EST 1:1 Now it took place in the days of
Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to
Ethiopia over 127 provinces,
EST 1:2 in those days as King Ahasuerus sat
on his royal throne which was in Susa the capital,
EST 1:3 in the third year of his reign, he
gave a banquet for all his princes and attendants,
the army officers of Persia and Media, the nobles,
and the princes of his provinces being in his
presence.
EST 1:4 And he displayed the riches of his
royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty
for many days, 180 days.
EST 1:5 And when these days were completed,
the king gave a banquet lasting seven days for all
the people who were present in Susa the capital,
from the greatest to the least, in the court of the
garden of the king's palace.
EST 1:6 There were hangings of fine #663300
and violet linen held by cords of fine purple linen
on silver rings and marble columns, and couches of
gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry,
marble, mother-of-pearl, and precious stones.
EST 1:7 Drinks were served in golden vessels
of various kinds, and the royal wine was plentiful
according to the king's bounty.
EST 1:8 And the drinking was done according
to the law, there was no compulsion, for so the king
had given orders to each official of his household
that he should do according to the desires of each
person.
EST 1:9 Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for
the women in the palace which belonged to King
Ahasuerus.
EST 1:10 On the seventh day, when the heart
of the king was merry with wine, he commanded
Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar,
and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the
presence of King Ahasuerus,
EST 1:11 to bring Queen Vashti before the
king with her royal crown in order to display her
beauty to the people and the princes, for she was
beautiful.
EST 1:12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at
the king's command delivered by the eunuchs. Then
the king became very angry and his wrath burned
within him.
EST 1:13 Then the king said to the wise men
who understood the times - - for it was the custom
of the king so to speak before all who knew law and
justice,
EST 1:14 and were close to him: Carshena,
Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and
Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media who
had access to the king's presence and sat in the
first place in the kingdom - -
EST 1:15 "According to law, what is to be
done with Queen Vashti, because she did not obey the
command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?"
EST 1:16 And in the presence of the king and
the princes, Memucan said, "Queen Vashti has wronged
not only the king but also all the princes, and all
the peoples who are in all the provinces of King
Ahasuerus.
EST 1:17 "For the queen's conduct will become
known to all the women causing them to look with
contempt on their husbands by saying, 'King
Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in to
his presence, but she did not come.'
EST 1:18 "And this day the ladies of Persia
and Media who have heard of the queen's conduct will
speak in the same way to all the king's princes, and
there will be plenty of contempt and anger.
EST 1:19 "If it pleases the king, let a royal
edict be issued by him and let it be written in the
laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be
repealed, that Vashti should come no more into the
presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give
her royal position to another who is more worthy
than she.
EST 1:20 "And when the king's edict which he
shall make is heard throughout all his kingdom,
great as it is, then all women will give honor to
their husbands, great and small."
EST 1:21 And this word pleased the king and
the princes, and the king did as Memucan proposed.
EST 1:22 So he sent letters to all the king's
provinces, to each province according to its script
and to every people according to their language,
that every man should be the master in his own house
and the one who speaks in the language of his own
people.
Top of Page
EST 2:1 After these things when the anger of
King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered Vashti
and what she had done and what had been decreed
against her.
EST 2:2 Then the king's attendants, who
served him, said, "Let beautiful young virgins be
sought for the king.
EST 2:3 "And let the king appoint overseers
in all the provinces of his kingdom that they may
gather every beautiful young virgin to Susa the
capital, to the harem, into the custody of Hegai,
the king's eunuch, who was in charge of the women;
and let their cosmetics be given them.
EST 2:4 "Then let the young lady who pleases
the king be queen in place of Vashti." And the
matter pleased the king, and he did accordingly.
EST 2:5 Now there was a Jew in Susa the
capital whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair,
the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite,
EST 2:6 who had been taken into exile from
Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with
Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king
of Babylon had exiled.
