But if they are not a guilty nation, then let my lord pass them by, for their Lord and God will defend them, and we shall become the laughingstock of the whole world.”

They marveled at her beauty and admired the Israelites, judging them by her. They said to one another, “Who can despise these people, who have women like this among them? It is not wise to leave one of their men alive, for if we let them go they will be able to beguile the whole world!”

For we have heard of your wisdom and skill, and it is reported throughout the whole world that you alone are the best in the whole kingdom, the most informed and the most astounding in military strategy.

You are not only beautiful in appearance but wise in speech. If you do as you have said, your God shall be my God, and you shall live in the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar and be renowned throughout the whole world.”

Instructions were sent by couriers throughout all the empire of Artaxerxes to destroy the Jewish people in a single day of the twelfth month, which is Adar, and to plunder their goods.

Addition B

The King’s Letter

This is a copy of the letter: “The Great King, Artaxerxes, writes the following to the governors of the hundred twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia and to the officials under them: “Having become ruler of many nations and master of the whole world (not elated with presumption of authority but always acting reasonably and with kindness), I have determined to settle the lives of my subjects in lasting tranquility and, in order to make my kingdom peaceable and open to travel throughout all its extent, to restore the peace desired by all people. “When I asked my counselors how this might be accomplished, Haman—who excels among us in sound judgment and is distinguished for his unchanging goodwill and steadfast fidelity and has attained the second place of honor in the kingdom— pointed out to us that among all the nations in the world there is scattered a certain hostile people who have laws contrary to those of every nation and continually disregard the ordinances of kings, so that the unifying of the kingdom that we honorably intend cannot be brought about. We understand that this people, and it alone, stands constantly in opposition to all humanity, perversely following a strange manner of life and laws, and is ill-disposed to our interests, doing all the harm they can so that our kingdom may not attain stability. “Therefore we have decreed that those indicated to you in the letters written by Haman, who is in charge of affairs and is our second father, shall all—wives and children included—be utterly destroyed by the swords of their enemies, without pity or restraint, on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar, of this present year, so that those who have long been hostile and remain so may in a single day go down in violence to Hades and leave our interests secure and untroubled hereafter.”

Because the spirit of the Lord has filled the world and that which holds all things together knows what is said,

For he created all things so that they might exist; the generative forces of the world are wholesome, and there is no destructive poison in them, and the dominion of Hades is not on earth.

The multitude of the wise is the salvation of the world, and a sensible king is the stability of any people.

For it is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists, to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements,

and rule the world in holiness and righteousness and pronounce judgment in uprightness of soul,

The Work of Wisdom

Wisdom protected the first-formed father of the world, when he alone had been created; she delivered him from his transgression

For your all-powerful hand, which created the world out of formless matter, did not lack the means to send upon them a multitude of bears or bold lions

Because the whole world before you is like a speck that tips the scales and like a drop of morning dew that falls on the ground.

but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air or the circle of the stars or turbulent water or the luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world.

for if they had the power to know so much that they could investigate the world, how did they not more quickly find the Lord of these things?

For even in the beginning, when arrogant giants were perishing, the hope of the world took refuge on a raft and guided by your hand left to the world the seed of a new generation.

For their enemies deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned in darkness, those who had kept your children imprisoned, through whom the imperishable light of the law was to be given to the world.

For on his long robe the whole world was depicted, and the glories of the ancestors were engraved on the four rows of stones, and your majesty was on the diadem upon his head.

But they maintain the fabric of the world, and their concern is for the exercise of their trade.

The Activity of the Scribe

How different the one who devotes himself to the study of the law of the Most High!

For we, O Lord, have become fewer than any other nation and are brought low this day in all the world because of our sins.

and regained possession of the temple famous throughout the world and liberated the city and reestablished the laws that were about to be abolished, while the Lord with great kindness became gracious to them—

And he said that it was utterly impossible that wrong should be done to those people who had trusted in the holiness of the place and in the sanctity and inviolability of the temple that is honored throughout the whole world.

Pillage of the Temple

Not content with this, Antiochus dared to enter the most holy temple in all the world, guided by Menelaus, who had become a traitor both to the laws and to his country.

Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of humankind and devised the origin of all things, in his mercy gives life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws.”

“For they trust to arms and acts of daring,” he said, “but we trust in the Almighty God, who is able with a single nod to strike down those who are coming against us, and even, if necessary, the whole world.”