Esther

Esther

Chapter 1 — The Banquet of Power and the Fall of a Queen

Now it came to pass in the days of Ahashverosh—

this Ahashverosh who reigned from India to Cush,

over 127 provinces—

that in those days, when King Ahashverosh sat on the royal throne in the fortress of Shushan,

in the third year of his reign,

he made a feast for all his officials and servants.

The army of Persia and Media,

the nobles and governors of the provinces,

were before him.

He displayed the riches of his glorious kingdom

and the splendor and majesty of his greatness

for many days—one hundred and eighty days.

When these days were completed,

the king made another feast, lasting seven days,

for all the people present in the fortress of Shushan,

from the greatest to the least,

in the court of the garden of the king’s palace.

There were white and blue linen curtains,

fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rods

and marble pillars.

Couches of gold and silver

rested on a mosaic pavement of alabaster, turquoise,

white marble, and black stone.

Drinks were served in golden vessels—each vessel different from the other—

and royal wine flowed in abundance,

according to the generosity of the king.

Drinking was according to decree—

there was no compulsion,

for the king had instructed all the officials of his household

to do as each person desired.

Also Queen Vashti made a feast for the women

in the royal house that belonged to King Ahashverosh.

On the seventh day,

when the heart of the king was merry with wine,

he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas—

the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahashverosh—

to bring Queen Vashti before the king,

wearing the royal crown,

to show the peoples and the officials her beauty,

for she was lovely to look upon.

But Queen Vashti refused

to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs.

Then the king became furious,

and his anger burned within him.

Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times—

for this was the king’s custom toward all who were versed in law and judgment—

and those closest to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan,

seven princes of Persia and Media

who saw the king’s face and sat first in the kingdom:

“What shall be done to Queen Vashti,

according to law,

because she did not obey the command of King Ahashverosh

delivered by the eunuchs?”

Then Memucan said before the king and the princes:

“Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king,

but also all the officials and all the peoples

who are in all the provinces of King Ahashverosh.

For the queen’s behavior will become known to all women,

causing them to look with contempt on their husbands,

as they say,

‘King Ahashverosh commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.’

This very day the noble women of Persia and Media

will say the same to all the king’s officials,

and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty.

If it please the king,

let a royal decree go forth from him,

and let it be written among the laws of Persia and Media,

so that it cannot be repealed,

that Vashti shall never again come before King Ahashverosh.

And let the king give her royal position

to another who is better than she.

Then the king’s edict which he shall make

will be heard throughout all his realm—great as it is—

and all women will give honor to their husbands,

great and small alike.”

This advice pleased the king and the princes,

and the king did according to the word of Memucan.

So 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 every man should be ruler in his own house,

and speak in the language of his people.

———

After these things,

when the anger of King Ahashverosh had subsided,

he remembered Vashti—

what she had done,

and what had been decreed against her.

Then the king’s servants who attended him said,

“Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king,

and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom

to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in the fortress of Shushan,

under the custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, custodian of the women.

Let beauty preparations be given to them.

Then let the young woman who pleases the king

be queen instead of Vashti.”

This pleased the king, and he did so.

Now there was a Jewish man in the fortress of Shushan

whose name was Mordekai, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish,

a man of Benjamin,

who had been carried away from Jerusalem

among the exiles taken with Jeconiah king of Judah,

whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away.

He was guardian to Hadassah—that is, Esther—

the daughter of his uncle,

for she had neither father nor mother.

The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at,

and when her father and mother died,

Mordekai took her as his own daughter.

So when the king’s command and decree were proclaimed,

many young women were gathered in the fortress of Shushan

under the custody of Hegai,

and Esther also was taken to the king’s palace

and placed in the care of Hegai, who had charge of the women.

And the young woman pleased him and won his favor,

so he quickly provided her with beauty treatments and portions,

and assigned her seven chosen attendants from the king’s palace,

and advanced her and her maids to the best place in the harem.

Esther did not make known her people or her kindred,

for Mordekai had commanded her not to declare it.

And every day Mordekai walked in front of the court of the harem

to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her.

When the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahashverosh,

after she had completed twelve months of beauty preparations—

six months with oil of myrrh

and six months with spices and ointments for women—

then the young woman went in to the king in this way:

Whatever she desired was given to her

to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.

In the evening she went in,

and in the morning she returned

to the second harem under the custody of Shaashgaz,

the king’s eunuch in charge of the concubines.

She did not go in to the king again

unless the king delighted in her

and she was summoned by name.

Now when the turn came for Esther,

the daughter of Abihail, uncle of Mordekai,

who had taken her for his daughter,

to go in to the king,

she asked for nothing except what Hegai,

the king’s eunuch in charge of the women, advised.

And Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her.

So Esther was taken to King Ahashverosh

into his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tevet,

in the seventh year of his reign.

