April 25, 2026 PORTALS OF PRAYER READINGS

 

Esther 7:1-7

7 So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. ² And on the second day, as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king again said to Esther, “What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” ³ Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. ⁴ For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.” ⁵ Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has dared^[a] to do this?” ⁶ And Esther said, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.

Haman Is Hanged

⁷ And the king arose in his wrath from the wine-drinking and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king.

Footnotes

1. Esther 7:5 Hebrew whose heart has filled him

Psalm 2

The Reign of the Lord's Anointed

2 Why do the nations rage^[a]
    and the peoples plot in vain?
² The kings of the earth set themselves,
    and the rulers take counsel together,
    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
³ “Let us burst their bonds apart
    and cast away their cords from us.”

⁴ He who sits in the heavens laughs;
    the Lord holds them in derision.
⁵ Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,
⁶ “As for me, I have set my King
    on Zion, my holy hill.”

⁷ I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
    today I have begotten you.
⁸ Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
    and the ends of the earth your possession.
⁹ You shall break^[b] them with a rod of iron
    and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

¹⁰ Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
    be warned, O rulers of the earth.
¹¹ Serve the Lord with fear,
    and rejoice with trembling.
¹² Kiss the Son,
    lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
    for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Footnotes

1. Psalm 2:1 Or nations noisily assemble
2. Psalm 2:9 Revocalization yields (compare Septuagint) You shall rule

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