Old/New Testament

The king remembers Mordecai

6 That night the king could not sleep. He asked a servant to bring the kingdom's history book. He asked the servant to read the book to him.

² The history book included a report of how two of the king's eunuchs wanted to kill King Xerxes. Their names were Bigthana and Teresh. The report said that Mordecai had told the king about this.^{[a] 3} When the king heard this, he asked his servant, ‘When Mordecai saved my life, what great honour did we give to him?’ The king's servants replied, ‘We did not do anything for him.’

⁴ The king said, ‘Who is now in the palace yard?’

Haman had just arrived at the palace. His men had built the wooden tower. Now he wanted to ask the king to hang Mordecai on it to kill him. ⁵ The king's servants said to the king, ‘Haman is in the palace yard.’ The king said, ‘Bring him here to me.’

⁶ Haman came in to the king's room. The king asked him, ‘If I want to give great honour to a man, what should we do for that man?’

Haman thought to himself, ‘I am sure that I am that man. The king must want to give me honour.’ ⁷ So Haman replied to the king, ‘This is what you should do for that man, if you want to give him honour. ⁸ Your servants should bring some royal clothes that you yourself have worn. They should bring a horse that you yourself have ridden on as king. They should put a special crown on the horse's head to show that it belongs to you. ⁹ Then give the clothes and the horse to one of your royal officers. Tell the officer to put the king's clothes on the man that you want to give honour to. Then the officer must put the man on the king's horse. He must lead him through all the streets of the city. As he goes, the officer must shout, “This is what the king does for a man that he want to give honour to!” ’

¹⁰ The king said to Haman, ‘That is a good idea! Go quickly! Get my clothes and my horse. Go and do everything that you have suggested. Do it for the Jew, Mordecai, who sits at the king's gate. Be careful to do for him everything that you said.’

¹¹ So Haman took the king's clothes and the king's horse to Mordecai. He put the king's clothes on Mordecai. Then he led Mordecai on the horse through all the streets of the city. Haman went in front and he shouted, ‘Look! This is what the king does for a man that he want to give honour to!’

¹² After this, Mordecai returned to sit at the king's gate. But Haman hurried back home. He covered his face because he was ashamed and upset. ¹³ He told his wife, Zeresh, and his friends about everything that had happened to him. Then his advisors, as well as his wife, said to him, ‘It seems that you have already lost some of your power to Mordecai. If he really is Jewish, you will never win against him. He will destroy you completely.’

¹⁴ While they were speaking, the king's eunuchs arrived. Very quickly they took Haman to the special meal that Esther had prepared.

Haman dies

7 King Xerxes and Haman went to the meal that Queen Esther had prepared. ² This was the second day that they ate a special meal together. While they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, ‘Queen Esther, what do you want me to do for you? I will give you whatever you want. Even if you want half of my kingdom, I will give it to you.’

³ Queen Esther replied, ‘Sir, I hope that you are pleased with me. If you agree, I ask you to save my life. Also save the lives of my people. That is what I ask you to do. ⁴ Someone has sold me and my people as if we are animals. Now they will kill us and completely destroy us all. If we had been sold to become slaves, I would not have spoken to the king. It would not have been important enough for that.’

⁵ Then King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, ‘Who is this man? Who would even think of anything like that? Where is he?’

⁶ Esther replied, ‘The enemy of our people is this wicked man Haman!’

Then Haman became very afraid, as he sat there with the king and the queen.^[b]

⁷ The king was very angry and he stood up. He left his wine and he went into the palace garden. Haman realized that the king wanted to destroy him. So he stayed with Queen Esther and he asked her to save his life. ⁸ Queen Esther was lying down on a bed. Haman threw himself down beside her. At that moment, the king returned from the garden. The king shouted, ‘What is this man doing? He even attacks the queen when she is with me in my palace!’^[c]

While the king was still saying this, his servants covered Haman's head.^[d]

⁹ One of the king's eunuchs, Harbona, said, ‘There is a wooden tower near Haman's home. It is 22 metres high. His men built it so that he could hang Mordecai on it. Mordecai is the man who saved the king's life.’

The king said, ‘Hang Haman on the tower until he is dead.’

¹⁰ So they took Haman and they hanged him on the tower until he was dead. It was the same tower that Haman had wanted to kill Mordecai on. After that, the king did not feel so angry.

The king makes another law

8 That day, King Xerxes took everything that had belonged to Haman, the enemy of the Jews. He gave it all to Queen Esther. Esther told the king that Mordecai was her cousin.

So Mordecai came to meet the king. ² The king had taken back his special ring from Haman. Now he took it off his own finger and he gave it to Mordecai. And Esther gave Mordecai authority over all the things that had belonged to Haman.

³ Then Esther went again to speak to the king. She threw herself down at his feet and she wept. She wanted him to stop Haman's evil idea to kill all the Jews. ⁴ The king held out his gold sceptre towards Esther. So she stood up to speak to the king.

