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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.[a] 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).[b] 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 Jews punish their enemies
9 The 13th day of the 12th month (Adar) was the day when the enemies of the Jews had hoped to attack them. But now the king's new law said that the Jews could fight to keep themselves safe on that day. So the Jews won against their enemies. 2 In all the cities in each region of the kingdom where the Jews lived, they joined together. They punished anyone who tried to hurt them. Nobody could fight against them because all the people were very afraid of them.
3 All the king's officers and the rulers and leaders of each region decided to help the Jews. They did that because they were afraid of Mordecai's power. 4 He was now a very important officer in the king's palace. News about him reached all the regions as he became more and more powerful.
5 So when the day arrived, the Jews could do what they wanted to their enemies. They used their swords to attack them and to kill them.
6 In Susa city, the Jews killed 500 men. 7 They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha. 10 Those men were the ten sons of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. But the Jews did not take any of the things that belonged to the people that they killed.
11 On the same day, the king heard how many people they had killed in Susa city. 12 Then the king said to Queen Esther, ‘In Susa the Jews have killed 500 men and also the ten sons of Haman. So I think that they have killed many more of their enemies in the other regions of my kingdom! Now, what else do you want? If you ask me, I will do anything that you still want me to do.’
13 Esther replied, ‘If the king agrees, please let the Jews who live in Susa do the same thing tomorrow. Let your new law continue for one more day. Also, let them hang the dead bodies of Haman's ten sons from the wooden tower.’
14 The king agreed and he commanded that this should happen. He made another law so that the Jews in Susa could fight again. They also put the dead bodies of Haman's ten sons on the tower.
15 On the 14th day of the month called Adar the Jews in Susa all met together again. That day they killed 300 more men in Susa. But they did not take their enemies' things for themselves.
16-17 In the other regions of the kingdom, the Jews came together on the 13th day of Adar. They did that to protect themselves against their enemies. They killed 75,000 of their enemies. But they did not take their enemies' things for themselves. Then, on the 14th day of Adar, the Jews in the regions rested. They ate feasts and they were very happy.
18 But the Jews in Susa did not rest until the 15th day of the month. That was because they killed their enemies on both the 13th day and the 14th day. On the 15th day they ate feasts and they were very happy.
19 That is why the Jews who live in towns and villages in the country have a holiday on the 14th day of Adar. On that day, they have feasts and they give gifts to each other, because they are happy.
20 Mordecai wrote down all these events. He sent letters to all the Jews who were living in all the regions where King Xerxes ruled. 21 He told them that they should have a holiday on the 14th and 15th days of Adar every year. 22 They should do that to remember the time when they became safe from their enemies. That was the month when they became happy and they were no longer sad. They should eat a feast and they should send gifts of food to each other to show their joy. They should also give gifts to poor people.
23 The Jews agreed to do everything that Mordecai had written in the letters. They had a feast every year to remember what had happened. 24 They remembered what Hammedatha's son, Haman, the descendant of Agag, had done. He had been the enemy of the Jews and he had tried to destroy them all. He had thrown dice, called Purim, to choose the day when he would attack them and kill them. 25 But Esther went to tell the king what Haman was doing. Then the king stopped the evil thing that Haman wanted to do against the Jews. The king wrote a command to say that Haman should die. The same thing that Haman wanted to do to the Jews should happen to him instead. The bodies of Haman and his sons hung on the wooden tower that his men had built.
26 So the Jews call the days of their feast ‘Purim’. That was the name of the dice that Haman used. They did this because of what Mordecai wrote in his letter. They wanted to remember everything that had happened to them. 27 They made a rule for all the Jews, their descendants, and any other people who came to join them. The rule said that they must all have a holiday on those two days every year. They must do what Mordecai had written in his letter to them. 28 From that time, every Jew must remember to keep the days of Purim as a holiday. Every Jewish family and their children must continue to do this. They must do it in all the cities and all the regions, wherever they lived. And their descendants must continue to do it every year, to remember what happened.[c]
29 Then Abihail's daughter, Queen Esther, and Mordecai wrote another letter. Esther used her authority to say that what Mordecai had written about the feast of Purim was true. 30 So they sent letters to all the Jews who lived in the 127 regions of Xerxes' kingdom. The message was to help them live safely in peace. 31 It told the Jews how to have the days of Purim as a holiday at the right time each year. This was a rule that came from the Jewish man, Mordecai, and from Queen Esther. The message also said that the Jews should remember the sad times, and they should fast.
