Ecclesiastes 7 – 8 (EHV)

1 A good reputation is better than the best perfume, and the day of one’s death is better than the day of his birth. 2 Better to go to a funeral than to a feast, [1] since death is the final destination for all mankind. The living must take this to heart! 3 Grief is better than laughter, because a sad face does a heart good.

4 The hearts of the wise think about the funeral, but the hearts of fools think about the feast. 5 It is better to hear a rebuke from a wise man than to listen to a happy song from fools, 6 for the fool’s laughter sounds like thorns crackling under a cooking pot. This too is vapor.

7 To be sure, oppressing others [2] turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts his heart.

8 It is better to finish something than to begin something. A patient spirit is better than a proud spirit.

9 Do not be quick to lose your temper, for outrage is embraced by fools.

10 Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” Wisdom would not lead you to ask such a question.

11 Wisdom along with an inheritance [3] is good. It is an advantage for those who see the sun, 12 because wisdom gives shade as money gives shade, but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom keeps its owner alive.

13 Look at the work of God. Indeed, who can straighten what he has bent?

14 On a good day, enjoy the good, but on a bad day, consider carefully. God has made the one as well as the other, so no man can find out about anything that will come later.

15 During my days that vanish like vapor, I have seen it all. For instance, a righteous man perishes despite being righteous, while an evil man lives for a long time in spite of his evil.

16 Do not be overly righteous. Do not trust too much in wisdom. Why ruin yourself? 17 Do not be overly wicked, either, and do not be a fool. Why die before your time? 18 It is good that you hang on to one alternative, but do not let go of the other, for one who fears God will avoid both extremes. [4]

19 Wisdom makes one wise man stronger than ten rulers who are in the city.

20 There is surely not a righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin.

21 Furthermore, do not take to heart all the words people say, so that you do not hear your servant cursing you. 22 Yes, you know in your heart that many times you too have cursed others.

23 All this I tested with wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was out of reach for me. 24 What has already happened is out of reach, and deeper than deep. Who can find it?

25 I turned my heart to know, to investigate, and to seek wisdom, and to find out how things fit together, [5] and to know that wickedness is foolishness and stupidity is madness.

26 I kept finding out that a woman whose heart is a trap is more bitter than death. Her heart is a hunter’s net. Her hands are chains. The man whom God recognizes as good will escape from her, but the sinner gets trapped by her.

27 “Look,” says Ecclesiastes, “this is what I found by adding one thing to another in my attempts to find how things fit together— 28 this is something my soul keeps seeking but has not found. One man out of a thousand I have found, but a woman among all these I have not found. [6]

29 “Look, I have found only this: I have found that God made mankind [7] upright, but they have gone off looking for many schemes.”

1 Who is such a wise man? And who knows how to explain a situation? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine and softens the hard look on his face.

2 Obey the king’s command [8] because of your oath before God. [9] 3 Do not quickly leave his presence. Do not stand up for [10] a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4 For a king’s word is supreme, and who will say to him, “What are you doing?”

5 Whoever obeys a command will experience no harm, and a wise heart will know the right time and the right way to act, 6 because for each situation there is a right time and a right way to act, although evil may weigh a man down. 7 But no one knows what will be. Indeed, who can tell him what will be? [11] 8 As no one has power to restrain the wind, there is no power over the day of death. No discharge is granted during war, and wickedness will not deliver those who practice it.

9 All this I saw while I was applying my heart to every work done under the sun, during this time when one man has power over another to harm him. [12] 10 While doing this, I have seen wicked people buried. They had come and gone from the holy place, and they were praised [13] in the city where they had done so! This too is vapor.

11 When the sentence for a crime is not carried out quickly, people’s hearts are emboldened to do evil.

12 Though a sinner commits a hundred crimes and lives for a long time, [14] I nevertheless know that it will turn out well for those who fear God, who stand in awe before him. 13 But it will not be good for the wicked. Such a man will not lengthen his days like a shadow, since he does not stand in fear before God.

14 Another example of vapor that appears on the earth is when righteous people get what the wicked deserve for their actions, and wicked people get what the righteous deserve for their actions. I said, “This too is vapor.”

