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4 Now when Mardochai had heard these things, he rent his garments, and put on sackcloth, strewing ashes on his head: and he cried with a loud voice in the street in the midst of the city, shewing the anguish of his mind.
2 And he came lamenting in this manner even to the gate of the palace: for no one clothed with sackcloth might enter the king's court.
3 And in all provinces, towns, and places, to which the king's cruel edict was come, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, wailing, and weeping, many using sackcloth and ashes for their bed.
4 Then Esther's maids and her eunuchs went in, and told her. And when she heard it she was in a consternation: and she sent a garment, to clothe him, and to take away the sackcloth: but he would not receive it.
5 And she called for Athach the eunuch, whom the king had appointed to attend upon her, and she commanded him to go to Mardochai, and learn of him why he did this.
6 And Athach going out went to Mardochai, who was standing in the street of the city, before the palace gate:
7 And Mardochai told him all that had happened, how Aman had promised to pay money into the king's treasures, to have the Jews destroyed.
8 He gave him also a copy of the edict which was hanging up in Susan, that he should shew it to the queen, and admonish her to go in to the king, and to entreat him for her people.
9 And Athach went back and told Esther all that Mardochai had said.
10 She answered him, and bade him say to Mardochai:
11 All the king's servants, and all the provinces that are under his dominion, know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, cometh into the king's inner court, who is not called for, is immediately to be put to death without any delay: except the king shall hold out the golden sceptre to him, in token of clemency, that so he may live. How then can I go in to the king, who for these thirty days now have not been called unto him?
12 And when Mardochai had heard this,
13 He sent word to Esther again, saying: Think not that thou mayst save thy life only, because thou art in the king a house, more than all the Jews:
14 For if thou wilt now hold thy peace, the Jews shall be delivered by some other occasion: and thou, and thy father's house shall perish. And who knoweth whether thou art not therefore come to the kingdom, that thou mightest be ready in such a time as this?
15 And again Esther sent to Mardochai in these words:
16 Go, and gather together all the Jews whom thou shalt find in Susan, and pray ye for me. Neither eat nor drink for three days and three nights: and I with my handmaids will fast in like manner, and then I will go in to the king, against the law, not being called, and expose myself to death and to danger.
17 So Mardochai went, and did all that Esther had commanded him.
5 And on the third day Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's hall: now he sat upon his throne in the hall of the palace, over against the door of the house.
2 And when he saw Esther the queen standing, she pleased his eyes, and he held out toward her the golden sceptre, which he held in his hand: and she drew near, and kissed the top of his sceptre.
3 And the king said to her: What wilt then, queen Esther? what is thy request? if thou shouldst even ask one half of the kingdom, it shall be given to thee.
4 But she answered: If it please the king. I beseech thee to come to me this day, and Aman with thee to the banquet which I have prepared.
5 And the king said forthwith: Call ye Aman quickly, that he may obey Esther's will. So the king and Aman came to the banquet which the queen had prepared for them.
6 And the king said to her, after he had drunk wine plentifully: What dost thou desire should be given thee? and for what thing askest thou? although thou shouldst ask the half of my kingdom, thou shalt have it.
7 And Esther answered: My petition and request is this:
8 If I have found favour in the king's sight, and if it please the king to give me what I ask, and to fulfill my petition: let the king and Aman come to the banquet which I have prepared them, and to morrow I will open my mind to the king.
9 So Aman went out that day joyful and merry. And when he saw Mardochai sitting before the gate of the palace, and that he not only did not rise up to honour him, but did not so much as move from the place where he sat, he was exceedingly angry:
10 But dissembling his anger, and returning into his house, he called together to him his friends, and Zares his wife:
11 And he declared to them the greatness of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and with how great glory the king had advanced him above all his princes and servants.
12 And after this he said: Queen Esther also hath invited no other to the banquet with the king, but me: and with her I am also to dine to morrow with the king:
13 And whereas I have all these things, I think I have nothing, so long as I see Mardochai the Jew sitting before the king's gate.
14 Then Zares his wife, and the rest of his friends answered him: Order a great beam to be prepared, fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak to the king, that Mardochai may be hanged upon it, and so thou shalt go full of joy with the king to the banquet. The counsel pleased him, and he commanded a high gibbet to be prepared.