32 Queen Esther's command made those rules about the feast of Purim. The palace secretaries wrote it down in a book.
Mordecai becomes powerful
10 King Xerxes caused everyone who lived in his kingdom to pay taxes. It included those who lived far away, on the coast of the sea.
2 Everything that King Xerxes did was written down in ‘The history book of the kings of Media and Persia’. The book tells about all the great things that King Xerxes did with his power and authority. It also tells how the king gave more authority to Mordecai, who became very great. 3 The Jewish man, Mordecai, was the most important Jew in the whole kingdom. Only King Xerxes himself had more authority than Mordecai. The other Jews respected Mordecai because he worked hard to help them. He made sure that all his people could live safely.
27 All of you together are Christ's body. And each of you is a part of that body. 28 Like the parts of a body, God has put people in different places in his church. First, there are apostles. Second, there are people who speak messages from God. Third, there are teachers. After that, there are people who do miracles. There are people who have gifts to make sick people well. There are people who help others in special ways. There are people who can lead others. And there are people who can speak different kinds of languages.
29 Not everyone in the church is an apostle. Not everyone speaks messages from God. Not everyone is a teacher. Not everyone can do miracles. 30 Not everyone has the gifts to make sick people well. Not everyone can speak in different kinds of languages. Nor can everyone explain what messages in those languages mean. You know that. 31 But it is good if you really want the more valuable gifts from God.
Now I will show you a way that is better than anything else.
Love is most important
13 I may be able to speak many different languages that people or angels speak. But that is worth nothing if I do not love other people. I would only be making a loud noise, like someone who hits a piece of metal. 2 I may be able to speak messages from God. I may understand all God's secret things, and know all the facts. I may have great faith so that I trust God enough to move mountains. But I am nothing if I do not love others. 3 I may give all my things to help poor people. I may let other people take my body to burn it.[a] But that would not help me if I do not love others.
4 If I love people, I will be patient. I will be kind. I will not be jealous of other people. I will not be proud and say that I am great. 5 If I love people, I will be polite. I will not just want to please myself. I will not quickly become angry. If someone does a wrong thing against me, I will not keep it in my thoughts. 6 If I love people, I will not be happy when bad things happen. Instead, I will be happy when things happen that are right and true. 7 If I love people, I will always accept their problems. I will always believe them. I will always hope for what is best. I will always be patient in troubles.
8 Love will always continue. The gift to speak messages from God will not always be necessary. The gift to speak in different languages will stop one day. The gift to know special things will not always be necessary. 9 At this time, we know only a part of everything. We can only speak a part of God's whole message. 10 But a time will come when everything becomes complete. When God does that, we will not need the small parts that we have now.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child. My thoughts were a child's thoughts. I understood things in a way that a child understands. But now that I have become a man, I have stopped being like a child. 12 At this time, we see things as if we were looking at them in a mirror. What we see now is not clear. But the time will come when we do not need a mirror. We will see everything clearly. Now we know only a part of what is true. But then we will know everything completely. We will understand completely, just as God understands us completely.
13 At this time there are three things that continue. We continue to trust God. We continue to hope for his good things. We continue to love other people. But the most important of these things is love.
David wrote this song.
Trust the Lord[a]
37 Do not become upset
because of what wicked people do.
Do not be jealous of people that do bad things.
2 Remember that they are soon gone!
They are like grass that quickly becomes dry.
They will soon die like green plants in hot weather.
3 Trust in the Lord and do good things.
Then you will live safely in the land.
4 Be happy that the Lord is your friend.
He will give you what you most want.
5 Let the Lord be your guide into the future.
Trust in him and he will help you.
6 He will show everyone that you are righteous.
People will know that you are a good person,
as clearly as the sun shines at noon.
7 Be patient as you wait for the Lord to help you.
Trust him to bring help.
Do not become upset when bad people seem to do well,
when their wicked ideas really happen.
8 Do not become angry or upset!
It will only bring trouble for you.
9 Wicked people will disappear one day!
But people who trust the Lord for help
will live safely in the land that he has given to them.
10 Evil people will soon be gone.
You may look for them,
but you will not find them.
11 Humble people will live safely in the land.
They will live in peace and they will enjoy good things.
23 If you want to keep away from trouble,
always be careful about what you say.
24 If you are proud, people will call you ‘Boaster’,
because you think that you are better than all other people.
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