15 So I sang the praises of pleasure, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. Such joy will stay with him during his hard work, throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to observe the tiresome business done on the earth (even though it keeps a person from sleeping day or night), 17 I saw everything that God has done, but no man can grasp all the work that is done under the sun. No matter how hard a man works to explore it, he cannot discover it all. Even if the wise man claims to know it, he cannot find it.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ecclesiastes 4:9 – 6:12 (EHV)

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their hard work. 10 If one of them falls, his companion can lift him up. Pity the person who falls and has no one else to lift him up. 11 What’s more, if two lie down, they can keep warm, but how can one person keep warm alone? 12 Though an attacker can overpower one person, two people together can stand up against him. A rope with three strands is not quickly snapped.

13 Better a poor but wise child than an old but foolish king, who no longer knows enough to pay attention to a warning, 14 for he came out of prison to rule as king, even though he had been born poor in the land that became his kingdom. [1] 15 I saw that all the living, all those people walking under the sun, sided with the king’s successor, the child who took his place. 16 There was no end to all the people who were before them. Yet people who come later will not be pleased with him. This too is vapor and chasing the wind.

1 Watch your step when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen, rather than to give the kind of sacrifice fools give, for they do not know that they are doing wrong. [2] 2 Do not be hasty with your mouth, and in your heart do not be in a hurry to bring a matter before God, because God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. 3 As too much busyness leads to dreams, too many words lead to foolish talk.

4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, for he takes no delight in fools. Fulfill whatever you have vowed. 5 Better that you do not vow, than that you do make a vow and do not fulfill it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say to the temple official that the vow was a mistake. Why should God be angry because of what you say and ruin the work your hands have done?

7 A lot of dreaming produces a lot of vapor. So does a lot of words. [3] Instead, fear God.

8 If you see the poor being oppressed, and you see the province being robbed of justice and fairness, do not be shocked about the situation, because one high official is watched by a higher one, and higher ones are over them! 9 All officials take their cut of the profit from the land; even the king benefits from the fields. [4]

10 Anyone who loves money is never satisfied with money, and anyone who loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is vanishing vapor.

11 When goods increase, so do those who eat them. What profit, then, does the owner get, except to see these things with his eyes?

12 The worker’s sleep is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but a rich person’s abundant possessions allow him no sleep.

13 I have seen a sickening evil under the sun—wealth hoarded by its owner to his own harm, 14 or wealth that is lost in a bad investment. Or a man fathers a son, but he has nothing left in his hand to give him. 15 As he came out from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came. From his hard work he can pick up nothing that he can carry away in his hand. 16 This too is a sickening evil: Just as he came, so he will go. So what does he gain, he who works for the wind? 17 Besides this, during all his days he eats in darkness, with great frustration, sickness, and anger.

18 So then, here is what I have seen to be good: It is beautiful to eat, to drink, and to look for good in all a person’s hard work which he has done under the sun, during the few days of his life that God has given him, for that is his reward. 19 Likewise, for everyone to whom God has given wealth and riches, if God has also given him ability to eat from it, to enjoy his reward, [5] and to rejoice in the results of his hard work—this is a gift of God, 20 for the man seldom reflects on the days of his life, since God keeps him busy with the joy in his heart.

1 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, a common burden that people bear: [6] 2 God gives somebody wealth, riches, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of everything that he craves, but God does not give him the opportunity to eat it. Instead, a stranger eats it. This is vapor, and a sickening evil.

3 A man may father a hundred children and live many years, but if his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, no matter how many days he lives, I say, “A stillborn baby is better off than he is.” 4 Why? Because that baby comes like a vapor and leaves in darkness, and its name gets covered in darkness. 5 The baby does not see the sun or know it, [7] but it enjoys more peaceful rest than that man does, 6 even if that man would live a thousand years two times without enjoying good things. They all go to the same place, don’t they?

7 All of a man’s hard work is to feed his mouth, but his appetite [8] never feels satisfied.

8 So what advantage does a wise man have over a fool? What advantage does a poor man gain, who knows how to keep walking among the living? [9] 9 Better to have eyes that look at what is actually there than desires that roam. This too is vapor and chasing the wind.

