1 Do you know when mountain goats are born?

Have you watched wild deer give birth?

2 Do you know how long they carry their young?

Do you know the time for their birth?

3 Do you know when they will crouch down

and bring their young into the world?

4 In the wilds their young grow strong;

they go away and don’t come back.

5 Who gave the wild donkeys their freedom?

Who turned them loose and let them roam?

6 I gave them the desert to be their home,

and let them live on the salt plains.

7 They keep far away from the noisy cities,

and no one can tame them and make them work.

8 The mountains are the pastures where they feed,

where they search for anything green to eat.

9 Will a wild ox work for you?

Is he willing to spend the night in your stable?

10 Can you hold one with a rope and make him plow?

Or make him pull a harrow in your fields?

11 Can you rely on his great strength

and expect him to do your heavy work?

12 Do you expect him to bring in your harvest

and gather the grain from your threshing place?

13 How fast the wings of an ostrich beat!

But no ostrich can fly like a stork.

14 The ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground

for the heat in the soil to warm them.

15 She is unaware that a foot may crush them

or a wild animal break them.

16 She acts as if the eggs were not hers,

and is unconcerned that her efforts were wasted.

17 It was I who made her foolish

and did not give her wisdom.

18 But when she begins to run,

she can laugh at any horse and rider.

19 Was it you, Job, who made horses so strong

and gave them their flowing manes?

20 Did you make them leap like locusts

and frighten people with their snorting?

21 They eagerly paw the ground in the valley;

they rush into battle with all their strength.

22 They do not know the meaning of fear,

and no sword can turn them back.

23 The weapons which their riders carry

rattle and flash in the sun.

24 Trembling with excitement, the horses race ahead;

when the trumpet blows, they can’t stand still.

25 At each blast of the trumpet they snort;

they can smell a battle before they get near,

and they hear the officers shouting commands.

26 Does a hawk learn from you how to fly

when it spreads its wings toward the south?

27 Does an eagle wait for your command

to build its nest high in the mountains?

28 It makes its home on the highest rocks

and makes the sharp peaks its fortress.

29 From there it watches near and far

for something to kill and eat.

30 Around dead bodies the eagles gather,

and the young eagles drink the blood.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/JOB/39-bb879152ec322e6d81dd022946f7d4b4.mp3?version_id=68—

Job 40

1-2 Job, you challenged Almighty God;

will you give up now, or will you answer?

3-4 I spoke foolishly, Lord. What can I answer?

I will not try to say anything else.

5 I have already said more than I should.

6 Then out of the storm the Lord spoke to Job once again.

7 Now stand up straight

and answer my questions.

8 Are you trying to prove that I am unjust—

to put me in the wrong and yourself in the right?

9 Are you as strong as I am?

Can your voice thunder as loud as mine?

10 If so, stand up in your honor and pride;

clothe yourself with majesty and glory.

11 Look at those who are proud;

pour out your anger and humble them.

12 Yes, look at them and bring them down;

crush the wicked where they stand.

13 Bury them all in the ground;

bind them in the world of the dead.

14 Then I will be the first to praise you

and admit that you won the victory yourself.

15 Look at the monster Behemoth;

I created him and I created you.

He eats grass like a cow,

16 but what strength there is in his body,

and what power there is in his muscles!

17 His tail stands up like a cedar,

and the muscles in his legs are strong.

18 His bones are as strong as bronze,

and his legs are like iron bars.

19 The most amazing of all my creatures!

Only his Creator can defeat him.

20 Grass to feed him grows

on the hills where wild beasts play.

21 He lies down under the thorn bushes,

and hides among the reeds in the swamp.

22 The thorn bushes and the willows by the stream

give him shelter in their shade.

23 He is not afraid of a rushing river;

he is calm when the Jordan dashes in his face.

24 Who can blind his eyes and capture him?

Or who can catch his snout in a trap?

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/JOB/40-176a1c530aa156ca24ec2ab2f7718acf.mp3?version_id=68—

Job 41

1 Can you catch Leviathanwith a fishhook

or tie his tongue down with a rope?

2 Can you put a rope through his snout

or put a hook through his jaws?

3 Will he beg you to let him go?

Will he plead with you for mercy?

4 Will he make an agreement with you

and promise to serve you forever?

5 Will you tie him like a pet bird,

like something to amuse your servant women?

6 Will fishermen bargain over him?

Will merchants cut him up to sell?

7 Can you fill his hide with fishing spears

or pierce his head with a harpoon?

8 Touch him once and you’ll never try it again;

you’ll never forget the fight!

9 Anyone who sees Leviathan

loses courage and falls to the ground.

