Esther
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Esther 1
1 Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus (this was the Ahasuerus who reigned
over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia),
2 in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in
Shushan the palace,
3 that in the third year of his reign he made a feast for all his officials and servants; the
powers of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the rulers of the provinces being before him;
4 when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent
greatness for many days, even one hundred and eighty days.
5 And when these days were completed, the king made a feast lasting seven days for all
the people who were found in Shushan the palace, from great to small, in the court of the
garden of the king's palace.
6 There were white and violet linen curtains fastened with cords of fine linen and purple on silver rods and marble pillars; and the couches were of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of red, turquoise, and pearl and black marble.
7 And they served drinks in golden vessels, each vessel being different from the other,
with royal wine in abundance, according to the hand of the king.
8 In accordance with the law, the drinking was not compulsory; for so the king had
ordered all the officers of his household, that they should do according to each man's
pleasure.
9 Queen Vashti also made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to
King Ahasuerus.
10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded
Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, seven officials who
served in the presence of King Ahasuerus,
11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king, wearing her royal crown, in order to show her
beauty to the people and the officials; for she was beautiful in appearance.
12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command brought by his officials;
therefore the king was furious, and his rage burned within him.
13 Then the king said to the wise men who understood the times (for this was the king's
manner toward all who knew law and judgment,
14 those closest to him being Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena,
and Memucan, the seven rulers of Persia and Media, who had access to the king's
presence, and who sat first in the kingdom):
15 What shall we do to Queen Vashti, according to law, because she has not observed
the command of King Ahasuerus brought to her by the officials?
16 And Memucan answered before the king and the rulers: Queen Vashti has not only
wronged the king, but also all the rulers, and all the people who are in all the provinces
of King Ahasuerus.
17 For the queen's behavior will become known to all women, so that they will despise
their husbands in their eyes, when they report, King Ahasuerus commanded Queen
Vashti to be brought in before him, but she did not come.
18 And this day the noble ladies of Persia and Media will say the same to all the king's officials, when they have heard of the behavior of the queen. Thus there will be more than enough contempt and wrath.
19 If it please the king, let a royal decree go out from him, and let it be recorded in the laws of Persia and Media, so that it shall not become obsolete, that Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal power to another woman who is better than she.
20 And when the king's decree which he will make is proclaimed throughout all his
empire (for it is great), all wives will honor their husbands, both great and small.
21 And the words pleased the king and the rulers, and the king did according to the word
of Memucan.
22 Then he sent letters to all the king's provinces, to each province in its own writing,
and to every people in their own language: That each man should rule in his own house;
and that it should be spoken in the language of each nation.
Esther 2
1 After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered
Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.
2 Then the king's servants who ministered to him said: Let beautiful young virgins be
sought for the king;
3 and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may
gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the palace, into the women's house,
under the hand of Hegai the king's official, custodian of the women. And let cosmetics
be given to them.
4 Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the
thing pleased the king, and he did so.
5 Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai the son
of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.
6 Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been captured
with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried
away.
7 And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah (that is, Esther), his uncle's daughter, for she
had neither father nor mother. And the young woman was of a beautiful figure and good
appearance. At the death of her father and mother Mordecai had taken her as his own
daughter.
8 So it was, when the king's command and decree were heard, and when many young
women were gathered at Shushan the palace, under the hand of Hegai, that Esther also
was taken to the king's house, into the hand of Hegai the custodian of the women.
9 Now the young woman was good in his eyes, and she obtained his favor; so he rushed
to supply her cosmetics, along with her other provisions. And seven choice maidservants
were provided for her from the king's house, and he moved her and her maidservants to
the best place in the house of the women.
10 Esther had not revealed her people or family, for Mordecai had charged her not to
reveal it.
11 And every day Mordecai walked around in front of the court of the women's house,
to learn of Esther's welfare and what was happening with her.
12 Each young woman's turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she had completed
twelve months according to the regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their
beautification accomplished: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes
and preparations for beautifying women.
13 Thus prepared, each young woman went to the king, and she was given whatever she
requested to take with her from the women's house to the king's house.
14 In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second house of the women, to the hand of Shaashgaz, the king's official who kept the concubines. She would not go in to the king again unless the king delighted in her and summoned her by name.
