Day 251 of 365

Esth 6:1–7:10

6:1 On that night, the king couldn't sleep. He commanded the book of records of the chronicles to be brought, and they were read to the king.

6:2 It was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who were doorkeepers, who had tried to lay hands on the King Ahasuerus.

6:3 The king said, "What honor and dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?" Then the king's servants who attended him said, "Nothing has been done for him."

6:4 The king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had come into the outer court of the king's house, to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

6:5 The king's servants said to him, "Behold, Haman stands in the court." The king said, "Let him come in."

6:6 So Haman came in. The king said to him, "What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?" Now Haman said in his heart, "Who would the king delight to honor more than myself?"

6:7 Haman said to the king, "For the man whom the king delights to honor,

6:8 let royal clothing be brought which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides on, and on the head of which a crown royal is set.

6:9 Let the clothing and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that they may array the man whom the king delights to honor with them, and have him ride on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, 'Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!'"

6:10 Then the king said to Haman, "Hurry and take the clothing and the horse, as you have said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate. Let nothing fail of all that you have spoken."

6:11 Then Haman took the clothing and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and had him ride through the city square, and proclaimed before him, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!"

6:12 Mordecai came back to the king's gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning and having his head covered.

6:13 Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him, but you will surely fall before him."

6:14 While they were yet talking with him, the king's eunuchs came, and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

7:1 So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.

7:2 The king said again to Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, "What is your petition, queen Esther? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed."

7:3 Then Esther the queen answered, "If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.

7:4 For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondservants and bondmaids, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king's loss."

7:5 Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen, "Who is he, and where is he who dared presume in his heart to do so?"

7:6 Esther said, "An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman!" Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.

7:7 The king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden. Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.

7:8 Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman had fallen on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, "Will he even assault the queen in front of me in the house?" As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.

7:9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were with the king said, "Behold, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman has made for Mordecai, who spoke good for the king, is standing at Haman's house." The king said, "Hang him on it!"

7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.

Rom 11:21–36

21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

22 See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off.

23 They also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

24 For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

25 For I do not desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won't be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,

26 and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, "There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

27 This is my covenant to them, when I will take away their sins."

28 Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sake.

29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

30 For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience,

31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may also obtain mercy.

32 For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.

33 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!

34 "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"

35 "Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?"

36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.

Ps 107:1–43

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.

2 Let the redeemed by the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary,

3 And gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way. They found no city to live in.

5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.

6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses,

7 he led them also by a straight way, that they might go to a city to live in.

8 Let them praise the Lord for his loving kindness, for his wonderful works to the children of men!

9 For he satisfies the longing soul. He fills the hungry soul with good.

10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,

11 because they rebelled against the words of God, and condemned the counsel of the Most High.

12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was none to help.

13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.

14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their bonds in sunder.

15 Let them praise the Lord for his loving kindness, for his wonderful works to the children of men!

16 For he has broken the gates of brass, and cut through bars of iron.

17 Fools are afflicted because of their disobedience, and because of their iniquities.

18 Their soul abhors all kinds of food. They draw near to the gates of death.

19 Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, he saves them out of their distresses.

20 He sends his word, and heals them, and delivers them from their graves.

21 Let them praise the Lord for his loving kindness, for his wonderful works to the children of men!

22 Let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with singing.

23 Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters;

24 These see the Lord's works, and his wonders in the deep.

25 For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up its waves.

26 They mount up to the sky; they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts away because of trouble.

27 They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.

28 Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distress.

29 He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still.

30 Then they are glad because it is calm, so he brings them to their desired haven.

31 Let them praise the Lord for his loving kindness, for his wonderful works for the children of men!

32 Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people, and praise him in the seat of the elders.

33 He turns rivers into a desert, water springs into a thirsty ground,

34 and a fruitful land into a salt waste, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.

35 He turns a desert into a pool of water, and a dry land into water springs.

36 There he makes the hungry live, that they may prepare a city to live in,

37 sow fields, plant vineyards, and reap the fruits of increase.

38 He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly. He doesn't allow their livestock to decrease.

39 Again, they are diminished and bowed down through oppression, trouble, and sorrow.

40 He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in a trackless waste.

41 Yet he lifts the needy out of their affliction, and increases their families like a flock.

42 The upright will see it, and be glad. All the wicked will shut their mouths.

43 Whoever is wise will pay attention to these things. They will consider the loving kindnesses of the Lord.