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Esther
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This
is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over
127 provinces stretching from India to Cush : {2} At that time
King Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, {3}
and in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his
nobles and officials. The military leaders of Persia and Media, the
princes, and the nobles of the provinces were present. {4} For a
full 180 days he displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the
splendor and glory of his majesty. {5} When these days were over,
the king gave a banquet, lasting seven days, in the enclosed garden of
the king's palace, for all the people from the least to the greatest,
who were in the citadel of Susa. {6} The garden had hangings of
white and blue linen, fastened with cords of white linen and purple
material to silver rings on marble pillars. There were couches of gold
and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and
other costly stones. {7} Wine was served in goblets of gold, each
one different from the other, and the royal wine was abundant, in
keeping with the king's liberality. {8} By the king's command
each guest was allowed to drink in his own way, for the king instructed
all the wine stewards to serve each man what he wished. {9} Queen
Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King
Xerxes. {10} On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high
spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him--Mehuman,
Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carcas-- {11} to
bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to
display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look
at. {12} But when the attendants delivered the king's command,
Queen Vashti refused to come. Then the king became furious and burned
with anger. {13} Since it was customary for the king to consult
experts in matters of law and justice, he spoke with the wise men who
understood the times {14} and were closest to the king--Carshena,
Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven nobles
of Persia and Media who had special access to the king and were highest
in the kingdom. {15} "According to law, what must be done to
Queen Vashti?" he asked. "She has not obeyed the command of King Xerxes
that the eunuchs have taken to her." {16} Then Memucan replied in
the presence of the king and the nobles, "Queen Vashti has done wrong,
not only against the king but also against all the nobles and the
peoples of all the provinces of King Xerxes. {17} For the queen's
conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise
their husbands and say, 'King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be
brought before him, but she would not come.' {18} This very day
the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the
queen's conduct will respond to all the king's nobles in the same way.
There will be no end of disrespect and discord. {19} "Therefore,
if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree and let it be
written in the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed, that
Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Xerxes. Also let the
king give her royal position to someone else who is better than she.
{20} Then when the king's edict is proclaimed throughout all his
vast realm, all the women will respect their husbands, from the least to
the greatest." {21} The king and his nobles were pleased with
this advice, so the king did as Memucan proposed. {22} He sent
dispatches to all parts of the kingdom, to each province in its own
script and to each people in its own language, proclaiming in each
people's tongue that every man should be ruler over his own household. |
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Esther 2 |
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Later
when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and
what she had done and what he had decreed about her. {2} Then the
king's personal attendants proposed, "Let a search be made for beautiful
young virgins for the king. {3} Let the king appoint
commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these
beautiful girls into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be
placed under the care of Hegai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of
the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them. {4} Then
let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti." This
advice appealed to the king, and he followed it. {5} Now there
was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named
Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, {6} who
had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin king of Judah. {7}
Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because
she had neither father nor mother. This girl, who was also known as
Esther, was lovely in form and features, and Mordecai had taken her as
his own daughter when her father and mother died. {8} When the
king's order and edict had been proclaimed, many girls were brought to
the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was
taken to the king's palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the
harem. {9} The girl pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he
provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to
her seven maids selected from the king's palace and moved her and her
maids into the best place in the harem. {10} Esther had not
revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had
forbidden her to do so. {11} Every day he walked back and forth
near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was
happening to her. {12} Before a girl's turn came to go in to King
Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments
prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with
perfumes and cosmetics. {13} And this is how she would go to the
king: Anything she wanted was given her to take with her from the harem
to the king's palace. {14} In the evening she would go there and
in the morning return to another part of the harem to the care of
Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She
would not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned
her by name. {15} When the turn came for Esther (the girl
Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the
king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king's eunuch who
was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of
everyone who saw her. {16} She was taken to King Xerxes in the
royal residence in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh
year of his reign. {17} Now the king was attracted to Esther more
than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more
than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and
made her queen instead of Vashti. {18} And the king gave a great
banquet, Esther's banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He
proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with
royal liberality. {19} When the virgins were assembled a second
time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. {20} But Esther
had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai
had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai's instructions
as she had done when he was bringing her up. {21} During the time
Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the
king's officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired to
assassinate King Xerxes. {22} But Mordecai found out about the
plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving
credit to Mordecai. {23} And when the report was investigated and
found to be true, the two officials were hanged on a gallows. All this
was recorded in the book of the annals in the presence of the king. |
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Esther
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After
these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite,
elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the
other nobles. {2} All the royal officials at the king's gate
knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this
concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.
{3} Then the royal officials at the king's gate asked Mordecai, "Why
do you disobey the king's command?" {4} Day after day they spoke
to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to
see whether Mordecai's behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them
he was a Jew. {5} When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel
down or pay him honor, he was enraged. {6} Yet having learned who
Mordecai's people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai.
Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai's people, the
Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes. {7} In the twelfth
year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, they cast
the pur (that is, the lot) in the presence of Haman to select a
day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
{8} Then Haman said to King Xerxes, "There is a certain people
dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your
kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and
who do not obey the king's laws; it is not in the king's best interest
to tolerate them. {9} If it pleases the king, let a decree be
issued to destroy them, and I will put ten thousand talents of silver
into the royal treasury for the men who carry out this business."
{10} So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to
Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. {11}
"Keep the money," the king said to Haman, "and do with the people as you
please." {12} Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the
royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each
province and in the language of each people all Haman's orders to the
king's satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of
the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes
himself and sealed with his own ring. {13} Dispatches were sent
by couriers to all the king's provinces with the order to destroy, kill
and annihilate all the Jews--young and old, women and little
children--on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the
month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. {14} A copy of the
text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made
known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that
day. {15} Spurred on by the king's command, the couriers went
out, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman
sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered. |
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Esther
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When
Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on
sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and
bitterly. {2} But he went only as far as the king's gate, because
no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. {3} In every
province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great
mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in
sackcloth and ashes. {4} When Esther's maids and eunuchs came and
told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for
him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.
{5} Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs assigned
to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai
and why. {6} So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square
of the city in front of the king's gate. {7} Mordecai told him
everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money
Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of
the Jews. {8} He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict
for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to
Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to urge her to go into the
king's presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
{9} Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said.
{10} Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, {11} "All
the king's officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for
any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without
being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The
only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him
and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go
to the king." {12} When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai,
{13} he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because you are in
the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. {14} For
if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews
will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will
perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such
a time as this?" {15} Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:
{16} "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for
me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids
will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even
though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." {17} So
Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther's instructions. |
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Esther 5 |
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On
the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court
of the palace, in front of the king's hall. The king was sitting on his
royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. {2} When he saw
Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out
to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and
touched the tip of the scepter. {3} Then the king asked, "What is
it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it
will be given you." {4} "If it pleases the king," replied Esther,
"let the king, together with Haman, come today to a banquet I have
prepared for him." {5} "Bring Haman at once," the king said, "so
that we may do what Esther asks." So the king and Haman went to the
banquet Esther had prepared. {6} As they were drinking wine, the
king again asked Esther, "Now what is your petition? It will be given
you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be
granted." {7} Esther replied, "My petition and my request is
this: {8} If the king regards me with 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 I will prepare for them. Then I will answer
the king's question." {9} Haman went out that day happy and in
high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king's gate and observed
that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with
rage against Mordecai. {10} Nevertheless, Haman restrained
himself and went home. Calling together his friends and Zeresh, his
wife, {11} Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many
sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated
him above the other nobles and officials. {12} "And that's not
all," Haman added. "I'm the only person Queen Esther invited to
accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along
with the king tomorrow. {13} But all this gives me no
satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king's
gate." {14} His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him,
"Have a gallows built, seventy-five feet high, and ask the king in the
morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go with the king to the
dinner and be happy." This suggestion delighted Haman, and he had the
gallows built. |
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Esther 6 |
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That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered
the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in
and read to him. {2} It was found recorded there that Mordecai
had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's officers who guarded
the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. {3}
"What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?" the king
asked. "Nothing has been done for him," his attendants answered. {4}
The king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had just entered the
outer court of the palace to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on
the gallows he had erected for him. {5} His attendants answered,
"Haman is standing in the court." "Bring him in," the king ordered.
{6} When Haman entered, the king asked him, "What should be done for
the man the king delights to honor?" Now Haman thought to himself, "Who
is there that the king would rather honor than me?" {7} So he
answered the king, "For the man the king delights to honor, {8}
have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has
ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. {9} Then let
the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king's most noble princes.
Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the
horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, 'This is what is
done for the man the king delights to honor!'" {10} "Go at once,"
the king commanded Haman. "Get the robe and the horse and do just as you
have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate. Do not
neglect anything you have recommended." {11} So Haman got the
robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through
the city streets, proclaiming before him, "This is what is done for the
man the king delights to honor!" {12} Afterward Mordecai returned
to the king's gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in
grief, {13} and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends
everything that had happened to him. His advisers and his wife Zeresh
said to him, "Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is
of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him--you will surely come to
ruin!" {14} While they were still talking with him, the king's
eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had
prepared. |
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Esther
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So
the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther, {2} and as
they were drinking wine on that second day, the king again asked, "Queen
Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your
request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted." {3}
Then Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favor with you, O king, and
if it pleases your majesty, grant me my life--this is my petition. And
spare my people--this is my request. {4} For I and my people have
been sold for destruction and slaughter and annihilation. If we had
merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet,
because no such distress would justify disturbing the king." {5}
King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, "Who is he? Where is the man who has
dared to do such a thing?" {6} Esther said, "The adversary and
enemy is this vile Haman." Then Haman was terrified before the king and
queen. {7} The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out
into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already
decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life. {8}
Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet
hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The
king exclaimed, "Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in
the house?" As soon as the word left the king's mouth, they covered
Haman's face. {9} Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the
king, said, "A gallows seventy-five feet high stands by Haman's house.
