Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/511

 Hebrew-German Paraphrase of the Book Esther 507 by finding every day and every hour of the day another excuse; they refuse to collaborate with others or to intermarry with them or even with the king; they do not drink out of the cup that we use', they waste the greater part of their time with festivals, prayers and study of the Law, and at these occasions they curse king and country. they do not eat our food, and when we touch a cup of wine they do not drink it any more, and when we celebrate our festivals they follow their daily occupations. After having enumerated all the festivals they celebrate a voice from heaven calls out: 'One festival thou hast omitted to mention, that is the day when thou wilst be hanged.' Hainan continues his denunciations: during the existence of the Jewish kingdom there lived king David who killed our friends. Then there was Nebukadnezzar who gave them great trouble. Now they want to wreak their vengance upon the princess of the pres- ent generation. It is not proper to tolerate them. They are, as the Bible reports, full of in- gratitude. Pharao, for instance, who saved them from famine had to sufer for it, similar is the lot of everybody who assists them. They are so haughty that although being in misery, they say, 'we are good, happy, and of noble descent.' In their business transactions they manage to exact exorbitant prices, and when they are offered goods, they want them for nothing. They consider them- selves princes and noblemen, but in fact they are beggars. Haman offers 10,000 talents of silver for the destruction of the Jews. It is not proper to tole- rate them. Ahasverus re- torts 'you have never heard of any one who could hurt them, for God never forsakes them. Pharaoh, Sisrah, Sanherib none could prevail against them. Ahasverus does not yield hi spite of Haman's insis- ence. Haman offers 10,000 talents of silver for the des- truction of the Jews. The comparison of the two versions as given here would seem to convey that they both must have used the same source, only that B abbreviated considerably the contents of the source on which both are based. This is, however, not the case. There are, of course, many and great similarities in both versions, as is natural of poems being mainly based on the same