Esther 7-8

New International Version

Haman Impaled

7 So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet,^(A) ²and as they were drinking wine^(B) on the second day, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom,^(C) it will be granted.^(D)”

³Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor^(E) with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. ⁴For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated.^(F) If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.^[a]”

⁵King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?”

⁶Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!”

Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. ⁷The king got up in a rage,^(G) left his wine and went out into the palace garden.^(H) But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate,^(I) stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.

⁸Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch^(J) where Esther was reclining.^(K)

The king exclaimed, “Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?”^(L)

As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.^(M) ⁹Then Harbona,^(N) one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits^[b]^(O) stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.”

The king said, “Impale him on it!”^(P) ¹⁰So they impaled^(Q) Haman^(R) on the pole^(S) he had set up for Mordecai.^(T) Then the king’s fury subsided.^(U)

The King’s Edict in Behalf of the Jews

8 That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman,^(V) the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. ²The king took off his signet ring,^(W) which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate.^(X)

³Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite,^(Y) which he had devised against the Jews. ⁴Then the king extended the gold scepter^(Z) to Esther and she arose and stood before him.

⁵“If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor^(AA) and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. ⁶For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”^(AB)

⁷King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled^(AC) him on the pole he set up. ⁸Now write another decree^(AD) in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal^(AE) it with the king’s signet ring^(AF)—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”^(AG)

⁹At once the royal secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush.^[c]^(AH) These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language.^(AI) ¹⁰Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.

¹¹The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children,^[d] and to plunder^(AJ) the property of their enemies. ¹²The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.^(AK) ¹³A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day^(AL) to avenge themselves on their enemies.

¹⁴The couriers, riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.^(AM)

The Triumph of the Jews

¹⁵When Mordecai^(AN) left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold^(AO) and a purple robe of fine linen.^(AP) And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration.^(AQ) ¹⁶For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy,^(AR) gladness and honor.^(AS) ¹⁷In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy^(AT) and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear^(AU) of the Jews had seized them.^(AV)

Footnotes

Esther 7:4 Or quiet, but the compensation our adversary offers cannot be compared with the loss the king would suffer
Esther 7:9 That is, about 75 feet or about 23 meters
Esther 8:9 That is, the upper Nile region
Esther 8:11 Or province, together with their women and children, who might attack them;

Job 30

New International Version

30 “But now they mock me,^(A)
    men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to put with my sheep dogs.^(B)
²Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
    since their vigor had gone from them?
³Haggard from want and hunger,
    they roamed^[a] the parched land^(C)
    in desolate wastelands^(D) at night.^(E)
⁴In the brush they gathered salt herbs,^(F)
    and their food^[b] was the root of the broom bush.^(G)
⁵They were banished from human society,
    shouted at as if they were thieves.
⁶They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
    among the rocks and in holes in the ground.^(H)
⁷They brayed^(I) among the bushes^(J)
    and huddled in the undergrowth.
⁸A base and nameless brood,^(K)
    they were driven out of the land.^(L)

⁹“And now those young men mock me^(M) in song;^(N)
    I have become a byword^(O) among them.
¹⁰They detest me^(P) and keep their distance;
    they do not hesitate to spit in my face.^(Q)
¹¹Now that God has unstrung my bow^(R) and afflicted me,^(S)
    they throw off restraint^(T) in my presence.
¹²On my right^(U) the tribe^[c] attacks;
    they lay snares^(V) for my feet,^(W)
    they build their siege ramps against me.^(X)
¹³They break up my road;^(Y)
    they succeed in destroying me.^(Z)
    ‘No one can help him,’ they say.
¹⁴They advance as through a gaping breach;^(AA)
    amid the ruins they come rolling in.
¹⁵Terrors^(AB) overwhelm me;^(AC)
    my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
    my safety vanishes like a cloud.^(AD)

¹⁶“And now my life ebbs away;^(AE)
    days of suffering grip me.^(AF)
¹⁷Night pierces my bones;
    my gnawing pains never rest.^(AG)
¹⁸In his great power^(AH) God becomes like clothing to me^[d];
    he binds me like the neck of my garment.
¹⁹He throws me into the mud,^(AI)
    and I am reduced to dust and ashes.^(AJ)

²⁰“I cry out to you,^(AK) God, but you do not answer;^(AL)
    I stand up, but you merely look at me.
²¹You turn on me ruthlessly;^(AM)
    with the might of your hand^(AN) you attack me.^(AO)
²²You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;^(AP)
    you toss me about in the storm.^(AQ)
²³I know you will bring me down to death,^(AR)
    to the place appointed for all the living.^(AS)

²⁴“Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man^(AT)
    when he cries for help in his distress.^(AU)
²⁵Have I not wept for those in trouble?^(AV)
    Has not my soul grieved for the poor?^(AW)
²⁶Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
    when I looked for light, then came darkness.^(AX)
²⁷The churning inside me never stops;^(AY)
    days of suffering confront me.^(AZ)
²⁸I go about blackened,^(BA) but not by the sun;
    I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.^(BB)
²⁹I have become a brother of jackals,^(BC)
    a companion of owls.^(BD)
³⁰My skin grows black^(BE) and peels;^(BF)
    my body burns with fever.^(BG)
³¹My lyre is tuned to mourning,^(BH)
    and my pipe^(BI) to the sound of wailing.

Footnotes

Job 30:3 Or gnawed
Job 30:4 Or fuel
Job 30:12 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Job 30:18 Hebrew; Septuagint power he grasps my clothing

Galatians 5

New International Version

Freedom in Christ

5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.^(A) Stand firm,^(B) then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.^(C)

²Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised,^(D) Christ will be of no value to you at all. ³Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.^(E) ⁴You who are trying to be justified by the law^(F) have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.^(G) ⁵For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.^(H) ⁶For in Christ Jesus^(I) neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.^(J) The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.^(K)

⁷You were running a good race.^(L) Who cut in on you^(M) to keep you from obeying the truth? ⁸That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.^(N) ⁹“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”^(O) ¹⁰I am confident^(P) in the Lord that you will take no other view.^(Q) The one who is throwing you into confusion,^(R) whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. ¹¹Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?^(S) In that case the offense^(T) of the cross has been abolished. ¹²As for those agitators,^(U) I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

Life by the Spirit

¹³You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.^(V) But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh^[a];^(W) rather, serve one another^(X) humbly in love. ¹⁴For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”^[b]^(Y) ¹⁵If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

¹⁶So I say, walk by the Spirit,^(Z) and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.^(AA) ¹⁷For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.^(AB) They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever^[c] you want.^(AC) ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit,^(AD) you are not under the law.^(AE)

¹⁹The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality,^(AF) impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.^(AG) I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.^(AH)

²²But the fruit^(AI) of the Spirit is love,^(AJ) joy, peace,^(AK) forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control.^(AL) Against such things there is no law.^(AM) ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh^(AN) with its passions and desires.^(AO) ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit,^(AP) let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited,^(AQ) provoking and envying each other.

Footnotes

Galatians 5:13 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 16, 17, 19 and 24; and in 6:8.
Galatians 5:14 Lev. 19:18
Galatians 5:17 Or you do not do what