Esther
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
2in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on the throne
of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the citadel,
3that in the third year of his reign he made a feast
for all his officials and servants--the powers of
4when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and
the splendor of his excellent majesty for many days, one hundred and eighty
days in all.
5And when these days were completed, the king made a
feast lasting seven days for all the people who were present in Shushan the
citadel, from great to small, in the court of the garden of the king's palace.
6There were white and blue 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 alabaster, turquoise,
and white and black marble.
7And they served drinks in golden vessels, each vessel
being different from the other, with royal wine in abundance, according to the
generosity of the king.
8In 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.
9Queen Vashti also made a feast for the women in the
royal palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus.
10On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was
merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha,
Zethar, and Carcas, seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus,
11to 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 to behold.
12But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's
command brought by his eunuchs; therefore the king was furious, and his anger
burned within him.
13Then the king said to the wise men who understood the
times (for this was the king's manner toward all who knew law and justice,
14those closest to him being Carshena, Shethar,
Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and
Media, who had access to the king's presence, and who ranked highest in the
kingdom):
15"What shall we do to Queen Vashti, according to
law, because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus brought to her by
the eunuchs?"
16And Memucan answered before the king and the princes:
"Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king, but also all the princes, and
all the people who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.
17For 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.'
18This very day the noble ladies of
19If it pleases the king, let a royal decree go out
from him, and let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so
that it will not be altered, that Vashti shall come no more before King
Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better
than she.
20When 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."
21And the reply pleased the king and the princes, and the
king did according to the word of Memucan.
22Then he sent letters to all the king's provinces, to
each province in its own script, and to every people in their own language,
that each man should be master in his own house, and speak in the language of
his own people.
2After these things, when the wrath
of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what
had been decreed against her.
2Then the king's servants who attended him said:
"Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king;
3and let the king appoint officers in all the
provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins
to Shushan the citadel, into the women's quarters, under the custody of Hegai
the king's eunuch, custodian of the women. And let beauty preparations be given
them.
4Then let the young woman who pleases the king be
queen instead of Vashti." This thing pleased the king, and he did so.
5In Shushan the citadel there was a certain Jew whose
name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of
6Kish had been carried away from
7And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is,
Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young
woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took
her as his own daughter.
8So it was, when the king's command and decree were
heard, and when many young women were gathered at Shushan the citadel, under
the custody of Hegai, that Esther also was taken to the king's palace, into the
care of Hegai the custodian of the women.
9Now the young woman pleased him, and she obtained his
favor; so he readily gave beauty preparations to her, besides her allowance.
Then seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king's palace,
and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place in the house of the
women.
10Esther had not revealed her people or family, for
Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it.
11And every day Mordecai paced in front of the court of
the women's quarters, to learn of Esther's welfare and what was happening to
her.
12Each young woman's turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus
after she had completed twelve months' preparation, according to the
regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their preparation
apportioned: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and
preparations for beautifying women.
13Thus prepared, each young woman went to the king, and
she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the women's quarters
to the king's palace.
14In the evening she went, and in the morning she
returned to the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the
king's eunuch who kept the concubines. She would not go in to the king again
unless the king delighted in her and called for her by name.
15Now 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 eunuch, the custodian
of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw
her.
16So 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.
17The king loved Esther more than all the other women,
and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he
set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
18Then the king made a great feast, the Feast of
Esther, for all his officials and servants; and he proclaimed a holiday in the
provinces and gave gifts according to the generosity of a king.
19When virgins were gathered together a second time,
Mordecai sat within the king's gate.
20Now Esther had not revealed her family and her
people, just as Mordecai had charged her, for Esther obeyed the command of
Mordecai as when she was brought up by him.
21In those days, while Mordecai sat within the king's
gate, two of the king's eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, doorkeepers, became
furious and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
22So the matter became known to Mordecai, who told
Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai's name.
23And 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.
3After these things King Ahasuerus
promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and set his
seat above all the princes who were with him.
2And all the king's servants who were within the
king's gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded
concerning him. But Mordecai would not bow or pay homage.
3Then the king's servants who were within the king's
gate said to Mordecai, "Why do you transgress the king's command?"
4Now it happened, when they spoke to him daily and he
would not listen to them, that they told it to Haman, to see whether Mordecai's
words would stand; for Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew.
