Queen Esthers Love For Her Peop
After Xerxes had been king of Persia for three years, he gave a feast
for all his officials, officers, and servants. The commanders of the
armies of Persia and Media, the nobles and governors were before him;
while for one hundred and eighty days he showed them the wonderful
riches of his kingdom and the costliness of his magnificent regalia.
When these days were ended, the king made a seven days' feast in the
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in the royal palace at Susa. Vashti, the queen, also gave a feast for
the women in the royal palace which belonged to King Xerxes.
On the seventh day, when King Xerxes had been drinking wine, he
commanded his seven court attendants to bring Vashti, the queen, before
him with the royal crown on her head, to show the peoples and the
officials her beauty, for she was very fair. But Queen Vashti refused to
come as the king commanded. Therefore the king was very angry.
In his anger the king said to the wise men, "According to law what shall
we do to Queen Vashti?" Memucan, one of the seven high officials, said
before the king and his officers, "Vashti, the queen, has done wrong not
only to the king but also to all the officials and to all the peoples in
all of the king's provinces. For the refusal of the queen will be
reported to all the women so that they will disobey their husbands, for
they will say, 'King Xerxes commanded Vashti, the queen, to be brought
in before him, but she did not come!' And this very day the ladies of
Persia and Media who have heard of the refusal of the queen will tell it
to all the king's officials, and there will be contempt and strife! If
it seems best to the king, let him send out a royal command, and let it
be written among the laws of Persia and Media, in order that it may not
be changed, that Vashti may never again come before King Xerxes; and let
the king give her place as queen to another who is better than she. And
when the king's command shall be heard throughout his kingdom--great as
it is--the wives of all classes will give honor to their husbands!"
The plan pleased the king and the officials, and the king did as Memucan
advised. Then the king's pages who waited upon him said, "Let beautiful
young girls be sought for the king, and let the king appoint officers to
all the provinces of his kingdom to gather them all to the palace at
Susa. Then give them what is needed to make them beautiful, and let the
girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti." The plan pleased
the king and he did so.
There was in the royal palace at Susa, a certain Jew named Mordecai, who
had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives by
Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon. He had adopted Esther, his uncle's
daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The girl was attractive
and beautiful, and after her father and mother died, Mordecai took her
as his own daughter.
So when the king's command was made known, and when many girls were
brought to the royal palace at Susa, Esther also was taken into the
king's palace and placed in the charge of Hegai, who took care of the
women. The girl pleased him and won his favor, so that he quickly gave
her what she needed to make her more beautiful and her allowance of food
and the seven maids chosen from the king's household. He also moved her
and her maids to the best place in the women's quarters. Esther had not
told who were her people or her family, for Mordecai had told her not to
tell. Every day Mordecai used to walk in front of the court of the
women's quarters to ask after Esther's health and what had been done
with her.
When Esther's turn came to go in to the king, he loved her more than all
the other women, and she became his favorite and won his love, so that
he placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of
Vashti. Then the king gave a great feast to all his officials and
servants in honor of Esther.
In those days while Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate, two of the
king's servants, who guarded the entrance of the palace, became enraged
and tried to kill King Xerxes. But Mordecai learned of the plot and told
it to Queen Esther, and she told the king in Mordecai's name. When the
truth was known, the men who plotted against the king were both hanged
on a tree; and it was written down in the daily record of events that
was kept before the king.
After these events King Xerxes promoted Haman, the Agagite, and gave him
a place above all the officials who were with him. All the king's
servants who were in the king's gate used to bow down before Haman, for
so the king had commanded. But Mordecai did not bow down before Haman.
Then the king's servants, who were in the king's gate, said to Mordecai,
"Why do you disobey the king's command?" When they had spoken to him day
after day without his listening to them, they told Haman, so as to find
out whether Mordecai's acts would be permitted, for he had told them
that he was a Jew. When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down before
him, he was very angry; but as they had told him that Mordecai was a
Jew, he decided not to lay hands on him alone but to plot to destroy
all the Jews in the whole kingdom of Xerxes.
