Esther

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Chapters

Chapter 1Preschool–Grade 5

Esther 1: The King's Great Feast

In the days of Ahasuerus, who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia, the king held a feast for his princes and showed the riches of his kingdom for 180 days, then a seven-day feast for all the people in Susa. Queen Vashti held a feast for the women. On the seventh day the king commanded that Vashti be brought to show her beauty, but she refused to come. The king was very angry, and on the advice of Memucan he decreed that Vashti would no longer come before him and that her royal position would be given to another, and letters were sent to every province.

Pre-K K Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 4 Gr 5

Chapter 2Preschool–Grade 5

Esther 2: Esther Becomes Queen

The king's servants proposed that young women be gathered to Susa so the king could choose a new queen. Mordecai, a Benjamite in Susa, had raised his cousin Hadassah, that is, Esther, as his own daughter after her parents died. Esther was taken to the king's house and obtained kindness from Hegai. She did not make known her people, because Mordecai had told her not to. When her turn came, she asked for nothing but what Hegai advised, and she obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her. The king loved Esther more than all the women and set the royal crown on her head. Later Mordecai, sitting in the king's gate, learned that two doorkeepers plotted against the king; he told Esther, who told the king in Mordecai's name. The men were punished, and it was written in the book of the chronicles.

Pre-K K Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 4 Gr 5

Chapter 3Preschool–Grade 5

Esther 3: Haman's Wicked Plan

King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite above all the princes, and all the king's servants bowed to him, but Mordecai did not bow or do him reverence. When Haman learned that Mordecai was a Jew, he was full of wrath and sought to destroy all the Jews throughout the kingdom. They cast Pur, that is, the lot, to choose a day, and it fell on the twelfth month, Adar. Haman told the king that a certain people kept their own laws and offered ten thousand talents of silver; the king gave him his ring. Letters were sent to all provinces to destroy the Jews on the thirteenth day of Adar. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was perplexed.

Pre-K K Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 4 Gr 5

Chapter 4Preschool–Grade 5

Esther 4: For Such a Time as This

When Mordecai learned what was done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and cried loudly in the city, and in every province there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing. Esther sent Hathach to learn why, and Mordecai sent her a copy of the decree and urged her to go to the king to plead for her people. Esther replied that anyone who went to the king in the inner court without being called would be put to death unless the king held out the golden scepter, and she had not been called for thirty days. Mordecai answered that she should not think she would escape, and asked who knows if she had not come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Esther asked all the Jews in Susa to fast for her for three days, saying she would go in to the king, and if she perished, she perished. Mordecai did all that Esther commanded.

Pre-K K Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 4 Gr 5

Chapter 5Preschool–Grade 5

Esther 5: Esther Goes to the King

On the third day Esther put on her royal clothing and stood in the inner court. The king saw her, she obtained favor, and he held out the golden scepter. The king asked what she wanted, even to half of the kingdom, and she invited the king and Haman to a banquet. At the banquet she invited them to a second banquet the next day. Haman went out joyful, but when he saw Mordecai at the king's gate not standing up or moving for him, he was full of wrath. At home he boasted to his friends and Zeresh his wife about his riches and honor, but said all this was worth nothing while he saw Mordecai at the gate. They advised him to make a gallows fifty cubits high and ask the king to hang Mordecai on it, and Haman had the gallows made.

Pre-K K Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 4 Gr 5

Chapter 6Preschool–Grade 5

Esther 6: The King Cannot Sleep

On that night the king could not sleep, and he commanded the book of records of the chronicles to be read. It was found written that Mordecai had told of the two doorkeepers who plotted against the king, and the king learned that nothing had been done to honor him. Haman had just come into the outer court to ask the king to hang Mordecai. The king asked Haman what should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor. Thinking the king meant him, Haman proposed royal clothing, the king's horse, and a proclamation by a noble prince. The king told Haman to do so to Mordecai the Jew. Haman clothed Mordecai, led him on horseback through the city, and proclaimed before him, then hurried home mourning. His wise men and Zeresh warned that if Mordecai was of the seed of the Jews, Haman would not prevail against him but would surely fall.

Pre-K K Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 4 Gr 5

Chapter 7Preschool–Grade 5

Esther 7: Esther Speaks Up

The king and Haman came to Esther's banquet, and the king again asked what her petition was, even to half of the kingdom. Esther asked that her life and her people be given her, for they had been sold to be destroyed. The king asked who had dared to do this, and Esther answered that the adversary and enemy was this wicked Haman. Haman was afraid before the king and queen. The king rose in wrath and went into the palace garden, and Haman stayed to plead for his life with Esther. When the king returned and found Haman fallen on Esther's couch, he was angrier still. Harbonah told of the gallows Haman had made for Mordecai, and the king commanded that Haman be hanged on it. Then the king's wrath was pacified.

Pre-K K Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 4 Gr 5

Chapter 8Preschool–Grade 5

Esther 8: Light, Gladness, Joy, and Honor

That day King Ahasuerus gave Haman's house to Esther, and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. The king gave Mordecai his ring, and Esther set Mordecai over Haman's house. Esther fell at the king's feet and begged him with tears to put away Haman's evil plan against the Jews. The king held out the golden scepter, and because a law sealed with the king's ring could not be reversed, he told Esther and Mordecai to write a new decree in his name. Letters were sent swiftly to all 127 provinces, allowing the Jews in every city to gather and stand for their lives. Mordecai went out in royal clothing and a great crown of gold, and the city of Susa shouted and was glad. The Jews had light, gladness, joy, and honor, and many of the peoples of the land became Jews.

Pre-K K Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 4 Gr 5

Chapter 9Preschool–Grade 5

Esther 9: The Feast of Purim

On the thirteenth day of Adar, the day the enemies of the Jews hoped to rule over them, it was turned the other way: the Jews gathered in their cities to defend themselves, and no one could withstand them, for the fear of them had fallen on all people, and the princes helped them because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them. In Susa the Jews defeated their enemies, including Haman's ten sons, but on the plunder they did not lay their hand. The Jews rested on the fourteenth day, and in Susa on the fifteenth, and made those days days of feasting and gladness. Mordecai wrote to all the Jews to keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar each year as days when they had rest from their enemies, with feasting, sending gifts to one another, and gifts to the needy. These days were called Purim, after Pur, the lot. Queen Esther wrote with Mordecai to confirm Purim, and it was written in the book.

Pre-K K Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 4 Gr 5

Chapter 10Preschool–Grade 5

Esther 10: Mordecai the Great

King Ahasuerus laid a tribute on the land and on the islands of the sea. All the acts of his power and of his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia. Mordecai the Jew was next to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted by the multitude of his brothers, seeking the good of his people, and speaking peace to all his descendants.

Pre-K K Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 4 Gr 5

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