The Daily Audio Bible

8 On that day hath the king Ahasuerus given to Esther the queen the house of Haman, adversary of the Jews, and Mordecai hath come in before the king, for Esther hath declared what he [is] to her,

² and the king turneth aside his signet, that he hath caused to pass away from Haman, and giveth it to Mordecai, and Esther setteth Mordecai over the house of Haman.

³ And Esther addeth, and speaketh before the king, and falleth before his feet, and weepeth, and maketh supplication to him, to cause the evil of Haman the Agagite to pass away, and his device that he had devised against the Jews;

⁴ and the king holdeth out to Esther the golden sceptre, and Esther riseth, and standeth before the king,

⁵ and saith, `If to the king [it be] good, and if I have found grace before him, and the thing hath been right before the king, and I [be] good in his eyes, let it be written to bring back the letters -- a device of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite -- that he wrote to destroy the Jews who [are] in all provinces of the king,

⁶ for how do I endure when I have looked on the evil that doth find my people? and how do I endure when I have looked on the destruction of my kindred?'

⁷ And the king Ahasuerus saith to Esther the queen, and to Mordecai the Jew, `Lo, the house of Haman I have given to Esther, and him they have hanged on the tree, because that he put forth his hand on the Jews,

⁸ and ye, write ye for the Jews, as [it is] good in your eyes, in the name of the king, and seal with the signet of the king -- for the writing that is written in the name of the king, and sealed with the signet of the king, there is none to turn back.'

⁹ And the scribes of the king are called, at that time, in the third month -- it [is] the month of Sivan -- in the three and twentieth of it, and it is written, according to all that Mordecai hath commanded, unto the Jews, and unto the lieutenants, and the governors, and the heads of the provinces, that [are] from Hodu even unto Cush, seven and twenty and a hundred provinces -- province and province according to its writing, and people and people according to its tongue, and unto the Jews according to their writing, and according to their tongue.

¹⁰ And he writeth in the name of the king Ahasuerus, and sealeth with the signet of the king, and sendeth letters by the hand of the runners with horses, riders of the dromedary, the mules, the young mares,

¹¹ that the king hath given to the Jews who [are] in every city and city, to be assembled, and to stand for their life, to cut off, to slay, and to destroy the whole force of the people and province who are distressing them, infants and women, and their spoil to seize.

¹² In one day, in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth of the twelfth month -- it [is] the month of Adar --

¹³ a copy of the writing to be made law in every province and province is revealed to all the peoples, and for the Jews being ready at this day to be avenged of their enemies.

¹⁴ The runners, riding on the dromedary, [and] the mules, have gone out, hastened and pressed by the word of the king, and the law hath been given in Shushan the palace.

¹⁵ And Mordecai went out from before the king, in royal clothing of blue and white, and a great crown of gold, and a garment of fine linen and purple, and the city of Shushan hath rejoiced and been glad;

¹⁶ to the Jews hath been light, and gladness, and joy, and honour,

¹⁷ and in every province and province, and in every city and city, the place where the word of the king, even his law, is coming, gladness and joy [are] to the Jews, a banquet, and a good day; and many of the peoples of the land are becoming Jews, for a fear of the Jews hath fallen upon them.

9 And in the twelfth month -- it [is] the month of Adar -- on the thirteenth day of it, in which the word of the king, even his law, hath come to be done, in the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to rule over them, and it is turned that the Jews rule over those hating them --

² the Jews have been assembled in their cities, in all provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to put forth a hand on those seeking their evil, and no man hath stood in their presence, for their fear hath fallen on all the peoples.

³ And all heads of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the governors, and those doing the work that the king hath, are lifting up the Jews, for a fear of Mordecai hath fallen upon them;

⁴ for great [is] Mordecai in the house of the king, and his fame is going into all the provinces, for the man Mordecai is going on and becoming great.

⁵ And the Jews smite among all their enemies -- a smiting of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction -- and do with those hating them according to their pleasure,

⁶ and in Shushan the palace have the Jews slain and destroyed five hundred men;

⁷ and Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,

⁸ and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,

⁹ and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,

¹⁰ ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, adversary of the Jews, they have slain, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand.

¹¹ On that day hath come the number of the slain in Shushan the palace before the king,

¹² and the king saith to Esther the queen, `In Shushan the palace have the Jews slain and destroyed five hundred men, and the ten sons of Haman; in the rest of the provinces of the king what have they done? and what [is] thy petition? and it is given to thee; and what thy request again? and it is done.'

¹³ And Esther saith, `If to the king [it be] good, let it be given also to-morrow, to the Jews who [are] in Shushan, to do according to the law of to-day; and the ten sons of Haman they hang on the tree.'

¹⁴ And the king saith -- `to be done so;' and a law is given in Shushan, and the ten sons of Haman they have hanged.

¹⁵ And the Jews who [are] in Shushan are assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they slay in Shushan three hundred men, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand.

¹⁶ And the rest of the Jews, who [are] in the provinces of the king, have been assembled, even to stand for their life, and to rest from their enemies, and to slay among those hating them five and seventy thousand, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand;

¹⁷ on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, even to rest on the fourteenth of it, and to make it a day of banquet and of joy.