10 Whatever exists already has its name, [10] and it is already known what man is. He is not able to win in court against one who is stronger than he is. [11]

11 Yes, the more words, [12] the more vapor. What advantage does a man have?

12 For who knows what is good for a man in life, in the few days of his life, that vanishes like vapor, that passes like a shadow? [13] Who will tell the man what will be after him, under the sun?

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ecclesiastes 3:1 – 4:8 (EHV)

1 For everything there is an appointed time.

There is an appropriate time for every activity under heaven:

9 What does the worker gain from his hard work? 10 I have seen the task which God has given the children of Adam to keep them busy. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Yes, he has also put eternity in their hearts, yet it is not possible for man to understand the work that God has done from beginning to end.

12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy good things [1] while they live. 13 Also, when anyone eats, drinks, and experiences the good things that his hard work leads to—this is God’s gift.

14 I know that everything God does will last forever. Nothing can be added to it or taken away from it. God acts so that people will fear him. 15 Whatever exists now has already been, and whatever will be has already been. God makes whatever has already passed come again. [2]

16 I saw something else under the sun: In the place where justice should be, there was wickedness, and in the place for righteousness, there was wickedness. 17 I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked. Yes, there will be a time for every case to be settled before God.” [3]

18 So I said in my heart, “This is done so that God can test the children of Adam, so that they can see what animals they are if left to themselves.” [4] 19 For the outcome [5] for the children of Adam and the outcome for animals is the same. One dies just like the other. All have the same breath. Mankind has no advantage over animals, because everything is vapor. 20 All go to the same place. All were from the dust, and to the dust all return. 21 Who knows whether the spirit [6] of the man goes upward, and the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?

22 So I saw that there is nothing better for man than to be happy in his activities, since that is his reward. [7] For who will show him what there will be after him?

1 I looked again, and I saw all the acts of oppression being done under the sun. Just look at the tears of the oppressed, who have no one to comfort them! Their violent oppressors had the upper hand, and there was no one to comfort them.

2 So I congratulate the dead, who already have died, more than the living, who are still alive. 3 But better than either of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil done under the sun.

4 I also saw that all hard work and all accomplishment are the result of a person’s envy of his neighbor. This too is vapor and chasing the wind.

5 The fool idly folds his hands and eats his own flesh. 6 Better one handful with relaxation, than two handfuls with hard work and chasing the wind.

7 I looked again and saw another example of meaningless vapor under the sun: 8 There was a single person all alone, without even a son or a brother, and there was no end to all his hard work. His eyes also were not satisfied with wealth. “So for whom am I working so hard,” he asks, “and depriving myself of enjoyment?” This too is vapor and a miserable task.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ecclesiastes 1 – 2 (EHV)

1 The words of Ecclesiastes, [1] David’s son, king in Jerusalem.

2 “Nothing but vapor,” [2] Ecclesiastes said. “Totally vapor. Everything is just vapor that vanishes.”

3 What does anyone gain by all his hard work, at which he works hard under the sun? 4 A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth keeps standing forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets. It hurries back, panting and out of breath, to its starting point, where it rises again. 6 The wind goes round and round. Blowing south, then blowing north, the wind keeps going around in circles. 7 All streams keep flowing to the sea, but the sea is never full. The streams keep coming back to the same place, and then they flow out again.

8 Everything is tedious and tiresome, more than one can tell. No eye ever sees enough, and no ear ever gets its fill of hearing.

9 Whatever has been is what will be again, and whatever has already been done is what will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there a single thing about which one can say, “Look, this is new”? It was already here ages ago, long before us. 11 No one remembers the people who [3] came before us, and as for those who are coming—after they are gone, no one will remember them either.

12 I, Ecclesiastes, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my heart to seek out and explore with wisdom everything done under the sky. [4] (What a burdensome task [5] God has given the children of Adam to keep them busy!) 14 I have seen all the actions done under the sun, and, look, it is all nothing but vapor. It is all chasing the wind. 15 Whatever is crooked cannot be straightened. Whatever is not there cannot be counted.

16 I thought in my heart, “Look, I have become great and accumulated more wisdom than anyone ruling over Jerusalem before me. My mind [6] has absorbed so much wisdom and knowledge.” 17 I applied my heart to understand wisdom and knowledge, madness and stupidity. I realized that this too is chasing the wind. 18 In fact, with much wisdom comes much frustration. [7] The more knowledge, the more pain!