10 When he is aroused, he is fierce;

no one would dare to stand before him.

11 Who can attack him and still be safe?

No one in all the world can do it.

12 Let me tell you about Leviathan’s legs

and describe how great and strong he is.

13 No one can tear off his outer coat

or pierce the armorhe wears.

14 Who can make him open his jaws,

ringed with those terrifying teeth?

15 His backis made of rows of shields,

fastened together and hard as stone.

16 Each one is joined so tight to the next,

not even a breath can come between.

17 They all are fastened so firmly together

that nothing can ever pull them apart.

18 Light flashes when he sneezes,

and his eyes glow like the rising sun.

19 Flames blaze from his mouth,

and streams of sparks fly out.

20 Smoke comes pouring out of his nose,

like smoke from weeds burning under a pot.

21 His breath starts fires burning;

flames leap out of his mouth.

22 His neck is so powerful

that all who meet him are terrified.

23 There is not a weak spot in his skin;

it is as hard and unyielding as iron.

24 His stony heart is without fear,

as unyielding and hard as a millstone.

25 When he rises up, even the strongestare frightened;

they are helpless with fear.

26 There is no sword that can wound him;

no spear or arrow or lance that can harm him.

27 For him iron is as flimsy as straw,

and bronze as soft as rotten wood.

28 There is no arrow that can make him run;

rocks thrown at him are like bits of straw.

29 To him a club is a piece of straw,

and he laughs when men throw spears.

30 The scales on his belly are like jagged pieces of pottery;

they tear up the muddy ground like a threshing sledge.

31 He churns up the sea like boiling water

and makes it bubble like a pot of oil.

32 He leaves a shining path behind him

and turns the sea to white foam.

33 There is nothing on earth to compare with him;

he is a creature that has no fear.

34 He looks down on even the proudest animals;

he is king of all wild beasts.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/JOB/41-9c1a6df5d65e5ae2f21811aff760d782.mp3?version_id=68—

Job 42

1 Then Job answered the Lord.

2 I know, Lord, that you are all-powerful;

that you can do everything you want.

3 You ask how I dare question your wisdom

when I am so very ignorant.

I talked about things I did not understand,

about marvels too great for me to know.

4 You told me to listen while you spoke

and to try to answer your questions.

5 In the past I knew only what others had told me,

but now I have seen you with my own eyes.

6 So I am ashamed of all I have said

and repent in dust and ashes.

Conclusion

7 After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you did not speak the truth about me, the way my servant Job did.

8 Now take seven bulls and seven rams to Job and offer them as a sacrifice for yourselves. Job will pray for you, and I will answer his prayer and not disgrace you the way you deserve. You did not speak the truth about me as he did.”

9 Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did what the Lord had told them to do, and the Lord answered Job’s prayer.

10 Then, after Job had prayed for his three friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had had before.

11 All Job’s brothers and sisters and former friends came to visit him and feasted with him in his house. They expressed their sympathy and comforted him for all the troubles the Lord had brought on him. Each of them gave him some money and a gold ring.

12 The Lord blessed the last part of Job’s life even more than he had blessed the first. Job owned fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, two thousand head of cattle, and one thousand donkeys.

13 He was the father of seven sons and three daughters.

14 He called the oldest daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the youngest Keren Happuch.

15 There were no other women in the whole world as beautiful as Job’s daughters. Their father gave them a share of the inheritance along with their brothers.

16 Job lived a hundred and forty years after this, long enough to see his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

17 And then he died at a very great age.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/JOB/42-59468d99b1995b3f1b100f9d6c63d19c.mp3?version_id=68—

Esther 1

Queen Vashti Defies King Xerxes

1-2 From his royal throne in Persia’s capital city of Susa, King Xerxes ruled 127 provinces, all the way from India to Ethiopia.

3 In the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his officials and administrators. The armies of Persia and Media were present, as well as the governors and noblemen of the provinces.

4 For six whole months he made a show of the riches of the imperial court with all its splendor and majesty.

5 After that, the king gave a banquet for all the people in the capital city of Susa, rich and poor alike. It lasted a whole week and was held in the gardens of the royal palace.

6 The courtyard there was decorated with blue and white cotton curtains, tied by cords of fine purple linen to silver rings on marble columns. Couches made of gold and silver had been placed in the courtyard, which was paved with white marble, red feldspar, shining mother-of-pearl, and blue turquoise.

7 Drinks were served in gold cups, no two of them alike, and the king was generous with the royal wine.

8 There were no limits on the drinks; the king had given orders to the palace servants that everyone could have as much as they wanted.

