Evening on a high palace terrace at Susa: Mordecai in blue and white stands alone at the low wall, seen from behind, looking down at lamps coming on in the city, under a calm deep-blue sky.

The Book of

Esther 10

The last word on the man at the gate.

3 verses≈ 3 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–2A new queenVashti out, Esther crowned
3The plotHaman buys a decree
4–5The riskEsther goes to the king
6–7The turnA sleepless night, a gallows
8–9OverturnedA second decree, and Purim
10MordecaiSecond to the kingChapter 10

Tribute to Xerxes and Mordecai

Now King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the land, even to its farthest shores.

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A long, dim archive room of the palace at Susa: shelves and clay jars of rolled scrolls, plain clay tablets edge-on, one sealed roll on a table, light from a high window.

And all of Mordecai’s powerful and magnificent accomplishments, together with the full account of the greatness to which the king had raised him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia?

Late afternoon in an open square below the citadel of Susa: Mordecai, gray-bearded, in blue and white, listens among the Jewish townspeople, his hand on an old man's arm, under a calm gold sky.

For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews and highly favored by his many kinsmen, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen.

0:12

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Reflect

Seeking the good

Mordecai ended as second only to the king, and the last thing said of him is that he was “seeking the good of his people.” What is the influence you actually have? Whose good are you using it for?

You’ve experienced

Esther 10

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A verse to carry with you

For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews and highly favored by his many kinsmen, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen.

Esther 10:3

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