Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup metatuning Fwd: [JohnDeweyPolitics] Read the Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Speech

Speech of Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of the State of Israel,
published in Maariv on Monday, July 31, 2006.

Ladies and gentlemen, leaders of the world, I, the Prime Minister of
Israel, am speaking to you from Jerusalem in the face of the terrible
pictures from Kfar Kana. Any human heart, wherever it is, must sicken
and recoil at the sight of such pictures. There are no words of
comfort that can mitigate the enormity of this tragedy. Still, I am
looking you straight in the eye and telling you that the State of
Israel will continue its military campaign in Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces will continue to attack targets from which
missiles and Katyusha rockets are fired at hospitals, old age homes
and kindergartens in Israel. I have instructed the security forces
and the IDF to continue to hunt for the Katyusha stockpiles and launch
sites from which these savages are bombarding the State of Israel. We
will not hesitate, we will not apologize and we will not back off. If
they continue to launch missiles into Israel from Kfar Kana, we will
continue to bomb Kfar Kana. Today, tomorrow and the day after
tomorrow. Here, there and everywhere.

The children of Kfar Kana could now be sleeping peacefully in their
homes, unmolested, had the agents of the devil not taken over their
land and turned the lives of our children into hell. Ladies and
gentlemen, it's time you understood: the Jewish state will no longer
be trampled upon. We will no longer allow anyone to exploit
population centers in order to bomb our citizens. No one will be able
to hide anymore behind women and children in order to kill our women
and children. This anarchy is over. You can condemn us, you can
boycott us, you can stop visiting us and, if necessary, we will stop
visiting you.

Today I am serving as the voice of six million bombarded Israeli
citizens who serve as the voice of six million murdered Jews who were
melted down to dust and ashes by savages in Europe. In both cases,
those responsible for these evil acts were, and are, barbarians devoid
of all humanity, who set themselves one simple goal: to wipe the
Jewish people off the face of the earth, as Adolph Hitler said, or to
wipe the State of Israel off the map, as Mahmoud Ahmedinjad proclaims.

And you - just as you did not take those words seriously then, you are
ignoring them again now. And that, ladies and gentlemen, leaders of
the world, will not happen again. Never again will we wait for bombs
that never came to hit the gas chambers. Never again will we wait for
salvation that never arrives. Now we have our own air force. The
Jewish people are now capable of standing up to those who seek their
destruction - those people will no longer be able to hide behind women
and children. They will no longer be able to evade their
responsibility. Every place from which a Katyusha is fired into the
State of Israel will be a legitimate target for us to attack. This
must be stated clearly and publicly, once and for all. You are
welcome to judge us, to ostracize us, to boycott us and to vilify us.
But to kill us? Absolutely not.

Four months ago I was elected by hundreds of thousands of citizens to
the office of Prime Minister of the government of Israel, on the basis
of my plan for unilaterally withdrawing from 90 percent of the areas
of Judea and Samaria, the birth place and cradle of the Jewish people;
to end most of the occupation and to enable the Palestinian people to
turn over a new leaf and to calm things down until conditions are ripe
for attaining a permanent settlement between us. The Prime Minister
who preceded me, Ariel Sharon, made a full withdrawal from the Gaza
Strip back to the international border, and gave the Palestinians
there a chance to build a new reality for themselves. The Prime
Minister who preceded him, Ehud Barak, ended the lengthy Israeli
presence in Lebanon and pulled the IDF back to the international
border, leaving the land of the cedars to flourish, develop and
establish its democracy and its economy.

What did the State of Israel get in exchange for all of this? Did we
win even one minute of quiet? Was our hand, outstretched in peace, met
with a handshake of encouragement? Ehud Barak's peace initiative at
Camp David let loose on us a wave of suicide bombers who smashed and
blew to pieces over 1,000 citizens, men, women and children. I don't
remember you being so enraged then. Maybe that happened because we
did not allow TV close-ups of the dismembered body parts of the
Israeli youngsters at the Dolphinarium? Or of the shattered lives of
the people butchered while celebrating the Passover seder at the Park
Hotel in Netanya?

What can you do - that's the way we are. We don't wave body parts at
the camera. We grieve quietly. We do not dance on the roofs at the
sight of the bodies of our enemy's children - we express genuine
sorrow and regret. That is the monstrous behavior of our enemies.
Now they have risen up against us. Tomorrow they will rise up against
you. You are already familiar with the murderous taste of this
terror. And you will taste more.

