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Esther
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Now it happened in the days of Ahasuerus (this is Ahasuerus who
reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over one hundred
twenty-seven provinces),
that in those days, when the King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of
his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace,
in the third year of his reign, he made a feast for all his
princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the
nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him.
He displayed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of
his excellent majesty many days, even one hundred eighty days.
When these days were fulfilled, the king made a seven day feast
for all the people who were present in Shushan the palace, both
great and small, in the court of the garden of the king’s
palace.
There were hangings of white, green, and blue material, fastened
with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and marble
pillars. The couches were of gold and silver, on a pavement of
red, white, yellow, and black marble.
They gave them drinks in golden vessels of various kinds,
including royal wine in abundance, according to the bounty of
the king.
In accordance with the law, the drinking was not compulsory; for
so the king had instructed all the officials of his house, that
they should do according to every man’s pleasure.
Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal
house which belonged to King Ahasuerus.
On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with
wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha,
Zethar, and Carcass, the seven eunuchs who served in the
presence of Ahasuerus the king,
to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the royal crown,
to show the people and the princes her beauty; for she was
beautiful.
But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment
by the eunuchs. Therefore the king was very angry, and his anger
burned in him.
Then the king said to the wise men, who knew the times, (for it
was the king’s custom to consult those who knew law and
judgment;
and the next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish,
Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and
Media, who saw the king’s face, and sat first in the kingdom),
“What shall we do to the queen Vashti according to law, because
she has not done the bidding of the King Ahasuerus by the
eunuchs?”
Memucan answered before the king and the princes, “Vashti the
queen has not done wrong to just the king, but also to all the
princes, and to all the people who are in all the provinces of
the King Ahasuerus.
For this deed of the queen will become known to all women,
causing them to show contempt for their husbands, when it is
reported, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be
brought in before him, but she didn’t come.’
Today, the princesses of Persia and Media who have heard of the
queen’s deed will tell all the king’s princes. This will cause
much contempt and wrath.
“If it please the king, let a royal commandment go from him, and
let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes,
so that it cannot be altered, that Vashti may never again come
before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate to
another who is better than she.
When the king’s decree which he shall make is published
throughout all his kingdom (for it is great), all the wives will
give their husbands honor, both great and small.”
This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did
according to the word of Memucan:
for he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every
province according to its writing, and to every people in their
language, that every man should rule his own house, speaking in
the language of his own people.
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Esther 2 |
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After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was
pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what
was decreed against her.
Then the king’s servants who served him said, “Let beautiful
young virgins be sought for the king.
Let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his
kingdom, that they may gather together all the beautiful young
virgins to the citadel of Susa, to the women’s house, to the
custody of Hegai the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women. Let
cosmetics be given them;
and let the maiden who pleases the king be queen instead of
Vashti.” The thing pleased the king, and he did so.
There was a certain Jew in the citadel of Susa, whose name was
Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a
Benjamite,
who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who
had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.
He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter;
for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was fair and
beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai
took her for his own daughter.
So it happened, when the king’s commandment and his decree was
heard, and when many maidens were gathered together to the
citadel of Susa, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken
into the king’s house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the
women.
The maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from him. He
quickly gave her cosmetics and her portions of food, and the
seven choice maidens who were to be given her out of the king’s
house. He moved her and her maidens to the best place in the
women’s house.
Esther had not made known her people nor her relatives, because
Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make it known.
Mordecai walked every day in front of the court of the women’s
house, to find out how Esther did, and what would become of her.
Each young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after
her purification for twelve months (for so were the days of
their purification accomplished, six months with oil of myrrh,
and six months with sweet fragrances and with preparations for
beautifying women).
The young woman then came to the king like this: whatever she
desired was given her to go with her out of the women’s house to
the king’s house.
In the evening she went, and on the next day she returned into
the second women’s house, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the
king’s eunuch, who kept the concubines. She came in to the king
no more, unless the king delighted in her, and she was called by
name.
Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle
of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in
to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s
eunuch, the keeper of the women, advised. Esther obtained favor
in the sight of all those who looked at her.
So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal house in
the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year
of his reign.
The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained
favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so
that he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen
instead of Vashti.
Then the king made a great feast for all his princes and his
servants, even Esther’s feast; and he proclaimed a holiday in
the provinces, and gave gifts according to the king’s bounty.
When the virgins were gathered together the second time,
Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate.
Esther had not yet made known her relatives nor her people, as
Mordecai had commanded her; for Esther obeyed Mordecai, like she
did when she was brought up by him.
In those days, while Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate,
two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, who were
doorkeepers, were angry, and sought to lay hands on the King
Ahasuerus.