5When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him
homage, Haman was filled with wrath.
6But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for
they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman sought to destroy
all the Jews who were throughout the whole
7In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in
the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, the lot), before
Haman to determine the day and the month, until it fell on the twelfth month,
which is the month of Adar.
8Then 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.
9If 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."
10So the king took his signet ring from his hand and
gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
11And the king said to Haman, "The money and the
people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you."
12Then 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 officials of all people, to every province according to its script, and
to every people in their language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was
written, and sealed with the king's signet ring.
13And the letters were sent by couriers into all the
king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate 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.
14A copy of the document was to be issued as law in
every province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for
that day.
15The couriers went out, hastened by the king's
command; and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan the citadel. So the king and
Haman sat down to drink, but the city of
4When 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. He cried out with a loud and bitter cry.
2He went as far as the front of the king's gate, for
no one might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth.
3And 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.
4So Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her, and
the queen was deeply distressed. Then she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and
take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them.
5Then Esther called Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs
whom he had appointed to attend her, and she gave him a command concerning
Mordecai, to learn what and why this was.
6So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square
that was in front of the king's gate.
7And 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.
8He 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.
9So Hathach returned and told Esther the words of
Mordecai.
10Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a command
for 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 called, he has but one law: put all to death, except
the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I
myself have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days."
12So they told Mordecai Esther's words.
13And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: "Do not
think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all
the other Jews.
14For 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 will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the
kingdom for such a time as this?"
15Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai:
16"Go, gather all the Jews who are present 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 to the king, which is
against the law; and if I perish, I perish!"
17So Mordecai went his way and did according to all
that Esther commanded him.
5Now it happened on the third day
that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's
palace, across from the king's house, while the king sat on his royal throne in
the royal house, facing the entrance of the house.
2So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in
the court, that she found favor in his sight, 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.
3And the king said to her, "What do you wish,
Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you--up to half the
kingdom!"
4So Esther answered, "If it pleases the king, let
the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for
him."
5Then the king said, "Bring Haman quickly, that
he may do as Esther has said." So the king and Haman went to the banquet
that Esther had prepared.
6At the banquet of wine the king said to Esther,
"What is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request, up
to half the kingdom? It shall be done!"
7Then Esther answered and said, "My petition and
request is this:
8If 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 as the king has said."
9So 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.
10Nevertheless Haman restrained himself and went home,
and he sent and called for his friends and his wife Zeresh.
11Then Haman told them of his great riches, the
multitude of his children, everything in which the king had promoted him, and
how he had advanced him above the officials and servants of the king.
12Moreover Haman said, "Besides, Queen Esther
invited no one but me to come in with the king to the banquet that she
prepared; and tomorrow I am again invited by her, along with the king.
13Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see
Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate."
14Then 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 merrily with the king to the
banquet." And the thing pleased Haman; so he had the gallows made.
6That night the king could not sleep.
So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and
they were read before the king.
2And it was found written that Mordecai had told of
Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought
to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
3Then the king said, "What honor or dignity has
been bestowed on Mordecai for this?" And the king's servants who attended
him said, "Nothing has been done for him."
4So the king said, "Who is in the court?"
Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace to suggest that
the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
5The king's servants said to him, "Haman is
there, standing in the court." And the king said, "Let him come
in."
6So Haman came in, and the king asked 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
me?"
7And Haman answered the king, "For the man whom
the king delights to honor,
8let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn,
and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its
head.
9Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand
of one of the king's most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the
king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square,
and proclaim before him: "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king
delights to honor!'
10Then the king said to Haman, "Hurry, take the
robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who
sits within the king's gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have
spoken."
11So Haman took the robe 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!"
12Afterward Mordecai went back to the king's gate. But
Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered.
13When 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 Jewish
descent, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him."
14While they were still talking with him, the king's
eunuchs came, and hastened to bring Haman to the banquet which Esther had
prepared.
7So the king and Haman went to dine
with Queen Esther.
2And 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, up to half the kingdom? It shall be
done!"
3Then Queen Esther answered and said, "If I have found
favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given
me at my petition, and my people at my request.
4For we have been sold, my people and I, to be
destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as male and
female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never
compensate for the king's loss."
5So 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?"