1 I thought in my heart, “Go ahead, test yourself with [8] pleasure to see what is good.” [9] But, oh, that too is vapor.

2 About laughter, I said, “Madness!” About pleasure, “What good is it?”

3 As my heart kept guiding me with wisdom, I put it to work researching how to relax my body [10] with wine and how to grasp why people do stupid things. [11] My goal was to see what was good for people to do under the sky, during the few days of their lives.

4 I undertook great projects. I built houses for myself. I planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made gardens and parks for myself, and I planted every kind of fruit tree in them. 6 I made reservoirs of water for myself to irrigate a forest of sprouting trees. 7 I acquired male and female servants. I also had slaves that were born in my own house. Livestock too! I had more herds and flocks than anyone before me in Jerusalem. 8 I piled up silver and gold for myself, as well as treasures from kings and provinces. I acquired male singers and female singers for myself, and what gives great pleasure to men—one concubine after another. [12]

9 So I became great, and I surpassed all who were in Jerusalem before me. Nevertheless, my wisdom still stayed with me. 10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not withhold from them. I did not hold my heart back from any pleasure. My heart even took pleasure in all my hard work. This was what I got from all my hard work.

11 But when I turned my attention to everything that my hands had done and to how hard I had worked for it—note this—it was all vapor, all chasing the wind. There was no benefit under the sun.

12 I turned my attention to consider wisdom, madness, and stupidity—for what will the man do who will succeed the king? Only what has already been done. 13 I saw wisdom is better than stupidity, as light is better than darkness. 14 The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also knew that one fate meets [13] them all. 15 So I said in my heart, “The same fate that meets the fool will also meet me. So why then have I been overly wise?” So I said in my heart, “This too is just vapor.”

16 No one will remember the wise man or the fool for long. In days to come, all of them will already be forgotten. How does the wise man die? Just like the fool. 17 So I hated life, because the work done under the sun was so frustrating for me, because everything is vapor and chasing the wind. 18 I also hated all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard under the sun, since I must leave it all to the man who comes after me. 19 And who knows—will he be wise, or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard and so wisely, under the sun. This too is vapor that vanishes.

20 So I changed my course, and my heart began to despair over all my hard work at which I worked so hard under the sun. 21 Sure, there may be a man who has worked hard—wisely, aptly, and skillfully. But he must hand over whatever he accumulated by all his hard work to a man who has not worked hard for it. This too is vapor. It’s so unfair! 22 For what does a man gain through all his hard work, through all the turmoil in his heart, as he works so hard under the sun?

23 Pain fills all his days. His occupation is frustration. Even at night his heart does not rest. This too is vapor.

24 There is nothing better for a man than to eat and to drink and to find joy in his work. This too, I saw, is from God’s hand. 25 For who can eat or enjoy himself apart from him? [14] 26 Yes, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to the man whom he considers good, but to the person who goes on sinning God gives the task of gathering and collecting, but only so that he can give it all to a person whom God considers good. This too is vapor, nothing but chasing wind.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Esther 9 – 10 (EHV)

1 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (Adar), the day which the king’s proclamation had specified for his decree to be carried out, the day on which the enemies of the Jews hoped to obtain power over them, the situation was reversed so that the Jews would gain power over those who hated them.

2 The Jews gathered in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes, to strike against those seeking to hurt them. No one opposed them because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon all the people. 3 All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the people who did the work of the king were helping the Jews because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them, 4 because he was important in the king’s house. His reputation was spreading in all the provinces because this man Mordecai was becoming more and more influential.

5 The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, slaughtering and destroying them. They did whatever they pleased against their enemies.

6 In Susa, the citadel, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men, 7 including Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha. 10 They killed the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, who had been persecuting the Jews, but they did not seize any plunder.

11 On that day the number of those killed in Susa, the citadel, was reported to the king. 12 The king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa, the citadel, the Jews have killed five hundred men, including the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the provinces of the king? What is your request? It will be granted. What you are still seeking will be done.”