So Haman said to King Xerxes, "There is a certain people scattered among
the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, whose laws differ from
those of every other and who do not keep the king's laws. Therefore it
is not right for the king to leave them alone. If it seems best to the
king, let an order be given to destroy them, and I will pay ten thousand
silver talents into the royal treasury."
So the king took off his ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, "The
money is yours and the people also to do with them as you wish." So
messages were sent by men on horses to all the king's provinces, to
destroy, to kill, and to put an end to all the Jews, young and old,
little children and women, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month,
and to rob them of all that they had. Then the king and Haman sat down
to drink, but the people of Susa were troubled.
When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes and
put on sackcloth and put ashes on his head, and went out into the city
and raised a loud and bitter cry of sorrow. And he went as far as the
king's gate, for no one could enter the gate clothed with sackcloth. In
every province, wherever the king's command went, there was great
mourning, fasting, weeping, and wailing among the Jews; and many of them
sat in sackcloth and ashes.
When Esther's maids and servants told her about it, she was greatly
troubled. She sent garments for Mordecai to put on, that he might take
off his sackcloth; but he would not accept them. So Esther called
Hathach, one of the king's servants whom he had appointed to wait on
her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this meant and how
it had happened.
So Hathach went to Mordecai at the city square in front of the king's
gate. And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him and the exact
sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasury.
Also he gave him a copy of the order to destroy them, that had been
given out in Susa, to show to Esther that she might know about it. He
also urged her to go to the king and ask his mercy and plead with him
for her people.
When Hathach came and told Esther what Mordecai had said, she commanded
Hathach to go and say to Mordecai, "All the king's servants and the
people of the king's provinces know that death is the punishment for
every man or woman who goes to the king into the inner court without
being called, except for the one to whom the king may hold out the
golden sceptre, which means that he may live. But now for thirty days I
have not been called to go in to the king."
When Mordecai was told what Esther had said, he sent back this answer to
Esther, "Do not think that you alone of all the Jews will escape because
you belong to the king's household. If you keep silent at this time,
help will come to the Jews from somewhere else, but you and your family
will perish. Who knows but that you have been raised to the throne for a
time like this?"
Then Esther sent this message to Mordecai: "Go, gather all the Jews in
Susa and fast for me; do not eat nor drink anything for three days and
nights. I and my maids will fast also, and so I will go in to the king,
although it is against the law. And if I perish I perish." So Mordecai
went away and did as Esther directed.
On the third day, Esther put on her royal garments and stood in the
inner court of the royal palace opposite the king's house. The king was
sitting on his throne in the palace, opposite the entrance. When he saw
Esther, the queen, standing in the court, she won his favor, and he held
out to her the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther went up
and touched the top of the sceptre. Then the king said to her, "Whatever
you wish, Queen Esther, and whatever you ask, it shall be granted, even
if it is the half of the kingdom." Esther said, "If it seems best to the
king, let the king and Haman come to-day to the feast that I have
prepared for him." Then the king said, "Bring Haman quickly, that
Esther's wish may be granted."
So the king and Haman went to the feast that Esther had prepared. While
they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, "Whatever you ask
shall be granted, even if it takes the half of my kingdom." Esther
answered, "If I have won the king's favor and if it seems best to the
king to grant what I ask, let the king and Haman come to the feast which
I shall prepare for them; and to-morrow I will do as the king wishes."
So Haman went out that day joyful and happy, but when he saw Mordecai in
the king's gate and noticed that he neither stood up nor moved for him,
he was furiously angry with Mordecai. But Haman controlled his temper
and went home. Then he called together his friends and Zeresh, his wife,
and told them the greatness of his wealth, how many children he had, and
all the ways in which the king had honored him, and how he had given
him a place above the officials and the royal servants. Haman said,
"Queen Esther brought no one in with the king to the feast which she had
prepared but me, and to-morrow also I am invited by her along with the
king. Yet all this does not satisfy me as long as I see Mordecai, the
Jew, sitting at the king's gate."
Then Zeresh, his wife, and all his friends said to him, "Let a gallows
seventy-five feet high be built and in the morning speak to the king and
let Mordecai be hanged on it. Then go merrily with the king to the
feast." The advice pleased Haman, and so he had the gallows built.