And the king loved Esther more than all the other women,

and she won grace and favor in his sight

more than all the virgins,

so he set the royal crown on her head

and made her queen instead of Vashti.

Then the king held a great feast for all his officials and servants—

Esther’s Feast.

He granted a remission of taxes to the provinces

and gave royal gifts with royal generosity.

———

After these things,

King Ahashverosh promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite,

and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him.

And all the king’s servants at the king’s gate bowed down

and paid homage to Haman,

for the king had so commanded concerning him.

But Mordekai did not bow down or pay homage.

Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordekai,

“Why do you transgress the king’s command?”

And day after day they spoke to him,

and he did not listen to them.

Then they told Haman,

to see whether Mordekai’s words would stand,

for he had told them that he was a Jew.

When Haman saw that Mordekai did not bow down or pay him homage,

he was filled with fury.

But he disdained to lay hands on Mordekai alone.

For they had made known to him the people of Mordekai.

So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews,

the people of Mordekai,

throughout the whole kingdom of Ahashverosh.

In the first month, which is the month of Nisan,

in the twelfth year of King Ahashverosh,

they cast Pur—that is, the lot—before Haman

day after day, month after month,

until the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

Then Haman said to King Ahashverosh,

“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 every other people,

and they do not keep the king’s laws,

so it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them.

If it please 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 out the king’s business,

to put it into the king’s treasuries.”

So 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.

And the king said to Haman,

“The silver is given to you, and the people also,

to do with them as it seems good to you.”

Then the king’s scribes were summoned

on the thirteenth day of the first month,

and an edict was written—just as Haman commanded—

to the king’s satraps and to the governors of each province

and to the officials of each people,

to every province in its own script

and to every people in its own language.

It was written in the name of King Ahashverosh

and sealed with the king’s signet ring.

Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces,

to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews,

young and old, children and women,

in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month,

which is the month of Adar,

and to plunder their possessions.

A copy of the decree was issued as law in every province,

proclaimed to all the peoples,

that they should be ready for that day.

The couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king,

and the decree was issued in the fortress of Shushan.

And the king and Haman sat down to drink,

but the city of Shushan was in confusion.

———

When Mordekai learned all that had been done,

he tore his garments and put on sackcloth and ashes,

and went out into the midst of the city,

crying out with a loud and bitter cry.

He went as far as the king’s gate,

for no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it.

And in every province, wherever the king’s command and decree reached,

there was great mourning among the Jews,

with fasting, weeping, and lamenting,

and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

When Esther’s young women and eunuchs came and told her,

the queen was greatly distressed.

She sent garments to clothe Mordekai,

so he could remove his sackcloth,

but he would not accept them.

Then Esther summoned Hathak,

one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her,

and ordered him to go to Mordekai

to learn what this was and why it was.

So Hathak went out to Mordekai in the open square of the city

in front of the king’s gate,

and Mordekai told him all that had happened to him,

and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised

to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.

He also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Shushan

for their destruction,

that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her,

and to charge her to go in to the king

to beg his favor and plead for her people.

Hathak went and told Esther what Mordekai had said.

Then Esther spoke to Hathak

and commanded him to reply to Mordekai:

“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know

that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court

without being called,

there is but one law—to be put to death—

unless the king holds out the golden scepter,

that person may live.

But I have not been called to come to the king for thirty days.”

And they told Mordekai what Esther had said.

Then Mordekai told them to reply to Esther:

“Do not think to yourself

that in the king’s house you will escape

any more than all the other Jews.

For if you keep silent at this time,

relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place,

but you and your father’s house will perish.

And who knows

whether you have not come to the kingdom

for such a time as this?”

Then Esther told them to reply to Mordekai:

“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Shushan,

and fast for me.

Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.

I and my young women will also fast as you do.

Then I will go to the king,

though it is against the law,

and if I perish, I perish.”

So Mordekai went and did all that Esther had commanded him.

———

On the third day,

Esther clothed herself in royalty,

and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace,

in front of the king’s chambers,

while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the palace,

opposite the entrance.

When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court,

she found favor in his eyes,

and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand.

So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.

Then the king said to her,

“What is it, Queen Esther?

What is your request?

It shall be given to you, even to half of the kingdom.”

Esther said,

“If it please the king,

let the king and Haman come today to the feast

that I have prepared for the king.”

Then the king said,

“Bring Haman quickly,

so that we may do as Esther has asked.”

So the king and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared.

And as they drank wine, the king said to Esther,

“What is your petition? It shall be granted you.

What is your request? Even to half the kingdom, it shall be done.”

Then Esther answered,

“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 desire and fulfill my request,

let the king and Haman come to the feast

that I will prepare for them tomorrow,

and then I will do as the king has spoken.”

Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart.

But when Haman saw Mordekai at the king’s gate,

that he neither rose nor trembled before him,

he was filled with wrath against Mordekai.

Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home.

And he sent and brought his friends and his wife Zeresh.

And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches,

the multitude of his sons,

all the promotions the king had given him,

and how he had advanced him above the officials and servants of the king.

Then Haman said,

“Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared.

And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king.

Yet all this is worth nothing to me

so long as I see Mordekai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him,

“Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made,

and in the morning tell the king to have Mordekai hanged upon it.

Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.”

This pleased Haman,

and he had the gallows made.

———

That night the king could not sleep,

so he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles,

and they were read before the king.

And it was found written

how Mordekai had told about Bigthana and Teresh,

two of the king’s eunuchs,

who guarded the threshold,

and had sought to lay hands on King Ahashverosh.

And the king said,

“What honor or dignity has been done for Mordekai for this?”

The king’s young men who attended him said,

“Nothing has been done for him.”

And the king said,

“Who is in the court?”

Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace

to speak to the king about having Mordekai hanged

on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

And the king’s servants said to him,

“Behold, Haman is standing in the court.”

And the king said,

“Let him come in.”

So Haman came in, and the king said to him,

“What should be done for the man

whom the king delights to honor?”

And Haman said to himself,

“Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?”

And Haman said to the king,

“For the man whom the king delights to honor,

let royal robes be brought,

which the king has worn,

and a horse that the king has ridden,

and on whose head a royal crown is set.

And let the robes and the horse be handed over

to one of the king’s most noble princes.

Let them dress the man whom the king delights to honor,

and let them lead him on horseback through the city square,

proclaiming before him,

‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’”

Then the king said to Haman,

“Hurry, take the robes and the horse, as you have said,

and do so to Mordekai the Jew,

who sits at the king’s gate.

Leave out nothing of all that you have mentioned.”

So Haman took the robes and the horse,

and dressed Mordekai,

and led him through the square of the city,

proclaiming before him,

“Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!”

Then Mordekai returned to the king’s gate.

But Haman hurried to his house, mourning, with his head covered.

And Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends

everything that had happened to him.

Then his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him,

“If Mordekai, before whom you have begun to fall,

is of the Jewish people,

you will not overcome him

but will surely fall before him.”

While they were still talking with him,

the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman

to the feast that Esther had prepared.

———

So the king and Haman went to feast with Queen Esther.

And on the second day,

as they drank wine, the king again said to Esther,

“What is your petition, Queen Esther?

It shall be granted you.

And what is your request? Even to half the kingdom, it shall be done.”

Then Queen Esther answered,

“If I have found favor in your eyes, O king,

and if it pleases the king,

let my life be given me as my petition,

and my people as my request.

For we have been sold,

I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated.

If we had been sold as male and female slaves,

I would have remained silent,

for such distress would not be worth troubling the king.”

Then King Ahashverosh said to Queen Esther,

“Who is he, and where is he,

who has dared to do this?”

And Esther said,

“A foe and enemy—this wicked Haman!”

Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.

And the king rose in his wrath from the wine-drinking

and went into the palace garden,

but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther,

for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king.

And as the king returned from the palace garden

to the place of the feast,

Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was.

And the king said,

“Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?”

As the words left the king’s mouth,

they covered Haman’s face.

Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said,

“Moreover, the gallows that Haman prepared for Mordekai—

who spoke good for the king—

is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.”

And the king said,

“Hang him on it.”

So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordekai.

Then the king’s wrath was calmed.

———

On that day,

King Ahashverosh gave Queen Esther the house of Haman,

the enemy of the Jews.

And Mordekai came before the king,

for Esther had told how he was related to her.

And the king took off his signet ring,

which he had taken from Haman,

and gave it to Mordekai.

And Esther set Mordekai over the house of Haman.

Then Esther spoke again to the king.

She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him

to remove the evil plan of Haman the Agagite

and the plot he had devised against the Jews.

And the king held out the golden scepter to Esther,

so Esther rose and stood before the king.

She said,

“If it please the king,

and if I have found favor before him,

and if it seems right before the king,

and I am pleasing in his eyes,

let an order be written to revoke the letters

devised by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite,

which he wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.

For how can I bear to see the calamity that will come upon my people?

How can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”

Then King Ahashverosh said to Queen Esther and to Mordekai the Jew,

“Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman,

and he has been hanged on the gallows,

because he stretched out his hands against the Jews.

But you may write concerning the Jews as it seems good to you,

in the name of the king,

and seal it with the king’s signet ring.

For a decree written in the name of the king

and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.”

So the king’s scribes were summoned 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 Mordekai commanded

to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and officials

of the provinces from India to Cush—127 provinces—

to each province in its own script

and to each people in its own language,

and also to the Jews in their script and language.

He wrote in the name of King Ahashverosh,

sealed it with the king’s signet ring,

and sent letters by mounted couriers riding swift horses,

bred from the royal stud.

