One Year Bible.

Why Do You Boast of Evil?

¹For the choirmaster. A Maskil of David. After Doeg the Edomite went to Saul and told him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.”

Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?

The loving devotion of God endures all day long.

²Your tongue devises destruction

like a sharpened razor,

O worker of deceit.

³You love evil more than good,

falsehood more than speaking truth.

Selah

⁴You love every word that devours,

O deceitful tongue.

⁵Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin;

He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent;

He will uproot you from the land of the living.

Selah

⁶The righteous will see and fear;

they will mock the evildoer, saying,

⁷“Look at the man

who did not make God his refuge,

but trusted in the abundance of his wealth

and strengthened himself by destruction.”

⁸But I am like an olive tree

flourishing in the house of God;

I trust in the loving devotion of God

forever and ever.

⁹I will praise You forever,

because You have done it.

I will wait on Your name —

for it is good —

in the presence of Your saints.

Prophecy and Tongues

¹Earnestly pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. ²For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries in the Spirit. ³But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort. ⁴The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.

⁵I wish that all of you could speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be edified.

⁶Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? ⁷Even in the case of lifeless instruments, such as the flute or harp, how will anyone recognize the tune they are playing unless the notes are distinct? ⁸Again, if the trumpet sounds a muffled call, who will prepare for battle? ⁹So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air.

¹⁰Assuredly, there are many different languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. ¹¹If, then, I do not know the meaning of someone’s language, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me.

¹²It is the same with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, strive to excel in gifts that build up the church. ¹³Therefore, the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. ¹⁴For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

¹⁵What then shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. ¹⁶Otherwise, if you speak a blessing in spirit, how can someone who is uninstructed say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? ¹⁷You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other one is not edified.

¹⁸I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. ¹⁹But in the church, I would rather speak five coherent words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

²⁰Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature. ²¹It is written in the Law:

“By strange tongues and foreign lips

I will speak to this people,

but even then they will not listen to Me,

says the Lord.”

²²Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.

²³So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who are uninstructed or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds? ²⁴But if an unbeliever or uninstructed person comes in while everyone is prophesying, he will be convicted and called to account by all, ²⁵and the secrets of his heart will be made known. So he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is truly among you!”

Orderly Worship

²⁶What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a psalm or a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these must be done to build up the church.

²⁷If anyone speaks in a tongue, two, or at most three, should speak in turn, and someone must interpret. ²⁸But if there is no interpreter, he should remain silent in the church and speak only to himself and God.

²⁹Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. ³⁰And if a revelation comes to someone who is seated, the first speaker should stop. ³¹For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. ³²The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. ³³For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace— as in all the churches of the saints.

³⁴Women are to be silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. ³⁵If they wish to inquire about something, they are to ask their own husbands at home; for it is dishonorable for a woman to speak in the church.

³⁶Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached? ³⁷If anyone considers himself a prophet or spiritual person, let him acknowledge that what I am writing you is the Lord’s command. ³⁸But if anyone ignores this, he himself will be ignored.

³⁹So, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. ⁴⁰But everything must be done in a proper and orderly manner.

Haman’s Plot against the Jews

¹After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were with him. ²All 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.

³Then the royal servants at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the command of the king?”

⁴Day 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.

⁵When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or pay him homage, he was filled with rage. ⁶And 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.

⁷In 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.

⁸Then 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. ⁹If 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.”

¹⁰So 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.”

¹²On 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.

¹³And 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.

¹⁴A 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. ¹⁵The 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.

Mordecai Appeals to Esther

¹When 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. ²But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering that gate.

³In 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.

⁴When 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.

⁵Then 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. ⁶So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the king’s gate, ⁷and 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.

⁸Mordecai 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.

⁹So Hathach went back and relayed Mordecai’s response to Esther.

¹⁰Then 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.”

¹²When Esther’s words were relayed to Mordecai, ¹³he 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. ¹⁴For 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?”

¹⁵Then 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!”

¹⁷So Mordecai went and did all that Esther had instructed him.

Esther Approaches the King

¹On 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.

²As 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. ⁶And 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.”

⁷Esther replied, “This is my petition and my request: ⁸If 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.”

Haman’s Plot against Mordecai

⁹That 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.

¹⁰Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. And calling for his friends and his wife Zeresh, ¹¹Haman 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. ¹³Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

¹⁴His 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.

Mordecai Is Honored

¹That night sleep escaped the king; so he ordered the Book of Records, the Chronicles, to be brought in and read to him. ²And 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.

³The 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. ⁵So the king’s attendants answered him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.”

“Bring him in,” ordered the king.

⁶Haman 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?”

⁷And Haman told the king, “For the man whom the king is delighted to honor, ⁸have 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. ⁹Let 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.”

¹¹So 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!”

¹²Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief.

¹³Haman 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.”

¹⁴While they were still speaking with Haman, the king’s eunuchs arrived and rushed him to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

Esther Pleads for Her People

¹So the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen, ²and 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.”

³Queen 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. ⁴For 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.”

⁵Then King Xerxes spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?”

⁶Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man — Haman!”

And Haman stood in terror before the king and queen.

The Hanging of Haman

⁷In 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.

⁸Just 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.

⁹Then 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.

¹⁰So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.