Esther 8:1

For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?

As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right. In the middle of his days, they will leave him. At his end, he will be a fool.

He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

Take no interest from him or profit; but fear your God, that your brother may live among you.

and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and five men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe, the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the city.

Now therefore don’t give your daughters to their sons. Don’t take their daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity forever; that you may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’

Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the keeper of the women, advised. Esther obtained favor in the sight of all those who looked at her.

The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy.

For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

The children of your servants will continue. Their offspring will be established before you.”

An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning, won’t be blessed in the end.

“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor. You shall not charge him interest.

Because you are sent by the king and his seven counselors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your God which is in your hand,

Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim.

he may prepare it, but the just will put it on, and the innocent will divide the silver.

“Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.

For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others.

This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings.

The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.

His offspring will be mighty in the land. The generation of the upright will be blessed.

Yes, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel.

Wealth gained dishonestly dwindles away, but he who gathers by hand makes it grow.

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored for the righteous.

He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him.

and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and seven men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the middle of the city.

While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from the sky, saying, “O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: ‘The kingdom has departed from you.

and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away.

As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin.

You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except you shall take its goods and its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.”

I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you didn’t build, and you live in them. You eat of vineyards and olive groves which you didn’t plant.’

He must restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity!”

For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther said, “An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.

I was a father to the needy. I researched the cause of him who I didn’t know.

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt. They have done abominable deeds. There is no one who does good.

I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread.

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day,

Most certainly, the evil man will not be unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.

All the relatives of the poor shun him: how much more do his friends avoid him! He pursues them with pleas, but they are gone.

A righteous man walks in integrity. Blessed are his children after him.

There is one who is alone, and he has neither son nor brother. There is no end to all of his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with wealth. “For whom then, do I labor and deprive my soul of enjoyment?” This also is vanity. Yes, it is a miserable business.

Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand.

he who hasn’t lent to them with interest, hasn’t taken any increase from them, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man,

has lent with interest, and has taken increase from the poor; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood will be on him.

who has withdrawn his hand from the poor, who hasn’t received interest or increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live.

See that you don’t despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

You foolish ones, didn’t he who made the outside make the inside also?

“But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’

If then you aren’t able to do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest?

Behold, this is the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; for I seek not your possessions, but you. For the children ought not to save up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

You fathers, don’t provoke your children to wrath, but nurture them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming;

Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

Finally, all of you be like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, courteous,

Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine.

As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness;’ but my hand will not be on you.

and the next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king’s face, and sat first in the kingdom),

Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children, all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.

When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh, even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.

They didn’t turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths,

Riches don’t profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

The king’s wrath is a messenger of death, but a wise man will pacify it.

Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.

for riches are not forever, nor does the crown endure to all generations.

He who increases his wealth by excessive interest gathers it for one who has pity on the poor.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher. “All is vanity!”

For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.

I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman. Then they will in no way escape.

For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out.

For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls;

See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him.

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.