13 Esther said, “If it seems good to the king, let permission be given to the Jews who are in Susa to carry out today’s order also tomorrow and that the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.”

14 The king said that this would be done. The command was given in Susa. The ten sons of Haman were hanged.

15 The Jews in Susa gathered again on the fourteenth day of Adar. In Susa they killed three hundred men, but they did not seize any plunder.

16 The rest of the Jews who were in the provinces of the king also gathered and defended themselves, getting relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them, but they did not seize any plunder. 17 This happened on the thirteenth day of Adar. They rested on the fourteenth and had a day of feasting [1] and joyful celebration.

18 But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth. They rested on the fifteenth and made it a day of feasting and joyful celebration. 19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the unwalled towns of the open countryside, have their day of joyful celebration and feasting on the fourteenth of Adar. It is a holiday, and they send portions of food to their neighbors.

20 Mordecai wrote these things down. Then he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Xerxes, both near and far, 21 to call upon them to celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar every year, 22 because those were the days on which the Jews gained relief from their enemies. This was the month which was changed from sorrow to gladness for them and from a day of mourning to a holiday. They were to make those days into days of feasting and joyful celebration, sending portions of food to their neighbors and gifts to the poor.

23 So the Jews completed what they had begun to do and what Mordecai had written to them, 24 because Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the one opposed to all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast pur (that is, they had cast lots) to crush them and to destroy them.

25 However, because Esther came into the presence of the king, he said in writing that Haman’s wicked plot, which he had devised against the Jews, was to return on his own head, and they should hang him and his sons on the gallows.

26 That is why they called these days Purim (lots) because of the word pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, because of what they had observed, and because of what had happened to them, 27 the Jews established this festival and made a commitment that they, their descendants, and all those associated with them would never fail to observe these two days according to these directions and at their proper time every year.

28 These days are to be remembered and preserved in every generation, in every family, province, and city. The Jews should never stop celebrating the days of Purim. Their commemoration should never be set aside by their descendants.

29 Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew used their authority to publish this second communication about Purim. 30 He sent letters to all the Jews in one hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes containing words of true peace, 31 telling them to observe the days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had given them the responsibility to do, and telling them to carry out the directions about their fasts and their lamentation just as they and their descendants had agreed to do.

32 The command of Esther established the directions about Purim, and they were written in a book.

1 King Xerxes imposed taxes on the land and on the islands and coasts of the sea. 2 All his powerful and mighty acts and the account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king promoted, are they not written in the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?

3 This was written there because Mordecai the Jew, second in command to King Xerxes, was important for the Jews and popular with large numbers of his brother Israelites, because he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all their descendants.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Esther 7 – 8 (EHV)

1 So the king and Haman went to the feast with Queen Esther.

2 On the second day, when they were again drinking wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your request, Queen Esther? It will be given to you. What are you seeking? Up to half of the kingdom—it’s yours.”

3 Queen Esther responded, “My King, if I have found favor in your eyes, and if it pleases the king, I am asking that my life be spared, and I am seeking the lives of my people, 4 because I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we were merely being sold to be male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, because that would not have been bad enough to be a reason to bother the king.”

5 King Xerxes spoke up. He said to Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is this person who has the audacity to do this?”

6 Esther said, “This hateful enemy is this evil Haman!” Haman was terrified in the presence of the king and the queen.

7 The king rose angrily from the place where they were drinking wine [1] and went to the palace garden. But Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, because he saw the king had evil plans for him.

8 Just as the king was returning from the palace garden to the hall where they had been drinking wine, Haman was falling onto the couch on which Esther was lying. The king said, “Will he even assault the queen when I am in the building?” As soon as the words left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. [2]

9 In addition, Harbona, one of the eunuchs present with the king, said, “You know, there is a gallows seventy-five feet high standing by the house of Haman, which he made for Mordecai, the person who spoke up for the benefit of the king.” The king said, “Hang [3] him on it.”

10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.

1 That day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Mordecai came and appeared before the king, because Esther had told him what Mordecai’s relationship to her was.

2 The king took off his signet ring that he had taken from Haman and gave it to Mordecai. Esther put Mordecai in charge of the house of Haman.