9 Meanwhile, inside the royal palace Queen Vashti was giving a banquet for the women.

10 On the seventh day of his banquet the king was drinking and feeling happy, so he called in the seven eunuchs who were his personal servants, Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas.

11 He ordered them to bring in Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown. The queen was a beautiful woman, and the king wanted to show off her beauty to the officials and all his guests.

12 But when the servants told Queen Vashti of the king’s command, she refused to come. This made the king furious.

13 Now it was the king’s custom to ask for expert opinion on questions of law and order, so he called for his advisers, who would know what should be done.

14 Those he most often turned to for advice were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan—seven officials of Persia and Media who held the highest offices in the kingdom.

15 He said to these men, “I, King Xerxes, sent my servants to Queen Vashti with a command, and she refused to obey it! What does the law say that we should do with her?”

16 Then Memucan declared to the king and his officials: “Queen Vashti has insulted not only the king but also his officials—in fact, every man in the empire!

17 Every woman in the empire will start looking down on her husband as soon as she hears what the queen has done. They’ll say, ‘King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to come to him, and she refused.’

18 When the wives of the royal officials of Persia and Media hear about the queen’s behavior, they will be telling their husbands about it before the day is out. Wives everywhere will have no respect for their husbands, and husbands will be angry with their wives.

19 If it please Your Majesty, issue a royal proclamation that Vashti may never again appear before the king. Have it written into the laws of Persia and Media, so that it can never be changed. Then give her place as queen to some better woman.

20 When your proclamation is made known all over this huge empire, every woman will treat her husband with proper respect, whether he’s rich or poor.”

21 The king and his officials liked this idea, and the king did what Memucan suggested.

22 To each of the royal provinces he sent a message in the language and the system of writing of that province, sayingthat every husband should be the master of his home and speak with final authority.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/EST/1-20cbf3cd413c4bf316d343094cfb937f.mp3?version_id=68—

Esther 2

Esther Becomes Queen

1 Later, even after the king’s anger had cooled down, he kept thinking about what Vashti had done and about his proclamation against her.

2 So some of the king’s advisers who were close to him suggested, “Why don’t you make a search to find some beautiful young virgins?

3 You can appoint officials in every province of the empire and have them bring all these beautiful young women to your harem here in Susa, the capital city. Put them in the care of Hegai, the eunuch who is in charge of your women, and let them be given a beauty treatment.

4 Then take the young woman you like best and make her queen in Vashti’s place.”

The king thought this was good advice, so he followed it.

5 There in Susa lived a Jew named Mordecai son of Jair; he was from the tribe of Benjamin and was a descendant of Kish and Shimei.

6 When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took King Jehoiachin of Judah into exile from Jerusalem, along with a group of captives, Mordecai was among them.

7 He had a cousin, Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah; she was a beautiful young woman, and had a good figure. At the death of her parents, Mordecai had adopted her and brought her up as his own daughter.

8 When the king had issued his new proclamation and many young women were being brought to Susa, Esther was among them. She too was put in the royal palace in the care of Hegai, who had charge of the harem.

9 Hegai liked Esther, and she won his favor. He lost no time in beginning her beauty treatment of massage and special diet. He gave her the best place in the harem and assigned seven young women specially chosen from the royal palace to serve her.

10 Now, on the advice of Mordecai, Esther had kept it secret that she was Jewish.

11 Every day Mordecai would walk back and forth in front of the courtyard of the harem, in order to find out how she was getting along and what was going to happen to her.

12 The regular beauty treatment for the women lasted a year—massages with oil of myrrh for six months and with oil of balsam for six more. After that, each woman would be taken in turn to King Xerxes.

13 When she went from the harem to the palace, she could wear whatever she wanted.

14 She would go there in the evening, and the next morning she would be taken to another harem and put in the care of Shaashgaz, the eunuch in charge of the king’s concubines. She would not go to the king again unless he liked her enough to ask for her by name.

15 The time came for Esther to go to the king. Esther—the daughter of Abihail and the cousin of Mordecai, who had adopted her as his daughter; Esther—admired by everyone who saw her. When her turn came, she wore just what Hegai, the eunuch in charge of the harem, advised her to wear.

16 So in Xerxes’ seventh year as king, in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, Esther was brought to King Xerxes in the royal palace.

17 The king liked her more than any of the other women, and more than any of the others she won his favor and affection. He placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

18 Then the king gave a great banquet in Esther’s honor and invited all his officials and administrators. He proclaimed a holidayfor the whole empire and distributed gifts worthy of a king.

Mordecai Saves the King’s Life

19 Meanwhile Mordecai had been appointed by the king to an administrative position.

20 As for Esther, she had still not let it be known that she was Jewish. Mordecai had told her not to tell anyone, and she obeyed him in this, just as she had obeyed him when she was a little girl under his care.

