hemselves to kill them, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month,
which is called Adar.

16:21. For the almighty God hath turned this day of sadness and mourning
into joy to them.

16:22. Wherefore you shall also count this day among other festival
days, and celebrate it with all joy, that it may be known also in times
to come,

16:23. That all they who faithfully obey the Persians, receive a worthy
reward for their fidelity: but they that are traitors to their kingdom,
are destroyed for their wickedness.

16:24. And let every province and city, that will not be partaker of
this solemnity, perish by the sword and by fire, and be destroyed in
such manner as to be made unpassable, both to men and beasts, for an
example of contempt, and disobedience.

THE BOOK OF JOB

This Book takes its name from the holy man of whom it treats: who,
according to the more probable opinion, was of the race of Esau; and the
same as Jobab, king of Edom, mentioned Gen. 36.33. It is uncertain who
was the writer of it. Some attribute it to Job himself; others to Moses,
or some one of the prophets. In the Hebrew it is written in verse, from
the beginning of the third chapter to the forty-second chapter.

Job Chapter 1

1:1. There was a man in the land of Hus, whose name was Job, and that
man was simple and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil.

Hus... The land of Hus was a part of Edom; as appears from Lam. 4.21.
Ibid. Simple... That is, innocent, sincere, and without guile.

1:2. And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters.

1:3. And his possession was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand
camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a
family exceedingly great: and this man was great among all the people of
the east.

1:4. And his sons went, and made a feast by houses, every one in his
day. And sending, they called their three sisters, to eat and drink with
them.

And made a feast by houses... That is, each made a feast in his own
house and had his day, inviting the others, and their sisters.

1:5. And when the days of their feasting were gone about, Job sent to
them, and sanctified them: and rising up early, offered holocausts for
every one of them. For he said: Lest perhaps my sons have sinned, and
have blessed God in their hearts. So did Job all days.

Blessed... For greater horror of the very thought of blasphemy, the
scripture both here and ver. 11, and in th