3 In addition, Esther spoke to the king. She fell at his feet, wept, and requested that he put an end to the evil plan that Haman the Agagite had devised against the Jews.

4 The king held out the golden scepter to Esther. Esther rose and stood in the presence of the king.

5 She said, “If it is acceptable to the king, if I have found favor before him, if this idea seems right to the king, and if I am acceptable to him, a decree should be written to nullify the letters for the plot of Haman, son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews in all of the provinces of the king. 6 For how can I watch the disaster that is about to come on my people! How can I watch the destruction of my relatives!”

7 King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look. I have given Haman’s house to Esther. They have hanged him on the gallows because he raised his hand against the Jews. 8 You can write concerning the Jews whatever seems good to you and seal it with the king’s signet ring, because a document written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s signet ring cannot be changed.”

9 The king’s scribes were summoned at once, on the twenty-third day of Sivan, the third month. Whatever Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews was written to the satraps, governors, and the officials of the provinces from India to Cush, one hundred twenty-seven provinces in all. They wrote to each province in its own writing system and to each people in its own language (including to the Jews in their writing system and in their language). 10 He wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. He sent letters by messengers mounted on the king’s fastest thoroughbreds. [4]

11 The king gave the Jews in every city the right to gather together to defend their own lives and to destroy, kill, and annihilate any military force of any people or province that might attack them, along with their children and their wives, and to plunder their goods.

12 In all the provinces of King Xerxes, 13 a copy of the writing, which was issued as a law for every province, proclaimed to all the peoples that on one day (the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar), the Jews would be ready to avenge themselves on their enemies.

14 The couriers riding their swift horses went out quickly, spurred on by the word of the king. The decree originated in Susa, the citadel.

15 Mordecai went out from the king’s presence, dressed in blue and white royal clothing, with a large gold crown and a purple linen cape. The city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. 16 It was a time of light, gladness, joy, and honor for the Jews.

17 In every province and in every city which the message of the king reached, his edict brought gladness and joy to the Jews. There was a feast and a holiday. Many of the peoples of the land declared themselves Jews because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Esther 5 – 6 (EHV)

1 On the third day Esther dressed in the queen’s royal clothing and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, opposite the quarters of the king. The king was sitting on the throne in the reception hall, opposite the entrance.

2 When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she pleased him. The king held out to Esther the golden scepter, which was in his hand. Esther approached and touched the head of the scepter.

3 The king said to her, “What concerns you, Queen Esther? Whatever you are seeking (up to half of the kingdom) will be given to you.”

4 Esther said, “If it is agreeable to the king, the king and Haman should come today to a banquet that I have made for him.”

5 The king said, “Hurry! Get Haman so that we can do what Esther has said.” So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

6 While the king was drinking wine, he said to Esther, “What is your request? It will be given to you. What are you seeking? Up to half of the kingdom—it’s yours.”

7 Esther answered, “This is my request. This is what I seek. 8 If I have found favor in the eyes of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request, let the king and Haman come to a banquet, which I will make for them tomorrow. Then I will give the answers requested by the king.”

9 Haman went out that day full of joy, with a happy heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai at the king’s gate, and Mordecai did not stand and tremble before him, Haman was filled with rage against Mordecai. 10 But Haman restrained himself from any action.

He went to his house and called together his friends and his wife Zeresh. 11 Haman reviewed for them the glory of his wealth, the number of his sons, all the details about how the king had made him great, and how the king had elevated him over all the officials and the king’s administrators. 12 Haman said, “What’s more, Queen Esther did not invite anyone except me to come with the king to the banquet that she prepared. I have been invited again for her banquet with the king tomorrow. 13 But none of this means anything to me whenever I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

14 Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, “Make a gallows [1] seventy-five feet high. In the morning tell the king that Mordecai should be hanged [2] on it. Then go happily with the king to the banquet.” In Haman’s opinion this was good advice, so he had the gallows made.

1 That night the king could not sleep, so he ordered that the chronicles, [3] the record of the memorable events of his reign, be brought to him. These accounts were read to the king.

2 They found the account about the incident when Mordecai had reported Bigthan [4] and Teresh, the king’s two eunuchs who had controlled access to the entrance to the palace, who had tried to assassinate King Xerxes.

