Esther 9 - 10 - Legacy Standard Bible

Esther 9 - 10

The Jews Strike Down Their Enemies

Now in the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar), on the thirteenth day when the king’s word and law had reached the point for them to be done, on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain power over them, it was turned around so that the Jews themselves gained power over those who hated them. 2 The Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to send forth their hand against those who sought their calamity; and no one could stand before them, for the dread of them had fallen on all the peoples. 3 Even all the princes of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and those who were doing the king’s work advanced the Jews, because the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them. 4 Indeed, Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and the report about him went throughout all the provinces; for the man Mordecai became greater and greater. 5 Thus the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and causing them to perish; and they did what they pleased to those who hated them. 6 And at the citadel in Susa the Jews killed and caused to perish 500 men, 7 and Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha, 10 the 10 sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ adversary; but they did not send forth their hand for the plunder. 11 On that day the number of those who were killed at the citadel in Susa came to the king. 12 So the king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and caused to perish 500 men and the 10 sons of Haman at the citadel in Susa. Now in the rest of the king’s provinces, what have they done? So what is your petition? It shall even be given to you. And what is your further request? It shall also be done.” 13 Then Esther said, “If it is good to the king, let tomorrow also be given to the Jews who are in Susa to do according to the law for today; and let Haman’s 10 sons be hanged on the gallows.” 14 So the king said that it should be done so; and a law was given in Susa, and Haman’s 10 sons were hanged. 15 And the Jews who were in Susa assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month Adar and killed 300 men in Susa, but they did not send forth their hand for the plunder. 16 Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces assembled, to make a stand for their lives and obtain rest for themselves from their enemies, and to kill 75,000 of those who hated them; but they did not send forth their hand for the plunder. 17 This was done on the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 18 But the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth of the same month, and they rested on the fifteenth day and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 19 Therefore the Jews of the rural areas, who live in the rural towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a holiday for gladness and feasting and sending portions of food to one another.

The Feast of Purim Is Established

20 Then Mordecai wrote down these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21 to establish among them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, 22 because on those days the Jews obtained rest for themselves from their enemies, and it was a month which was turned around for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor. 23 Thus the Jews fully accepted what they had started to do and what Mordecai had written to them. 24 For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to cause them to perish and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to throw them into confusion and cause them to perish. 25 But when it came before the king, he said by letter that his evil scheme, which he had devised against the Jews, should return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26 Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore, because of the words in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had reached them, 27 the Jews established and accepted a custom for themselves and for their seed and for all those who joined themselves to them, so that celebrating these two days according to what was written down and according to their fixed time from year to year would not pass away. 28 So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; thus these days of Purim were not to pass away from among the Jews, nor their memory come to an end from their seed. 29 Then Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to establish this second letter about Purim. 30 And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, namely, words of peace and truth, 31 to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established for them, and just as they had established for themselves and for their seed with words concerning their times of fasting and their crying out. 32 And the declaration of Esther established these words concerning Purim, and it was written in the book.

Mordecai’s Greatness

Then King Ahasuerus set forced labor upon the land and the coastlands of the sea. 2 And the entire work of his authority and his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had made so great, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? 3 For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus and was great among the Jews and pleasing to his many fellow brothers, one who sought the good of his people and one who spoke for the peace of all his seed.

1 John 1 - 2

The Word of Life

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— 2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we are writing, so that our joy may be made complete.

God Is Light

5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not do the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

Jesus Christ Our Advocate

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 7 Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. 8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. 9 The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. 10 The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness blinded his eyes. 12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake. 13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father. 14 I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Do Not Love the World

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides forever. 18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared. From this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they were of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be manifested that they all are not of us. 20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 As for you, let that which you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 And as for you, the anointing whom you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as He has taught you, abide in Him. 28 And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He is manifested, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who does righteousness has been born of Him.

Proverbs 27

Instructions and Warnings

Do not boast about tomorrow,

For you do not know what a day may bring forth.

Let a stranger praise you, and not your own mouth;

A foreigner, and not your own lips.

A stone is heavy and the sand weighty,

But the provocation of an ignorant fool is heavier than both of them.

Wrath is cruelty and anger is a flood,

But who can stand before jealousy?

Better is reproof that is revealed

Than love that is hidden.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend,

But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

A satisfied soul tramples the honeycomb,

But to a hungry soul any bitter thing is sweet.

Like a bird that wanders from her nest,

So is a man who wanders from his place.

Oil and incense make the heart glad,

So counsel from the soul is sweet to his friend.

Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend,

And do not come to your brother’s house in the day of your disaster;

Better is one who dwells near than a brother far away.

Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad,

That I may respond with a word to him who reproaches me.

A prudent man sees evil and hides,

The simple pass on and are punished.

Take his garment when he becomes a guarantor for a stranger;

And for a foreign woman seize it as a pledge.

He who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning,

It will be counted as a curse to him.

A constant dripping on a day of steady rain

And a contentious woman are alike;

He who would restrain her restrains the wind,

And grasps oil with his right hand.

Iron sharpens iron,

So one man sharpens another.

He who guards the fig tree will eat its fruit,

And he who keeps watch for his master will be honored.

As in water face reflects face,

So the heart of man reflects man.

Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,

So the eyes of man are never satisfied.

The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold,

And each is tested by the mouth that praises him.

Though you pound an ignorant fool in a mortar with a pestle in the midst of crushed grain,

His folly will not turn aside from him.

Know well the condition of your flocks,

And pay attention to your herds;

For wealth is not forever,

Neither is a crown from generation to generation.

When the grass disappears and the vegetation appears,

And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in,

The lambs will be for your clothing,

And the goats will bring the price of a field,

And there will be enough goats’ milk for your food,

For the food of your household,

And sustenance for your maidens.