ESTHER
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This happened in the days of Ahasuerus, the same
Ahasuerus who ruled over one hundred twenty-seven provinces from India to
Ethiopia. 2 In those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in the
citadel of Susa, 3 in the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his
officials and ministers. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and
governors of the provinces were present, 4 while he displayed the great wealth
of his kingdom and the splendor and pomp of his majesty for many days, one
hundred eighty days in all. 5 When these days were completed, the king gave for
all the people present in the citadel of Susa, both great and small, a banquet
lasting for seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace. 6 There
were white cotton curtains and blue hangings tied with cords of fine linen and
purple to silver rings and marble pillars. There were couches of gold and silver
on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and colored stones. 7
Drinks were served in golden goblets, goblets of different kinds, and the royal
wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king. 8 Drinking was by
flagons, without restraint; for the king had given orders to all the officials
of his palace to do as each one desired. 9 Furthermore, Queen Vashti gave a
banquet for the women in the palace of King Ahasuerus. 10 On the seventh day,
when the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha
and Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who attended him, 11 to bring
Queen Vashti before the king, wearing the royal crown, in order to show the
peoples and the officials her beauty; for she was fair to behold. 12 But Queen
Vashti refused to come at the king's command conveyed by the eunuchs. At this
the king was enraged, and his anger burned within him. 13 Then the king
consulted the sages who knew the laws (for this was the king's procedure toward
all who were versed in law and custom, 14 and those next to him were Carshena,
Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven officials of
Persia and Media, who had access to the king, and sat first in the kingdom): 15
"According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti because she has not
performed the command of King Ahasuerus conveyed by the eunuchs?" 16 Then
Memucan said in the presence of the king and the officials, "Not only has Queen
Vashti done wrong to the king, but also to all the officials and all the peoples
who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. 17 For this deed of the queen
will be made known to all women, causing them to look with contempt on their
husbands, since they will say, 'King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be
brought before him, and she did not come.' 18 This very day the noble ladies of
Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's behavior will rebel against the
king's officials, and there will be no end of contempt and wrath! 19 If it
pleases the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among
the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be altered, that
Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her
royal position to another who is better than she. 20 So when the decree made by
the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, vast as it is, all women will
give honor to their husbands, high and low alike." 21 This advice pleased the
king and the officials, and the king did as Memucan proposed; 22 he sent letters
to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every
people in its own language, declaring that every man should be master in his own
house.
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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 servants who attended him said, "Let beautiful young
virgins be sought out for the king. 3 And let the king appoint commissioners in
all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to
the harem in the citadel of Susa under custody of Hegai, the king's eunuch, who
is in charge of the women; let their cosmetic treatments be given them. 4 And
let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti." This pleased the
king, and he did so. 5 Now there was a Jew in the citadel of Susa whose name was
Mordecai son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, a Benjaminite. 6 Kish had been
carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with King Jeconiah
of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had carried away. 7 Mordecai had
brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his cousin, for she had neither father nor
mother; the girl was fair and beautiful, and when her father and her mother
died, Mordecai adopted 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 the
citadel of Susa 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 The girl
pleased him and won his favor, and he quickly provided her with her cosmetic
treatments and her portion of food, and with seven chosen maids from the king's
palace, and advanced her and her maids to the best place in the harem. 10 Esther
did not reveal her people or kindred, for Mordecai had charged her not to tell.
