“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (iii. 1). “The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh” (iv. 5). “Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit” (iv. 6). “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and readiness to hear is better than the fools’ giving of sacrifice; for they consider not that they do evil” (iv. 17). “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few” (v. 1). “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for He hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed” (v. 3). “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death better than the day of one’s birth” (vii. 1). “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry; for anger resteth in the bosom of fools” (vii. 9). “Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldst thou destroy thyself?” (vii. 16). “Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldst thou die before thy time?” (vii. 17). “There is not a just man upon earth, that doth good, and sinneth not” (vii. 20). “Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment” (ix. 8). “A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left” (x. 2). “He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him” (x. 8). “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap” (xi. 4). “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them” (xii. 1). “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to the God who gave it” (xii. 7). Esther, ‏אסתר‎—The history of the conception and frustration of the wicked plans of Haman against Mordecai and the Jews is described in this book. Ahasuerus, king of Persia, sent Vashti, his wife, away, and married Esther, a cousin of Mordecai. Haman, enraged against the Jews because Mordecai did not bow before him, planned to kill the Jews on the thirteenth of Adar; but Esther frustrated Haman’s design; Haman himself and his ten sons were killed; and the Jews were allowed to take up arms against those who attacked them. The Jews defended themselves victoriously on the thirteenth of Adar; in Shushan, the capital, also on the fourteenth. This deliverance was the cause of the institution of Purim. The name of the author is not mentioned; the book was probably written by Mordecai and Esther (comp. Esther ix. 29).