4
18[He prayed to the Lord, making mention of all the works of the Lord. He said, “Lord God, you are king ruling over all, for all things are in your power, and there is no one who can oppose you in your purpose to save Israel; for you have made the sky and the earth and every wonderful thing under the sky. You are Lord of all, and there is no one who can resist you, Lord. You know all things. You know, Lord, that it is not in insolence, nor arrogance, nor love of glory, that I have done this, to refuse to bow down to the arrogant Haman. For I would gladly have kissed the soles of his feet for the safety of Israel. But I have done this that I might not set the glory of man above the glory of God. I will not worship anyone except you, my Lord, and I will not do these things in arrogance. And now, O Lord God, the King, the God of Abraham, spare your people, for our enemies are planning our destruction, and they have desired to destroy your ancient inheritance. Do not overlook your people, whom you have redeemed for yourself out of the land of Egypt. Listen to my prayer. Have mercy on your inheritance and turn our mourning into gladness, that we may live and sing praise to your name, O Lord. Don’t utterly destroy the mouth of those who praise you, O Lord.”
28All Israel cried with all their might, for death was before their eyes. And queen Esther took refuge in the Lord, being taken as it were in the agony of death. Having taken off her glorious apparel, she put on garments of distress and mourning. Instead of grand perfumes she filled her head with ashes and dung. She greatly humbled her body, and she filled every place of her glad adorning with her tangled hair. She begged the Lord God of Israel, and said, “O my Lord, you alone are our king. Help me. I am destitute, and have no helper but you, for my danger is near at hand . I have heard from my birth in the tribe of my kindred that you, Lord, took Israel out of all the nations, and our fathers out of all their kindred for a perpetual inheritance, and have done for them all that you have said. And now we have sinned before you, and you have delivered us into the hands of our enemies, because we honored their gods. You are righteous, O Lord. But now they have not been content with the bitterness of our slavery, but have laid their hands on the hands of their idols to abolish the decree of your mouth, and utterly to destroy your inheritance, and to stop the mouth of those who praise you, and to extinguish the glory of your house and your altar, and to open the mouth of the Gentiles to speak the praises of vanities, and that a mortal king should be admired forever. O Lord, don’t surrender your scepter to those who don’t exist, and don’t let them laugh at our fall. But turn their counsel against themselves, and make an example of him who has begun to injure us. Remember us, O Lord! Manifest yourself in the time of our affliction. Encourage me, O King of gods, and ruler of all dominion! Put harmonious speech into my mouth before the lion, and turn his heart to hate him who fights against us, to the utter destruction of those who agree with him. But deliver us by your hand, and help me who am alone and have no one but you, O Lord. You know all things, and know that I hate the glory of transgressors, and that I abhor the bed of the uncircumcised and of every stranger. You know my necessity, for I abhor the symbol of my proud station, which is upon my head in the days of my splendor. I abhor it as a menstruous cloth, and I don’t wear it in the days of my tranquility. Your handmaid has not eaten at Haman’s table, and I have not honored the banquet of the king, neither have I drunk wine of libations. Neither has your handmaid rejoiced since the day of my promotion until now, except in you, O Lord God of Abraham. O god, who has power over all, listen to the voice of the desperate, and deliver us from the hand of those who devise mischief. Deliver me from my fear.]
4:32*Greek* in my hand.
4:38*Greek* virtues.
4:43*Or,* opinion.
4:44*Greek* vision.
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4[Mordecai said, “These things have come from God. For I remember the dream which I had concerning these matters; for not one detail of them has failed. There was the little spring which became a river, and there was light, and the sun and much water. The river is Esther, whom the king married and made queen. The two serpents are Haman and me. The nations are those which combined to destroy the name of the Jews. But as for my nation, this is Israel, even those who cried to God and were delivered; for the Lord delivered his people. The Lord rescued us out of all these calamities; and God worked such signs and great wonders as have not been done among the nations. Therefore he ordained two lots. One for the people of God, and one for all the other nations. And these two lots came for an appointed season, and for a day of judgment, before God, and for all the nations. God remembered his people and vindicated his inheritance. They shall observe these days in the month Adar, on the fourteenth and on the fifteenth day of the month, with an assembly, joy, and gladness before God, throughout the generations forever among his people Israel. In the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemeus and Cleopatra, Dositheus, who said he was a priest and Levite, and Ptolemeus his son brought this letter of Purim, which they said was authentic, and that Lysimachus the son of Ptolemeus, who was in Jerusalem, had interpreted.]