11 Every day Mordecai would walk around in front of the court of the harem, to
learn how Esther was and how she fared. 12 The turn came for each girl to go in
to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the
women, since this was the regular period of their cosmetic treatment, six months
with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and cosmetics for women. 13 When
the girl went in to the king she was given whatever she asked for to take with
her from the harem to the king's palace. 14 In the evening she went in; then in
the morning she came back to the second harem in custody of Shaashgaz, the
king's eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines; she did 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 daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had
adopted 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 admired by all who saw her. 16 When Esther was taken to King
Ahasuerus in 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
other women; of all the virgins she won his favor and devotion, so that he set
the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the
king gave a great banquet to all his officials and ministers--" Esther's
banquet." He also granted a holiday to the provinces, and gave gifts with royal
liberality. 19 When the virgins were being gathered together, Mordecai was
sitting at the king's gate. 20 Now Esther had not revealed her kindred or her
people, as Mordecai had charged her; for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she
was brought up by him. 21 In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the
king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the
threshold, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Ahasuerus. 22 But the
matter came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and
Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. 23 When the affair was
investigated and found to be so, both the men were hanged on the gallows. It was
recorded in the book of the annals in the presence of the king.
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After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hammedatha
the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the officials who were
with him. 2 And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down
and did obeisance to Haman; for the king had so commanded concerning him. But
Mordecai did not bow down or do obeisance. 3 Then the king's servants who were
at the king's gate said to Mordecai, "Why do you disobey the king's command?" 4
When they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told
Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai's words would avail; for he had told
them that he was a Jew. 5 When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or do
obeisance to him, Haman was infuriated. 6 But he thought it beneath him to lay
hands on Mordecai alone. So, having been told who Mordecai's people were, Haman
plotted to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole
kingdom of Ahasuerus. 7 In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the
twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur--which means "the lot"--before
Haman for the day and for the month, and the lot fell on the thirteenth day of
the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. 8 Then Haman said to King
Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples
in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of
every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so that it is not
appropriate for the king to tolerate them. 9 If it pleases the king, let a
decree be issued for their destruction, and I will pay ten thousand talents of
silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king's business, so that
they may put it into the king's treasuries." 10 So the king took his signet ring
from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of
the Jews. 11 The king said to Haman, "The money is given to you, and the people
as well, to do with them as it seems good to you." 12 Then the king's
secretaries were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an
edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king's satraps
and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the
peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own
language; it was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the
king's ring. 13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces,
giving orders to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old,
women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which
is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. 14 A copy of the document was
to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation, calling on all the
peoples to be ready for that day. 15 The couriers went quickly by order of the
king, and the decree was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat
down to drink; but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.
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When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his
clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with
a loud and bitter cry; 2 he went up to the entrance of the king's gate, for no
one might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. 3 In every province,
wherever the king's command and his decree came, there was great mourning among
the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in
sackcloth and ashes. 4 When Esther's maids and her eunuchs came and told her,
the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that
he might take off his sackcloth; but he would not accept them. 5 Then Esther
called for Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend
her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. 6
Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the
king's gate, 7 and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact
sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries for the
destruction of the Jews. 8 Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree
issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain
it to her, and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and
entreat him for her people. 9 Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had
said. 10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai,
saying, 11 "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know
that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being
called, there is but one law--all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king
holds out the golden scepter to someone, may that person live. I myself have not
been called to come in to the king for thirty days." 12 When they told Mordecai
what Esther had said, 13 Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not think
that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14
For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise
for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father's family will perish.
Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this."
15 Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, 16 "Go, gather all the Jews to be
found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three
days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will
go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish." 17
Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.
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On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the
inner court of the king's palace, opposite the king's hall. The king was sitting
on his royal throne inside the palace opposite the entrance to the palace. 2 As
soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won his favor and
he held out to her the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther
approached and touched the top of the scepter. 3 The king said to her, "What is
it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half
of my kingdom." 4 Then Esther said, "If it pleases the king, let the king and
Haman come today to a banquet that I have prepared for the king." 5 Then the
king said, "Bring Haman quickly, so that we may do as Esther desires." So the
king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. 6 While they were
drinking wine, the king said to Esther, "What is your petition? It shall be
granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall
be fulfilled." 7 Then Esther said, "This is my petition and request: 8 If I have
won the king's favor, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and
fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet that I
will prepare for them, and then I will do as the king has said." 9 Haman went
out that day happy and in good spirits. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the
king's gate, and observed that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was
infuriated with Mordecai; 10 nevertheless Haman restrained himself and went
home. Then he sent and called for his friends and his wife Zeresh, 11 and Haman
recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the
promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him
above the officials and the ministers of the king. 12 Haman added, "Even Queen
Esther let no one but myself come with the king to the banquet that she
prepared. Tomorrow also I am invited by her, together with the king. 13 Yet all
this does me no good so long as I see the Jew Mordecai sitting at the king's
gate." 14 Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, "Let a gallows
fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai
hanged on it; then go with the king to the banquet in good spirits." This advice
pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.
