WHEN the children of Israel for a long time lived in a very wicked way and did not believe in the true God, the Lord let their enemies take them away from their homes to a distant country. The Jews had many enemies in that strange land. One of these men, by the name of Haman, wanted to have all the Jews killed in one day.
Now it had so happened a short time before that the king of that country had married one of the girls belonging to the Jewish people. This girl's name was Esther, and the king loved her very dearly. She made up her mind to save her people from death if she could.
She went to the king and asked him to have dinner with her. When the king came to the meal that Esther had prepared for him, she told him about the wicked plan which Haman had made. The king was very angry at Haman and had him put to death. So the lives of the Jews were saved.
If people try to do us wrong, we ought to pray to the Lord for help, but we must also do all we can to save our lives, as Esther did.