He had it made for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king." The king
said, "Hang him on it!" {10} So they hanged Haman on the gallows
he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's fury subsided. |
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Esther 8 |
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That
same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of
the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther
had told how he was related to her. {2} The king took off his
signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to
Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman's estate. {3}
Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She
begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he
had devised against the Jews. {4} Then the king extended the gold
scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him. {5} "If it
pleases the king," she said, "and if he regards me with favor and thinks
it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be
written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the
Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king's
provinces. {6} For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my
people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?" {7}
King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "Because
Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they
have hanged him on the gallows. {8} Now write another decree in
the king's name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it
with the king's signet ring--for no document written in the king's name
and sealed with his ring can be revoked." {9} At once the royal
secretaries were summoned--on the twenty-third day of the third month,
the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai's orders to the Jews,
and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching
from India to Cush. These orders were written in the script of each
province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their
own script and language. {10} Mordecai wrote in the name of King
Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king's signet ring, and sent them
by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.
{11} The king's edict granted the Jews in every city the right to
assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate any
armed force of any nationality or province that might attack them and
their women and children; and to plunder the property of their enemies.
{12} The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces
of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of
Adar. {13} A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as
law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality
so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on
their enemies. {14} The couriers, riding the royal horses, raced
out, spurred on by the king's command. And the edict was also issued in
the citadel of Susa. {15} Mordecai left the king's presence
wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a
purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous
celebration. {16} For the Jews it was a time of happiness and
joy, gladness and honor. {17} In every province and in every
city, wherever the edict of the king went, there was joy and gladness
among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other
nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them. |
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Esther 9 |
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On
the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict
commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of
the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and
the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them. {2} The
Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to
attack those seeking their destruction. No one could stand against them,
because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them.
{3} And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors
and the king's administrators helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai
had seized them. {4} Mordecai was prominent in the palace; his
reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more
powerful. {5} The Jews struck down all their enemies with the
sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to
those who hated them. {6} In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed
and destroyed five hundred men. {7} They also killed Parshandatha,
Dalphon, Aspatha, {8} Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, {9}
Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, {10} the ten sons of
Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay
their hands on the plunder. {11} The number of those slain in the
citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same day. {12} The
king said to Queen Esther, "The Jews have killed and destroyed five
hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have
they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Now what is your
petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be
granted." {13} "If it pleases the king," Esther answered, "give
the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day's edict tomorrow also,
and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on gallows." {14} So the king
commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they
hanged the ten sons of Haman. {15} The Jews in Susa came together
on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in
Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
{16} Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king's
provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their
enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their
hands on the plunder. {17} This happened on the thirteenth day of
the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day
of feasting and joy. {18} The Jews in Susa, however, had
assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then on the fifteenth
they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy. {19} That is
why rural Jews--those living in villages--observe the fourteenth of the
month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to
each other. {20} Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent
letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near
and far, {21} to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and
fifteenth days of the month of Adar {22} as the time when the
Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow
was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He
wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving
presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor. {23} So
the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what
Mordecai had written to them. {24} For Haman son of Hammedatha,
the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to
destroy them and had cast the pur (that is, the lot) for their
ruin and destruction. {25} But when the plot came to the king's
attention, he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had
devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head, and that he
and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. {26} (Therefore
these days were called Purim, from the word pur.) Because of
everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and
what had happened to them, {27} the Jews took it upon themselves
to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join
them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way
prescribed and at the time appointed. {28} These days should be
remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in
every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never
cease to be celebrated by the Jews, nor should the memory of them die
out among their descendants. {29} So Queen Esther, daughter of
Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to
confirm this second letter concerning Purim. {30} And Mordecai
sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of
Xerxes--words of goodwill and assurance-- {31} to establish these
days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen
Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves
and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting and
lamentation. {32} Esther's decree confirmed these regulations
about Purim, and it was written down in the records. |
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Esther 10 |
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King
Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores.
{2} And all his acts of power and might, together with a full
account of the greatness of Mordecai to which the king had raised him,
are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and
Persia? {3} Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes,
preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow
Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the
welfare of all the Jews. |
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