¹⁸ And the Jews who [are] in Shushan have been assembled, on the thirteenth day of it, and on the fourteenth of it, even to rest on the fifteenth of it, and to make it a day of banquet and of joy.

¹⁹ Therefore the Jews of the villages, who are dwelling in cities of the villages, are making the fourteenth day of the month of Adar -- joy and banquet, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.

²⁰ And Mordecai writeth these things, and sendeth letters unto all the Jews who [are] in all provinces of the king Ahasuerus, who are near and who are far off,

²¹ to establish on them, to be keeping the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and the fifteenth day of it, in every year and year,

²² as days on which the Jews have rested from their enemies, and the month that hath been turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to a good day, to make them days of banquet and of joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the needy.

²³ And the Jews have received that which they had begun to do, and that which Mordecai hath written unto them,

²⁴ because Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, adversary of all the Jews, had devised concerning the Jews to destroy them, and had caused to fall Pur -- that [is] the lot -- to crush them and to destroy them;

²⁵ and in her coming in before the king, he said with the letter, `Let his evil device that he devised against the Jews turn back upon his own head,' and they have hanged him and his sons on the tree,

²⁶ therefore they have called these days Purim -- by the name of the lot -- therefore, because of all the words of this letter, and what they have seen concerning this, and what hath come unto them,

²⁷ the Jews have established and received upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all those joined unto them, and it doth not pass away, to be keeping these two days according to their writing, and according to their season, in every year and year;

²⁸ and these days are remembered and kept in every generation and generation, family and family, province and province, and city and city, and these days of Purim do not pass away from the midst of the Jews, and their memorial is not ended from their seed.

²⁹ And Esther the queen, daughter of Abihail, writeth, and Mordecai the Jew, with all might, to establish this second letter of Purim,

³⁰ and he sendeth letters unto all the Jews, unto the seven and twenty and a hundred provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus -- words of peace and truth --

³¹ to establish these days of Purim, in their seasons, as Mordecai the Jew hath established on them, and Esther the queen, and as they had established on themselves, and on their seed -- matters of the fastings, and of their cry.

³² And a saying of Esther hath established these matters of Purim, and it is written in the Book.

10 And the king Ahasuerus setteth a tribute on the land and the isles of the sea;

² and all the work of his strength, and his might, and the explanation of the greatness of Mordecai with which the king made him great, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of Media and Persia?

³ For Mordecai the Jew [is] second to king Ahasuerus, and a great man of the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking good for his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.

²⁷ and ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

²⁸ And some, indeed, did God set in the assembly, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, afterwards powers, afterwards gifts of healings, helpings, governings, divers kinds of tongues;

²⁹ [are] all apostles? [are] all prophets? [are] all teachers? [are] all powers?

³⁰ have all gifts of healings? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

³¹ and desire earnestly the better gifts; and yet a far excelling way do I shew to you:

13 If with the tongues of men and of messengers I speak, and have not love, I have become brass sounding, or a cymbal tinkling;

² and if I have prophecy, and know all the secrets, and all the knowledge, and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing;

³ and if I give away to feed others all my goods, and if I give up my body that I may be burned, and have not love, I am profited nothing.

⁴ The love is long-suffering, it is kind, the love doth not envy, the love doth not vaunt itself, is not puffed up,

⁵ doth not act unseemly, doth not seek its own things, is not provoked, doth not impute evil,

⁶ rejoiceth not over the unrighteousness, and rejoiceth with the truth;

⁷ all things it beareth, all it believeth, all it hopeth, all it endureth.

⁸ The love doth never fail; and whether [there be] prophecies, they shall become useless; whether tongues, they shall cease; whether knowledge, it shall become useless;

⁹ for in part we know, and in part we prophecy;

¹⁰ and when that which is perfect may come, then that which [is] in part shall become useless.

¹¹ When I was a babe, as a babe I was speaking, as a babe I was thinking, as a babe I was reasoning, and when I have become a man, I have made useless the things of the babe;

¹² for we see now through a mirror obscurely, and then face to face; now I know in part, and then I shall fully know, as also I was known;

¹³ and now there doth remain faith, hope, love -- these three; and the greatest of these [is] love.

37 By David. Do not fret because of evil doers, Be not envious against doers of iniquity,

² For as grass speedily they are cut off, And as the greenness of the tender grass do fade.

³ Trust in Jehovah, and do good, Dwell [in] the land, and enjoy faithfulness,

⁴ And delight thyself on Jehovah, And He giveth to thee the petitions of thy heart.

⁵ Roll on Jehovah thy way, And trust upon Him, and He worketh,

⁶ And hath brought out as light thy righteousness, And thy judgment as noon-day.

⁷ Be silent for Jehovah, and stay thyself for Him, Do not fret because of him Who is making prosperous his way, Because of a man doing wicked devices.

⁸ Desist from anger, and forsake fury, Fret not thyself only to do evil.

⁹ For evil doers are cut off, As to those waiting on Jehovah, they possess the land.

¹⁰ And yet a little, and the wicked is not, And thou hast considered his place, and it is not.

¹¹ And the humble do possess the land, And they have delighted themselves In the abundance of peace.

²³ Whoso is keeping his mouth and his tongue, Is keeping from adversities his soul.

²⁴ Proud, haughty, scorner [is] his name, Who is working in the wrath of pride.