And Ariel Sharon's withdrawal from Gaza -- what did it get us? A
barrage of Kassem missiles fired at peaceful settlements and the
kidnapping of soldiers. Then too, I don't recall you reacting with
such alarm. And for six years, the withdrawal from Lebanon has drawn
the vituperation and crimes of a dangerous, extremist Iranian agent,
who took over an entire country in the name of religious fanaticism,
and is trying to take Israel hostage on his way to Jerusalem - and
from there to Paris and London. An enormous terrorist infrastructure
has been established by Iran on our border, threatening our citizens,
growing stronger before our very eyes, awaiting the moment when the
land of the Ayatollahs becomes a nuclear power in order to bring us to
our knees. And make no mistake - we won't go down alone. You, the
leaders of the free and enlightened world, will go down along with us.

So today, here and now, I am putting an end to this parade of
hypocrisy. I don't recall such a wave of reaction in the face of the
100 citizens killed every single day in Iraq. Sunnis kill Shiites who
kill Sunnis, and all of them kill Americans - and the world remains
silent. And I am hard pressed to recall a similar reaction when the
Russians destroyed entire villages and burned down large cities in
order to repress the revolt in Chechnya. And when NATO bombed Kosovo
for almost three months and crushed the civilian population - then you
also kept silent.

What is it about us, the Jews, the minority, the persecuted, that
arouses this cosmic sense of justice in you? What do we have that all
the others don't? In a loud clear voice, looking you straight in the
eye, I stand before you openly and I will not apologize. I will not
capitulate. I will not whine. This is a battle for our freedom. For
our humanity. For the right to lead normal lives within our
recognized, legitimate borders. It is also your battle.

I pray and I believe that now you will understand that. Because if
you don't, you may regret it later, when it's too late.

________________________________________________________________________
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, Afmmjr@... wrote:
>
>
>
> Speech of Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of the State of Israel,
> published in Maariv on Monday, July 31, 2006.

Ladies and gentlemen, leaders of the world, I, the Prime Minister of
Israel, am speaking to you from Jerusalem...

Below is what occured about 2400 years ago. A long read, but Esther
is one of my favorite books. It is about a man named Haman and his
desire to kill every Jew on earth. He didn't succeed.

In between the *'s is the death threat against the Jews, which
takes about 3 minutes to read.
(i.e. Chapter 3)

No comment needed.

-Stephen

===============================================================

Esther
1:1 Now it happened in the days of Ahasuerus (this is Ahasuerus who
reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over one hundred twenty-seven
provinces), 1:2 that in those days, when the King Ahasuerus sat on
the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace, 1:3 in
the third year of his reign, he made a feast for all his princes and
his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes
of the provinces, being before him. 1:4 He displayed the riches of
his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many
days, even one hundred eighty days. 1:5 When these days were
fulfilled, the king made a seven day feast for all the people who
were present in Shushan the palace, both great and small, in the
court of the garden of the king's palace. 1:6 There were hangings of
white, green, and blue material, fastened with cords of fine linen
and purple to silver rings and marble pillars. The couches were of
gold and silver, on a pavement of red, white, yellow, and black
marble. 1:7 They gave them drinks in golden vessels of various
kinds, including royal wine in abundance, according to the bounty of
the king. 1:8 In accordance with the law, the drinking was not
compulsory; for so the king had instructed all the officials of his
house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure. 1:9
Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house
which belonged to King Ahasuerus.

1:10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with
wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha,
Zethar, and Carcass, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of
Ahasuerus the king, 1:11 to bring Vashti the queen before the king
with the royal crown, to show the people and the princes her beauty;
for she was beautiful. 1:12 But the queen Vashti refused to come at
the king's commandment by the eunuchs. Therefore the king was very
angry, and his anger burned in him. 1:13 Then the king said to the
wise men, who knew the times, (for it was the king's custom to
consult those who knew law and judgment; 1:14 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), 1:15 "What shall we do to the
queen Vashti according to law, because she has not done the bidding
of the King Ahasuerus by the eunuchs?"