21 During the time that Mordecai held office in the palace, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the palace eunuchs who guarded the entrance to the king’s rooms, became hostile to King Xerxes and plotted to assassinate him.

22 Mordecai learned about it and told Queen Esther, who then told the king what Mordecai had found out.

23 There was an investigation, and it was discovered that the report was true, so both men were hanged on the gallows. The king ordered an account of this to be written down in the official records of the empire.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/EST/2-5b706a20286e562ab7485e7ea85f7495.mp3?version_id=68—

Esther 3

Haman Plots to Destroy the Jews

1 Some time later King Xerxes promoted a man named Haman to the position of prime minister. Haman was the son of Hammedatha, a descendant of Agag.

2 The king ordered all the officials in his service to show their respect for Haman by kneeling and bowing to him. They all did so, except for Mordecai, who refused to do it.

3 The other officials in the royal service asked him why he was disobeying the king’s command;

4 day after day they urged him to give in, but he would not listen to them. “I am a Jew,” he explained, “and I cannot bow to Haman.” So they told Haman about this, wondering if he would tolerate Mordecai’s conduct.

5 Haman was furious when he realized that Mordecai was not going to kneel and bow to him,

6 and when he learned that Mordecai was a Jew, he decided to do more than punish Mordecai alone. He made plans to kill every Jew in the whole Persian Empire.

7 In the twelfth year of King Xerxes’ rule, in the first month, the month of Nisan, Haman ordered the lots to be cast (“purim,” they were called) to find out the right day and month to carry out his plot. The thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, was decided on.

8 So Haman told the king, “There is a certain race of people scattered all over your empire and found in every province. They observe customs that are not like those of any other people. Moreover, they do not obey the laws of the empire, so it is not in your best interests to tolerate them.

9 If it please Your Majesty, issue a decree that they are to be put to death. If you do, I guarantee that I will be able to put 375 tons of silver into the royal treasury for the administration of the empire.”

10 The king took off his ring, which was used to stamp proclamations and make them official, and gave it to the enemy of the Jewish people, Haman son of Hammedatha, the descendant of Agag.

11 The king told him, “The people and their money are yours; do as you like with them.”

12 So on the thirteenth day of the first month Haman called the king’s secretaries and dictated a proclamation to be translated into every language and system of writing used in the empire and to be sent to all the rulers, governors, and officials. It was issued in the name of King Xerxes and stamped with his ring.

13 Runners took this proclamation to every province of the empire. It contained the instructions that on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, all Jews—young and old, women and children—were to be killed. They were to be slaughtered without mercy and their belongings were to be taken.

14 The contents of the proclamation were to be made public in every province, so that everyone would be prepared when that day came.

15 At the king’s command the decree was made public in the capital city of Susa, and runners carried the news to the provinces. The king and Haman sat down and had a drink while the city of Susa was being thrown into confusion.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/EST/3-3a740550efaa8936306f70281f622fda.mp3?version_id=68—

Esther 4

Mordecai Asks for Esther’s Help

1 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes in anguish. Then he dressed in sackcloth, covered his head with ashes, and walked through the city, wailing loudly and bitterly,

2 until he came to the entrance of the palace. He did not go in because no one wearing sackcloth was allowed inside.

3 Throughout all the provinces, wherever the king’s proclamation was made known, there was loud mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, wailed, and most of them put on sackcloth and lay in ashes.

4 When Esther’s servant women and eunuchs told her what Mordecai was doing, she was deeply disturbed. She sent Mordecai some clothes to put on instead of the sackcloth, but he would not accept them.

5 Then she called Hathach, one of the palace eunuchs appointed as her servant by the king, and told him to go to Mordecai and find out what was happening and why.

6 Hathach went to Mordecai in the city square at the entrance of the palace.

7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him and just how much money Haman had promised to put into the royal treasury if all the Jews were killed.

8 He gave Hathach a copy of the proclamation that had been issued in Susa, ordering the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai asked him to take it to Esther, explain the situation to her, and have her go and plead with the king and beg him to have mercy on her people.

9 Hathach did this,

10 and Esther gave him this message to take back to Mordecai:

11 “If anyone, man or woman, goes to the inner courtyard and sees the king without being summoned, that person must die. That is the law; everyone, from the king’s advisers to the people in the provinces, knows that. There is only one way to get around this law: if the king holds out his gold scepter to someone, then that person’s life is spared. But it has been a month since the king sent for me.”

12 When Mordecai received Esther’s message,

13 he sent her this warning: “Don’t imagine that you are safer than any other Jew just because you are in the royal palace.

