Daily Devotions · October 5

Reading for October 5

Read the whole Bible in a year, a few chapters a day.

Esther 3–8 · Luke 18

Esther 3

After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were with him. ² All the royal servants at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded that this be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage. ³ Then the royal servants at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the command of the king?” ⁴ Day after day they warned him, but he would not comply. So they reported it to Haman to see whether Mordecai’s behavior would be tolerated, since he had told them he was a Jew. ⁵ When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or pay him homage, he was filled with rage. ⁶ And when he learned the identity of Mordecai’s people, he scorned the notion of laying hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he sought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the kingdom of Xerxes. ⁷ In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the Pur (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman to determine a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar. ⁸ Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. ⁹ If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will deposit ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury to pay those who carry it out.” ¹⁰ So the king removed the signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. ¹¹ “Keep your money,” said the king to Haman. “These people are given to you to do with them as you please.” ¹² On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the officials of each people, in the script of each province and the language of every people. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring. ¹³ And the letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces with the order to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—and to plunder their possessions on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month. ¹⁴ A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that they would be ready on that day. ¹⁵ The couriers left, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.

Esther 4

When Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. ² But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering that gate. ³ In every province to which the king’s command and edict came, there was great mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. ⁴ When Esther’s maidens and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, the queen was overcome with distress. She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. ⁵ Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs appointed to her, and she dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what was troubling him and why. ⁶ So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the king’s gate, ⁷ and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury in order to destroy the Jews. ⁸ Mordecai also gave Hathach a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for the destruction of the Jews, to show and explain to Esther, urging her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead before him for her people. ⁹ So Hathach went back and relayed Mordecai’s response to Esther. ¹⁰ Then Esther spoke to Hathach and instructed him to tell Mordecai, ¹¹ “All the royal officials and the people of the king’s provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned—that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the gold scepter may that person live. But I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the past thirty days.” ¹² When Esther’s words were relayed to Mordecai, ¹³ he sent back to her this reply: “Do not imagine that because you are in the king’s palace you alone will escape the fate of all the Jews. ¹⁴ For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” ¹⁵ Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!” ¹⁷ So Mordecai went and did all that Esther had instructed him.

Esther 5

On the third day, Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace across from the king’s quarters. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal courtroom, facing the entrance. ² As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she found favor in his sight. The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter. ³ “What is it, Queen Esther?” the king inquired. “What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given to you.” ⁴ “If it pleases the king,” Esther replied, “may the king and Haman come today to the banquet I have prepared for the king.” ⁵ “Hurry,” commanded the king, “and bring Haman, so we can do as Esther has requested.” So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared. ⁶ And as they drank their wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.” ⁷ Esther replied, “This is my petition and my request: ⁸ If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, may the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.” ⁹ That day Haman went out full of joy and glad of heart. At the king’s gate, however, he saw Mordecai, who did not rise or tremble in fear at his presence. And Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai. ¹⁰ Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. And calling for his friends and his wife Zeresh, ¹¹ Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants. ¹² “What is more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she prepared, and I am invited back tomorrow along with the king. ¹³ Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” ¹⁴ His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows fifty cubits high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows constructed.

Esther 6

That night sleep escaped the king; so he ordered the Book of Records, the Chronicles, to be brought in and read to him. ² And there it was found recorded that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the king’s entrance, when they had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. ³ The king inquired, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this act?” “Nothing has been done for him,” replied the king’s attendants. ⁴ “Who is in the court?” the king asked. Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him. ⁵ So the king’s attendants answered him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” “Bring him in,” ordered the king. ⁶ Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor?” Now Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king be delighted to honor more than me?” ⁷ And Haman told the king, “For the man whom the king is delighted to honor, ⁸ have them bring a royal robe that the king himself has worn and a horse on which the king himself has ridden—one with a royal crest placed on its head. ⁹ Let the robe and the horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them array the man the king wants to honor and parade him on the horse through the city square, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor!’” ¹⁰ “Hurry,” said the king to Haman, “and do just as you proposed. Take the robe and the horse to Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything that you have suggested.” ¹¹ So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai, and paraded him through the city square, crying out before him, “This is what is done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor!” ¹² Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief. ¹³ Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is Jewish, you will not prevail against him—for surely you will fall before him.” ¹⁴ While they were still speaking with Haman, the king’s eunuchs arrived and rushed him to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