15 Now when the turn came for Esther (the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai,
who had taken her as his daughter), to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what
Hegai the king's official, the custodian of the women, commanded. And Esther rose to
favor in the eyes of all who saw her.
16 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal house, in the tenth month,
which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
17 And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and
favor in his presence more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head
and made her queen instead of Vashti.
18 And the king made a great feast, the Feast of Esther, for all his rulers and servants;
and he instituted a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the hand of the
king.
19 And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai sat in
the king's gate.
20 Now Esther had not revealed her kindred nor her people, just as Mordecai had
charged her, for Esther obeyed the command of Mordecai as when she was brought up by
him.
21 In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, two of the king's officials,
Bigthan and Teresh, doorkeepers, became furious and sought to lay hands on King
Ahasuerus.
22 And the matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, and Esther
informed the king in Mordecai's name.
23 And when an inquiry was made into the matter, it was confirmed, and both were
hanged on a gallows; and it was written in the book of the chronicles in the presence of
the king.
Esther 3
1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the
Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the rulers who were with him.
2 And all the king's servants who were in the king's gate bowed and paid homage to
Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow nor
pay homage.
3 Then the king's servants who were in the king's gate said to Mordecai, Why do you
transgress the king's command?
4 Now it happened, when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to
them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's words would stand; for Mordecai
had told them that he was a Jew.
5 When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled
with rage.
6 But it was contemptible in his eyes to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told
him of the people of Mordecai. Therefore, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who
were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus; the people of Mordecai.
7 In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus,
they cast Pur (that is, the lot), before Haman from day to day and month to month, until it
fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered and dispersed
among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all
other people's, and they do not keep the king's laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the
king to let them remain.
9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten
thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the
king's treasuries.
10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of
Hammedatha the Agagite, the one harassing the Jews.
11 And the king said to Haman, The money and the people are given to you, to do with
them as seems good to you.
12 Then the king's scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a
decree was written according to all that Haman commanded; to the king's satraps, to the
governors who were over each province, to the rulers of all the people, to every province
according to its writing, and to every people in their language. In the name of King
Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king's signet ring.
13 And the letters were sent by runners into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill,
and to exterminate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one
day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to
plunder their possessions;
14 a copy of the document to be issued as law in every province, being published for all
people, that they should be ready for that day.
15 The runners went out, hastened by the king's command; and the decree was
proclaimed in Shushan the palace. So the king and Haman sat down to drink. But the city
of Shushan was perplexed.
Esther 4
1 When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on
sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried out with a loud and
bitter cry.
2 He went as far as the front of the king's gate: for no one was to enter the king's gate
clothed with sackcloth.
3 And in every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great
mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in
sackcloth and ashes.
4 So Esther's maids and officials came and reported it to her, and the queen was exceedingly
distressed. Then she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from
him, but he would not accept them.
5 Then Esther called Hathach, one of the king's officials whom he had appointed to
attend her, and she gave him a command concerning Mordecai, to learn what and why
this was.
6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square that was in front of the king's gate.
7 And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the sum of money that
Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries to destroy the Jews.
8 He also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction, which was given at
Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her, and that he might
command her to go in to the king to make supplication to him and plead before him for
her people.
9 So Hathach returned and told Esther the words of Mordecai.
10 Again Esther spoke to Hathach, and charged him to say to Mordecai:
11 All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been summoned, has but one law: to put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Furthermore, I have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days.
12 And they told Mordecai Esther's words.
13 And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: Do not think in your soul that you will
escape in the king's house any more than all the other Jews.
14 For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for
the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house shall perish. Yet who
knows whether you have attained unto the kingdom for such a time as this?
15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai:
16 Go, gather all the Jews who are found in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor
drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go in
to the king, which is against the law; and if I have perished, I have perished!
17 So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded him.
Esther 5
1 Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the
inner court of the king's house, across from the king's house, while the king sat on his
royal throne in the royal house, in front of the gate of the house.
2 So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor
in his eyes, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then
Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter.
3 And the king said to her, What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It
shall be given to you, even to half the kingdom.
4 And Esther answered, If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the
banquet that I have prepared for him.
5 Then the king said, Summon Haman quickly, that he may do according to Esther's
word. So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared.
