39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very ^tstones would cry out.”

Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem

41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he ^uwept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a ^vbarricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will ^wnot leave one stone upon another in you, ^xbecause you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

45 ^yAnd he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ^z‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ^aden of robbers.”

47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking ^bto destroy him, 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were ^changing on his words.

Be Ready for Every Good Work

1 Remind them to be ^gsubmissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ^hready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 3 For ⁱwe ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, ^jslaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But ^kwhen the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, ^lnot because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the ^mwashing of ⁿregeneration and ^orenewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he ^ppoured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified ^qby his grace we might become ^rheirs according to the ^shope of eternal life. 8 ^tThe saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have ^ubelieved in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and ^vprofitable for people.

Haman Plots Against the Jews

1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the ^rAgagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. 2 And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. ^sBut Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage. 3 Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you ^ttransgress the king’s command?” 4 And when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew. 5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was ^ufilled with fury. 6 But he disdained¹ to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy² all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.

7 In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast ^vPur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. 8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. ^wTheir laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. 9 If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents³ of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.” 10 So the king ^xtook his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, ^ythe enemy of the Jews. 11 And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”

12 Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, ^zto every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 13 Letters were sent by ^acouriers to all the king’s provinces with instruction to ^bdestroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the ^cthirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. 14 ^dA copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation to all the peoples to be ready for that day. 15 The couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king, and ^ethe decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but ^fthe city of Susa was thrown into confusion.

Esther Agrees to Help the Jews

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 ^gthe 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 ^hdecree issued in Susa for their destruction,⁴ 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 him⁵ 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 ⁱinner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king ^jholds 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.”⁶ 17 Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.