On that night the king was unable to sleep; so he gave orders to bring
the books that told of great deeds; and they were read before the king.
And it was written how Mordecai had told about the two servants of the
king who had tried to kill King Xerxes. Then the king said, "How has
Mordecai been honored and rewarded for this?" When the king's pages who
waited on him replied, "Nothing has been done for him," the king said,
"Who is in the court?" Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the
king's house to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows
that he had prepared for him. So the king's pages said to him, "Haman is
standing there in the court." The king said, "Let him enter."
So Haman entered, and the king said to him, "What shall be done for the
man whom the king wishes to honor?" Haman said to himself, "Whom besides
me does the king wish to honor?" So Haman said to the king, "For the man
whom the king wishes to honor let a royal garment be brought, which the
king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden and on whose
head a royal crown has been placed. Then let the garment and the horse
be placed in charge of one of the king's noble officials and let him
clothe the man whom the king longs to honor and make him ride on the
horse through the city square and proclaim before him, 'This is what is
done for the man whom the king wishes to honor.'"
Then the king said to Haman, "Make haste and take the garment and the
horse, as you have said, and do thus to Mordecai, the Jew, who sits in
the king's gate. Do not fail to do all you have said." So Haman took the
garment and the horse and clothed Mordecai, and made him ride through
the city square and proclaimed before him, "This is what is done for the
man whom the king wishes to honor."
Mordecai returned to the king's gate, but Haman hurried to his house,
mourning, with his head covered. And Haman told Zeresh, his wife, and
all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men
and Zeresh, his wife, said to him, "If Mordecai before whom you have
already been disgraced is of the Jewish race, you can do nothing against
him, but you will surely fall before him."
While they were still talking with him, the king's servants came and
quickly took Haman to the feast that Esther had prepared. So the king
and Haman went to drink with Queen Esther. And the king said to Esther,
as they were drinking wine, "Whatever you ask, Queen Esther, it shall be
granted you, even if it takes half of the kingdom." Then Queen Esther
answered, "If I have won your favor, O king, and if it seems best to the
king, let my life and my people be given me at my request, for I and my
people have been sold to be destroyed, to be killed, and to perish!"
The King Xerxes said to Queen Esther, "Who is he and where is he who
dares to do so?" Esther answered, "A foe, an enemy, this wicked Haman."
Then Haman shrank in terror before the king and the queen, and Harbonah,
one of those who waited on the king, said, "There, standing in the house
of Haman, are the gallows, seventy-five feet high, which Haman built for
Mordecai, who spoke a good word for the king." The king said, "Hang him
on them." So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for
Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king was quieted.
At that time King Xerxes gave the property of Haman, the Jews' enemy, to
Queen Esther. And Mordecai was made one of the king's advisers, for
Esther had told of his relationship to her. The king also drew off his
signet-ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai; and
Esther placed Mordecai in charge of Haman's property.
Then Esther came again before the king and fell at his feet and with
tears begged him to prevent the evil that Haman had planned against the
Jews. The king held out to her the golden sceptre, and she arose and
stood before him. Then King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai,
the Jew, "Write in behalf of the Jews, as seems best to you, in the
king's name and seal it with the king's ring; for what is written in the
king's name and sealed with the king's ring no one may disobey."
So Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the
king's ring. And he sent by messengers, who rode the king's swift
horses, mules, and camels, the king's command that the Jews who were in
every city should gather together and protect their lives.
The command had also been given out in the royal palace at Susa; and
Mordecai had gone out from the presence of the king in royal garments of
violet and white and with a great crown of gold and with a robe of fine
linen and purple. The people of Susa shouted and were glad. To the Jews
there came light and gladness and joy and honor. And in every country
and city, where the king's command came, there was gladness and joy
among the Jews, and a holiday.
On the fourteenth day of the month Adar, the Jews rested and made it a
day of feasting and rejoicing. Therefore the Jews who live in the
country villages keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar as a day of
rejoicing and feasting and a holiday, and as a day on which they send
gifts to one another. But the Jews in Susa rested on the fifteenth day
of the same month and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.