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On that night the king could not sleep, and he gave orders to
bring the book of records, the annals, and they were read to the king. 2 It was
found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's
eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had conspired to assassinate King
Ahasuerus. 3 Then the king said, "What honor or distinction has been bestowed on
Mordecai for this?" The king's servants who attended him said, "Nothing has been
done for him." 4 The king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had just
entered the outer court of the king's palace to speak to the king about having
Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him. 5 So the king's
servants told him, "Haman is there, standing in the court." The king said, "Let
him come in." 6 So Haman came in, and the king said to him, "What shall be done
for the man whom the king wishes to honor?" Haman said to himself, "Whom would
the king wish to honor more than me?" 7 So Haman said to the king, "For the man
whom the king wishes to honor, 8 let royal robes be brought, which the king has
worn, and a horse that the king has ridden, with a royal crown on its head. 9
Let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble
officials; let him robe the man whom the king wishes to honor, and let him
conduct the man on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming
before him: 'Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor.'"
10 Then the king said to Haman, "Quickly, take the robes and the horse, as you
have said, and do so to the Jew Mordecai who sits at the king's gate. Leave out
nothing that you have mentioned." 11 So Haman took the robes and the horse and
robed Mordecai and led him riding through the open square of the city,
proclaiming, "Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor."
12 Then Mordecai returned to the king's gate, but Haman hurried to his house,
mourning and with his head covered. 13 When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all
his friends everything that had happened to him, his advisers and his wife
Zeresh said to him, "If Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is of the
Jewish people, you will not prevail against him, but will surely fall before
him." 14 While they were still talking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and
hurried Haman off to the banquet that Esther had prepared.
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So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. 2 On the
second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, "What is
your petition, 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 won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my
life be given me--that is my petition--and the lives of my people--that is 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 held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage
to the king." 5 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, "Who is he, and where
is he, who has presumed to do this?" 6 Esther said, "A foe and enemy, this
wicked Haman!" Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen. 7 The
king rose from the feast in wrath and went into the palace garden, but Haman
stayed to beg his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that the king had
determined to destroy him. 8 When the king returned from the palace garden to
the banquet hall, Haman had thrown himself on the couch where Esther was
reclining; and the king said, "Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in
my own house?" As the words left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman's
face. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, "Look,
the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the
king, stands at Haman's house, fifty cubits high." And the king said, "Hang him
on that." 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for
Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated.
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On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of
Haman, the enemy of the Jews; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had
told what he was to her. 2 Then the king took off his signet ring, which he had
taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. So Esther set Mordecai over the house
of Haman. 3 Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet, weeping
and pleading with him to avert the evil design of Haman the Agagite and the plot
that he had devised against the Jews. 4 The king held out the golden scepter to
Esther, 5 and Esther rose and stood before the king. She said, "If it pleases
the king, and if I have won his favor, 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. 6 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?" 7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to
the Jew Mordecai, "See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have
hanged him on the gallows, because he plotted to lay hands on the Jews. 8 You
may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and
seal it with the king's ring; for an edict written in the name of the king and
sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked." 9 The king's secretaries were
summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the
twenty-third day; and an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai
commanded, to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of
the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to
every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, and
also to the Jews in their script and their language. 10 He wrote letters in the
name of King Ahasuerus, sealed them with the king's ring, and sent them by
mounted couriers riding on fast steeds bred from the royal herd. 11 By these
letters the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and defend
their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any
people or province that might attack them, with their children and women, and to
plunder their goods 12 on a single day throughout all the provinces of King
Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of
Adar. 13 A copy of the writ was to be issued as a decree in every province and
published to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take
revenge on their enemies. 14 So the couriers, mounted on their swift royal
steeds, hurried out, urged by the king's command. The decree was issued in the
citadel of Susa. 15 Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king,
wearing royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a mantle of
fine linen and purple, while the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. 16 For the
Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor. 17 In every province and in
every city, wherever the king's command and his edict came, there was gladness
and joy among the Jews, a festival and a holiday. Furthermore, many of the
peoples of the country professed to be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had
fallen upon them.
