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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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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEST">
 <div class="chapter ch9" data-usfm="EST.9">
 <div class="label">9</div><div class="p"> 1On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them. 2The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them. 3And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king&#8217;s administrators helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them. 4Mordecai was prominent in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful.</div><div class="p"> 5The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them. 6In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. 7They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, 10the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.</div><div class="p"> 11The number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same day. 12The king said to Queen Esther, &#8220;The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have they done in the rest of the king&#8217;s provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13&#8220;If it pleases the king,&#8221; Esther answered, &#8220;give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day&#8217;s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman&#8217;s ten sons be impaled on poles.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they impaled the ten sons of Haman. 15The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.</div><div class="p"> 16Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king&#8217;s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder. 17This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.</div><div class="p"> 18The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.</div><div class="p"> 19That is why rural Jews&#8212;those living in villages&#8212;observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.</div><div class="s1">Purim Established</div><div class="p"> 20Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, 21to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar 22as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.</div><div class="p"> 23So the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them. 24For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur (that is, the lot) for their ruin and destruction. 25But when the plot came to the king&#8217;s attention,#9:25 Or when Esther came before the king he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head, and that he and his sons should be impaled on poles. 26(Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur.) Because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them, 27the Jews took it on themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed. 28These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews&#8212;nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.</div><div class="p"> 29So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim. 30And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of Xerxes&#8217; kingdom&#8212;words of goodwill and assurance&#8212; 31to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting and lamentation. 32Esther&#8217;s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, and it was written down in the records.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEST">
 <div class="chapter ch10" data-usfm="EST.10">
 <div class="label">10</div><div class="s1">The Greatness of Mordecai</div><div class="p"> 1King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores. 2And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia? 3Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="label">14</div><div class="s1">Jesus at a Pharisee&#8217;s House</div><div class="p"> 1One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 2There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. 3Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, &#8220;Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?&#8221; 4But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.</div><div class="p"> 5Then he asked them, &#8220;If one of you has a child#14:5 Some manuscripts donkey or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?&#8221; 6And they had nothing to say.</div><div class="p"> 7When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8&#8220;When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, &#8216;Give this person your seat.&#8217; Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, &#8216;Friend, move up to a better place.&#8217; Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12Then Jesus said to his host, &#8220;When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Parable of the Great Banquet</div><div class="p"> 15When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, &#8220;Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16Jesus replied: &#8220;A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, &#8216;Come, for everything is now ready.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 18 &#8220;But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, &#8216;I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 19 &#8220;Another said, &#8216;I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I&#8217;m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 20 &#8220;Still another said, &#8216;I just got married, so I can&#8217;t come.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 21 &#8220;The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, &#8216;Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 22 &#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Sir,&#8217; the servant said, &#8216;what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 23 &#8220;Then the master told his servant, &#8216;Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Cost of Being a Disciple</div><div class="p"> 25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26&#8220;If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters&#8212;yes, even their own life&#8212;such a person cannot be my disciple. 27And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.</div><div class="p"> 28 &#8220;Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won&#8217;t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30saying, &#8216;This person began to build and wasn&#8217;t able to finish.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 31 &#8220;Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won&#8217;t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.</div><div class="p"> 34 &#8220;Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.</div><div class="p"> &#8220;Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.&#8221;</div>
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