6 That night the king passed without sleep, and he commanded the histories and chronicles of former times to be brought him. And when they were reading them before him,
2 They came to that place where it was written, how Mardochai had discovered the treason of Bagathan and Thares the eunuchs, who sought to kill king Assuerus.
3 And when the king heard this, he said: What honour and reward hath Mardochai received for this fidelity? His servants and ministers said to him: He hath received no reward at all.
4 And the king said immediately: Who is in the court? for Aman was coming in to the inner court of the king's house, to speak to the king, that he might order Mardochai to be hanged upon the gibbet which was prepared for him.
5 The servants answered: Aman standeth in the court, and the king said: Let him come in.
6 And when he was come in, he said to him: What ought to be done to the man whom the king is desirous to honour? But Aman thinking in his heart, and supposing that the king would honour no other but himself,
7 Answered: The man whom the king desireth to honour,
8 Ought to be clothed with the king's apparel, and to be set upon the horse that the king rideth upon, and to have the royal crown upon his head,
9 And let the first of the king's princes and nobles hold his horse, and going through the street of the city, proclaim before him and say: Thus shall he be honoured, whom the king hath a mind to honour.
10 And the king said to him: Make haste and take the robe and the horse, and do as thou hast spoken to Mardochai the Jew, who sitteth before the gates of the palace. Beware thou pass over any of those things which thou hast spoken.
11 So Aman took the robe and the horse, and arraying Mardochai in the street of the city, and setting him on the horse, went before him, and proclaimed: This honour is he worthy of, whom the king hath a mind to honour.
12 But Mardochai returned to the palace gate: and Aman made haste to go to his house, mourning and having his head covered:
13 And he told Zares his wife, and his friends, all that had befallen him. And the wise men whom he had in counsel, and his wife answered him: If Mardochai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou canst not resist him, but thou shalt fall in his sight.
14 As they were yet speaking, the king's eunuchs came, and compelled him to go quickly to the banquet which the queen had prepared.
7 So the king and Aman went in, to drink with the queen.
2 And the king said to her again the second day, after he was warm with wine: What is thy petition, Esther, that it may be granted thee? and what wilt thou have done: although thou ask the half of my kingdom, thou shalt have it.
3 Then she answered: If I have found Favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please thee, give me my life for which I ask, and my people for which I request.
4 For we are given up, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. And would God we were sold for bondmen and bondwomen: the evil might be borne with, and I would have mourned in silence: but now we have an enemy, whose cruelty redoundeth upon the king.
5 And king Assuerus answered and said: Who is this, and of what power, that he should do these things?
6 And Esther said: It is this Aman that is our adversary and most wicked enemy. Aman hearing this was forthwith astonished, not being able to bear the countenance of the king and of the queen.
7 But the king being angry rose up, and went from the place of the banquet into the garden set with trees. Aman also rose up to entreat Esther the queen for his life, for he understood that evil was prepared for him by the king.
8 And when the king came back out of the garden set with trees, and entered into the place of the banquet, he found Aman was fallen upon the bed on which Esther lay, and he said: He will force the queen also in my presence, in my own house. The word was not yet gone out of the king's mouth, and immediately they covered his face.
9 And Harbona, one of the eunuchs that stood waiting on the king, said: Behold the gibbet which he hath prepared for Mardochai, who spoke for the king, standeth in Aman's house, being fifty cubits high. And the king said to him: Hang him upon it.
10 So Aman was hanged on the gibbet, which he had prepared for Mardochai: and the king's wrath ceased.
12 Now concerning spiritual things, my brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
2 You know that when you were heathens, you went to dumb idols, according as you were led.
3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man, speaking by the Spirit of God, saith Anathema to Jesus. And no man can say the Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost.
4 Now there are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit;
5 And there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord;
6 And there are diversities of operations, but the same God, who worketh all in all.
7 And the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man unto profit.
8 To one indeed, by the Spirit, is given the word of wisdom: and to another, the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit;
9 To another, faith in the same spirit; to another, the grace of healing in one Spirit;
10 To another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the discerning of spirits; to another, diverse kinds of tongues; to another, interpretation of speeches.
