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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Esther 5 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/esther/5.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/esther/5-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Esther 5</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../esther/4.htm" title="Esther 4">◄</a> Esther 5 <a href="../esther/6.htm" title="Esther 6">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Esther Invites the King and Haman to a Dinner</h3><p class="par"><span class="v17_5_1"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.5.1" class="v17_5_1">1</span>Three days later, Esther dressed in her royal robes and went to the inner court of the palace in front of the throne. The king was sitting there, facing the open doorway. </span><span class="v17_5_2"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.5.2" class="v17_5_2">2</span>He was happy to see Esther, and he held out the gold scepter to her.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_5_2">When Esther came up and touched the tip of the scepter, </span><span class="v17_5_3"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.5.3" class="v17_5_3">3</span>the king said, “Esther, what brings you here? Just ask, and I will give you as much as half of my kingdom.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_5_4"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.5.4" class="v17_5_4">4</span>Esther answered, “Your Majesty, please come with Haman to a dinner I will prepare for you later today.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_5_5"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.5.5" class="v17_5_5">5</span>The king said to his servants, “Hurry and get Haman, so we can accept Esther's invitation.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_5_5">The king and Haman went to Esther's dinner, </span><span class="v17_5_6"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.5.6" class="v17_5_6">6</span>and while they were drinking wine, the king asked her, “What can I do for you? Just ask, and I will give you as much as half of my kingdom.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_5_7"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.5.7-Esth.5.8" class="v17_5_7">7-8</span>Esther replied, “Your Majesty, if you really care for me and are willing to do what I want, please come again tomorrow with Haman to the dinner I will prepare for you. At that time I will answer Your Majesty's question.”</span></p><h3 class="s1">Haman Plans To Kill Mordecai</h3><p class="par"><span class="v17_5_9"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.5.9" class="v17_5_9">9</span>Haman was feeling great as he left. But when he saw Mordecai at the palace gate, he noticed that Mordecai did not stand up or show him any respect. This made Haman really angry, </span><span class="v17_5_10"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.5.10" class="v17_5_10">10</span>but he did not say a thing.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_5_10">When Haman got home, he called together his friends and his wife Zeresh </span><span class="v17_5_11"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.5.11" class="v17_5_11">11</span>and started bragging about his great wealth and all his sons. He told them the many ways that the king had honored him and how all the other officials and leaders had to respect him. </span><span class="v17_5_12"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.5.12" class="v17_5_12">12</span>Haman added, “That's not all! Besides the king himself, I'm the only person Queen Esther invited for dinner. She has also invited the king and me to dinner tomorrow. </span><span class="v17_5_13"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.5.13" class="v17_5_13">13</span>But none of this makes me happy, as long as I see that Jew Mordecai serving the king.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_5_14"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.5.14" class="v17_5_14">14</span>Haman's wife and friends said to him, “Have a gallows built about 22 meters high, and tomorrow morning ask the king to hang Mordecai there. Then later, you can have dinner with the king and enjoy yourself.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_5_14">This seemed like a good idea to Haman, and he had the gallows built.</span></p> </div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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