nkjv Esther:7-10 SEEK
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So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther .
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And on the second day ,
at the banquet of wine ,
the king again said to Esther , "
What is your petition ,
Queen Esther ?
It shall be granted you .
And what is your request ,
up to half the kingdom ?
It shall be done !"
*
Then Queen Esther answered and said , "
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 .
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For we have been sold ,
my people and I ,
to be destroyed ,
to be killed ,
and to be annihilated .
Had we been sold as male and female slaves ,
I would have held my tongue ,
although the enemy could never compensate for the king '
s loss ."
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So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther , "
Who is he ,
and where is he ,
who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing ?"
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And Esther said , "
The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman !"
So Haman was terrified before the king and queen .
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Then the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden ;
but Haman stood before Queen Esther ,
pleading for his life ,
for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king .
*
When the king returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine ,
Haman had fallen across the couch where Esther was .
Then the king said , "
Will he also assault the queen while I am in the house ?"
As the word left the king '
s mouth ,
they covered Haman '
s face .
*
Now Harbonah ,
one of the eunuchs ,
said to the king , "
Look !
The gallows ,
fifty cubits high ,
which Haman made for Mordecai ,
who spoke good on the king '
s behalf ,
is standing at the house of Haman ."
Then the king said , "
Hang him on it !"
*
So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai .
Then the king '
s wrath subsided .
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On that day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman ,
the enemy of the Jews .
And Mordecai came before the king ,
for Esther had told how he was related to her .
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So the king took off his signet ring ,
which he had taken from Haman ,
and gave it to Mordecai ;
and Esther appointed Mordecai over the house of Haman .
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Now Esther spoke again to the king ,
fell down at his feet ,
and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of Haman the Agagite ,
and the scheme which he had devised against the Jews .
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And the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther .
So Esther arose and stood before the king ,
*
and said , "
If it pleases the king ,
and if I have found favor in his sight and the thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes ,
let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman ,
the son of Hammedatha the Agagite ,
which he wrote to annihilate the Jews who are in all the king '
s provinces .
*
For how can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people ?
Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my countrymen ?"
*
Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew , "
Indeed ,
I have given Esther the house of Haman ,
and they have hanged him on the gallows because he tried to lay his hand on the Jews .
*
You yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews ,
as you please ,
in the king '
s name ,
and seal it with the king '
s signet ring ;
for whatever is written in the king '
s name and sealed with the king '
s signet ring no one can revoke ."
*
So the king '
s scribes were called at that time ,
in the third month ,
which is the month of Sivan ,
on the twenty-third day ;
and it was written ,
according to all that Mordecai commanded ,
to the Jews ,
the satraps ,
the governors ,
and the princes of the provinces from India to Ethiopia ,
one hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all ,
to every province in its own script ,
to every people in their own language ,
and to the Jews in their own script and language .
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And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus ,
sealed it with the king '
s signet ring ,
and sent letters by couriers on horseback ,
riding on royal horses bred from swift steeds .
*
By these letters the king permitted the Jews who were in every city to gather together and protect their lives--to destroy ,
kill ,
and annihilate all the forces of any people or province that would assault them ,
both little children and women ,
and to plunder their possessions ,
*
on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus ,
on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month ,
which is the month of Adar .
*
A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province and published for all people ,
so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies .
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The couriers who rode on royal horses went out ,
hastened and pressed on by the king '
s command .
And the decree was issued in Shushan the citadel .
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So Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white ,
with a great crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple ;
and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad .
*
The Jews had light and gladness ,
joy and honor .
*
And in every province and city ,
wherever the king '
s command and decree came ,
the Jews had joy and gladness ,
a feast and a holiday .
Then many of the people of the land became Jews ,
because fear of the Jews fell upon them .
*
Now in the twelfth month ,
that is ,
the month of Adar ,
on the thirteenth day ,
the time came for the king '
s command and his decree to be executed .