6 At the banquet of wine the king said to Esther, What is your petition? It shall be
granted you. What is your request? And it shall be done, even to half the kingdom.
7 Then Esther answered and said, My petition and request is this:
8 If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my
petition and fulfill my request, then let the king and Haman come to the banquet which I
will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do according to the word of the king.
9 So Haman went out that day joyful and with a glad heart. But when Haman saw
Mordecai in the king's gate, and that he did not stand or tremble before him, he was
filled with indignation against Mordecai.
10 Nevertheless Haman restrained himself and went to his house, and he sent and summoned his friends and his wife Zeresh.
11 And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children,
everything in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the
rulers and servants of the king.
12 Moreover Haman said, In addition to that, Queen Esther invited no one to come in
with the king to the banquet that she prepared, except me; and tomorrow I am again
invited by her, along with the king.
13 Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's
gate.
14 Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, Let a gallows be made, fifty
cubits high, and in the morning suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on it; then
go joyfully with the king to the banquet. And these words were good to Haman; so he
had the gallows made.
Esther 6
1 That night sleep fled from the king. So it was commanded to bring the book of the
records of the chronicles; and they were recited before the king.
2 And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the
king's officials, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
3 Then the king said, What honor or dignity has been bestowed upon Mordecai for this?
And the king's servants who attended him said, Nothing has been done for him.
4 So the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman had just entered the outer court of
the king's house to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had
prepared for him.
5 The king's servants said to him, Behold, Haman is standing in the court. And the king
said, Let him come in.
6 So Haman came in, and the king said unto him, What shall be done for the man whom
the king delights to honor? Now Haman thought in his heart, Whom would the king
delight to honor more than myself?
7 And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delights to honor:
8 Let the royal apparel be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the
king has ridden, and the royal crown which has been placed upon his head.
9 Then let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most
noble rulers, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then have him
ride on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him: Thus shall it be
done to the man whom the king delights to honor!
10 Then the king said to Haman, Hurry! Take the apparel and the horse, just as you have
suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits in the king's gate! Do not fail to do
any of all that you have spoken.
11 So Haman took the apparel and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on
horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done to
the man whom the king delights to honor!
12 Afterward Mordecai went back 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 wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, If Mordecai, before whom you have
begun to fall, is of the seed of the Jews, you will not prevail against him but shall be
thrown down and fall before him.
14 While they were still talking with him, the king's officials came, and hastened to
bring Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.
Esther 7
1 So the king and Haman went to feast with Queen Esther.
2 And on the second day, at the banquet of wine, the king again said to Esther, What is
your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? It shall be
done, even to half the kingdom.
3 Then Queen Esther answered and said, If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and
if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.
4 For we have been sold, my people and I, to be annihilated, killed and destroyed. Had
we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept silent, although the enemy
could never compensate for the king's loss.
5 So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, Who is he, and where is he,
who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing?
6 And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this evil Haman! Then Haman was
terrified before the king and queen.
7 Then the king arose from the banquet of wine in his wrath and went into the
palace garden; but Haman stood before Queen Esther, to request for his soul, for he
perceived that evil was determined against him by the king.
8 When the king returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine,
Haman had fallen on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, Will he also
violate the queen while I am in the house? As the word left the king's mouth, they
covered Haman's face.
9 Now Harbonah, one of the officials, said to the king, Behold, the gallows, fifty cubits
high, which Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke good on the king's behalf, is standing
at the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him on it!
10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the
king's wrath was pacified.
Esther 8
1 On that day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the one
harassing the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told how he was
related to her.
2 And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to
Mordecai; and Esther appointed Mordecai over the house of Haman.
3 And Esther spoke again to the king, falling down at his feet, and implored him with
tears to take away the evil of Haman the Agagite, and the plans which he had devised
against the Jews.
4 And the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. So Esther arose and stood
before the king,
5 and said, If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor before him and the thing
seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to revoke the letters
devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to exterminate
the Jews who are in all the king's provinces.
6 For how can I endure to see the evil that will meet my people? Or how can I endure to
see the destruction of my kindred?
7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have
given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he
has stretched out his hand against the Jews.
8 You yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews, as is good in your eyes, in the
king's name, and seal it with the king's signet ring; for whatever is written in the king's
name and sealed with the king's signet ring no one can revoke.