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Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the
thirteenth day, when the king's command and edict were about to be executed, on
the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain power over them, but
which had been changed to a day when the Jews would gain power over their foes,
2 the Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King
Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who had sought their ruin; and no one could
withstand them, because the fear of them had fallen upon all peoples. 3 All the
officials of the provinces, the satraps and the governors, and the royal
officials were supporting the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon
them. 4 For Mordecai was powerful in the king's house, and his fame spread
throughout all the provinces as the man Mordecai grew more and more powerful. 5
So the Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, slaughtering, and
destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them. 6 In the
citadel of Susa the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred people. 7 They killed
Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9 Parmashta,
Arisai, Aridai, Vaizatha, 10 the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy
of the Jews; but they did not touch the plunder. 11 That very day the number of
those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king. 12 The king said
to Queen Esther, "In the citadel of Susa the Jews have killed five hundred
people and also the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the
king's provinces? Now what is your petition? It shall be granted you. And what
further is your request? It shall be fulfilled." 13 Esther said, "If it pleases
the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according
to this day's edict, and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows." 14
So the king commanded this to be done; a decree was issued in Susa, and the ten
sons of Haman were hanged. 15 The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the
fourteenth day of the month of Adar and they killed three hundred persons in
Susa; but they did not touch the plunder. 16 Now the other Jews who were in the
king's provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and gained relief from
their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them; but
they laid no hands on the plunder. 17 This was on the thirteenth day of the
month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of
feasting and gladness. 18 But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the
thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making
that a day of feasting and gladness. 19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who
live in the open towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day
for gladness and feasting, a holiday on which they send gifts of food to one
another. 20 Mordecai recorded these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who
were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21 enjoining
them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the
fifteenth day of the same month, year by year, 22 as the days on which the Jews
gained relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them
from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should
make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one
another and presents to the poor. 23 So the Jews adopted as a custom what they
had begun to do, as Mordecai had written to them. 24 Haman son of Hammedatha the
Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy
them, and had cast Pur--that is "the lot"--to crush and destroy them; 25 but
when Esther came before the king, he gave orders in writing that the wicked plot
that he had devised against the Jews should come upon his own head, and that he
and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26 Therefore these days are called
Purim, from the word Pur. Thus because of all that was written in this letter,
and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, 27
the Jews established and accepted as a custom for themselves and their
descendants and all who joined them, that without fail they would continue to
observe these two days every year, as it was written and at the time appointed.
28 These days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in
every family, province, and city; and these days of Purim should never fall into
disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among
their descendants. 29 Queen Esther daughter of Abihail, along with the Jew
Mordecai, gave full written authority, confirming this second letter about
Purim. 30 Letters were sent wishing peace and security to all the Jews, to the
one hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, 31 and giving
orders that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons,
as the Jew Mordecai and Queen Esther enjoined on the Jews, just as they had laid
down for themselves and for their descendants regulations concerning their fasts
and their lamentations. 32 The command of Queen Esther fixed these practices of
Purim, and it was recorded in writing.
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King Ahasuerus laid tribute on the land and on the islands of the
sea. 2 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
annals of the kings of Media and Persia? 3 For Mordecai the Jew was next in rank
to King Ahasuerus, and he was powerful among the Jews and popular with his many
kindred, for he sought the good of his people and interceded for the welfare of
all his descendants.
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