On the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them ,
the opposite occurred ,
in that the Jews themselves overpowered those who hated them .
*
The Jews gathered together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm .
And no one could withstand them ,
because fear of them fell upon all people .
*
And all the officials of the provinces ,
the satraps ,
the governors ,
and all those doing the king '
s work ,
helped the Jews ,
because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them .
*
For Mordecai was great in the king '
s palace ,
and his fame spread throughout all the provinces ;
for this man Mordecai became increasingly prominent .
*
Thus the Jews defeated all their enemies with the stroke of the sword ,
with slaughter and destruction ,
and did what they pleased with those who hated them .
*
And in Shushan the citadel the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men .
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Also Parshandatha ,
Dalphon ,
Aspatha ,
*
Poratha ,
Adalia ,
Aridatha ,
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Parmashta ,
Arisai ,
Aridai ,
and Vajezatha --
*
the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha ,
the enemy of the Jews--they killed ;
but they did not lay a hand on the plunder .
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On that day the number of those who were killed in Shushan the citadel was brought to the king .
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And the king said to Queen Esther , "
The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the citadel ,
and the ten sons of Haman .
What have they done in the rest of the king '
s provinces ?
Now what is your petition ?
It shall be granted to you .
Or what is your further request ?
It shall be done ."
*
Then Esther said , "
If it pleases the king ,
let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do again tomorrow according to today '
s decree ,
and let Haman '
s ten sons be hanged on the gallows ."
*
So the king commanded this to be done ;
the decree was issued in Shushan ,
and they hanged Haman '
s ten sons .
*
And the Jews who were in Shushan gathered together again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men at Shushan ;
but they did not lay a hand on the plunder .
*
The remainder of the Jews in the king '
s provinces gathered together and protected their lives ,
had rest from their enemies ,
and killed seventy-five thousand of their enemies ;
but they did not lay a hand on the plunder .
*
This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar .
And on the fourteenth of the month they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness .
*
But the Jews who were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day ,
as well as on the fourteenth ;
and on the fifteenth of the month they rested ,
and made it a day of feasting and gladness .
*
Therefore the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the unwalled towns celebrated the fourteenth day of the month of Adar with gladness and feasting ,
as a holiday ,
and for sending presents to one another .
*
And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews ,
near and far ,
who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus ,
*
to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar ,
*
as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies ,
as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them ,
and from mourning to a holiday ;
that they should make them days of feasting and joy ,
of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor .
*
So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun ,
as Mordecai had written to them ,
*
because Haman ,
the son of Hammedatha the Agagite ,
the enemy of all the Jews ,
had plotted against the Jews to annihilate them ,
and had cast Pur (
that is ,
the lot ),
to consume them and destroy them ;
*
but when Esther came before the king ,
he commanded by letter that this wicked plot which Haman had devised against the Jews should return on his own head ,
and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows .
*
So they called these days Purim ,
after the name Pur .
Therefore ,
because of all the words of this letter ,
what they had seen concerning this matter ,
and what had happened to them ,
*
the Jews established and imposed it upon themselves and their descendants and all who would join them ,
that without fail they should celebrate these two days every year ,
according to the written instructions and according to the prescribed time ,
*
that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation ,
every family ,
every province ,
and every city ,
that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews ,
and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants .
*
Then Queen Esther ,
the daughter of Abihail ,
with Mordecai the Jew ,
wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim .
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And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews ,
to the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus ,
with words of peace and truth ,
*
to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time ,
as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had prescribed for them ,
and as they had decreed for themselves and their descendants concerning matters of their fasting and lamenting .
*
So the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim ,
and it was written in the book .
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And King Ahasuerus imposed tribute on the land and on the islands of the sea .
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Now all the acts of his power and his might ,
and the account of the greatness of Mordecai ,
to which the king advanced him ,
are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia ?
*
For Mordecai the Jew was second to King Ahasuerus ,
and was great among the Jews and well received by the multitude of his brethren ,
seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen .