Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

140 (For the one directing. Mizmor of Dovid). Deliver me, Hashem, from adam rah; preserve me from ish chamasim (violent men);

^2 (3) Which plan ra’ot (evils) in their lev; kol yom they incite milchamot (wars).

^3 (4) They have sharpened their leshonot like a nachash; the venom of a spider is under their sfatayim (lips). Selah.

^4 (5) Be shomer over me, Hashem, and keep me from the hands of the rashah; protect me from ish chamasim, whose scheme is to cause my steps to trip.

^5 (6) The ge’im (proud, arrogant ones [of inordinate ambition]) have hid a pach for me, and chavalim (cords, ropes); they have spread a reshet (net) close by the path; they have set mokshim (traps) for me. Selah.

^6 (7) I said unto Hashem, Thou art Eli; hear the kol tachanunai (voice of my supplications), Hashem.

^7 (8) Hashem Adonoi, Oz Yeshuati (strength of my (salvation), Thou hast covered my rosh in the Yom Neshek (Day of Arms, Day of Battle).

^8 (9) Grant not, Hashem, the desires of the rashah; let not his plot succeed; lest they exalt themselves. Selah.

^9 (10) As for the rosh of those that surround me, let the amal (trouble) of their own sfatayim (lips) cover them.

^10 (11) Let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the eish; into mahamorot (watery pits), that they rise not up again.

^11 (12) Let not an ish lashon (idle talker, slanderer) be established in ha’aretz; rah shall hunt down the ish chamas to overthrow him.

^12 (13) I know that Hashem will maintain the din oni (cause of the poor), and the mishpat evyonim (the right of the needy).

^13 (14) Surely the tzaddikim shall give thanks unto Thy Shem; the upright shall dwell in Thy presence.

8 On that day did HaMelech Achashverosh give the Bais Haman Tzorer HaYehudim (the estate of Haman the Vexer, Harasser, Enemy of the Jews) unto Ester HaMalkah. And Mordechai came before HaMelech; for Ester had told what he was unto her.

² And HaMelech took off his taba’at (signet ring), which he had reclaimed from Haman, and gave it unto Mordechai. And Ester set Mordechai over the Bais Haman.

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.

⁶ But whoever causes a michshol (stumbling block) for one of these little ones, who have emunah in me, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.

⁷ Oy lOlam (Woe to the World) because of its michsholim (stumbling blocks)! For it is inevitable that michsholim come; but oy to that man through whom the michshol comes.

⁸ And if your hand or your foot causes a michshol for you, cut it off, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter Chayyim crippled or as one of the pisechim (lame), than, having two hands and two feet, to be cast into the Eish Olam (Eternal Fire).

⁹ And if your eye causes a michshol for you, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter Chayyim one-eyed than, having two eyes, to be cast into the Gehinnom HaEish.