ESTHER 4

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Esther Agrees to Help the Jews  4:1 When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. 2 He went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one was allowed to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. 3 And in every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.
    4 When Esther’s young women and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5 Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was. 6 Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate, 7 and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. 8 Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people. 9 And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, 11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”
    12 And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. 13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” 15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” 17 Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

PSALM 26

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I Will Bless the LordOf David.
26:1

Vindicate me, O Lord,

for I have walked in my integrity,

and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. 2

Prove me, O Lord, and try me;

test my heart and my mind. 3

For your steadfast love is before my eyes,

and I walk in your faithfulness.
4

I do not sit with men of falsehood,

nor do I consort with hypocrites. 5

I hate the assembly of evildoers,

and I will not sit with the wicked.
6

I wash my hands in innocence

and go around your altar, O Lord, 7

proclaiming thanksgiving aloud,

and telling all your wondrous deeds.
8

O Lord, I love the habitation of your house

and the place where your glory dwells. 9

Do not sweep my soul away with sinners,

nor my life with bloodthirsty men, 10

in whose hands are evil devices,

and whose right hands are full of bribes.
11

But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;

redeem me, and be gracious to me. 12

My foot stands on level ground;

in the great assembly I will bless the Lord.

PSALM 27

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The Lord Is My Light and My SalvationOf David.
27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?
2

When evildoers assail me

to eat up my flesh,

my adversaries and foes,

it is they who stumble and fall.
3

Though an army encamp against me,

my heart shall not fear;

though war arise against me,

yet I will be confident.
4

One thing have I asked of the Lord,

that will I seek after:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

and to inquire in his temple.
5

For he will hide me in his shelter

in the day of trouble;

he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;

he will lift me high upon a rock.
6

And now my head shall be lifted up

above my enemies all around me,

and I will offer in his tent

sacrifices with shouts of joy;

I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
7

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;

be gracious to me and answer me! 8

You have said, “Seek my face.”

My heart says to you,

“Your face, Lord, do I seek.” 9

Hide not your face from me.

Turn not your servant away in anger,

O you who have been my help.

Cast me not off; forsake me not,

O God of my salvation! 10

For my father and my mother have forsaken me,

but the Lord will take me in.
11

Teach me your way, O Lord,

and lead me on a level path

because of my enemies. 12

Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;

for false witnesses have risen against me,

and they breathe out violence.
13

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living! 14

Wait for the Lord;

be strong, and let your heart take courage;

wait for the Lord!

PROVERBS 5

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Warning Against Adultery5:1

My son, be attentive to my wisdom;

incline your ear to my understanding, 2

that you may keep discretion,

and your lips may guard knowledge. 3

For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,

and her speech is smoother than oil, 4

but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

sharp as a two-edged sword. 5

Her feet go down to death;

her steps follow the path to Sheol; 6

she does not ponder the path of life;

her ways wander, and she does not know it.
7

And now, O sons, listen to me,

and do not depart from the words of my mouth. 8

Keep your way far from her,

and do not go near the door of her house, 9

lest you give your honor to others

and your years to the merciless, 10

lest strangers take their fill of your strength,

and your labors go to the house of a foreigner, 11

and at the end of your life you groan,

when your flesh and body are consumed, 12

and you say, “How I hated discipline,

and my heart despised reproof! 13

I did not listen to the voice of my teachers

or incline my ear to my instructors. 14

I am at the brink of utter ruin

in the assembled congregation.”
15

Drink water from your own cistern,

flowing water from your own well. 16

Should your springs be scattered abroad,

streams of water in the streets? 17

Let them be for yourself alone,

and not for strangers with you. 18

Let your fountain be blessed,

and rejoice in the wife of your youth, 19

a lovely deer, a graceful doe.

Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;

be intoxicated always in her love. 20

Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman

and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? 21

For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord,

and he ponders all his paths. 22

The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,

and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. 23

He dies for lack of discipline,

and because of his great folly he is led astray.