The Jews made it a custom for them, and for their children, and for all
who should join them, so that it might not be changed, that they should
observe these two days as feasts each year. For Haman had plotted to
destroy the Jews completely, and he cast pur, that is, the lot, to
destroy them. For this reason these days are called Purim.
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Then David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest who came trembling to meet David and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no one with you?" David answered Ahimelech the priest, "Saul has given me orders about some business and has said to me, 'Let n... The Cost Of Being Cruel And Stub
Then Jehovah said to Moses, "Pharaoh is stubborn; he will not let the people go. Go to Pharaoh early in the morning, as he is going out on the water, and stand by the bank of the Nile to meet him. Say to him, 'Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, has se... The Courage Of Four Captives
Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon, commanded Ashpenaz, the chief of his servants, to bring to him certain of the Israelites and some of their princes and nobles. They were to be young men who were strong and handsome, well taught and quick to lear... The Death Of Two Brave Warriors
Samuel had died and all Israel had mourned for him and had buried him in his own town Ramah. Saul, too, had put the mediums and those who had messages from the spirits of the dead out of the land. Then the Philistines came and camped in Shunem, an... The Deceiver Deceived
Then Jacob went on his journey and arrived at the land of the children of the East. And he looked and saw a well in the field, and there were three flocks of sheep lying down by it; for from that well they watered the flocks; but there was a large s... The Devotion Of Ruth
During the days of the judges, there was once a famine in the land; and a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah took his wife and two sons to live in the territory of Moab. His name was Elimelech and his wife's Naomi, and his two sons were Mahlon and ... The End Of Ahabs Selfish Family
Elisha the prophet called one of the followers of the prophets and said to him, "Tighten your belt, take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth in Gilead. When you arrive there, look for Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, and when you go in take... The End Of Pauls Long Journey
The natives of the island showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because of the pouring rain and the cold. Now Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and was laying it on the fire when a poisonous snake, driven out by... The Escape From Egypt
Moses called together all the leaders of Israel, and said to them, "Take lambs from the herds according to your families and kill the passover lamb. You shall also take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the li... The First Disobedience
Now the serpent was more deceitful than any other animal that Jehovah had made; and it said to the woman, "Has God really said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" The woman answered, "We may eat of the fruit of all the trees of the ... The Generosity Of The Early Chri
All of the believers were as one in heart and mind; and not one of them called what he had his own, but they all shared with one another. No one among them was in want, for those who owned lands or houses sold them and brought the money that came fr... The Glory And Honor That Jesus H
John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia. May a blessing be granted you and peace from him who is and was and ever shall be, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness, the first of the... The Golden Rule
"You have heard the saying, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may become sons of your Fat... The Good Samaritan
Once a lawyer stood up to test Jesus with this question, "Master, what shall I do to receive eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law? How does it read?" He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with a... The Handwriting On The Wall
Belshazzar, the king, made a great feast for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine before them all. Under the influence of wine, he gave command to bring the gold and silver utensils which his father, Nebuchadrezzar, had taken from the temple at J... The Healing Of The Lame Man At T
By agreement the believers met together daily in the Temple. They had their meals from house to house, eating their food with gladness and simple-heartedness, praising God and having the good-will of all the people. Day by day God added many to the ... The Healing Of The Ten Lepers
On their way to Jerusalem, Jesus and his disciples passed through Samaria and Galilee. When he entered a certain village, he was met by ten lepers, who cried to him from a distance, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us." When Jesus saw them he said to th... The Importance Of Being Willing
The lips of the wise speak knowledge, But the fool does not understand. A fool's way seems right in his sight, But a wise man listens to advice. A fool despises his father's correction, But he who re... The Importance Of Doing What Is
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the true Israelites scattered among the nations, greeting. My brothers, regard it as only a cause for joy, when you fall into all kinds of trials. Know that the testing of your faith develop... The Joy Of Worshipping God
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord, Let us shout to the Rock who saves us, Let us come before him with thanksgiving, Let us sing to him joyful songs; For the Lord is indeed a great God, A great King ab...