1:16 Memucan answered before the king and the princes, "Vashti the
queen has not done wrong to just the king, but also to all the
princes, and to all the people who are in all the provinces of the
King Ahasuerus. 1:17 For this deed of the queen will become known to
all women, causing them to show contempt for their husbands, when it
is reported, `King Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be
brought in before him, but she didn't come.' 1:18 Today, the
princesses of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's deed
will tell all the king's princes. This will cause much contempt and
wrath.

1:19 "If it please the king, let a royal commandment go from him,
and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes,
so that it cannot be altered, that Vashti may never again come
before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate to
another who is better than she. 1:20 When the king's decree which he
shall make is published throughout all his kingdom (for it is
great), all the wives will give their husbands honor, both great and
small."

1:21 This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did
according to the word of Memucan: 1:22 for he sent letters into all
the king's provinces, into every province according to its writing,
and to every people in their language, that every man should rule
his own house, speaking in the language of his own people.

2:1 After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was
pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was
decreed against her. 2:2 Then the king's servants who served him
said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. 2:3 Let
the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that
they may gather together all the beautiful young virgins to the
citadel of Susa, to the women's house, to the custody of Hegai the
king's eunuch, keeper of the women. Let cosmetics be given them; 2:4
and let the maiden who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti."
The thing pleased the king, and he did so.

2:5 There was a certain Jew in the citadel of Susa, whose name was
Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a
Benjamite, 2:6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the
captives who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. 2:7 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. 2:8 So it happened, when the king's commandment and his
decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together to
the citadel of Susa, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken
into the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.
2:9 The maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from him. He
quickly gave her cosmetics and her portions of food, and the seven
choice maidens who were to be given her out of the king's house. He
moved her and her maidens to the best place in the women's house.
2:10 Esther had not made known her people nor her relatives, because
Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make it known. 2:11
Mordecai walked every day in front of the court of the women's
house, to find out how Esther did, and what would become of her.

2:12 Each young woman's turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after
her purification for twelve months (for so were the days of their
purification accomplished, six months with oil of myrrh, and six
months with sweet fragrances and with preparations for beautifying
women). 2:13 The young woman then came to the king like this:
whatever she desired was given her to go with her out of the women's
house to the king's house. 2:14 In the evening she went, and on the
next day she returned into the second women's house, to the custody
of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch, who kept the concubines. She came
in to the king no more, unless the king delighted in her, and she
was called by name. 2:15 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. 2:16 So
Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal house in the tenth
month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
2:17 The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained
favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that
he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of
Vashti.

2:18 Then the king made a great feast for all his princes and his
servants, even Esther's feast; and he proclaimed a holiday in the
provinces, and gave gifts according to the king's bounty.

2:19 When the virgins were gathered together the second time,
Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate. 2:20 Esther had not yet
made known her relatives nor her people, as Mordecai had commanded
her; for Esther obeyed Mordecai, like she did when she was brought
up by him. 2:21 In those days, while Mordecai was sitting in the
king's gate, two of the king's eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, who were
doorkeepers, were angry, and sought to lay hands on the King
Ahasuerus. 2:22 This thing became known to Mordecai, who informed
Esther the queen; and Esther informed the king in Mordecai's name.
2:23 When this matter was investigated, and it was found to be so,
they were both hanged on a tree; and it was written in the book of
the chronicles in the king's presence.

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3:1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of
Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all
the princes who were with him. 3:2 All the king's servants who were
in the king's gate bowed down, and paid homage to Haman; for the
king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai didn't bow down
or pay him homage. 3:3 Then the king's servants, who were in the
king's gate, said to Mordecai, "Why do you disobey the king's
commandment?" 3:4 Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily to him,
and he didn't listen to them, that they told Haman, to see whether
Mordecai's reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a
Jew. 3:5 When Haman saw that Mordecai didn't bow down, nor pay him
homage, Haman was full of wrath. 3:6 But he scorned the thought of
laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had made known to him
Mordecai's people. Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews
who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even Mordecai's
people.

3:7 In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth
year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before
Haman from day to day, and from month to month, and chose the
twelfth month, which is the month Adar. 3:8 Haman said to King
Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed
among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their
laws are different than other people's. They don't keep the king's
laws. Therefore it is not for the king's profit to allow them to
remain. 3:9 If it pleases the king, let it be written that they be
destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the
hands of those who are in charge of the king's business, to bring it
into the king's treasuries."

