||Or, as amiable, or, smiling. 19 O thou mighty God above all, hear the voice of the forlorn, and deliver us out of the hands of the mischievous, and deliver me out of my fear. CHAP. XV. 6 Esther cometh into the king's presence: 7 he looketh angrily, and she fainteth. 8 The king doth take her up, and comfort her. ND upon the third day, when she had ||Or, as well thine as 10 Thou shalt not die, though our commandment be general: come near. 11 And so he held up his golden sceptre, mine. and laid it upon her neck, And the thyer, she laid away her 12 And embraced her, and said, Speak unto me. 2 And being gloriously adorned, after she had called upon God, who is the beholder and saviour of all things, she took two maids with her: 13 Then said she unto him, I saw theé, my lord, as an angel of God, and my heart was troubled for fear of thy majesty. 3 And upon the one she leaned, as carrying herself | daintily; 4 And the other followed, bearing up her train. 14 For wonderful art thou, lord, and thy countenance is full of grace. 15 And as she was speaking, || she fell down Or, she feit for faintness. 5 And she was ruddy through the perfection of her beauty, and her countenance was cheerful and very amiable: but her heart was in anguish for fear. 16 Then the king was troubled, and all his servants comforted her. 6 Then having passed through all the doors, she stood before the king, who sat upon his royal throne, and was clothed with all his robes of majesty, all glittering with gold and precious stones; and he was very dreadful. CHAP. XVI. 1 The letter of Artaxerxes, 10 wherein he taxeth Aman, 17 and revoketh the decree procured by Aman to destroy the Jews, 22 and commandeth the day of their deliverance to be kept holy. T in a swoon. Antiq. HE great king Artaxerxes unto the Joseph. princes and governors of an hundred b and seven and twenty provinces from India cap. 6. jects, greeting. unto Ethiopia, and unto all || our faithful sub 7 Then lifting up his countenance that shone with majesty, he looked very fiercely upon her: and the queen fell down, and was pale, and fainted, and bowed herself upon the head of Or, with the maid that went || before her. her, or, by her. + Gr. in an ugony. 8 Then God changed the spirit of the king into mildness, who in a fear leaped from his throne, and took her in his arms, till she came to herself again, and comforted her with loving words, and said unto her, Or, well affected to our state. 2 Many, the more often they are honoured with the great bounty of their gracious Gr. their princes, the more proud they are waxen, 3 And endeavour to hurt not our subjects only, but not being able to bear abundance, do take in hand to practise also against those that do them good: benefactora. Or, that 4 And take not only thankfulness away from among men, but also lifted up with the glorious words of lewd persons, that were or needy. never good, they think to escape the justice never tasted of God, that seeth all things, and hateth prosperity. evil. our friends, to manage 5 Oftentimes also fair speech of those, Or, of I that are put in trust to manage their friends' put in truss affairs, hath caused many that are in authority the affairs. to be partakers of innocent blood, and hath enwrapped them in remediless calamities: 6 Beguiling with the falsehood and deceit. of their lewd disposition the innocency and goodness of princes. 7 Now ye may see this, as we have declared, not so much by ancient histories, as ye may, if ye search what hath been wickedly done of late through the pestilent behaviour of them that are unworthily placed in authority. 8 And we must take care for the time to come, that our kingdom may be quiet and peaceable for all men. 9 Both by changing our purposes, and al Apocrypha. ||Or, prospered. WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 10 For Aman, a Macedonian, the son of 11 Had so far forth obtained the favour that we shew toward every nation, as that he was called our father, and was continually honoured of all men, as the next person unto the king. 12 But he, not bearing his great dignity, went about to deprive us of our kingdom and life: 13 Having by manifold and cunning deceits sought of us the destruction, as well of Mardocheus, who saved our life, and continually procured our good, as also of blameless Esther, partaker of our kingdom, with their whole nation. 14 For by these means he thought, finding us destitute of friends, to have translated the kingdom of the Persians to the Macedonians. 15 But we find that the Jews, whom this wicked wretch hath delivered to utter destruction, are no evildoers, but live by most just laws: 16 And that they be children of the most high and most mighty living God, who hath I ordered the kingdom both unto us and to our progenitors in the most excellent manner. Apocrypha. 