Esther 7

So the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen, ² and as they drank their wine on that second day, the king asked once more, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.” ³ Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my request. ⁴ For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.” ⁵ Then King Xerxes spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?” ⁶ Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man—Haman!” And Haman stood in terror before the king and queen. ⁷ In his fury, the king arose from drinking his wine and went to the palace garden, while Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king was planning a terrible fate for him. ⁸ Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually assault the queen while I am in the palace?” As soon as the words had left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. ⁹ Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.” “Hang him on it!” declared the king. ¹⁰ So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

Esther 8

That same day King Xerxes awarded Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed his relation to her. ² The king removed the signet ring he had recovered from Haman and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai over the estate of Haman. ³ And once again, Esther addressed the king. She fell at his feet weeping and begged him to revoke the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. ⁴ The king extended the gold scepter toward Esther, and she arose and stood before the king. ⁵ “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if I have found favor in his sight, and the matter seems proper to the king, and I am pleasing in his sight, may an order be written to revoke the letters that the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. ⁶ For how could I bear to see the disaster that would befall my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?” ⁷ So King Xerxes said to Esther the Queen and Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews. ⁸ Now you may write in the king’s name as you please regarding the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring. For a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.” ⁹ At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush—writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language. ¹⁰ Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal mares. ¹¹ By these letters the king permitted the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province hostile to them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions. ¹² The single day appointed throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. ¹³ A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. ¹⁴ The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses, pressed on by the command of the king. And the edict was also issued in the citadel of Susa. ¹⁵ Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal garments of blue and white, with a large gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. ¹⁶ For the Jews it was a time of light and gladness, of joy and honor. ¹⁷ In every province and every city, wherever the king’s edict and decree reached, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many of the people of the land themselves became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

Luke 18

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart: ² “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected men. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept appealing to him, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect men, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice. Otherwise, she will wear me out with her perpetual requests.’” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to the words of the unjust judge. ⁷ Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay in helping them? ⁸ I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” ⁹ To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’ ¹³ But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” ¹⁵ Now people were even bringing their babies to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them. And when the disciples saw this, they rebuked those who brought them. ¹⁶ But Jesus called the children to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷ Truly I tell you, anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁸ Then a certain ruler asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁹ “Why do you call Me good?” Jesus replied. “No one is good except God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.’” ²¹ “All these I have kept from my youth,” he said. ²² On hearing this, Jesus told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” ²³ But when the ruler heard this, he became very sad, because he was extremely wealthy. ²⁴ Seeing the man’s sadness, Jesus said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ Indeed, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” ²⁷ But Jesus said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” ²⁸ “Look,” said Peter, “we have left all we had to follow You.” ²⁹ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God ³⁰ will fail to receive many times more in this age—and in the age to come, eternal life.” ³¹ Then Jesus took the Twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything the prophets have written about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. ³² He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. ³³ They will flog Him and kill Him, and on the third day He will rise again.” ³⁴ But the disciples did not understand any of these things. The meaning was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend what He was saying. ³⁵ As Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting beside the road, begging. ³⁶ When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. ³⁷ “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by,” they told him. ³⁸ So he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ³⁹ Those who led the way admonished him to be silent, but he cried out all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁰ Jesus stopped and directed that the man be brought to Him. When he had come near, Jesus asked him, ⁴¹ “What do you want Me to do for you?” “Lord,” he said, “let me see again.” ⁴² “Receive your sight!” Jesus replied. “Your faith has healed you.” ⁴³ Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain.

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Esther 3–8 · Luke 18, Berean Standard Bible