3 The king said, “What honor and recognition has been given to Mordecai for this?”

Then the servants of the king who were attending him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

4 The king said, “Who is in the court?” Just then Haman had come to the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

5 The king’s servants said to him, “Look, Haman is standing in the court.” The king said, “Have him come in.”

6 When Haman came in, the king said to him, “What should be done to honor the man with whom the king is pleased?”

Haman said in his heart, “Who could there be that the king would be more pleased to honor than me?”

7 Haman said to the king, “The man whom the king is pleased to honor 8 should be clothed with garments that the king has worn. He should be given a horse on which the king has ridden, and crowned with a crown that has been on the king’s head. 9 These clothes and this horse should be delivered by one of the highest ranking noblemen of the king. They should dress up the man whom the king is pleased to honor and let him ride on the horse in the public square of the city. Walking in front of him, they will proclaim, “This is what is done for the man whom the king is pleased to honor.”

10 The king said to Haman, “Hurry! Take the clothing and the horse just as you have said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew, who sits in the gatehouse of the king. Do not leave out a thing from whatever you have said.”

11 Haman took the clothing and the horse, clothed Mordecai, had him ride through the public square of the city, and proclaimed before him, “This is what is done for the man whom the king is pleased to honor.”

12 Mordecai returned to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried to his home, mourning, with his head covered. 13 Haman reported all this to Zeresh his wife and to all his friends.

His advisors and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, [5] you will not overcome him. Instead, you will surely fall before him.”

14 While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and rushed Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Esther 4 (EHV)

1 When Mordecai became aware of everything that had happened, he ripped his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, went out into the middle of the city, and let out a loud, bitter cry. 2 He went right up to the king’s gate, even though no one clothed with sackcloth was allowed to enter it.

3 In every single province that was reached by the proclamation of the king and where his decree was posted, there was great mourning, fasting, weeping, and lamenting among the Jews. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4 When Esther’s female attendants and her eunuchs came and told her what had happened, the queen agonized over it. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he could take off his sackcloth, but he did not accept them. 5 Esther summoned Hathak, who had been assigned from among the king’s eunuchs to attend to her. She ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why.

6 Hathak went out to Mordecai in the public square in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened and the exact amount of silver that Haman had said he would put into the treasuries of the king to destroy the Jews. 8 Mordecai also gave Hathak a copy of the written decree which had been issued in Susa to destroy the Jews, so that he could show it to Esther. Hathak was to place the responsibility upon her to go to the king to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.

9 So Hathak went and told Esther what Mordecai had said.

10 Esther spoke to Hathak and gave him directions to pass on to Mordecai: 11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that it is the law that any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned will be put to death, unless the king holds out the golden scepter to him. Then he will live. But I have not been called to go to the king for thirty days.”

12 They told Mordecai what Esther had said.

13 Mordecai responded, “Take this message to Esther: Do not imagine that of all the Jews, you alone will escape because you are part of the king’s household. 14 If at this time you keep totally silent, relief and deliverance for the Jews will spring up from somewhere, but you and the house of your father will perish. Who knows whether you have become queen for a time like this!”

15 Esther responded to Mordecai, 16 “Go. Gather all the Jews who are found in Susa. Fast on my behalf. Do not eat and drink for three days and nights. I and my young women also will fast in the same way. After that I will go to the king, contrary to the law. And then, if I perish, I perish!”

17 Mordecai went away and did everything Esther had ordered him to do.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Esther 2:19 – 3:15 (EHV)

19 When the virgins were gathered together for a second time, [1] Mordecai was sitting in the gatehouse to the king’s palace. 20 (Esther had not revealed her family or her nationality because when Mordecai had been taking care of her, Mordecai had told her not to do so.)

21 When Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gatehouse, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who controlled access to the entrance to the palace, became very angry and plotted to kill King Xerxes. 22 When Mordecai learned about this, he told Queen Esther. She passed the report along to the king, crediting Mordecai by name. 23 The matter was investigated, and the charges were found to be true, and both of them were hanged. [2] This incident was recorded in the daily record book, in the presence of the king.