EST 2:7 And he was bringing up Hadassah, that
is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither
father nor mother. Now the young lady was beautiful
of form and face, and when her father and her mother
died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.
EST 2:8 So it came about when the command and
decree of the king were heard and many young ladies
were gathered to Susa the capital into the custody
of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king's palace
into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the
women.
EST 2:9 Now the young lady pleased him and
found favor with him. So he quickly provided her
with her cosmetics and food, gave her seven choice
maids from the king's palace, and transferred her
and her maids to the best place in the harem.
EST 2:10 Esther did not make known her people
or her kindred, for Mordecai had instructed her that
she should not make them known.
EST 2:11 And every day Mordecai walked back
and forth in front of the court of the harem to
learn how Esther was and how she fared.
EST 2:12 Now when the turn of each young lady
came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after the end of
her twelve months under the regulations for the
women - - for the days of their beautification were
completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh
and six months with spices and the cosmetics for
women - -
EST 2:13 the young lady would go in to the
king in this way: anything that she desired was
given her to take with her from the harem to the
king's palace.
EST 2:14 In the evening she would go in and
in the morning she would return to the second harem,
to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch who
was in charge of the concubines. She would not again
go in to the king unless the king delighted in her
and she was summoned by name.
EST 2:15 Now when the turn of Esther, the
daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had
taken her as his daughter, came to go in to the
king, she did not request anything except what Hegai,
the king's eunuch who was in charge of the women,
advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of all
who saw her.
EST 2:16 So Esther was taken to King
Ahasuerus to his royal palace in the tenth month
which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of
his reign.
EST 2:17 And the king loved Esther more than
all the women, and she found favor and kindness with
him more than all the virgins, so that he set the
royal crown on her head and made her queen instead
of Vashti.
EST 2:18 Then the king gave a great banquet,
Esther's banquet, for all his princes and his
servants; he also made a holiday for the provinces
and gave gifts according to the king's bounty.
EST 2:19 And when the virgins were gathered
together the second time, then Mordecai was sitting
at the king's gate.
EST 2:20 Esther had not yet made known her
kindred or her people, even as Mordecai had
commanded her, for Esther did what Mordecai told her
as she had done when under his care.
EST 2:21 In those days, while Mordecai was
sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two
of the king's officials from those who guarded the
door, became angry and sought to lay hands on King
Ahasuerus.
EST 2:22 But the plot became known to
Mordecai, and he told Queen Esther, and Esther
informed the king in Mordecai's name.
EST 2:23 Now when the plot was investigated
and found to be so, they were both hanged on a
gallows; and it was written in the Book of the
Chronicles in the king's presence.
Top of Page
EST 3:1 After these events King Ahasuerus
promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite,
and advanced him and established his authority over
all the princes who were with him.
EST 3:2 And all the king's servants who were
at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to
Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him.
But Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage.
EST 3:3 Then the king's servants who were at
the king's gate said to Mordecai, "Why are you
transgressing the king's command?"
EST 3:4 Now it was when they had spoken daily
to him and he would not listen to them, that they
told Haman to see whether Mordecai's reason would
stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.
EST 3:5 When Haman saw that Mordecai neither
bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled
with rage.
EST 3:6 But he disdained to lay hands on
Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people
of Mordecai were; therefore Haman sought to destroy
all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were
throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
EST 3:7 In the first month, which is the
month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus,
Pur, that is the lot, was cast before Haman from day
to day and from month to month, until the twelfth
month, that is the month Adar.
EST 3:8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus,
"There is a certain people scattered and dispersed
among the peoples in all the provinces of your
kingdom; their laws are different from those of all
other people, and they do not observe the king's
laws, so it is not in the king's interest to let
them remain.
EST 3:9 "If it is pleasing to the king, let
it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay
ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of
those who carry on the king's business, to put into
the king's treasuries."
EST 3:10 Then 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.
EST 3:11 And the king said to Haman, "The
silver is yours, and the people also, to do with
them as you please."
