Esther 5 - 6
Esther Prepares a Feast
Now it happened on the third day, that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s house in front of the king’s rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance to his house. 2 Now it happened that when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she advanced in favor in his eyes; and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and reached out and touched the top of the scepter. 3 Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you, Queen Esther? And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be given to you.” 4 And Esther said, “If it seems good to the king, may the king and Haman come this day to the feast that I have prepared for him.” 5 Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly that we may do the word of Esther.” So the king and Haman came to the feast which Esther had prepared. 6 Then, as they drank their wine at the feast, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition? For it shall be given to you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.” 7 So Esther answered and said, “My petition and my request is: 8 if I have found favor in the eyes of the king, and if it seems good to the king to give heed to my petition and to do my request, may the king and Haman come to the feast which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do according to the word of the king.” Haman Recounts His Glory
9 Then Haman went out that day glad and merry of heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate and that he did not stand up or tremble before him, Haman was filled with wrath against Mordecai. 10 But Haman controlled himself, went to his house, and sent for and brought his friends and his wife Zeresh. 11 Then Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches and the number of his sons and every instance where the king had magnified him and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. 12 Haman also said, “Even Esther the queen let no one but me come with the king to the feast which she had prepared; and tomorrow also I am called to come to her with the king. 13 Yet all of this is worth nothing to me every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” 14 Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows fifty cubits high made and in the morning say to the king that Mordecai should be hanged on it; then go gladly with the king to the feast.” And the word was good to Haman, so he had the gallows made. The Man Whom the King Honors
During that night, sleep had fled from the king, so he said for them to bring the book of memoranda, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. 2 And it was found written what Mordecai had told concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs from those who were doorkeepers, that they had sought to send forth their hand against King Ahasuerus. 3 And the king said, “What honor or greatness has been done to Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” 4 So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had entered the outer court of the king’s house in order to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had set up for him. 5 And the king’s young men said to him, “Behold, Haman is standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.” 6 So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What is to be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?” And Haman said in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?” 7 Then Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, 8 let them bring a royal robe which the king clothes himself in, and the horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed; 9 and let the robe and the horse be given over to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, and let them clothe the man whom the king delights to honor and lead him on horseback through the city square and call out before him, ‘Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.’” Mordecai Is Honored
10 Then the king said to Haman, “Take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate; do not fall short in anything of all that you have spoken.” 11 So Haman took the robe and the horse and clothed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square and called out before him, “Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.” 12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hastened home, mourning, with his head covered. 13 And Haman recounted to 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 begun to fall, is of the seed of the Jews, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.” 14 While they were still speaking with him, the king’s eunuchs reached Haman’s home and hastily brought Haman to the feast which Esther had prepared.
2 Peter 1 - 2
Precious and Magnificent Promises
Simeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received the same kind of faith as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these things are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For in whom these things are not present, that one is blind, being nearsighted, having forgotten the purification from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and choosing sure; for in doing these things, you will never stumble; 11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. 12 Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been strengthened in the truth which is present with you. 13 I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has indicated to me. 15 And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind. Eyewitnesses of Jesus
16 For we did not make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, following cleverly devised myths, but being eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”— 18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have as more sure the prophetic word, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 20 Know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes by one’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. The Rise of False Prophets
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words, their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 4 For if God did not spare angels who sinned, but cast them into the pit and delivered them to chains of darkness, being kept for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who go after the flesh in its corrupt lust and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they blaspheme glorious ones, 11 whereas angels who are greater in strength and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, blaspheming where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, 13 suffering unrighteousness as the wages of their unrighteousness, considering it a pleasure to revel in the daytime—they are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they feast with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery and unceasing sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed—they are accursed children. 15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, 16 but he received a rebuke for his own lawlessness, for a mute donkey, speaking out with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet. 17 These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been kept. 18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity, they entice by sensual lusts of the flesh, those who barely escape from the ones who conducted themselves in error, 19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 20 For if they are overcome, having both escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and having again been entangled in them, then the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 22 The message of the true proverb has happened to them, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”
Proverbs 25
Analogies of Wisdom
These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, transcribed. 2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.
3 As the heavens for height and the earth for depth,
So the heart of kings is unsearchable.
4 Take away the dross from the silver,
And there comes out a vessel for the smith;
5 Take away the wicked before the king,
And his throne will be established in righteousness.
6 Do not promote your majesty in the presence of the king,
And in the place of great men do not stand;
7 For it is better that it be said to you, “Come up here,”
Than for you to be placed lower in the presence of a noble,
Whom your eyes have seen.
8 Do not go out hastily to plead your case;
Lest, what will you do in the end,
When your neighbor humiliates you?
9 Plead your case with your neighbor,
And do not reveal the secret of another,
10 Lest he who hears it bring disgrace upon you,
And the bad report about you will not turn away.
11 Like apples of gold in settings of silver
Is a word spoken in right circumstances.
12 Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold
Is a wise reprover to a listening ear.
13 Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest
Is a faithful envoy to those who send him,
For he refreshes the soul of his masters.
14 Like clouds and wind without rain
Is a man who boasts of his gifts falsely.
15 When one is slow to anger, a ruler may be persuaded,
And a soft tongue breaks the bone.
16 Have you found honey? Eat only enough for you,
Lest you have more than your fill and vomit it.
17 Let your foot rarely be in your neighbor’s house,
Lest he have more than his fill of you and hate you.
18 Like a club and a sword and a sharp arrow
Is a man who bears false witness against his neighbor.
19 Like an aching tooth and a slipping foot
Is trust in a treacherous man in a day of distress.
20 Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar on soda,
Is he who sings songs to an aching heart.
21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
22 For you will heap burning coals on his head,
And Yahweh will repay you.
23 The north wind brings forth rain,
And a tongue of secrets, an indignant face.
24 It is better to live in a corner of the roof
Than in a house shared with a contentious woman.
25 Like cold water to a weary soul,
So is a good report from a distant land.
26 Like a muddied spring and a corrupted well
Is a righteous man shaking before the wicked.
27 To eat too much honey is not good,
Nor is it glory to search out one’s own glory.
28 Like a city that is broken into and without a wall
Is a man without restraint over his spirit.