6And Esther said, "The adversary and enemy is
this wicked Haman!" So Haman was terrified before the king and queen.
7Then the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of
wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stood before Queen Esther,
pleading for his life, for he saw that evil was determined against him by the
king.
8When the king returned from the palace garden to the
place of the banquet of wine, Haman had fallen across the couch where Esther
was. Then the king said, "Will he also assault the queen while I am in the
house?" As the word left the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.
9Now Harbonah, one of the eunuchs, said to the king,
"Look! 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!"
10So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had
prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's wrath subsided.
8On that day King Ahasuerus gave
Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came
before the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her.
2So 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.
3Now Esther spoke again to the king, fell down at his
feet, and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of Haman the Agagite,
and the scheme which he had devised against the Jews.
4And the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther.
So Esther arose and stood before the king,
5and said, "If it pleases the king, and if I have
found favor in his sight 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 annihilate the Jews who
are in all the king's provinces.
6For how can I endure to see the evil that will come
to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my
countrymen?"
7Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai
the Jew, "Indeed, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have
hanged him on the gallows because he tried to lay his hand on the Jews.
8You yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews, as
you please, 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."
9So the king's scribes were called at that time, in
the third month, which is the month of 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 princes of the provinces from India to
Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all, to every province in its
own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own
script and language.
10And 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.
11By these letters the king permitted the Jews who were
in every city to gather together and protect their lives--to destroy, kill, and
annihilate all the forces of any people or province that would assault them,
both little children and women, and to plunder their possessions,
12on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on
the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.
13A 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.
14The 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 citadel.
15So Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in
royal apparel of blue and white, with a great crown of gold and a garment of
fine linen and purple; and the city of
16The Jews had light and gladness, joy and honor.
17And in every province and city, wherever the king's
command and decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a holiday.
Then many of the people of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews fell
upon them.
9Now 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.
2The 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
people.
3And all the officials 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.
4For Mordecai was great in the king's palace, and his
fame spread throughout all the provinces; for this man Mordecai became
increasingly prominent.
5Thus the Jews defeated all their enemies with the
stroke of the sword, with slaughter and destruction, and did what they pleased
with those who hated them.
6And in Shushan the citadel the Jews killed and
destroyed five hundred men.
7Also Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
8Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
9Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vajezatha--
10the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the
enemy of the Jews--they killed; but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.
11On that day the number of those who were killed in
Shushan the citadel was brought to the king.
12And the king said to Queen Esther, "The Jews
have killed and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the citadel, 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."
13Then 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."
14So the king commanded this to be done; the decree was
issued in Shushan, and they hanged Haman's ten sons.
15And 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 plunder.
16The remainder of the Jews in the king's provinces
gathered together and protected their lives, had rest from their enemies, and
killed seventy-five thousand of their enemies; but they did not lay a hand on
the plunder.
17This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar.
And on the fourteenth of the month they rested and made it a day of feasting
and gladness.
18But 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.
19Therefore the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the
unwalled towns celebrated the fourteenth day of the month of Adar with gladness
and feasting, as a holiday, and for sending presents to one another.
20And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to
all the Jews, near and far, who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus,
21to establish among them that they should celebrate
yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar,
22as 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 holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of
sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor.
23So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun,
as Mordecai had written to them,
24because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the
enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to annihilate them, and had
cast Pur (that is, the lot), to consume them and destroy them;
25but when Esther came before the king, he commanded by
letter that this wicked plot which Haman had devised against the Jews should
return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the
gallows.
26So 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,
27the Jews established and imposed it upon themselves
and their descendants and all who would join them, that without fail they
should celebrate these two days every year, according to the written
instructions and according to the prescribed time,
28that these days should be remembered and kept
throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, that
these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, and that the
memory of them should not perish among their descendants.
29Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, with
Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about
Purim.
30And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews, to the one
hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the
31to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed
time, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had prescribed for them, and as they
had decreed for themselves and their descendants concerning matters of their
fasting and lamenting.
32So the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of
Purim, and it was written in the book.
10And King Ahasuerus imposed tribute
on the land and on the islands of the sea.
2Now all the acts of his power and his might, and the
account 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
3For Mordecai the Jew was second to King Ahasuerus,
and was great among the Jews and well received by the multitude of his
brethren, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his
countrymen.