Hey everyone, this is Mary DeMuth and this is Pray Every Day where I pray through the Bible verse by verse.

Grateful to have you here today and we're going to go through the second part of Esther chapter one,

but I want to pray for those of you who have lost a loved one recently.

Jesus, I thank you for the fact that you wept at Lazarus's tomb. You understood

the depth of loss and how painful it is for people to walk through that. And so, Lord, Jesus,

I pray that you would shore up, my friend, that you would grieve alongside them, that you would hold them when they have tears.

I pray you would send them really good community to help bear that weight.

And, Lord, be the lifter of their head.

But also, Lord, I know that if we delay grief, it just comes back sometimes even worse.

So I pray you give my friend the bravery to grieve it in the moment and not to stuff it,

that they could find you in the middle of that.

I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

All right. Esther, chapter 1, verses 13 through 22 in the world English Bible and this is what it says

then the king said to the wise men who knew the times for it was the king's custom

to consult those who knew law and judgment and next to him were

Kharsena Shethar Adhatha Tarshish Marina, and Memmukhan, the seven princes of Persia and media, who saw the king's face and sat first in the kingdom.

What shall we do to Queen Vashti, according to law, because she has not done the bidding of the king at her, uh,asurus by the eunuchs.

Memucan answered before the king and the princes.

Vashti, the Queen, has not done wrong to just the King, but also to all the princes and to all the people

who are in the provinces of King Ahasaurus.

For this deed of the Queen will become known to all women causing them to show contempt for their

husbands when it is reported. King Ahasaurus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him but

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