EST 3:12 Then the king's scribes were
summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month,
and it was written just as Haman commanded to the
king's satraps, to the governors who were over each
province, and to the princes of each people, each
province according to its script, each people
according to its language, being written in the name
of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king's signet
ring.
EST 3:13 And letters were sent by couriers to
all the king's provinces to destroy, to kill, and to
annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women
and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the
twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize
their possessions as plunder.
EST 3:14 A copy of the edict to be issued as
law in every province was published to all the
peoples so that they should be ready for this day.
EST 3:15 The couriers went out impelled by
the king's command while the decree was issued in
Susa the capital; and while the king and Haman sat
down to drink, the city of Susa was in confusion.
Top of Page
EST 4:1 When Mordecai learned all that had
been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and
ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and
wailed loudly and bitterly.
EST 4:2 And he went as far as the king's
gate, for no one was to enter the king's gate
clothed in sackcloth.
EST 4:3 And in each and every province where
the command and decree of the king came, there was
great mourning among the Jews, with fasting,
weeping, and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and
ashes.
EST 4:4 Then Esther's maidens and her eunuchs
came and told her, and the queen writhed in great
anguish. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai
that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he
did not accept them.
EST 4:5 Then Esther summoned Hathach from the
king's eunuchs, whom the king had appointed to
attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to
learn what this was and why it was.
EST 4:6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai to
the city square in front of the king's gate.
EST 4:7 And Mordecai told him all that had
happened to him, and the exact amount of money that
Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries
for the destruction of the Jews.
EST 4:8 He also gave him a copy of the text
of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their
destruction, that he might show Esther and inform
her, and to order her to go in to the king to
implore his favor and to plead with him for her
people.
EST 4:9 And Hathach came back and related
Mordecai's words to Esther.
EST 4:10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and
ordered him to reply to Mordecai:
EST 4:11 "All the king's servants and the
people of the king's provinces know that for any man
or woman who comes to the king to the inner court
who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be
put to death, unless the king holds out to him the
golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not
been summoned to come to the king for these thirty
days."
EST 4:12 And they related Esther's words to
Mordecai.
EST 4:13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to
Esther, "Do not imagine that you in the king's
palace can escape any more than all the Jews.
EST 4:14 "For if you remain silent at this
time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews
from another place and you and your father's house
will perish. And who knows whether you have not
attained royalty for such a time as this?"
EST 4:15 Then Esther told them to reply to
Mordecai,
EST 4:16 "Go, assemble all the Jews who are
found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink
for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also
will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to
the king, which is not according to the law; and if
I perish, I perish."
EST 4:17 So Mordecai went away and did just
as Esther had commanded him.
Top of Page
EST 5:1 Now it came about on the third day
that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the
inner court of the king's palace in front of the
king's rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal
throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance to
the palace.
EST 5:2 And it happened when the king saw
Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained
favor in his sight; and the king extended to Esther
the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther
came near and touched the top of the scepter.
EST 5:3 Then the king said to her, "What is
troubling you, Queen Esther? And what is your
request? Even to half of the kingdom it will be
given to you."
EST 5:4 And Esther said, "If it please the
king, may the king and Haman come this day to the
banquet that I have prepared for him."
EST 5:5 Then the king said, "Bring Haman
quickly that we may do as Esther desires." So the
king and Haman came to the banquet which Esther had
prepared.
EST 5:6 And, as they drank their wine at the
banquet, the king said to Esther, "What is your
petition, for it shall be granted to you. And what
is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it
shall be done."
EST 5:7 So Esther answered and said, "My
petition and my request is:
EST 5:8 if I have found favor in the sight of
the king, and if it please the king to grant my
petition and do what I request, may the king and
Haman come to the banquet which I shall prepare for
them, and tomorrow I will do as the king says."
