Day 132: Esther 5-7

Courage Before the Throne, Pride Before the Fall, and Justice Turned Upside Down

Esther 5

1 Now on the third day, Esther put on her royal clothing, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, opposite the king’s house. The king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, opposite the entrance of the house.

2 When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight; and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther came near, and touched the top of the scepter.

3 Then the king said to her, “What is it, queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you even to the half of the kingdom.”

4 Esther said, “If it seems good to the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.”

5 Then the king said, “Cause Haman to come quickly, that it may be done as Esther has said.” So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

6 The king said to Esther at the banquet of wine, “What is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.”

7 Then Esther answered and said, “My petition and my request is this:

8 If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.”

9 Then Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he neither stood up nor moved for him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai.

10 Nevertheless Haman restrained himself, and went home, and sent and called for his friends and Zeresh his wife.

11 Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children, all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.

12 Haman also said, “Yes, Esther the queen let no man come in with the king to the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and tomorrow I am invited by her also with the king.

13 Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

14 Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak to the king that Mordecai may be hanged on it. Then go in merrily with the king to the banquet.” This pleased Haman, and he caused the gallows to be made.

Esther 6

1 On that night, the king couldn’t sleep; and he commanded the book of records of the chronicles to be brought, and they were read before the king.

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

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.”

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 to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

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

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, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than myself?”

7 Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor,

8 let royal clothing be brought which the king wears, and the horse that the king rides on, and on whose head a royal crown is set.

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, ‘This is what shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’”

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

11 Then Haman took the clothing and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “This is what shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!”

12 Mordecai came back to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and having his head covered.

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.”

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.

Esther 7

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

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.”

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

4 For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to perish. But if we had been sold for male and female slaves, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king’s loss.”

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?”

6 Esther said, “An adversary and enemy, even this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.

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.

8 Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was 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.

9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were before the king, said, “Behold, also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman has made for Mordecai, who spoke good for the king, stands at Haman’s house.” The king said, “Hang him on it!”

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

Scripture: World English Bible (WEB), public domain.