Bible Verses About Select Readings

Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually assault the queen while I am in the palace?” As soon as the words had left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.” “Hang him on it!” declared the king.

So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.

Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

Do You open Your eyes to one like this? Will You bring him into judgment before You?

Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!

Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You, and since You have set limits that he cannot exceed,

look away from him and let him rest, so he can enjoy his day as a hired hand.

For there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender shoots will not fail.

If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump dies in the soil,

at the scent of water it will bud and put forth twigs like a sapling.

But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last, and where is he?

“Surely there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined.

Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore.

Man puts an end to the darkness; he probes the farthest recesses for ore in deepest darkness.

Far from human habitation he cuts a shaft in places forgotten by the foot of man. Far from men he dangles and sways.

Food may come from the earth, but from below it is transformed as by fire.

Its rocks are the source of sapphires, containing flecks of gold.

No bird of prey knows that path; no falcon’s eye has seen it.

Proud beasts have never trodden it; no lion has ever prowled over it.

The miner strikes the flint; he overturns mountains at their base.

He hews out channels in the rocks, and his eyes spot every treasure.

He stops up the sources of the streams to bring what is hidden to light.

But where can wisdom be found, and where does understanding dwell?