What Can You Do?

Fully Devoted

Just Too Young

Becoming More Like Jesus: Reflections on Phil. 2

Fight: 2 Timothy

The Gospel of Mark (Part Seven)

Strong Disciples Two

Photoshop Devotional - a Five-Day Devotional Inspired by "Photoshop" From Leanna Crawford

Accepted: Who We Really Are and What He Has Given Us

An Extra Extra Christmas

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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEST">
 <div class="chapter ch2" data-usfm="EST.2">
 <div class="label">2</div><div class="s1">Esther Made Queen</div><div class="p"> 1Later when King Xerxes&#8217; fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. 2Then the king&#8217;s personal attendants proposed, &#8220;Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. 3Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king&#8217;s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them. 4Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.&#8221; This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it.</div><div class="p"> 5Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, 6who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin#2:6 Hebrew Jeconiah, a variant of Jehoiachin king of Judah. 7Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.</div><div class="p"> 8When the king&#8217;s order and edict had been proclaimed, many young women were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king&#8217;s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem. 9She pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven female attendants selected from the king&#8217;s palace and moved her and her attendants into the best place in the harem.</div><div class="p"> 10Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so. 11Every day he walked back and forth near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her.</div><div class="p"> 12Before a young woman&#8217;s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics. 13And this is how she would go to the king: Anything she wanted was given her to take with her from the harem to the king&#8217;s palace. 14In the evening she would go there and in the morning return to another part of the harem to the care of Shaashgaz, the king&#8217;s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name.</div><div class="p"> 15When the turn came for Esther (the young woman Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king&#8217;s eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her. 16She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.</div><div class="p"> 17Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18And the king gave a great banquet, Esther&#8217;s banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality.</div><div class="s1">Mordecai Uncovers a Conspiracy</div><div class="p"> 19When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king&#8217;s gate. 20But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai&#8217;s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.</div><div class="p"> 21During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king&#8217;s gate, Bigthana#2:21 Hebrew Bigthan, a variant of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king&#8217;s officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. 22But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai. 23And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the two officials were impaled on poles. All this was recorded in the book of the annals in the presence of the king.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEST">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="EST.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="s1">Haman&#8217;s Plot to Destroy the Jews</div><div class="p"> 1After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. 2All the royal officials at the king&#8217;s gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.</div><div class="p"> 3Then the royal officials at the king&#8217;s gate asked Mordecai, &#8220;Why do you disobey the king&#8217;s command?&#8221; 4Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai&#8217;s behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew.</div><div class="p"> 5When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. 6Yet having learned who Mordecai&#8217;s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai&#8217;s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.</div><div class="p"> 7In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the pur (that is, the lot) was cast in the presence of Haman to select a day and month. And the lot fell on#3:7 Septuagint; Hebrew does not have And the lot fell on. the twelfth month, the month of Adar.</div><div class="p"> 8Then Haman said to King Xerxes, &#8220;There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king&#8217;s laws; it is not in the king&#8217;s best interest to tolerate them. 9If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents#3:9 That is, about 375 tons or about 340 metric tons of silver to the king&#8217;s administrators for the royal treasury.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11&#8220;Keep the money,&#8221; the king said to Haman, &#8220;and do with the people as you please.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman&#8217;s orders to the king&#8217;s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring. 13Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king&#8217;s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews&#8212;young and old, women and children&#8212;on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. 14A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day.</div><div class="p"> 15The couriers went out, spurred on by the king&#8217;s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEST">
 <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="EST.4">
 <div class="label">4</div><div class="s1">Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help</div><div class="p"> 1When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. 2But he went only as far as the king&#8217;s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. 3In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.</div><div class="p"> 4When Esther&#8217;s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king&#8217;s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.</div><div class="p"> 6So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king&#8217;s gate. 7Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king&#8217;s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.</div><div class="p"> 9Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11&#8220;All the king&#8217;s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12When Esther&#8217;s words were reported to Mordecai, 13he sent back this answer: &#8220;Do not think that because you are in the king&#8217;s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father&#8217;s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16&#8220;Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther&#8217;s instructions.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEST">
 <div class="chapter ch5" data-usfm="EST.5">
