the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
December 21 - Old & New Testament
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Esther 3,4,5
Haman's Plan to Kill the Jews
1 After all this took place, King Ahasuerus honored Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite.(a) He promoted him in rank and gave him a higher position than all the other officials.(b) 2 The entire royal staff at the King's Gate(c) bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded this to be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.(d) 3 The members of the royal staff at the King's Gate asked Mordecai, "Why are you disobeying the king's command?" 4 When they had warned him day after day(e) and he still would not listen to them, they told Haman to see if Mordecai's actions would be tolerated, since he had told them he was a Jew.
5 When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down or paying him homage, he was filled with rage.(f) 6 And when he learned of Mordecai's ethnic identity, Haman decided not to do away with[a] Mordecai alone. He planned to destroy all of Mordecai's people, the Jews,(g) throughout Ahasuerus's kingdom.(h)
7 In the first month, the month of Nisan,[b] in King Ahasuerus's twelfth year,[c](i) Pur (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman for each day in each month, and it fell on the twelfth month,(j) the month Adar.[d](k) 8 Then Haman informed King Ahasuerus, "There is one ethnic group, scattered throughout the peoples in every province of your kingdom,(l) yet living in isolation. Their laws are different from everyone else's and they do not obey the king's laws.(m) It is not in the king's best interest to tolerate them.(n) 9 If the king approves, let an order be drawn up authorizing their destruction, and I will pay 375 tons of silver to[e] the accountants for deposit in the royal treasury."(o)
10 The king removed his signet ring(p) from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jewish people.(q) 11 Then the king told Haman, "The money and people are given to you to do with as you see fit."
12 The royal scribes were summoned(r) on the thirteenth day of the first month, and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded. It was intended for the royal satraps,(s) the governors of each of the provinces, and the officials of each ethnic group and written for each province in its own script and to each ethnic group in its own language.(t) It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus(u) and sealed with the royal signet ring.(v) 13 Letters were sent by couriers(w) to each of the royal provinces telling the officials to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jewish people—young and old, women and children—and plunder their possessions on a single day,(x) the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.[f]
14 A copy of the text, issued as law throughout every province, was distributed to all the peoples so that they might get ready for that day. 15 The couriers left, spurred on by royal command, and the law was issued in the fortress of Susa.(y) The king and Haman sat down to drink, while the city of Susa was in confusion.(z)
Mordecai Appeals to Esther
1 When Mordecai learned all that had occurred,(a) he tore his clothes,(b) put on sackcloth and ashes,(c) went into the middle of the city, and cried loudly and bitterly.(d) 2 He only went as far as the King's Gate,(e) since the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering the King's Gate. 3 There was great mourning among the Jewish people in every province where the king's command and edict(f) came. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.(g)
4 Esther's female servants and her eunuchs came and reported the news to her, and the queen was overcome with fear.(h) She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear so he could take off his sackcloth, but he did not accept them. 5 Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs assigned to her, and dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what he was doing and why.[a] 6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the King's Gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened as well as the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay the royal treasury for the slaughter of the Jews.(i)
8 Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa ordering their destruction, so that Hathach might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and command her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead with him personally for her people.(j) 9 Hathach came and repeated Mordecai's response to Esther.
10 Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to tell Mordecai, 11 "All the royal officials and the people of the royal provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard(k) and who has not been summoned—the death penalty.(l) Only if the king extends the gold scepter will that person live.(m) I have not been summoned to appear before the king(n) for the last[b] 30 days." 12 Esther's response was reported to Mordecai.
13 Mordecai told the messenger to reply to Esther, "Don't think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king's palace. 14 If you keep silent at this time, liberation and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place,(o) but you and your father's house will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this."(p)
15 Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 "Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don't eat or drink for three days,(q) day or night. I and my female servants will also fast(r) in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law.(s) If I perish, I perish."(t) 17 So Mordecai went and did everything Esther had ordered him.
Esther Approaches the King
1 On the third day,(a) Esther dressed up in her royal clothing and stood in the inner courtyard(b) of the palace facing it. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal courtroom, facing its entrance. 2 As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, she won his approval.[a] The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter.(c)
3 "What is it, Queen Esther?" the king asked her. "Whatever you want, even to half the kingdom, will be given to you."(d)
4 "If it pleases the king," Esther replied, "may the king and Haman come today to the banquet(e) I have prepared for them."
5 The king commanded, "Hurry, and get Haman so we can do as Esther has requested." So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared.
6 While drinking the[b] wine,(f) the king asked Esther, "Whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you want, even to half the kingdom, will be done."
7 Esther answered, "This is my petition and my request: 8 If the king approves of me[c] and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and perform my request,(g) may the king and Haman come to the banquet I will prepare for them.(h) Tomorrow I will do what the king has asked."
9 That day Haman left full of joy and in good spirits.[d](i) But when Haman saw Mordecai at the King's Gate, and Mordecai didn't rise or tremble in fear at his presence, Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai.(j) 10 Yet Haman controlled himself and went home. He sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh(k) to join him. 11 Then Haman described for them his glorious wealth and his many sons. He told them all how the king had honored him and promoted him in rank over the other officials and the royal staff.(l) 12 "What's more," Haman added, "Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she had prepared. I am invited again tomorrow to join her with the king. 13 Still, none of this satisfies me since I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the King's Gate all the time."
14 His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, "Have them build a gallows 75 feet[e] high.(m) Ask the king in the morning to hang Mordecai on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself." The advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows constructed.(n)
Revelation 12
Chapter 12
The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon
1 A great sign[a] appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head.(a) 2 She was pregnant and cried out in labor and agony as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign[b] appeared in heaven: There was a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns,(b) and on his heads were seven diadems.[c] 4 His tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth.(c) And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she did give birth he might devour her child. 5 But she gave birth to a Son—a male who is going to shepherd[d] all nations with an iron scepter(d)—and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God,(e) to be fed there[e] for 1,260 days.(f)
The Dragon Thrown Out of Heaven
7 Then war broke out in heaven: Michael(g) and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, 8 but he could not prevail, and there was no place for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent,(h) who is called the Devil[f] and Satan,[g](i) the one who deceives the whole world.(j) He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
The salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of His Messiah
have now come,
because the accuser(k) of our brothers
has been thrown out:
the one who accuses them
before our God day and night.
11 They conquered him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
for they did not love their lives
in the face of death.(l)
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens,
and you who dwell in them!
Woe to the earth and the sea,
for the Devil has come down to you
with great fury,
because he knows he has a short time.
The Woman Persecuted
13 When the dragon saw that he had been thrown to earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent's presence to her place in the wilderness, where she was fed for a time, times, and half a time.[h](m) 15 From his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river flowing after the woman, to sweep her away in a torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon had spewed from his mouth. 17 So the dragon was furious with the woman and left to wage war(n) against the rest of her offspring[i]—those who keep God's commands and have the testimony about Jesus.(o) 18 He[j] stood on the sand of the sea.[k]
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