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Living Above Labels

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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEST">
 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="EST.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="s1">Queen Vashti Deposed</div><div class="p"> 1This is what happened during the time of Xerxes,#1:1 Hebrew Ahasuerus; here and throughout Esther the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush#1:1 That is, the upper Nile region: 2At that time King Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, 3and in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his nobles and officials. The military leaders of Persia and Media, the princes, and the nobles of the provinces were present.</div><div class="p"> 4For a full 180 days he displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of his majesty. 5When these days were over, the king gave a banquet, lasting seven days, in the enclosed garden of the king&#8217;s palace, for all the people from the least to the greatest who were in the citadel of Susa. 6The garden had hangings of white and blue linen, fastened with cords of white linen and purple material to silver rings on marble pillars. There were couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and other costly stones. 7Wine was served in goblets of gold, each one different from the other, and the royal wine was abundant, in keeping with the king&#8217;s liberality. 8By the king&#8217;s command each guest was allowed to drink with no restrictions, for the king instructed all the wine stewards to serve each man what he wished.</div><div class="p"> 9Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes.</div><div class="p"> 10On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him&#8212;Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Karkas&#8212; 11to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at. 12But when the attendants delivered the king&#8217;s command, Queen Vashti refused to come. Then the king became furious and burned with anger.</div><div class="p"> 13Since it was customary for the king to consult experts in matters of law and justice, he spoke with the wise men who understood the times 14and were closest to the king&#8212;Karshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memukan, the seven nobles of Persia and Media who had special access to the king and were highest in the kingdom.</div><div class="p"> 15&#8220;According to law, what must be done to Queen Vashti?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;She has not obeyed the command of King Xerxes that the eunuchs have taken to her.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16Then Memukan replied in the presence of the king and the nobles, &#8220;Queen Vashti has done wrong, not only against the king but also against all the nobles and the peoples of all the provinces of King Xerxes. 17For the queen&#8217;s conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands and say, &#8216;King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.&#8217; 18This very day the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the queen&#8217;s conduct will respond to all the king&#8217;s nobles in the same way. There will be no end of disrespect and discord.</div><div class="p"> 19&#8220;Therefore, if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed, that Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Xerxes. Also let the king give her royal position to someone else who is better than she. 20Then when the king&#8217;s edict is proclaimed throughout all his vast realm, all the women will respect their husbands, from the least to the greatest.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21The king and his nobles were pleased with this advice, so the king did as Memukan proposed. 22He sent dispatches to all parts of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, proclaiming that every man should be ruler over his own household, using his native tongue.</div>
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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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