Day 248 of 365

Esth 2:1–23

1 After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.

2 Then the king's servants who served him said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king.

3 Let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the beautiful young virgins to the citadel of Susa, to the women's house, to the custody of Hegai the king's eunuch, keeper of the women. Let cosmetics be given them;

4 and let the maiden who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti." The thing pleased the king, and he did so.

5 There was a certain Jew in the citadel of Susa, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite,

6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.

7 He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter; for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

8 So it happened, when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together to the citadel of Susa, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken into the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.

9 The maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from him. He quickly gave her cosmetics and her portions of food, and the seven choice maidens who were to be given her out of the king's house. He moved her and her maidens to the best place in the women's house.

10 Esther had not made known her people nor her relatives, because Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make it known.

11 Mordecai walked every day in front of the court of the women's house, to find out how Esther did, and what would become of her.

12 Each young woman's turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after her purification for twelve months (for so were the days of their purification accomplished, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet fragrances and with preparations for beautifying women).

13 The young woman then came to the king like this: whatever she desired was given her to go with her out of the women's house to the king's house.

14 In the evening she went, and on the next day she returned into the second women's house, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch, who kept the concubines. She came in to the king no more, unless the king delighted in her, and she was called by name.

15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's eunuch, the keeper of the women, advised. Esther obtained favor in the sight of all those who looked at her.

16 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

17 The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

18 Then the king made a great feast for all his princes and his servants, even Esther's feast; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces, and gave gifts according to the king's bounty.

19 When the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate.

20 Esther had not yet made known her relatives nor her people, as Mordecai had commanded her; for Esther obeyed Mordecai, like she did when she was brought up by him.

21 In those days, while Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate, two of the king's eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, who were doorkeepers, were angry, and sought to lay hands on the King Ahasuerus.

22 This thing became known to Mordecai, who informed Esther the queen; and Esther informed the king in Mordecai's name.

23 When this matter was investigated, and it was found to be so, they were both hanged on a tree; and it was written in the book of the chronicles in the king's presence.

Rom 9:1–33

1 I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit,

2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.

3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers' sake, my relatives according to the flesh,

4 who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises;

5 of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.

6 But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel.

7 Neither, because they are Abraham's seed, are they all children. But, "In Isaac will your seed be called."

8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as a seed.

9 For this is a word of promise, "At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son."

10 Not only so, but Rebekah also conceived by one, by our father Isaac.

11 For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls,

12 it was said to her, "The elder will serve the younger."

13 Even as it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be!

15 For he said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy.

17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

18 So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.

19 You will say then to me, "Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?"

20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?"

21 Or hasn't the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor?

22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath made for destruction,

23 and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory,

24 us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?

25 As he says also in Hosea, "I will call them 'my people,' which were not my people; and her 'beloved,' who was not beloved."

26 "It will be that in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' There they will be called 'children of the living God.'"

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "If the number of the sons of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved;

28 for the Lord will fulfill his word completely and without delay upon the earth."

29 As Isaiah has said before, "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and would have been made like Gomorrah."

30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who did not follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith;

31 but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.

32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone;

33 even as it is written, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock that will make them fall; and no one who believes in him will be put to shame."

Job 10:13–22

13 Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you:

14 if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity.

15 If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.

16 If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me.

17 You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me.

18 "'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.

19 I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

20 Aren't my days few? Cease then. Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,

21 before I go where I shall not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;

22 the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight.'"