3:10 The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the
son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy. 3:11 The king said
to Haman, "The silver is given to you, the people also, to do with
them as it seems good to you." 3:12 Then the king's scribes were
called in on the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month;
and all that Haman commanded was written to the king's satraps, and
to the governors who were over every province, and to the princes of
every people, to every province according its writing, and to every
people in their language. It was written in the name of King
Ahasuerus, and it was sealed with the king's ring. 3:13 Letters were
sent by couriers into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill,
and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little
children and women, in one day, even on the thirteenth day of the
twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their
possessions. 3:14 A copy of the letter, that the decree should be
given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, that
they should be ready against that day. 3:15 The couriers went forth
in haste by the king's commandment, and the decree was given out in
the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink; but the
city of Shushan was perplexed.

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4:1 Now when Mordecai found out all that was done, Mordecai tore his
clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the
midst of the city, and wailed loudly and a bitterly. 4:2 He came
even before the king's gate, for no one is allowed inside the king's
gate clothed with sackcloth. 4:3 In every province, wherever the
king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning
among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay
in sackcloth and ashes. 4:4 Esther's maidens and her eunuchs came
and told her this, and the queen was exceedingly grieved. She sent
clothing to Mordecai, to replace his sackcloth; but he didn't
receive it. 4:5 Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king's
eunuchs, whom he had appointed to attend her, and commanded him to
go to Mordecai, to find out what this was, and why it was. 4:6 So
Hathach went out to Mordecai, to city square which was before the
king's gate. 4:7 Mordecai told him of all that had happened to him,
and the exact sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the
king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. 4:8 He also gave
him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given out in
Shushan to destroy them, to show it to Esther, and to declare it to
her, and to urge her to go in to the king, to make supplication to
him, and to make request before him, for her people.

4:9 Hathach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. 4:10 Then
Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a message to Mordecai:
4:11 "All the king's servants, and the people of the king's
provinces, know, that whoever, whether man or woman, comes to the
king into the inner court without being called, there is one law for
him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the king might
hold out the golden scepter, that he may live. I have not been
called to come in to the king these thirty days."

4:12 They told to Mordecai Esther's words. 4:13 Then Mordecai asked
them return answer to Esther, "Don't think to yourself that you will
escape in the king's house any more than all the Jews. 4:14 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?"

4:15 Then Esther asked them to answer Mordecai, 4:16 "Go, gather
together all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me,
and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens
will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is
against the law; and if I perish, I perish." 4:17 So Mordecai went
his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.

5:1 Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal
clothing, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, next to
the king's house. The king sat on his royal throne in the royal
house, next to the entrance of the house. 5:2 When the king saw
Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his
sight; and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was
in his hand. So Esther came near, and touched the top of the
scepter. 5:3 Then the king asked her, "What would you like, queen
Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you even to the half
of the kingdom."

5:4 Esther said, "If it seems good to the king, let the king and
Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him."

5:5 Then the king said, "Bring Haman quickly, so that it may be done
as Esther has said." So the king and Haman came to the banquet that
Esther had prepared.

5:6 The king said to Esther at the banquet of wine, "What is your
petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to the
half of the kingdom it shall be performed."

5:7 Then Esther answered and said, "My petition and my request is
this. 5:8 If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it
please the king to grant my petition and to perform my request, let
the king and Haman come to the banquet that I will prepare for them,
and I will do tomorrow as the king has said."

5:9 Then Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart, but when
Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he didn't stand up nor
move for him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. 5:10
Nevertheless Haman restrained himself, and went home. There, he sent
and called for his friends and Zeresh his wife. 5:11 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. 5:12 Haman
also said, "Yes, Esther the queen let no man come in with the king
to the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and tomorrow I am
also invited by her together with the king. 5:13 Yet all this avails
me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's
gate."

5:14 Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, "Let a
gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak to the
king about hanging Mordecai on it. Then go in merrily with the king
to the banquet." This pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.

6:1 On that night, the king couldn't sleep. He commanded the book of
records of the chronicles to be brought, and they were read to the
king. 6:2 It was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana
and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who were doorkeepers, who had
tried to lay hands on the King Ahasuerus. 6:3 The king said, "What
honor and dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?"