This thing became known to Mordecai, who informed Esther the
queen; and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name.
When this matter was investigated, and it was found to be so,
they were both hanged on a tree; and it was written in the book
of the chronicles in the king’s presence.
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Esther 3 |
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After 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.
All the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate bowed down,
and paid homage to Haman; for the king had so commanded
concerning him. But Mordecai didn’t bow down or pay him homage.
Then the king’s servants, who were in the king’s gate, said to
Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s commandment?”
Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily to him, and he didn’t
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.
When Haman saw that Mordecai didn’t bow down, nor pay him
homage, Haman was full of wrath.
But he scorned the thought of laying hands on Mordecai alone,
for they had made known to him Mordecai’s people. Therefore
Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the
whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even Mordecai’s people.
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 from month to month, and chose the
twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people
scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the
provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different than
other people’s. They don’t keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is
not for the king’s profit to allow them to remain.
If it pleases the king, let it be written that they be
destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into
the hands of those who are in charge of the king’s business, to
bring it into the king’s treasuries.”
The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the
son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy.
The king said to Haman, “The silver is given to you, the people
also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”
Then the king’s scribes were called in on the first month, on
the thirteenth day of the month; and all that Haman commanded
was written to the king’s satraps, and to the governors who were
over every province, and to the princes of every people, to
every province according its writing, and to every people in
their language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus,
and it was sealed with the king’s ring.
Letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to
destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young
and old, little children and women, in one day, even on the
thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar,
and to plunder their possessions.
A copy of the letter, that the decree should be given out in
every province, was published to all the peoples, that they
should be ready against that day.
The couriers went forth in haste by the king’s commandment, and
the decree was given out in the citadel of Susa. The king and
Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Shushan was perplexed.
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Esther 4 |
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Now when Mordecai found out all that was done, Mordecai tore his
clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the
midst of the city, and wailed loudly and a bitterly.
He came even before the king’s gate, for no one is allowed
inside the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.
In every province, wherever the king’s commandment and his
decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and
fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and
ashes.
Esther’s maidens and her eunuchs came and told her this, and the
queen was exceedingly grieved. She sent clothing to Mordecai, to
replace his sackcloth; but he didn’t receive it.
Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, whom
he had appointed to attend her, and commanded him to go to
Mordecai, to find out what this was, and why it was.
So Hathach went out to Mordecai, to city square which was before
the king’s gate.
Mordecai told him of all that had happened to him, and the exact
sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s
treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.
He also gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was
given out in Shushan to destroy them, to show it to Esther, and
to declare it to her, and to urge her to go in to the king, to
make supplication to him, and to make request before him, for
her people.
Hathach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai.
Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a message to
Mordecai:
“All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s
provinces, know, that whoever, whether man or woman, comes to
the king into the inner court without being called, there is one
law for him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the
king might hold out the golden scepter, that he may live. I have
not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”
They told to Mordecai Esther’s words.
Then Mordecai asked them return answer to Esther, “Don’t think
to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house any more
than all the Jews.
For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will
come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s
house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom
for such a time as this?”
Then Esther asked them to answer Mordecai,
“Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Shushan,
and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or
day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will
go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I
perish.”
So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther
had commanded him.
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Esther 5 |
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Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal
clothing, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, next
to the king’s house. The king sat on his royal throne in the
royal house, next to the entrance of the house.
When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she
obtained favor in his sight; and the king held out to Esther the
golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther came near, and
touched the top of the scepter.
Then the king asked her, “What would you like, queen Esther?
What is your request? It shall be given you even to the half of
the kingdom.”
Esther said, “If it seems good to the king, let the king and
Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.”
Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, so that it may be done
as Esther has said.” So the king and Haman came to the banquet
that Esther had prepared.
The king said to Esther at the banquet of wine, “What is your
petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to
the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.”
Then Esther answered and said, “My petition and my request is
this.
If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please
the king to grant my petition and to perform my request, let the
king and Haman come to the banquet that I will prepare for them,
and I will do tomorrow as the king has said.”
Then Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart, but when
Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he didn’t stand up
nor move for him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai.
Nevertheless Haman restrained himself, and went home. There, he
sent and called for his friends and Zeresh his wife.
Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, the multitude
of his children, all the things in which the king had promoted
him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants
of the king.
Haman also said, “Yes, Esther the queen let no man come in with
the king to the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and
tomorrow I am also invited by her together with the king.
Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the
Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”
Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, “Let a
gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak to
the king about hanging Mordecai on it. Then go in merrily with
the king to the banquet.” This pleased Haman, so he had the
gallows made.
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