EST 5:9 Then Haman went out that day glad and
pleased of heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai in the
king's gate, and that he did not stand up or tremble
before him, Haman was filled with anger against
Mordecai.
EST 5:10 Haman controlled himself, however,
went to his house, and sent for his friends and his
wife Zeresh.
EST 5:11 Then Haman recounted to them the
glory of his riches, and the number of his sons, and
every instance where the king had magnified him, and
how he had promoted him above the princes and
servants of the king.
EST 5:12 Haman also said, "Even Esther the
queen let no one but me come with the king to the
banquet which she had prepared; and tomorrow also I
am invited by her with the king.
EST 5:13 "Yet all of this does not satisfy me
every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the
king's gate."
EST 5:14 Then Zeresh his wife and all his
friends said to him, "Have a gallows fifty cubits
high made and in the morning ask the king to have
Mordecai hanged on it, then go joyfully with the
king to the banquet." And the advice pleased Haman,
so he had the gallows made.
Top of Page
EST 6:1 During that night the king could not
sleep so he gave an order to bring the book of
records, the chronicles, and they were read before
the king.
EST 6:2 And it was found written what
Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh,
two of the king's eunuchs who were doorkeepers, that
they had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
EST 6:3 And the king said, "What honor or
dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?"
Then the king's servants who attended him said,
"Nothing has been done for him."
EST 6:4 So the king said, "Who is in the
court?" Now Haman had just entered the outer court
of the king's palace in order to speak to the king
about hanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had
prepared for him.
EST 6:5 And the king's servants said to him,
"Behold, Haman is standing in the court." And the
king said, "Let him come in."
EST 6:6 So Haman came in and the king said to
him, "What is to be done for the man whom the king
desires to honor?" And Haman said to himself, "Whom
would the king desire to honor more than me?"
EST 6:7 Then Haman said to the king, "For the
man whom the king desires to honor,
EST 6:8 let them bring a royal robe which the
king has worn, and the horse on which the king has
ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been
placed;
EST 6:9 and let the robe and the horse be
handed over to one of the king's most noble princes
and let them array the man whom the king desires to
honor and lead him on horseback through the city
square, and proclaim before him,' Thus it shall be
done to the man whom the king desires to honor.' "
EST 6:10 Then the king said to Haman, "Take
quickly the robes and the horse as you have said,
and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at
the king's gate; do not fall short in anything of
all that you have said."
EST 6:11 So Haman took the robe and the
horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and led him on
horseback through the city square, and proclaimed
before him, "Thus it shall be done to the man whom
the king desires to honor."
EST 6:12 Then Mordecai returned to the king's
gate. But Haman hurried home, mourning, with his
head covered.
EST 6:13 And Haman recounted to Zeresh his
wife and all his friends everything that had
happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his
wife said to him, "If Mordecai, before whom you have
begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you will not
overcome him, but will surely fall before him."
EST 6:14 While they were still talking with
him, the king's eunuchs arrived and hastily brought
Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.
Top of Page
EST 7:1 Now the king and Haman came to drink
wine with Esther the queen.
EST 7:2 And the king said to Esther on the
second day also as they drank their wine at the
banquet, "What is your petition, Queen Esther? It
shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even
to half of the kingdom it shall be done."
EST 7:3 Then Queen Esther answered and said,
"If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if
it please the king, let my life be given me as my
petition, and my people as my request;
EST 7:4 for we have been sold, I and my
people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be
annihilated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves,
men and women, I would have remained silent, for the
trouble would not be commensurate with the annoyance
to the king."
EST 7:5 Then King Ahasuerus asked Queen
Esther, "Who is he, and where is he, who would
presume to do thus?"
EST 7:6 And Esther said, "A foe and an enemy,
is this wicked Haman!" Then Haman became terrified
before the king and queen.
EST 7:7 And the king arose in his anger from
drinking wine and went into the palace garden; but
Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther,
for he saw that harm had been determined against him
by the king.