17 Wherefore ye shall do well not to put in things, is hanged at the gates of Susa with all this letter in all places, that the Jews may 20 And ye shall aid them, that even the unto them the day, wherein the chosen people feasts keep it an high day with all feasting: be safety to us, and the well affected Persians; 24 Therefore every city and country what- ⚫ Deut. 1. 16. 1 Kings 3.3. Ps. 45. 7. Isai, 56. 1. 29. Deut. 4. 2 Chron. 15. 4. || Or, maketh manifest. Jer, 4. 22. THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON. CHAP. I. 12 2 To whom God sheweth himself, 4 and wisdom Lo a OVE righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth: think of the Lord with a good (heart,) and in simplicity of heart seek him. 2 For he will be found of them that tempt him not; and sheweth himself unto such as do not distrust him. 3 For froward thoughts separate from God: and his power, when it is tried, reproveth the unwise. 4 For into a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter; nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin. 5 For the holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are 6 7 For the Spirit of the Lord filleth the world: and that which containeth all things Or, hath knowledge of the voice. 8 Therefore he that speaketh unrighteous things cannot be hid: neither shall vengeance, when it punisheth, pass by him. 9 For inquisition shall be made into the counsels of the ungodly: and the sound of his words shall come unto the Lord for the manifestation of his wicked deeds. 10 For the ear of jealousy heareth all things and the noise of murmurings is not hid. 11 Therefore beware of murmuring, which upholdeth. ||Or, reproving. 20. jullity. 12 Therefore let us lie in wait for the righteous; because he is not for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings: he upbraideth us with our offending the law, and objecteth to our infamy the transgressings of our education. 2 For we are born at all adventure: and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been for the breath in our nostrils is as smoke, and a little spark in the moving of our heart: Eccles. 3. 3 Which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall Or, mois. vanish as the soft air, ||Or, oppressed. d 1 Chron. 29. 15. || Or, he. c 13 He professeth to have the knowledge of God: and he calleth himself the child of the Lord. h 14 He was made to reprove our thoughts. 15 He is grievous unto us even to behold for his life is not like other men's, his ways are of another fashion. 4 And our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall have our works in remembrance, and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, that is driven away with the beams of the sun, and overcome with the heat thereof. Matt. 7 43. John 19.7. Ephes. 5.13. John 7.7. sai. 53.5. coin. 16 We are esteemed of him as counter. Or, false feits: he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness: he pronounceth the end of the Numb. 23. just to be blessed, and maketh his boast that God is his father. 5 For our time is a very shadow that passeth away; and after our end there is no returning for it is fast sealed, so that no man cometh again. 10. 17 Let us see if his words be true: and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him. 18 For if the just man be the son of God, *Ps. 22.8,9. he will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies. k Matt. 27.43. 19 Let us 'examine him with despitefulness 'Jer. 11.19. and torture, that we may know his meekness, and prove his patience. 20 Let us condemn him with a shameful death: for by his own saying he shall be respected. 21 Such things they did imagine, and were 22 As for the mysteries of God, they knew 7 Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and 1 The godly are happy in their death, 5 and in their troubles: 10 the wicked are not, nor their 1 4 For though they be punished in the Rom 8.24. sight of men, yet is their hope full of im 2 Cor. 5. 1. 1 Pet. 1. 13. mortality. fited. 4. d 18 Or, if they die quickly, they have no hope, neither comfort in the day of trial. 19 For horrible is the end of the unrighteous generation. CHAP. IV. The chuste man shall be crowned. 3 Bastard slips shall not thrive: 6 they shall witness against their parents. 7 The just die young, and are happy. 19 The miserable end of the wicked. 5 And having been a little chastised, BETTER it is to have no children, and to Or, bene- they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself. Exod. 16. Deut. 8. 2. Zech. 13. 9. Mal. 3. 3. Ecclus. 2. 5. f Matt. 13. 43. & Matt. 19. 28. 6 As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering. 7 And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. 8 They shall judge the nations, and have 1 Cor. 6. 2. dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever. Matt. 25. 41. Or, light, or, unchaste. 5. 