In them the king allowed the Jews,

in every city, to gather and defend their lives—

to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force

that might attack them,

with their children and women,

and to plunder their goods—

on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahashverosh,

on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month,

which is the month of Adar.

A copy of what was written was issued as a decree

in every province and made known to all peoples,

and the Jews were to be ready on that day

to take vengeance on their enemies.

The couriers, riding on royal horses,

went out in haste, urged by the king’s command.

And the decree was issued also in the fortress of Shushan.

Then Mordekai went out from the presence of the king

in royal robes of blue and white,

with a great crown of gold

and a garment of fine linen and purple.

And the city of Shushan shouted and rejoiced.

The Jews had light and gladness

and joy and honor.

And in every province and every city,

wherever the king’s command reached,

there was joy and gladness among the Jews,

a feast and a celebration.

And many from the peoples of the land

professed to be Jews,

for fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

———

In the twelfth month,

which is the month of Adar,

on the thirteenth day of the same,

when the king’s command and edict were to be carried out—

on the day when the enemies of the Jews had hoped to gain mastery over them,

the opposite happened,

and the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them.

The Jews gathered in their cities

throughout all the provinces of King Ahashverosh

to lay hands on those who sought their harm.

And no one could stand against them,

for the fear of them had fallen on all peoples.

All the officials of the provinces,

and the satraps, and the governors,

and those who carried out the king’s business,

supported the Jews,

because the fear of Mordekai had fallen on them.

For Mordekai was great in the king’s house,

and his fame spread throughout all the provinces,

for the man Mordekai grew more and more powerful.

The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword,

killing and destroying them,

and did as they pleased to those who hated them.

In the fortress of Shushan alone,

the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men,

and also Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,

Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha—

the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha,

the enemy of the Jews—

but they laid no hand on the plunder.

On that day the number of those killed in Shushan was reported to the king.

And the king said to Queen Esther,

“In the fortress of Shushan the Jews have killed five hundred men

and the ten sons of Haman.

What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces!

Now what is your petition? It shall be granted you.

And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled.”

And Esther said,

“If it please the king,

let the Jews who are in Shushan be allowed tomorrow also

to do according to this day’s edict,

and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.”

So the king commanded it to be done,

and a decree was issued in Shushan,

and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.

The Jews who were in Shushan gathered again

on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar,

and they killed three hundred more men in Shushan,

but they laid no hand on the plunder.

The rest of the Jews in the king’s provinces also gathered

to defend their lives

and had relief from their enemies.

They killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them,

but they laid no hand on the plunder.

This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar,

and on the fourteenth day they rested

and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

But the Jews who were in Shushan gathered on both the thirteenth

and the fourteenth day,

and rested on the fifteenth day,

making it a day of feasting and gladness.

Therefore the Jews of the villages,

who live in the rural towns,

make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar

a day of gladness and feasting,

a holiday, and a day for sending gifts to one another.

The Establishment of Purim

Mordekai recorded these events,

and sent letters to all the Jews

in all the provinces of King Ahashverosh,

both near and far,

to establish among them

that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar,

and the fifteenth day of the same, every year,

as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies,

and as the month which was turned for them

from sorrow into joy,

and from mourning into a day of celebration—

that they should make them days of feasting and joy,

of sending gifts to one another,

and giving to the poor.

So the Jews accepted what they had begun to do,

and what Mordekai had written to them.

For Haman the Agagite,

the son of Hammedatha,

the enemy of all the Jews,

had plotted against the Jews to destroy them,

and had cast Pur—that is, the lot—

to crush them and to destroy them.

But when Esther came before the king,

he gave orders in writing

that the evil plan that Haman had devised against the Jews

should return upon his own head,

and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur.

Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter,

and of what they had faced in this matter,

and of what had happened to them,

the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring,

and all who joined them,

that without fail they would keep these two days

according to what was written and at their appointed time every year.

These days were to be remembered and kept

throughout every generation, every clan, every province, and every city,

that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews,

nor the memory of them fade from their descendants.

Then Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail,

and Mordekai the Jew,

gave full written authority,

confirming this second letter about Purim.

Letters were sent to all the Jews,

to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahashverosh,

in words of peace and truth,

to confirm these days of Purim

at their appointed times,

as Mordekai the Jew and Queen Esther had established for them,

and as they had obligated themselves and their offspring

with regard to their fasts and lamentations.

The command of Esther confirmed these practices of Purim,

and it was recorded in writing.

———

King Ahashverosh imposed a tribute on the land

and on the coastlands of the sea.

And all the acts of his power and might,

and the full account of the greatness of Mordekai,

to which the king advanced him,

are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles

of the Kings of Media and Persia?

For Mordekai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahashverosh,

and great among the Jews,

and held in high esteem by the multitude of his people,

for he sought the welfare of his people

and spoke peace to all his descendants.