⁵ Esther said to the king, ‘I hope that I have pleased the king. If you agree, and if you are pleased with me, please make another law. Stop the command that Haman, the descendant of Agag, wrote. He sent letters to all the regions of your kingdom, because he wanted to destroy all the Jewish people. ⁶ I cannot let this evil thing happen to my relatives. I have to do something to stop it.’

⁷ King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai, ‘You are right! I have already punished Haman with death because he wanted to destroy the Jews. I have also given all of his things to Esther. ⁸ Now you must use my authority to write another law. Write a law that you think will save your people. Then mark the letters with my special ring. Any letter that has my name and the mark of my ring on it has the king's authority. Nobody can ever change it.’

⁹ They called the king's secretaries to come and write the new law. They did that on the 23rd day of the third month (Sivan). Mordecai told them what to write. They sent the letters to the Jews, the rulers and the officers in all the regions of the kingdom. There were 127 regions, from India as far as Ethiopia. They wrote the letters in the languages that people spoke in each region. They also wrote to the Jews in their own language. Everyone would know what the new law said. ¹⁰ Mordecai used King Xerxes' authority to write the letters. He made a mark on the letters with the king's special ring. Men who rode on the king's fastest horses quickly took the letters everywhere in the kingdom.

¹¹ The king's new law said this: The Jewish people who lived in every city could fight against anyone who attacked them. They could join together to keep themselves safe. If an army of any kind attacked them, the Jews could kill and destroy them completely, as well as their women and children. They could take away their enemies' things for themselves.^{[e] 12} The law said that the Jews in all the regions of the kingdom could do this on one day. That day was the 13th day of the 12th month (Adar).^{[f] 13} A copy of the law would go to every region of the kingdom, so that everyone would know what the law said. Then the Jews would be ready on the right day to punish their enemies.

¹⁴ The king told his officers that they must ride quickly on the royal horses to take the letters to every region. His officers also read the law aloud to the people in Susa city.

¹⁵ Then Mordecai left the king's palace. He was wearing royal clothes that were purple and white. He had a large gold crown on his head. He wore a beautiful coat made from purple linen. The people in Susa city shouted with joy because of the new law.

¹⁶ All the Jews were very happy. Everyone respected them and gave them honour. ¹⁷ When the new law reached every region and every city, the Jews became very happy. The other people who lived there were now afraid of the Jews. Because of that, many people said that they themselves had become Jews.

The believers choose seven men

6 At that time, more and more people became disciples of Jesus. Among the believers, some were Jews who spoke the Greek language. Others were Jews who spoke the Aramaic language. The Jews who spoke Greek had a problem with the other Jews. They said, ‘The widows in our group do not receive the right help. Each day, when you give out the food and money, our widows receive less than they should get.’^[a]

² The 12 apostles heard about the problem. They told all the believers to meet together with them. The apostles said, ‘Our work is to teach people God's message about Jesus. We do not have time to give out the food and money to people as well. ³ So, friends, please choose seven men from among you. You must know that each of them is full of the Holy Spirit. They must also be very wise. We will ask these seven men to do this work for us. ⁴ Then we will have more time to pray. We will also have more time to teach people God's message.’

⁵ The whole group of believers was happy with the apostles' words. So first they chose a man called Stephen. Stephen believed strongly in God and he was full of the Holy Spirit. The believers also chose six other men: Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas. Nicolas was from Antioch. He was not born as a Jew, but he had joined the Jews later. ⁶ The group of believers put these seven men in front of the apostles. The apostles prayed for each man and they put their hands on them. They gave them authority to do this special work.

⁷ So more and more people heard the message from God. The number of people in Jerusalem who believed in Jesus grew more and more. Many of the Jewish priests also believed the message about Jesus.^[b]

The important Jews take hold of Stephen

⁸ God helped Stephen in many special ways. God's power was with him. He did many miracles among the people which showed that God was with him. ⁹ But some men spoke against Stephen. They did not agree with what he taught people. These men were from one of the Jewish meeting places in Jerusalem. People called them, ‘The Group of Free Men’. These men were Jews from the cities called Cyrene and Alexandria. Some of them were from towns in Cilicia and Asia. They began to argue with Stephen. ¹⁰ But the Holy Spirit helped Stephen to be very wise when he spoke. So these men could not say that he was wrong.

¹¹ Then those men secretly gave money to some bad men. They told them to say to the Jewish leaders, ‘We heard this man, Stephen, say bad things against Moses and against God.’

¹² This made the people become angry against Stephen. The important Jews and the teachers of God's Law also became very angry. So they took hold of Stephen. They took him to stand in front of the group of Jewish leaders. ¹³ Then they brought in some men to say bad things about Stephen. The things that these men said were not true. They said about Stephen, ‘This man is always saying bad things about the temple. He says bad things against God's Law. ¹⁴ We also heard him talk about Jesus, the man who comes from Nazareth. He said that Jesus will destroy this place. He also said that Jesus will change the way that Moses taught us to live.’

¹⁵ All the Jewish leaders who sat there in the meeting looked carefully at Stephen. They saw that his face was very bright, like the face of an angel.