The King Honors Mordecai

6 That night the king had trouble sleeping, so he ordered an attendant to bring the book of the history of his reign so it could be read to him.

¹⁸ Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

2 One night during the second year of his reign,^[a] Nebuchadnezzar had such disturbing dreams that he couldn’t sleep.

²³ When an investigation was made and Mordecai’s story was found to be true, the two men were impaled on a sharpened pole. This was all recorded in The Book of the History of King Xerxes’ Reign.

³³ Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!

² His great achievements and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Media and Persia.

²⁶ Saul and David were now on opposite sides of a mountain. Just as Saul and his men began to close in on David and his men, ²⁷ an urgent message reached Saul that the Philistines were raiding Israel again.

¹⁴ Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

The Lord’s Promise of Mercy

¹⁶ Then those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name.