Old Testament · Book 17
Esther
Free previewEsther: Crown and Plot
Esther 1:1-5:14
A Jewish orphan named Esther becomes queen of Persia — and no one at court knows where she comes from. Her cousin Mordecai, who raised her, sits at the king''s gate and watches. When a powerful official named Haman is publicly snubbed by Mordecai, Haman uses his influence with the king to schedule the destruction of every Jew in the empire. This first half of the story is full of crowns, courtyards, and silent danger. Esther has to decide whether to risk her own life by stepping out of hiding. "Who knows," Mordecai tells her, "but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
Free previewEsther: The Reversal
Esther 6:1-10:3
A sleepless king, a forgotten record book, an enemy who arrives at exactly the wrong moment. In one night, everything turns. Haman has built a tall wooden gallows to hang Mordecai — instead, he is sent out to parade Mordecai through the city in royal robes. Then Queen Esther reveals her hidden identity and exposes Haman''s plot at her own banquet. The king is enraged. Haman is hanged on the gallows he built. The Jews are saved, and a new festival — Purim — is born. This is one of the most dramatic reversals in the Bible, and a story kids will never forget once they''ve read it.