EST 7:8 Now when the king returned from the
palace garden into the place where they were
drinking wine, Haman was falling on the couch where
Esther was. Then the king said, "Will he even
assault the queen with me in the house?" As the word
went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's
face.
EST 7:9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who
were before the king said, "Behold indeed, the
gallows standing at Haman's house fifty cubits high,
which Haman made for Mordecai who spoke good on
behalf of the king!" And the king said, "Hang him on
it."
EST 7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows
which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king's
anger subsided.
Top of Page
EST 8:1 On that day King Ahasuerus gave the
house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen
Esther; and Mordecai came before the king, for
Esther had disclosed what he was to her.
EST 8:2 And the king took off his signet ring
which he had taken away from Haman, and gave it to
Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of
Haman.
EST 8:3 Then Esther spoke again to the king,
fell at his feet, wept, and implored him to avert
the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite and his plot
which he had devised against the Jews.
EST 8:4 And the king extended the golden
scepter to Esther. So Esther arose and stood before
the king.
EST 8:5 Then she said, "If it pleases the
king and if I have found favor before him and the
matter seems proper to the king and I am pleasing in
his sight, let it be written to revoke the letters
devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite,
which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all
the king's provinces.
EST 8:6 "For how can I endure to see the
calamity which shall befall my people, and how can I
endure to see the destruction of my kindred?"
EST 8:7 So King Ahasuerus said to Queen
Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "Behold, I have
given the house of Haman to Esther, and him they
have hanged on the gallows because he had stretched
out his hands against the Jews.
EST 8:8 "Now you write to the Jews as you see
fit, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's
signet ring; for a decree which is written in the
name of the king and sealed with the king's signet
ring may not be revoked."
EST 8:9 So the king's scribes were called at
that time in the third month (that 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 princes of
the provinces which extended from India to Ethiopia,
127 provinces, to every province according to its
script, and to every people according to their
language, as well as to the Jews according to their
script and their language.
EST 8:10 And he wrote in the name of King
Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's signet
ring, and sent letters by couriers on horses, riding
on steeds sired by the royal stud.
EST 8:11 In them the king granted the Jews
who were in each and every city the right to
assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, to
kill, and to annihilate the entire army of any
people or province which might attack them,
including children and women, and to plunder their
spoil,
EST 8:12 on one day in all the provinces of
King Ahasuerus, the thirteenth day of the twelfth
month (that is, the month Adar).
EST 8:13 A copy of the edict to be issued as
law in each and every province, was published to all
the peoples, so that the Jews should be ready for
this day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
EST 8:14 The couriers, hastened and impelled
by the king's command, went out, riding on the royal
steeds; and the decree was given out in Susa the
capital.
EST 8:15 Then Mordecai went out from the
presence of the king in royal robes of blue and
#663300, with a large crown of gold and a garment of
fine linen and purple; and the city of Susa shouted
and rejoiced.
EST 8:16 For the Jews there was light and
gladness and joy and honor.
EST 8:17 And in each and every province, and
in each and every city, wherever the king's
commandment and his decree arrived, there was
gladness and joy for the Jews, a feast and a
holiday. And many among the peoples of the land
became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on
them.
Top of Page
EST 9:1 Now in the twelfth month (that is,
the month Adar), on the thirteenth day when the
king's command and edict were about to be executed,
on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to
gain the mastery over them, it was turned to the
contrary so that the Jews themselves gained the
mastery over those who hated them.
EST 9:2 The Jews assembled in their cities
throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to
lay hands on those who sought their harm; and no one
could stand before them, for the dread of them had
fallen on all the peoples.
EST 9:3 Even all the princes of the
provinces, the satraps, the governors, and those who
were doing the king's business assisted the Jews,
because the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them.
EST 9:4 Indeed, Mordecai was great in the
king's house, and his fame spread throughout all the
provinces; for the man Mordecai became greater and
greater.