Then the king's servants who attended him said, "Nothing has been
done for him."

6:4 The king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had come into
the outer court of the king's house, to speak to the king about
hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

6:5 The king's servants said to him, "Behold, Haman stands in the
court."

The king said, "Let him come in." 6:6 So Haman came in. The king
said to him, "What shall be done to the man whom the king delights
to honor?"

Now Haman said in his heart, "Who would the king delight to honor
more than myself?" 6:7 Haman said to the king, "For the man whom the
king delights to honor, 6:8 let royal clothing be brought which the
king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides on, and on the
head of which a crown royal is set. 6:9 Let the clothing and the
horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble
princes, that they may array the man whom the king delights to honor
with them, and have him ride on horseback through the city square,
and proclaim before him, `Thus shall it be done to the man whom the
king delights to honor!'"

6:10 Then the king said to Haman, "Hurry and take the clothing and
the horse, as you have said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew, who
sits at the king's gate. Let nothing fail of all that you have
spoken."

6:11 Then Haman took the clothing and the horse, and arrayed
Mordecai, and had him ride through the city square, and proclaimed
before him, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights
to honor!"

6:12 Mordecai came back to the king's gate, but Haman hurried to his
house, mourning and having his head covered. 6:13 Haman recounted to
Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to
him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, "If
Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent,
you will not prevail against him, but you will surely fall before
him." 6:14 While they were yet talking with him, the king's eunuchs
came, and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had
prepared.

7:1 So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. 7:2
The king said again to Esther on the second day at the banquet of
wine, "What is your petition, queen Esther? It shall be granted you.
What is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be
performed."

7:3 Then Esther the queen answered, "If I have found favor in your
sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at
my petition, and my people at my request. 7:4 For we are sold, I and
my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we
had been sold for bondservants and bondmaids, I would have held my
peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the
king's loss."

7:5 Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen, "Who is he, and
where is he who dared presume in his heart to do so?"

7:6 Esther said, "An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked
Haman!"

Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen. 7:7 The king
arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace
garden. Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the
queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the
king. 7:8 Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the
place of the banquet of wine; and Haman had fallen on the couch
where Esther was. Then the king said, "Will he even assault the
queen in front of me in the house?" As the word went out of the
king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.

7:9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were with the king
said, "Behold, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman has made
for Mordecai, who spoke good for the king, is standing at Haman's
house."

The king said, "Hang him on it!"

7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for
Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.

8:1 On that day, King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the Jews'
enemy, to Esther the queen. Mordecai came before the king; for
Esther had told what he was to her. 8:2 The king took off his ring,
which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther set
Mordecai over the house of Haman. 8:3 Esther spoke yet again before
the king, and fell down at his feet, and begged him with tears to
put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he
had devised against the Jews. 8:4 Then the king held out to Esther
the golden scepter. So Esther arose, and stood before the king. 8:5
She said, "If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his
sight, and the thing seem right to the king, and I am pleasing in
his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman,
the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the
Jews who are in all the king's provinces. 8:6 For how can I endure
to see the evil that would come to my people? How can I endure to
see the destruction of my relatives?"

8:7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the
Jew, "See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have
hanged on the gallows, because he laid his hand on the Jews. 8:8
Write also to the Jews, as it pleases you, in the king's name, and
seal it with the king's ring; for the writing which is written in
the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may not be
reversed by any man."

8:9 Then the king's scribes were called at that time, in the third
month Sivan, on the twenty-third day of the month; and it was
written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to
the satraps, and the governors and princes of the provinces which
are from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to
every province according to its writing, and to every people in
their language, and to the Jews in their writing, and in their
language. 8:10 He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it
with the king's ring, and sent letters by courier on horseback,
riding on royal horses that were bread from swift steeds. 8:11 In
those letters, the king granted the Jews who were in every city to
gather themselves together, and to defend their life, to destroy, to
kill, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and
province that would assault them, their little ones and women, and
to plunder their possessions, 8:12 on one day in all the provinces
of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which
is the month Adar. 8:13 A copy of the letter, that the decree should
be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples,
that the Jews should be ready for that day to avenge themselves on
their enemies. 8:14 So the couriers who rode on royal horses went
out, hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment. The decree
was given out in the citadel of Susa.

