Esther 5

⁴“Who is in the court?” the king asked. Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him.

¹⁶“Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”

³Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes,

⁴but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.

²¹To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

¹⁵Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal garments of blue and white, with a large gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.

¹⁶Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

⁴The king extended the gold scepter toward Esther, and she arose and stood before the king.

¹¹“All the royal officials and the people of the king’s provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned—that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the gold scepter may that person live. But I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the past thirty days.”

¹The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the Lord; He directs it where He pleases.

⁹And the young woman pleased him and obtained his favor, so he quickly provided her with beauty treatments and the special diet. He assigned to her seven select maidservants from the palace and transferred her with them to the best place in the harem.

¹⁰and rescued him from all his troubles. He granted Joseph favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household.

¹I love the Lord, for He has heard my voice—my appeal for mercy.

²³And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom!”

²and as they drank their wine on that second day, the king asked once more, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.”

¹²who said to Queen Esther, “In the citadel of Susa the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, including Haman’s ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the royal provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given to you. And what further do you request? It will be fulfilled.”

⁶And as they drank their wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.”

²⁰Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and knelt down to make a request of Him.

²¹“What do you want?” He inquired. She answered, “Declare that in Your kingdom one of these two sons of mine may sit at Your right hand, and the other at Your left.”

⁵One night at Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”

⁸If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, may the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”

¹¹A fool vents all his anger, but a wise man holds it back.

²⁰Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.

¹⁵The couriers left, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.

⁵It is well with the man who is generous and lends freely, whose affairs are guided by justice.

²⁵“Serve me,” said Isaac, “and let me eat some of my son’s game, so that I may bless you.” Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; then he brought him wine, and he drank.

¹⁴While they were still speaking with Haman, the king’s eunuchs arrived and rushed him to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

²and as they drank their wine on that second day, the king asked once more, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.”

³“What is it, Queen Esther?” the king inquired. “What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given to you.”

¹²who said to Queen Esther, “In the citadel of Susa the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, including Haman’s ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the royal provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given to you. And what further do you request? It will be fulfilled.”

⁹A man’s heart plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

³Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my request.

⁵“If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if I have found favor in his sight, and the matter seems proper to the king, and I am pleasing in his sight, may an order be written to revoke the letters that the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.

¹That night sleep escaped the king; so he ordered the Book of Records, the Chronicles, to be brought in and read to him.

²And there it was found recorded that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the king’s entrance, when they had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

⁵When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or pay him homage, he was filled with rage.

¹⁶When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.

⁵the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?

¹²“Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—

¹³you who rejoice in Lo-debar and say, ‘Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?’

¹⁶Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

¹⁷If the God whom we serve exists, then He is able to deliver us from the blazing fiery furnace and from your hand, O king.

³Though an army encamps around me, my heart will not fear; though a war breaks out against me, I will keep my trust.

¹³Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is Jewish, you will not prevail against him—for surely you will fall before him.”

⁹Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.

¹Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.

²²And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon for violating his sister Tamar.

²³Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, he invited all the sons of the king.

³⁰Joseph hurried out because he was moved to tears for his brother, and he went to a private room to weep.

³¹Then he washed his face and came back out. Regaining his composure, he said, “Serve the meal.”

⁷including Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

⁸Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,

¹After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were with him.

¹⁹Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

¹Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.”

¹⁷Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.

¹⁶Do not be afraid when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases.

¹⁷For when he dies, he will carry nothing away; his abundance will not follow him down.

¹Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

³⁵I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,

³⁶yet he passed away and was no more; though I searched, he could not be found.

³⁴But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare.

³⁵For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of all the earth.

³While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

⁵the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?

⁶Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,

²²He follows her on impulse, like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding into a trap,

²³until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare—not knowing it will cost him his life.

¹¹I am not saying this out of need, for I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances.

¹²I know how to live humbly, and I know how to abound. In any and every situation I have learned the secret of being filled and being hungry, of having plenty and having need.

²⁰A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.

⁴You who tear yourself in anger—should the earth be forsaken on your account, or the rocks be moved from their place?

⁴So Ahab went to his palace, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had told him, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He lay down on his bed, turned his face away, and refused to eat.

⁵Soon his wife Jezebel came in and asked, “Why are you so sullen that you refuse to eat?”

²“Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”

⁹That day Haman went out full of joy and glad of heart. At the king’s gate, however, he saw Mordecai, who did not rise or tremble in fear at his presence. And Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai.

⁴“Who is in the court?” the king asked. Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him.

⁹Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.” “Hang him on it!” declared the king.

¹⁰So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

¹⁴The wicked have drawn the sword and bent the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.

⁷But his wife Jezebel said to him, “Do you not reign over Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful, for I will get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

³²Though the wicked lie in wait for the righteous, and seek to slay them,

¹³He has prepared His deadly weapons; He ordains His arrows with fire.

¹⁴Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.