Book of Common Prayer

The Lord is King!^[a]

Sing a new song!^[a]

David wrote this song when he made the Philistine king think that he was crazy. He wanted the king to send him away.^[a]

God is great!^[b]

Haman is angry with Mordecai

3 After some time, King Xerxes gave one of his officers greater authority. The officer's name was Haman. He was the son of Hammedatha, a descendant of Agag. Haman became the most important officer who served the king. ² The king commanded that all the royal officers at the king's gate must bend down low down to Haman. So they all gave Haman honour when he passed them. Only Mordecai would not bend down and give honour to Haman.^[a]

³ The officers at the king's gate asked Mordecai, ‘Why do you not obey the king's command?’ ⁴ They warned Mordecai every day. But he would not agree to bend down low to Haman. So the officers told Haman about this. Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew. So they wanted to know if Haman would let Mordecai do this.

⁵ When Haman realized that Mordecai would not give him honour, he became very angry. ⁶ But he did not want to destroy only Mordecai. Now he knew that Mordecai was a Jew, he decided to destroy all the Jews who lived in Xerxes' whole kingdom.

Haman decides to kill all the Jews

⁷ Haman asked his advisors when would be the right time to make this happen. He asked them in the first month of the year (Nisan), during Xerxes' 12th year as king. Haman's advisors threw dice to decide the right time to destroy the Jews. The dice chose the 12th month of the year (Adar). The dice were called ‘Purim’.

⁸ Then Haman said to King Xerxes, ‘There is a group of people who live in many regions of your kingdom. They have different customs to all the other people. They refuse to obey the laws of your kingdom. It is not good for you to let them live among all the other people in your kingdom. ⁹ If you agree, we should send out a command to destroy them. Then I will give 350 tons of silver to the king, so that your officers can do this work.’^[b]

¹⁰ The king took his special ring from his finger and he gave it to Hammedatha's son, Haman, the Jews' great enemy.^{[c] 11} He said to Haman, ‘Keep your money. You should do anything that you want with these people.’

¹² On the 13th day of the first month, Haman asked the king's secretaries to come to him. They wrote Haman's commands in letters to the king's rulers and officers in every region. They wrote the letters in the languages that people spoke in the different regions. Haman used the authority of King Xerxes and he marked the letters with the king's special ring.^[d]

¹³ Men delivered the letters to all the regions of the kingdom. Haman's command said that on the 13th day of the 12th month (Adar) people should completely destroy and kill all the Jews. They should kill old people and young people, women and children. Then they should take all the Jews' valuable things for themselves. ¹⁴ Haman sent copies of his command to every region, so that it would be read aloud to the people. Everyone would know what the law said, and everyone would be ready on the right day.

¹⁵ King Xerxes told his men to take the letters quickly to all the people. They also read the law to the people in Susa city. Then Haman and the king sat down to drink wine together. But the people in the city were very upset.

Mordecai asks Queen Esther to help the Jews

4 Mordecai discovered what Haman had done. He tore his clothes and he dressed in sackcloth and ashes, because he was very upset. He went into the city. He cried and he wept loudly as he went.

² Nobody who was wearing sackcloth could go into the yard of the palace. So Mordecai stopped at the king's gate. ³ Jews who lived in all the regions of Xerxes' kingdom heard the king's command. So they were very sad. They were weeping and they were fasting.^[e] Many of them lay on sackcloth and ashes.

Listen and do what God wants

¹⁹ Understand this, my Christian friends: We must all be careful to listen. We should not be too quick to speak. We should not get angry quickly. ²⁰ God wants us to do what is right. But when someone is angry, they do not do those right things. ²¹ So stop doing disgusting things. Stay away from the wicked things that are all around you. God has put his message deep inside you, and it can save you. So be careful to accept that message.

²² But be careful to do what God says in his message. Do not only listen to it. Do not make that mistake! ²³ You must obey God's message. Do not be like a man who quickly looks at his face in a mirror. ²⁴ That man looks at himself, but then he goes away. He immediately forgets what he is really like. ²⁵ So do not just listen to God's message and then forget it. It is a completely good message that makes people free. Look at it carefully and keep it in your mind. Do what it tells you to do. God will bless anyone who lives in that way.

²⁶ Maybe some of you think that you are serving God well. But if you also say bad things about people, you do not serve God well at all. You are doing something bad even when you think you are doing good things. ²⁷ If you want to serve God in a completely good way, do things like this: Help children who have no parents and women who are widows. Help them in their troubles. If you serve God our Father like that, he will be pleased with you. Do not let the bad people in this world make you bad too.

Jesus teaches people how to help poor people

6 Jesus then said to them, ‘You should do good things to help people. But be careful! Do not do this so that other people see you. If you want other people to praise you, your Father in heaven will not praise you.

² When you give something to a poor person, do not tell anyone about it. The hypocrites do this in their meeting places. They also do it in the busy streets of the town. They do this so that other people will praise them. I tell you this. They have already received their gift. God will not give them anything more.^[a]

³ So when you give something to a poor person, keep it a secret from other people. Do not tell anyone. Your left hand will not even know what your right hand does! ⁴ Nobody else will know about the good thing that you have done. But God sees the things that you do secretly. In return, he will give you good things.’

Jesus teaches people how to pray

⁵ ‘Also, you must not pray in the way that the hypocrites pray. They like to stand and pray in their meeting places. They like to do it on the corners of the busy streets.^[b] Then many people will see them and they will praise them. I tell you this. They have already received their gift from people. God will not give them anything more.

⁶ But this is how you should pray. Go to a place in your house where you can be alone. You can shut the door and you can pray to God your Father. He is in that secret place. He sees what you do there. He will give you good things in return.

Jesus teaches people about different things

¹⁶ Jesus then said, ‘You may decide to fast for some time.^[a] But do not look sad so that people know you are doing a special thing. Hypocrites want people to see how good they are. They make their faces dirty. Then other people can see that they are fasting. I tell you this: people have praised them and that is the only gift that they will get. ¹⁷ But when you fast for some time, you should wash your face. Make your hair look nice. ¹⁸ Then other people will not know that you are doing a special thing. But God, your Father, will know. You do not see him but he sees what you do secretly. He will give you good things in return.