9 So the king's scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month
Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and it was written, according to all that Mordecai
commanded, to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the rulers of the provinces from
India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all, to every province in its
own writing, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own writing
and language.
10 And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed it with the king's signet ring,
and sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding on royal horses bred from swift steeds.
11 By these letters the king permitted the Jews who were in every city to gather together
and take their stand for their souls; to exterminate, kill, and destroy all the forces of any
people or province that would be hostile to them, even little children and women, and to
plunder their possessions,
12 on one day in 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 document was to be issued as a decree in every province and published
for all people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their
enemies.
14 The couriers who rode on royal horses went out, hastened and pressed on by the
king's command. And the decree was issued in Shushan the palace.
15 So Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of violet and white, with a great crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple; and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.
16 The Jews had light and gladness, joy and honor.
17 And in every province and city, wherever the king's command and decree came, the
Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land
became Jews, because fear of the Jews fell upon them.
Esther 9
1 Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, the time
came for the king's command and his decree to be executed. On the day that the enemies
of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, the opposite occurred, in that the Jews
themselves overpowered those who hated them.
2 The Jews gathered together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King
Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could withstand
them, because fear of them fell upon all the people.
3 And all the rulers of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and all those doing the
king's work, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.
4 For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame spread throughout all the
provinces; for this man Mordecai proceeded on into greatness.
5 Thus the Jews struck down all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, with slaughter
and destruction, and did what they pleased with those who hated them.
6 And in Shushan the palace the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.
7 Also Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vajezatha;
10 the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews; they killed;
but they did not lay a hand on the spoils.
11 On that day the number of those who were killed in Shushan the palace was brought
before the king.
12 And the king said to Queen Esther, The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred
men in Shushan the palace, and 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 to you. Or what is
your further request? It shall be done.
13 Then Esther said, If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in
Shushan to do again tomorrow according to today's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be
hanged on the gallows.
14 So the king commanded this to be done; the decree was issued in Shushan, and they
hanged Haman's ten sons.
15 And the Jews who were in Shushan gathered together again on the fourteenth day of
the month of Adar and killed three hundred men at Shushan; but they did not lay a hand
on the spoils.
16 The remainder of the Jews in the king's provinces gathered together and took a stand
for their souls, had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of their
enemies; but they did not lay a hand on the spoils.
17 This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. And on the fourteenth day of the
month they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
18 But the Jews who were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day, as well
as on the fourteenth; and on the fifteenth of the month they rested, and made it a day of
feasting and gladness.
19 Therefore the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the unwalled towns made the
fourteenth day of the month of Adar a day of gladness and feasting, as a good day, and
for sending portions to one another.
20 And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews, near and far, who
were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus,
21 to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth
days of the month of Adar,
22 as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was
turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a good day; that they should
make them days of feasting and joy, of sending portions to one another and gifts to the
needy.
23 So the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them,
24 because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had
plotted against the Jews to exterminate them, and had cast Pur (that is, the lot), to destroy
them and to exterminate them;
25 but when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letter that this evil plot
which Haman had devised against the Jews should return upon his own head, and that he
and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
26 Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name Pur. Therefore, because of all
the words of this letter, what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had
happened to them,
27 the Jews established and took it upon themselves and their seed and all who would
join them, that without fail they should celebrate these two days year after year,
according to the writing and according to the appointed time;
28 that these days should be remembered and kept from generation to generation, by
every family, in every province and every city, that these days of Purim should not pass
away among the Jews, and that the memory of them should not cease among their seed.
29 Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full
authority to confirm this second letter about Purim.
30 And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the one hundred and twenty-seven
provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth,
31 to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time, as Mordecai the Jew and
Queen Esther had established for them, and as they had decreed for themselves and their
seed, concerning the matters of their fasting and of their cry.
32 So the decree of Esther confirmed these matters about Purim, and it was written in
the book.
Esther 10
1 And King Ahasuerus imposed a tribute on the land and on the islands of the sea.
2 Now all the acts of his authority and his might, and the declaration of the greatness 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 to King Ahasuerus, and was great among the Jews
and accepted by the multitude of his brethren, seeking the welfare of his people and
speaking peace to all his seed.
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