"Vengeance belongs to God."

[48]

Mordecai

But was I not

His instrument? Jehovah wrought through me;

His will, not mine was done.

Zeresh

And yet His will

Was yours?

Mordecai

The wicked Haman would have slain

Even the queen herself and every Jew

That lives within the hundred provinces

Of Xerxes' weak and vacillating rule.

Zeresh

Thy action was no more than self-defense?

Mordecai

Not self-defense of Mordecai alone,

But of my blood, of Esther and the sons

Of Jacob, exiled and defenseless else.

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