1 After these events King Xerxes honored Haman, son of Hammedatha, the Agagite. He promoted him and placed him over all the officials who served with him. 2 All the servants of the king who were at the king’s gate were bowing down and kneeling in Haman’s presence, because the king had commanded that this be done for him, but Mordecai did not bow down and did not kneel.

3 So the servants of the king who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why are you going against the king’s command?” 4 Even though they spoke to him every day, he did not listen to them. They reported this to Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s actions would be tolerated. Mordecai had informed them that he was a Jew.

5 When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down and kneeling in his presence, Haman was enraged. 6 Because the king’s servants had made Haman aware of Mordecai’s nationality, Haman was not satisfied with laying hands only on Mordecai. Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.

7 During the twelfth year of King Xerxes’ reign, during the first month, the month of Nisan, a pur (which means “a lot”) was cast before Haman for every day and every month of the year, until Adar, the twelfth month, was chosen.

8 Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a group of people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of all the other people. They do not keep the laws of the king. It is not good for the king to allow them to get away with this. 9 If the king agrees, a directive should be written to destroy them. I will weigh out ten thousand talents [3] of silver to the treasury of the king for those who carry out this work.”

10 The king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the man opposing the Jews. 11 The king said to Haman, “The silver will be given to you, [4] as well as the people. Do with them whatever seems good to you.”

12 In the first month, on the thirteenth day, the king’s scribes were summoned. A decree based on everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps, [5] to the governors over each province, and to the officials of every people. The decree was sent to each province in its own writing system and to each people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the king’s signet ring.

13 The letters were sent by courier to all the provinces of the king to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, including children and women, and to plunder their goods in one day, on the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month. 14 A copy of the decree was to be proclaimed as a law to all the peoples in every province, so that they could be ready for that day.

15 The couriers went out, spurred on by the word of the king. The law was issued in Susa, the citadel. The king and Haman sat down to drink. The city of Susa was perplexed and confused.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Esther 2:1-18 (EHV)

1 When King Xerxes was no longer so angry, he remembered what Vashti had done and what had been decreed about her.

2 The young men who served as attendants to the king said, “Search for good-looking, young virgins for the king. 3 Let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of the kingdom to do this. Gather all the good-looking, young virgins into the citadel at Susa, to the harem under the supervision of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, the overseer of the women. Give them beauty treatments. 4 The young woman who pleases the king should be queen instead of Vashti.” The king agreed and implemented the plan.

5 In the citadel at Susa there was a Jew named Mordecai, who was the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish the Benjaminite. 6 Kish had been taken from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon with the other captives who were exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah. [1]

7 Mordecai had raised his cousin Hadassah (also called Esther) because she had no father or mother. She was shapely and good-looking. When her father and mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his daughter.

8 When the king’s order and edict had been proclaimed, and many young women had been gathered into the citadel of Susa under the supervision of Hegai, Esther was taken to the king’s palace, to Hegai, who was in charge of the harem. 9 She pleased Hegai and gained his favor. He quickly provided her with beauty treatments and food. He assigned a good position in the harem to her and to the seven female attendants picked out for her from the king’s palace.

10 Esther had not revealed her nationality or her family background because Mordecai had told her not to do so.

11 Every day Mordecai walked back and forth in front of the harem, to learn about Esther’s well-being and about what was going to be done with her.

12 Every young woman received a turn to go to King Xerxes after she had received the prescribed twelve months of beauty treatments. For six months they used oil of myrrh; for six months perfumes and other beauty treatments for women. 13 Then the young woman went to the king. Everything she desired was given to her when she went from the harem to the king’s palace. 14 She went to the king in the evening. In the morning she returned to the second harem, under the supervision of Sha’ashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She did not return to the king unless he was delighted with her and she was summoned by name.

15 Esther was the daughter of Abihail, Mordecai’s uncle. Mordecai had adopted her.

When her turn came to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the harem, had advised. Esther won the approval of everyone watching her.

16 Esther was taken to King Xerxes at the royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, during the seventh year [2] of his reign.

17 The king loved Esther more than he loved all the other women. She won his favor and approval more than all the other virgins did. He placed the crown of the kingdom on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

18 The king gave a great banquet in honor of Esther for all his officials and administrators. He declared a tax holiday for the provinces and gave gifts as only the king could give.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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