Day One

 (None)

Day Two and Day Three

[Est 2:1-17 ESV] {1} After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. {2} Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. {3} And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the citadel, under custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them. {4} And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so. {5} Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, {6} who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. {7} He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. {8} So when the king’s order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa the citadel in custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king’s palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. {9} And the young woman pleased him and won his favor. And he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food, and with seven chosen young women from the king’s palace, and advanced her and her young women to the best place in the harem. {10} Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. {11} And every day Mordecai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her. {12} Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women– {13} when the young woman went in to the king in this way, she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. {14} In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem in custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name. {15} When the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her. {16} And when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign, {17} the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

[Est 10:1-3 ESV] {1} King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea. {2} And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? {3} For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.

[2Ch 34:1, 8-9, 14-15, 18-21 ESV] {1} Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. … {8} Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God. {9} They came to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from all Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem. … {14} While they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD given through Moses. {15} Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. … {18} Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it before the king. {19} And when the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes. {20} And the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, {21} “Go, inquire of the LORD for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this book.”

[1Ki 2:27, 35 ESV] {27} So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, thus fulfilling the word of the LORD that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. … {35} The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in place of Joab, and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.

[Num 25:1-13 ESV] {1} While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. {2} These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. {3} So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. {4} And the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the LORD, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” {5} And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.” {6} And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. {7} When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand {8} and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. {9} Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand. {10} And the LORD said to Moses, {11} “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. {12} Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, {13} and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’”

[Neh 8:1-18 ESV] {1} And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. {2} So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. {3} And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. {4} And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. {5} And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. {6} And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. {7} Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. {8} They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. {9} And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. {10} Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” {11} So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” {12} And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. {13} On the second day the heads of fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law. {14} And they found it written in the Law that the LORD had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, {15} and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.” {16} So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. {17} And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. {18} And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

[1Pe 2:9-10 ESV] {9} But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. {10} Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Day Four

 (None)

Day Five

[Num 3:4-10 ESV] {4} But Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of Aaron their father. {5} And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, {6} “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. {7} They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, as they minister at the tabernacle. {8} They shall guard all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and keep guard over the people of Israel as they minister at the tabernacle. {9} And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the people of Israel. {10} And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall guard their priesthood. But if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.”

[Num 8:14-19 ESV] {14} “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. {15} And after that the Levites shall go in to serve at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them as a wave offering. {16} For they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel. Instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself. {17} For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and of beast. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself, {18} and I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel. {19} And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the people of Israel, to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the people of Israel, that there may be no plague among the people of Israel when the people of Israel come near the sanctuary.”

[1Ch 22:17-19 ESV] {17} David also commanded all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, {18} “Is not the LORD your God with you? And has he not given you peace on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the LORD and his people. {19} Now set your mind and heart to seek the LORD your God. Arise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, so that the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the holy vessels of God may be brought into a house built for the name of the LORD.”

[2Ch 12:13-14 ESV] {13} So King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. {14} And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

[2Ch 19:1-7 ESV] {1} Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned in safety to his house in Jerusalem. {2} But Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the LORD. {3} Nevertheless, some good is found in you, for you destroyed the Asheroth out of the land, and have set your heart to seek God.” {4} Jehoshaphat lived at Jerusalem. And he went out again among the people, from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and brought them back to the LORD, the God of their fathers. {5} He appointed judges in the land in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, {6} and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you judge not for man but for the LORD. He is with you in giving judgment. {7} Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the LORD our God, or partiality or taking bribes.”