14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, help will come from heaven to the Jews, and they will be saved, but you will die and your father’s family will come to an end. Yet who knows—maybe it was for a time like this that you were made queen!”

15 Esther sent Mordecai this reply:

16 “Go and get all the Jews in Susa together; hold a fast and pray for me. Don’t eat or drink anything for three days and nights. My servant women and I will be doing the same. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. If I must die for doing it, I will die.”

17 Mordecai then left and did everything that Esther had told him to do.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/EST/4-4e855cb7155c01171c98eba7fdff69c7.mp3?version_id=68—

Esther 5

Esther Invites the King and Haman to a Banquet

1 On the third day of her fast Esther put on her royal robes and went and stood in the inner courtyard of the palace, facing the throne room. The king was inside, seated on the royal throne, facing the entrance.

2 When the king saw Queen Esther standing outside, she won his favor, and he held out to her the gold scepter. She then came up and touched the tip of it.

3 “What is it, Queen Esther?” the king asked. “Tell me what you want, and you shall have it—even if it is half my empire.”

4 Esther replied, “If it please Your Majesty, I would like you and Haman to be my guests tonight at a banquet I am preparing for you.”

5 The king then ordered Haman to come quickly, so that they could be Esther’s guests. So the king and Haman went to Esther’s banquet.

6 Over the wine the king asked her, “Tell me what you want, and you shall have it. I will grant your request, even if you ask for half my empire.”

7 Esther replied,

8 “If Your Majesty is kind enough to grant my request, I would like you and Haman to be my guests tomorrow at another banquet that I will prepare for you. At that time I will tell you what I want.”

Haman Plots to Kill Mordecai

9 When Haman left the banquet he was happy and in a good mood. But then he saw Mordecai at the entrance of the palace, and when Mordecai did not rise or show any sign of respect as he passed, Haman was furious with him.

10 But he controlled himself and went on home. Then he invited his friends to his house and asked his wife Zeresh to join them.

11 He boasted to them about how rich he was, how many sons he had, how the king had promoted him to high office, and how much more important he was than any of the king’s other officials.

12 “What is more,” Haman went on, “Queen Esther gave a banquet for no one but the king and me, and we are invited back tomorrow.

13 But none of this means a thing to me as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the entrance of the palace.”

14 So his wife and all his friends suggested, “Why don’t you have a gallows built, seventy-five feet tall? Tomorrow morning you can ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it, and then you can go to the banquet happy.”

Haman thought this was a good idea, so he had the gallows built.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/EST/5-fb06c4b8b3035f4c015f3110055e0091.mp3?version_id=68—

Esther 6

The King Honors Mordecai

1 That same night the king could not get to sleep, so he had the official records of the empire brought and read to him.

2 The part they read included the account of how Mordecai had uncovered a plot to assassinate the king—the plot made by Bigthana and Teresh, the two palace eunuchs who had guarded the king’s rooms.

3 The king asked, “How have we honored and rewarded Mordecai for this?”

His servants answered, “Nothing has been done for him.”

4 “Are any of my officials in the palace?” the king asked.

Now Haman had just entered the courtyard; he had come to ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on the gallows that was now ready.

5 So the servants answered, “Haman is here, waiting to see you.”

“Show him in,” said the king.

6 So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “There is someone I wish very much to honor. What should I do for this man?”

Haman thought to himself, “Now who could the king want to honor so much? Me, of course.”

7-8 So he answered the king, “Have royal robes brought for this man—robes that you yourself wear. Have a royal ornamentput on your own horse.

9 Then have one of your highest noblemen dress the man in these robes and lead him, mounted on the horse, through the city square. Have the nobleman announce as they go: ‘See how the king rewards someone he wishes to honor!’”

10 Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry and get the robes and the horse, and provide these honors for Mordecai the Jew. Do everything for him that you have suggested. You will find him sitting at the entrance of the palace.”

11 So Haman got the robes and the horse, and he put the robes on Mordecai. Mordecai got on the horse, and Haman led him through the city square, announcing to the people as they went: “See how the king rewards a man he wishes to honor!”

12 Mordecai then went back to the palace entrance while Haman hurried home, covering his face in embarrassment.

13 He told his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then she and those wise friends of his told him, “You are beginning to lose power to Mordecai. He is a Jew, and you cannot overcome him. He will certainly defeat you.”

Haman Is Put to Death

14 While they were still talking, the palace eunuchs arrived in a hurry to take Haman to Esther’s banquet.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/EST/6-11644fb64b3164e8a5cbb1fb50d46602.mp3?version_id=68—