And on the same day the king gave Ha-man's house to Es-ther, and Mor-de-ca-i was brought in to the king, who had been told that he was a kins-man of the queen. And the king gave him the ring which Ha-man had worn, and the queen put him at the head of the house in which Ha-man had dwelt. But Es-ther was still sad at heart be-cause of the law that had been made, that all the Jews in the land should be put to death. And she went in once more to the king--though he had not sent for her--and fell down at his feet in tears. Then the king held out the wand of gold, and the queen rose, and stood be-fore the king and asked him to change the law and save the lives of the Jews. The king could not change the law, but he told Es-ther and Mor-de-ca-i to make a law that would please them and sign it with the king's seal. So they made a law that the Jews should kill all those who came to do them harm. And when Mor-de-ca-i came out from his talk with the king he had on a robe of blue and white, such as the king wore, and a gold crown on his head. And all the Jews were glad; and when the day came that Ha-man had set for the Jews to be slain, the Jews went out and fought for their lives and put their foes to rout. And grief gave place to joy, and a feast was held for two days. This feast was called the Feast of Pu-rim, which the Jews keep to this day. The Jews who had gone to Je-ru-sa-lem to build up its walls were still at work there. But there were foes to watch, and the poor Jews found fault with the rich ones, and there was strife in their midst from year to year. But when Ne-he-mi-ah went to their aid the Lord gave him strength to set things straight, and in a year the new wall was built and the gate put up. Then there was a great feast, and all the Jews gave praise and thanks to God. But they went back to their sins, and did not serve God as they ought. And kings fought for Je-ru-sa-lem and took it from their hands and made the Jews their slaves. And at last the Ro-mans came and took Je-ru-sa-lem and broke down its walls, and made the Jews serve them. And He-rod, who had led the Ro-mans to war, was made their king. He was a fierce, bad man, who would let no one rule but him-self. He put his own wife and two of his sons to death, and did all that he could to make folks hate and fear him. He tried to make the Jews think that he was one of their race, but he was not. He thought it would please them if he built up their House of God, so he set men to work to tear down the old and to put up the new, and they made use of much gold and sil-ver and fine white stones. There was no ark to put in it, for that had been lost, but a large stone was put in the place where the ark should have been. And it took He-rod more than nine years to build this House of God on the top of Mount Mo-ri-ah. And the way up to it was by a long flight of steps.