8:15 Mordecai went out of the presence of the king in royal clothing
of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a robe
of fine linen and purple; and the city of Susa shouted and was glad.
8:16 The Jews had light, gladness, joy, and honor. 8:17 In every
province, and in every city, wherever the king's commandment and his
decree came, the Jews had gladness, joy, a feast, and a good day.
Many from among the peoples of the land became Jews; for the fear of
the Jews was fallen on them.

9:1 Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the
thirteenth day of the month, when the king's commandment and his
decree drew near to be put in execution, on the day that the enemies
of the Jews hoped to conquer them, (but it was turned out the
opposite happened, that the Jews conquered those who hated them),
9:2 the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout
all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus, to lay hands on those who
wanted to harm them. No one could withstand them, because the fear
of them had fallen on all the people. 9:3 All the princes of the
provinces, the satraps, the governors, and those who did the king's
business helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on
them. 9:4 For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame
went out throughout all the provinces; for the man Mordecai grew
greater and greater. 9:5 The Jews struck all their enemies with the
stroke of the sword, and with slaughter and destruction, and did
what they wanted to those who hated them. 9:6 In the citadel of
Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. 9:7 They
killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 9:8 Poratha, Adalia,
Aridatha, 9:9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha, 9:10 the ten
sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jew's enemy, but they
didn't lay their hand on the plunder. 9:11 On that day, the number
of those who were slain in the citadel of Susa was brought before
the king. 9:12 The king said to Esther the queen, "The Jews have
slain and destroyed five hundred men in the citadel of Susa,
including the ten sons of Haman; what then have they done in the
rest of the king's provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall be
granted you. What is your further request? It shall be done."

9:13 Then Esther said, "If it pleases the king, let it be granted to
the Jews who are in Shushan to do tomorrow also according to this
day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows."

9:14 The king commanded this to be done. A decree was given out in
Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons. 9:15 The Jews who were in
Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of
the month Adar, and killed three hundred men in Shushan; but they
didn't lay their hand on the spoil. 9:16 The other Jews who were in
the king's provinces gathered themselves together, defended their
lives, had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand
of those who hated them; but they didn't lay their hand on the
plunder. 9:17 This was done on the thirteenth day of the month Adar;
and on the fourteenth day of that month they rested and made it a
day of feasting and gladness. 9:18 But the Jews who were in Shushan
assembled together on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth days of
the month; and on the fifteenth day of that month, they rested, and
made it a day of feasting and gladness. 9:19 Therefore the Jews of
the villages, who live in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth
day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, a good day,
and a day of sending presents of food to one another. 9:20 Mordecai
wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all
the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both near and far, 9:21 to
enjoin them that they should keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days
of the month Adar yearly, 9:22 as the days in which the Jews had
rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from
sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day; that they
should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending
presents of food to one another, and gifts to the needy. 9:23 The
Jews accepted the custom that they had begun, as Mordecai had
written to them; 9:24 because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the
Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to
destroy them, and had cast "Pur," that is the lot, to consume them,
and to destroy them; 9:25 but when this became known to the king, he
commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised
against the Jews, should return on his own head, and that he and his
sons should be hanged on the gallows. 9:26 Therefore they called
these days "Purim," from the word "Pur." Therefore because of all
the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning
this matter, and that which had come to them, 9:27 the Jews
established, and imposed on themselves, and on their descendants,
and on all those who joined themselves to them, so that it should
not fail, that they would keep these two days according to what was
written, and according to its appointed time, every year; 9:28 and
that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every
generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that
these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the
memory of them perish from their seed.

9:29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai
the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of
Purim. 9:30 He sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred twenty-
seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and
truth, 9:31 to confirm these days of Purim in their appointed times,
as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had decreed, and as they
had imposed upon themselves and their descendants, in the matter of
the fastings and their cry. 9:32 The commandment of Esther confirmed
these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.

10:1 King Ahasuerus laid a tribute on the land, and on the islands
of the sea. 10:2 All the acts of his power and of his might, and the
full account of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king
advanced him, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of
the kings of Media and Persia? 10:3 For Mordecai the Jew was next to
King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted by the
multitude of his brothers, seeking the good of his people, and
speaking peace to all his descendants.

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Fwd: [JohnDeweyPolitics] Read the Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Speech

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