EST 9:5 Thus the Jews struck all their
enemies with the sword, killing and destroying; and
they did what they pleased to those who hated them.
EST 9:6 And in Susa the capital the Jews
killed and destroyed five hundred men,
EST 9:7 and Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
EST 9:8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
EST 9:9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and
Vaizatha,
EST 9:10 the ten sons of Haman the son of
Hammedatha, the Jews' enemy; but they did not lay
their hands on the plunder.
EST 9:11 On that day the number of those who
were killed in Susa the capital was reported to the
king.
EST 9:12 And the king said to Queen Esther,
"The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men
and the ten sons of Haman in Susa the capital. What
then have they done in the rest of the king's
provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall even
be granted you. And what is your further request? It
shall also be done."
EST 9:13 Then said Esther, "If it pleases the
king, let tomorrow also be granted to the Jews who
are in Susa to do according to the edict of today;
and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows."
EST 9:14 So the king commanded that it should
be done so; and an edict was issued in Susa, and
Haman's ten sons were hanged.
EST 9:15 And the Jews who were in Susa
assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month
Adar and killed three hundred men in Susa, but they
did not lay their hands on the plunder.
EST 9:16 Now the rest of the Jews who were in
the king's provinces assembled, to defend their
lives and rid themselves of their enemies, and kill
75,000 of those who hated them; but they did not lay
their hands on the plunder.
EST 9:17 This was done on the thirteenth day
of the month Adar, and on the fourteenth day they
rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.
EST 9:18 But the Jews who were in Susa
assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth of
the same month, and they rested on the fifteenth day
and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.
EST 9:19 Therefore the Jews of the rural
areas, who live in the rural towns, make the
fourteenth day of the month Adar a holiday for
rejoicing and feasting and sending portions of food
to one another.
EST 9:20 Then Mordecai recorded these events,
and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all
the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,
EST 9:21 obliging them to celebrate the
fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth
day of the same month, annually,
EST 9:22 because on those days the Jews rid
themselves of their enemies, and it was a month
which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness
and from mourning into a holiday; that they should
make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending
portions of food to one another and gifts to the
poor.
EST 9:23 Thus the Jews undertook what they
had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to
them.
EST 9:24 For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the
Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed
against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur,
that is the lot, to disturb them and destroy them.
EST 9:25 But when it came to the king's
attention, he commanded by letter that his wicked
scheme which he had devised against the Jews, should
return on his own head, and that he and his sons
should be hanged on the gallows.
EST 9:26 Therefore they called these days
Purim after the name of Pur. And because of the
instructions in this letter, both what they had seen
in this regard and what had happened to them,
EST 9:27 the Jews established and made a
custom for themselves, and for their descendants,
and for all those who allied themselves with them,
so that they should not fail to celebrate these two
days according to their regulation, and according to
their appointed time annually.
EST 9:28 So these days were to be remembered
and celebrated throughout every generation, every
family, every province, and every city; and these
days of Purim were not to fail from among the Jews,
or their memory fade from their descendants.
EST 9:29 Then Queen Esther, daughter of
Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full
authority to confirm this second letter about Purim.
EST 9:30 And he sent letters to all the Jews,
to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus,
namely, words of peace and truth,
EST 9:31 to establish these days of Purim at
their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and
Queen Esther had established for them, and just as
they had established for themselves and for their
descendants with instructions for their times of
fasting and their lamentations.
EST 9:32 And the command of Esther
established these customs for Purim, and it was
written in the book.
Top of Page
EST 10:1 Now King Ahasuerus laid a tribute on
the land and on the coastlands of the sea.
EST 10:2 And all the accomplishments of his
authority and strength, and the full 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 Persia?
EST 10:3 For Mordecai the Jew was second only
to King Ahasuerus and great among the Jews, and in
favor with the multitude of his kinsmen, one who
sought the good of his people and one who spoke for
the welfare of his whole nation.
