Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

7 (Shiggayon of Dovid, which he sang unto Hashem, regarding Kush of Binyamin) Hashem Elohai, in Thee do I seek refuge; hoshieini (save me) from all them that persecute me, and deliver me;

^2 (3) Lest he tear my nefesh like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to rescue.

^3 (4) Hashem Elohai, if I have done this; if there be guilt in my hands;

^4 (5) If I have recompensed with evil him that held out shalom unto me; or, without cause plundered my opposers,

^5 (6) Then let the enemy persecute my nefesh, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life to the earth, and lay mine kavod to sleep in the dust. Selah.

^6 (7) Arise, Hashem, in Thine anger, lift up Thyself because of the rage of mine enemies; awake, o my El, to the mishpat Thou hast decreed.

^7 (8) So let the Adat l’Umim surround Thee; and over it return Thou on high [to judge].

^8 (9) Hashem shall judge the people; judge me, Hashem, according to my tzedek, and according to mine integrity that is in me.

^9 (10) Oh let the wickedness of the resha’im come to an end; but make the tzaddik secure; for the Elohim Tzaddik trieth the minds and hearts.

^10 (11) My mogen (shield) is Elohim, Moshi’a of the upright in heart.

^11 (12) Elohim is a Shofet Tzaddik, and El expresses wrath kol yom.

^12 (13) If He relent not, He will sharpen His cherev; He hath bent His keshet (bow) and made it ready.

^13 (14) He hath also prepared for Him the instruments of mavet; He ordaineth His flaming khitzim (arrows).

^14 (15) Hinei, he [an evil person] travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived trouble, and brought forth falsehood.

^15 (16) He makes a pit, and digs it, and is fallen into the shachat (pit) which he made.

^16 (17) His trouble shall return upon his own rosh, and his chamas shall come down upon his own kodkod (crown of the head).

^17 (18) I will give thanks to Hashem according to His tzedek; and will sing praise to the Shem of Hashem Elyon.

³ And Ester spoke yet again before HaMelech, and fell down at his feet, and she wept and made supplication to him to avert the rah of Haman HaAgagi and the machshevet of him (his scheme, i.e., final solution plan) that he had devised against the Yehudim.

⁴ Then HaMelech held out the sharvit hazahav (golden sceptre) toward Ester. So Ester arose, and stood before HaMelech,

⁵ And said, If it is tov to HaMelech, and if I have found chen (favor, grace) in his sight, and the thing seem kosher (fit, right, proper) before HaMelech, and I be tovah (pleasing) in his eyes, let it be written to revoke the seferim machashevet Haman (letters devised by Haman) ben Hamdata the Agagi, which he wrote to destroy the Yehudim which are in all the provinces of HaMelech;

⁶ For how can I endure to see the ra’ah that shall come unto Ami (my people)? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my moledet (kindred, Jewish kinsmen)?

⁷ Then HaMelech Achashverosh said unto Ester HaMalkah and to Mordechai HaYehudi, Hinei, I have given Ester the Bais Haman, and him they have hanged upon the etz, because he laid his hand against HaYehudim.

⁸ Write ye also in behalf of HaYehudim, as you please, b’shem HaMelech, and seal it with the taba’at (signet ring) of HaMelech; for the writing which is written b’shem HaMelech, and sealed with the taba’at (signet ring) of HaMelech may no man reverse.

⁹ Then were the soferim of HaMelech summoned at that time in the chodesh hashelishi, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and according to all that Mordechai ordered it was written unto HaYehudim, and to the satraps, and the governors and nobles of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the script thereof, and unto every people after their leshon, and to the Yehudim according to their script, and according to their leshon.

¹⁰ And he wrote b’shem HaMelech Achashverosh, and sealed it with the taba’at of HaMelech, and sent seferim by couriers on horseback riding thoroughbred royal steeds;

¹¹ Wherein HaMelech granted the Yehudim which were in every city to assemble themselves together, and to engage in self-defense, to make shmad, to slay and to annihilate, any chayil (armed force) of any people or province that would attack them, both little ones and nashim, and to plunder their property

¹² On yom echad in all the provinces of HaMelech Achashverosh, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.

¹³ A copy of the edict was to be issued as dat (law) in every province and was galui (made known) unto kol ha’amim (all nationalities), and that the Yehudim should be atidim (ready, prepared, [see 3:14]) for yom hazeh to avenge themselves on their oyvim (enemies).

¹⁴ So the couriers that rode upon royal steeds went out, being hastened and pressed on by the devar HaMelech. And the dat (decree) was given at Shushan the capital.

¹⁵ And Mordechai went out from the presence of HaMelech in levush malkhut (royal robe, clothing) of blue and white, and with an ateret zahav gedolah (a great crown of gold), and with a tachrich (garment, robe, [see OJBC Mt 27:59]) of fine linen and purple; and the city of Shushan celebrated and rejoiced.

¹⁶ The Yehudim had orah (light), and simcha, and sasson, and yekar (honor).

¹⁷ And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the devar HaMelech and his dat came, the Yehudim had simcha and sasson, a mishteh (feast) and a yontef. And many of the people of the land mityahadim (became Yehudim); for the pachad HaYehudim fell upon them.

19 After these things I heard, as it were, a kol gadol (loud voice) of a great, multititude in Shomayim, saying, "Praise Hashem! The Yeshu’ah (Salvation) and the Kavod (Glory) and the Gevurah (Power) is of Eloheinu!

² “Because emes and tzedek are His judgments because He judged the Zonah Hagedolah who was corrupting ha’aretz (the earth) with the zenut (fornication) of her and He took vengeance on her who has on her hands the dahm of His servants."

³ And again they said, “Praise Hashem! The smoke of her ascends l’olemei olamim!” [YESHAYAH 34:10]

⁴ And the esrim v’arba’ah Zekenim (twenty-four Elders) fell down and the Arbah Chayyot (four living beings) and they worshiped Hashem who sits on the Kes (Throne), saying, “Omein, Praise Hashem!”

⁵ And a kol (voice) from the Kes (Throne) came forth, saying, “Say ‘Baruch Hashem Eloheinu,’ all you avadim (servants) of him and the ones with yirat Shomayim, ketanim (small ones) and the gedolim (great ones).” [TEHILLIM 134:1; 115:13]

⁶ And I heard, as it were, a sound of a great multitude and a sound like mayim rabbim (many waters) and a sound like mighty thunder saying, “ Baruch Hashem! Because Hashem Eloheinu reigns, El Shaddai.

⁷ “Let us have simcha and exult, and give kavod (glory) to him because has come the Yom HaChuppah, the Yom Nisu’im of the SEH (Lamb, SHEMOT 12:3; YESHAYAH 53:7 Moshiach), and His Kallah (Bride) has made herself ready.”

⁸ And it was given to her that she should be clothed with fine linen, bright and tahor (clean); for the fine linen are the Tzedakot of the Kadoshim. [YESHAYAH 61:10; YECHEZKEL 44:17; ZECHARYAH 3:4]

⁹ And he says to me, Write: "Ashrey are the ones having been summoned to the Seudas Moshiach, the Seudas Yom Nisu’im of the SEH” (Lamb, SHEMOT 12:3; YESHAYAH 53:7 Moshiach). And he says to me, “These are divrei Emes of Hashem.”