 <div class="label">5</div><div class="s1">Esther&#8217;s Request to the King</div><div class="p"> 1On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king&#8217;s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. 2When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.</div><div class="p"> 3Then the king asked, &#8220;What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4&#8220;If it pleases the king,&#8221; replied Esther, &#8220;let the king, together with Haman, come today to a banquet I have prepared for him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5&#8220;Bring Haman at once,&#8221; the king said, &#8220;so that we may do what Esther asks.&#8221;</div><div class="p">So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared. 6As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther, &#8220;Now what is your petition? It will be given you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Esther replied, &#8220;My petition and my request is this: 8If the king regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king&#8217;s question.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Haman&#8217;s Rage Against Mordecai</div><div class="p"> 9Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king&#8217;s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai. 10Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home.</div><div class="p">Calling together his friends and Zeresh, his wife, 11Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials. 12&#8220;And that&#8217;s not all,&#8221; Haman added. &#8220;I&#8217;m the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow. 13But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king&#8217;s gate.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, &#8220;Have a pole set up, reaching to a height of fifty cubits,#5:14 That is, about 75 feet or about 23 meters and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai impaled on it. Then go with the king to the banquet and enjoy yourself.&#8221; This suggestion delighted Haman, and he had the pole set up.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEST">
 <div class="chapter ch6" data-usfm="EST.6">
 <div class="label">6</div><div class="s1">Mordecai Honored</div><div class="p"> 1That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. 2It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king&#8217;s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.</div><div class="p"> 3&#8220;What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?&#8221; the king asked.</div><div class="p">&#8220;Nothing has been done for him,&#8221; his attendants answered.</div><div class="p"> 4The king said, &#8220;Who is in the court?&#8221; Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about impaling Mordecai on the pole he had set up for him.</div><div class="p"> 5His attendants answered, &#8220;Haman is standing in the court.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Bring him in,&#8221; the king ordered.</div><div class="p"> 6When Haman entered, the king asked him, &#8220;What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?&#8221;</div><div class="p">Now Haman thought to himself, &#8220;Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?&#8221; 7So he answered the king, &#8220;For the man the king delights to honor, 8have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. 9Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king&#8217;s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, &#8216;This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10&#8220;Go at once,&#8221; the king commanded Haman. &#8220;Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king&#8217;s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, &#8220;This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12Afterward Mordecai returned to the king&#8217;s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief, 13and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him.</div><div class="p">His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, &#8220;Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him&#8212;you will surely come to ruin!&#8221; 14While they were still talking with him, the king&#8217;s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEST">
 <div class="chapter ch7" data-usfm="EST.7">
 <div class="label">7</div><div class="s1">Haman Impaled</div><div class="p"> 1So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther&#8217;s banquet, 2and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king again asked, &#8220;Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3Then Queen Esther answered, &#8220;If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life&#8212;this is my petition. And spare my people&#8212;this is my request. 4For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.#7:4 Or quiet, but the compensation our adversary offers cannot be compared with the loss the king would suffer&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, &#8220;Who is he? Where is he&#8212;the man who has dared to do such a thing?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6Esther said, &#8220;An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. 7The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.</div><div class="p"> 8Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining.</div><div class="p">The king exclaimed, &#8220;Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?&#8221;</div><div class="p">As soon as the word left the king&#8217;s mouth, they covered Haman&#8217;s face. 9Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, &#8220;A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits#7:9 That is, about 75 feet or about 23 meters stands by Haman&#8217;s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.&#8221;</div><div class="p">The king said, &#8220;Impale him on it!&#8221; 10So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king&#8217;s fury subsided.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEST">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="EST.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">The King&#8217;s Edict in Behalf of the Jews</div><div class="p"> 1That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. 2The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman&#8217;s estate.</div><div class="p"> 3Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. 4Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.</div><div class="p"> 5&#8220;If it pleases the king,&#8221; she said, &#8220;and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king&#8217;s provinces. 6For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, &#8220;Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled him on the pole he set up. 8Now write another decree in the king&#8217;s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king&#8217;s signet ring&#8212;for no document written in the king&#8217;s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9At once the royal secretaries were summoned&#8212;on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai&#8217;s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush.#8:9 That is, the upper Nile region These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language. 10Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king&#8217;s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.</div><div class="p"> 11The king&#8217;s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children,#8:11 Or province, together with their women and children, who might attack them; and to plunder the property of their enemies. 12The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. 13A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.</div><div class="p"> 14The couriers, riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king&#8217;s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.</div><div class="s1">The Triumph of the Jews</div><div class="p"> 15When Mordecai left the king&#8217;s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration. 16For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor. 17In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.</div>
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