For Him Who Has Ears to Hear

May I give the floor now... to the wife of Leonidas
and queen of Sparta.

- What's this?
- This is nothing.

Councilmen:
I stand before you
not only as your queen.
I come to you as a mother.
I come to you as a wife.
I come to you as a Spartan woman.
I come to you with great humility.

I am not here to represent Leonidas.
His actions speak louder
than my words ever could.

I am here for all those voices
which cannot be heard.
Mothers, daughters, fathers, sons.
Three hundred families
that bleed for our rights
and for the very principles
this room was built upon.

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The king held out the golden sceptre to Esther,
and Esther rose and stood before the king. She said,

‘If it pleases the king,
and if I have won his favour,
and if the thing seems right before the king,
and I have his approval,
let an order be written
to revoke the letters devised
by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite,
which he wrote giving orders
to destroy the Jews
who are in all the provinces of the king.
For how can I bear to see
the calamity that is coming on my people?
Or how can I bear to see
the destruction of my kindred?’

ויושט המלך לאסתר את שרבט הזהב ותקם אסתר

ותעמד לפני המלך

ותאמר אם־

על־המלך טוב ואם־מצאתי חן לפניו

וכשר הדבר לפני המלך

וטובה אני בעיניו יכתב להשיב את

־הספרים מחשבת המן בן־

־המדתא האגגי אשר כתב לאבד את־היהודים אשר בכל־

מדינות המלך

כי איככה אוכל

וראיתי ברעה אשר

־ימצא את־

עמי ואיככה אוכל

וראיתי באבדן מולדתי

ס

ἐξέτεινεν δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς Εσθηρ τὴν ῥάβδον τὴν χρυσῆν
ἐξηγέρθη δὲ Εσθηρ παρκέναι τῷ βασιλεῖ
καὶ εἶπεν Εσθηρ

εἰ δοκεῖ σοι καὶ εὗρον χάριν
πεμφθήτω ἀποστραφῆναι
τὰ γράμματα τὰ ἀπεσταλμένα ὑπὸ Αμαν
τὰ γραφέντα ἀπολέσθαι τοὺς Ιουδαίους
οἵ εἰσιν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου

πῶς γὰρ δυνήσομαι ἰδεῖν
τὴν κάκωσιν τοῦ λαοῦ μου
καὶ πῶς δυνήσομαι σωθῆναι
ἐν τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ τῆς πατρίδος μου


So the king held out the golden rod to Esther,
and Esther rose and stood before the king.
And Esther said,

"If it pleases you and if I have found favor,
let an order be dispatched to revoke
the letters sent by Haman,
which were written to destroy the Judeans
who are in your kingdom.

For how can I bear to see
the suffering of my people?
And how can I bear to be saved
amidst the destruction of my lineage?"

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how do you read the Bible now?

Let this be a biblioblog. Let this be a biblioblog post. Let it encourage you to read the Bible in the month of March.

How, you might ask.

So I’d ask you to clarify:

How let this post encourage you? Or how do you read the Bible?

And I’d just insist:

How do you read the Bible?

How if you are one of the 8 men of the “February 2011 Top 10 Biblioblogs”?

or

How if you’re one of the 48 men with a “Biblioblog Top 50 for February [2011] (by Alexa Rank)”?

or

How if you’re one of the 69 men whose 182 posts [of 70 individuals whose 183 posts] were featured in the “February 2011 Biblical Studies Carnival”?

How do you read the Bible as if it’s centered on males on International Women’s Day in Women’s History Month? And if you so read the Bible, then how will you position yourself? At the top again? In the center or at the margins of the Bible? How will you be most encouraged? How can you encourage others? With all of the objectivity you can muster, how do you read the Bible now?