11 But all these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every one according as he will.
12 For as the body is one, and hath many members; and all the members of the body, whereas they are many, yet are one body, so also is Christ.
13 For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free; and in one Spirit we have all been made to drink.
14 For the body also is not one member, but many.
15 If the foot should say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
16 And if the ear should say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
17 If the whole body were the eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?
18 But now God hath set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him.
19 And if they all were one member, where would be the body?
20 But now there are many members indeed, yet one body.
21 And the eye cannot say to the hand: I need not thy help; nor again the head to the feet: I have no need of you.
22 Yea, much more those that seem to be the more feeble members of the body, are more necessary.
23 And such as we think to be the less honourable members of the body, about these we put more abundant honour; and those that are our uncomely parts, have more abundant comeliness.
24 But our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, giving to that which wanted the more abundant honour,
25 That there might be no schism in the body; but the members might be mutually careful one for another.
26 And if one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it; or if one member glory, all the members rejoice with it.
36 A psalm for David himself. Be not emulous of evildoers; nor envy them that work iniquity.
2 For they shall shortly wither away as grass, and as the green herbs shall quickly fall.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good, and dwell in the land, and thou shalt be fed with its riches.
4 Delight in the Lord, and he will give thee the requests of thy heart.
5 Commit thy way to the Lord, and trust in him, and he will do it.
6 And he will bring forth thy justice as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
7 Be subject to the Lord and pray to him Envy not the man who prospereth in his way; the man who doth unjust things.
8 Cease from anger, and leave rage; have no emulation to do evil.
9 For the evildoers shall be cut off: but they that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the land.
10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: and thou shalt seek his place, and shalt not find it.
11 But the meek shall inherit the land, and shall delight in abundance of peace.
12 The sinner shall watch the just man: and shall gnash upon him with his teeth.
13 But the Lord shall laugh at him: for he foreseeth that his day shall come.
14 The wicked have drawn out the sword: they have bent their bow. To cast down the poor and needy, to kill the upright of heart.
15 Let their sword enter into their own hearts, and let their bow be broken.
16 Better is a little to the just, than the great riches of the wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken in pieces; but the Lord strengtheneth the just.
18 The Lord knoweth the days of undefiled; and their inheritance shall be for ever.
19 They shall not be confounded in the evil time; and in the days of famine they shall be filled:
20 Because the wicked shall perish. And the enemies of the Lord, presently after they shall be honoured and exalted, shall come to nothing and vanish like smoke.
21 The sinner shall borrow, and not pay again; but the just sheweth mercy and shall give.
22 For such as bless him shall inherit the land: but such as curse him shall perish.
23 With the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall like well his way.
24 When he shall fall he shall not be bruised, for the Lord putteth his hand under him.
25 I have been young, and now am old; and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.
26 He sheweth mercy, and lendeth all the day long; and his seed shall be in blessing.
27 Decline from evil and do good, and dwell for ever and ever.
28 For the Lord loveth judgment, and will not forsake his saints: they shall be preserved for ever. The unjust shall be punished, and the seed of the wicked shall perish.
29 But the just shall inherit the land, and shall dwell therein for evermore.
30 The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom: and his tongue shall speak judgment.
31 The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted.
32 The wicked watcheth the just man, and seeketh to put him to death,
33 But the Lord will not leave in his hands; nor condemn him when he shall be judged.
34 Expect the Lord and keep his way: and he will exalt thee to inherit the land: when the sinners shall perish thou shalt see.
35 I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus.
36 And I passed by, and lo, he was not: and I sought him and his place was not found.
37 Keep innocence, and behold justice: for there are remnants for the peaceable man.
38 But the unjust shall be destroyed together: the remnants of the wicked shall perish.
39 But the salvation of the just is from the Lord, and he is their protector in the time of trouble.
40 And the Lord will help them and deliver them: and he will rescue them from the wicked, and save them, because they have hoped in him.
21 He that followeth justice and mercy, shall find life, justice, and glory.
22 The wise man hath scaled the city of the strong, and hath cast down the strength of the confidence thereof.
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