10 But the ungodly shall be punished according to their own imaginations, which have neglected the righteous, and forsaken the Lord. 11 For whoso whoso despiseth despiseth wisdom and nurture, he is miserable, and their hope is vain, their labours unfruitful, and their works unprofitable: 12 Their wives are | foolish, foolish, and their children wicked: Wherefore 13 Their offspring is cursed. blessed is the barren that is undefiled, which Isai. 5. 65. hath not known the sinful bed: she shall have fruit in the visitation of souls. Isai. 56. 4, k 14 And blessed is the 'eunuch, which with his hands hath wrought no iniquity, nor imagined wicked things against God: for unto him shall be given t the special gift of faith, the people. Or, among and an inheritance in the temple of the Lord more acceptable to his mind. + Gr. the chosen. 15 For glorious is the fruit of good labours and the root of wisdom shall never fall away. 16 As for the children of adulterers, they Or, be par shall not || come to their perfection, and the takers of holy seed of an unrighteous bed shall be rooted things. out. Or, hear ing. 4 For though they flourish in branches for a time; yet standing not fast, they shall be Matt.7.19. shaken with the wind, and through the force of winds they shall be rooted out. 5 The 'imperfect branches shall be broken ch. 3. 15. off, their fruit unprofitable, not ripe to eat, yea, meet for nothing. 6 For children begotten of unlawful + beds +Gr. sleeps. are witnesses of wickedness against their parents in their trial. 7 But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest. 8 For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years. 9 But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age. 16 Thus the righteous that is dead shall * condemn the ungodly which are living; and youth that is soon perfected the many years and old age of the unrighteous. 17 For they shall see the end of the wise, and shall not understand what God in his counsel hath decreed of him, and to what end the Lord hath set him in safety. Apocrypha. good hath riches with our vaunting brought c b C 1 Chron. 29.15. 19. 9 All those things are passed away like a shadow, and as a post that hasted by; ch. 2. 5. 10 And as a ship that passeth over the Prov. 50. waves of the water, which when it is gone by, the trace thereof cannot be found, neither the pathway of the keel in the wayes; d ||Or, flieth. 11 Or as when a bird when a bird hath flown Prov. 50. through the air, there is no token of her 19 way to be found, but the light air being beaten with the stroke of her wings, and re-parted with the violent noise and motion of them, is passed through, and therein afterwards no sign where she went is to be found; 18 They shall see him, and despise him; but God shall laugh them to scorn: and they shall hereafter be a vile carcase, and a proach among the dead for evermore. 19 For he shall rend them, and cast them down headlong, that they shall be speechless; and he shall shake them from the foundation; and they shall be utterly laid waste, and be in sorrow; and their memorial shall perish. 20 And when they cast up the accounts the account. of their sins, they shall come with fear: and their own iniquities shall convince them to their face. Or, to the casting up of 12 Or like as when an arrow is shot at a mark, it parteth the air, which immediately cometh together again, so that a man cannot know where it went through: 3 And they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselves, This was he, whom we had sometimes in derision, and a proverb of reproach: 4 We fools accounted his life madness, and his end to be without honour: 13 Even so we in like manner, as soon as we were born, began to draw to our end, and had no sign of virtue to shew; but were consumed in our own wickedness. 5 How is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints! 6 Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness hath not shined unto us, and the sun of righteousness rose not upon us. 7 We || wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction: yea, we have gone through deserts, where there lay no way: but as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it. 15 But the righteous live for evermore; their reward also is with the Lord, and the Gen. 15.1. care of them is with the most High. 8 What hath pride profited us? or what 16 Therefore shall they receive a glorious Rev. 22. 12. ch.4. 2. Rev. 4.4.& 2 Tim. 4. 8. 9.7. Isai.59 16, 18 He shall put on righteousness as a 17. breastplate, and true judgment instead of an helmet. 19 He shall take || holiness for an invincible [Or, equity. shield. 20 His severe wrath shall he sharpen for a sword, and the world shall fight with him against the unwise. 21 Then shall the right aiming thunderbolts go abroad; and from the clouds, as from a well drawn bow, shall they fly to the mark. 22 And hailstones full of wrath shall be cast as out of a stone bow, and the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the floods shall cruelly drown them. 23 Yea, a mighty wind shall stand up |