Esther 1–10

Chapter 1

The Banquets of the King

¹Now it took place in the days of ^aAhasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned ^bfrom India to ¹Ethiopia over ^c127 provinces,

²in those days as King Ahasuerus ^asat on his royal throne which was at the citadel in ^bSusa,

³in the third year of his reign ^ahe 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.

⁴¹And he displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty for many days, 180 days.

⁵When these days were completed, the king gave a banquet lasting seven days for all the people who were present at the citadel in Susa, from the greatest to the least, in the court of ^athe garden of the king’s palace.

⁶There were hangings of fine white and violet linen held by cords of fine purple linen on silver rings and marble columns, and ^acouches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and precious stones.

⁷Drinks were served in golden vessels of various kinds, and the royal wine was plentiful ^aaccording to the king’s ¹bounty.

⁸The 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.

⁹Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the ¹palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus.

Queen Vashti’s Refusal

¹⁰On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was ^amerry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus,

¹¹to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal ^acrown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes, for she was beautiful.

¹²But 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.

¹³Then the king said to ^athe wise men ^bwho understood the times—for it was the custom of the king so to speak before all who knew law and justice

¹⁴and were close to him: Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media ^awho ¹had access to the king’s presence and sat in the first place in the kingdom—

¹⁵“According to law, what is to be done with Queen Vashti, because she did not ¹obey the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?”

¹⁶In 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.

¹⁷“For the queen’s conduct will ¹become known to all the women causing them ²to 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.’

¹⁸“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.

¹⁹“If it pleases the king, let a royal ¹edict be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media so ^athat it cannot ²be repealed, that Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to ³another who is more worthy than she.

²⁰“When the king’s edict which he will make is heard throughout all his kingdom, ¹great as it is, then ^aall women will give honor to their husbands, great and small.”

²¹This word pleased the king and the princes, and the king did ¹as Memucan proposed.

²²So he sent letters to all the king’s provinces, ^ato each province according to its script and to every people according to their language, that every man should ^bbe the master in his own house and the one who speaks in the language of his own people.

Chapter 2

Vashti’s Successor Sought

¹After these things ^awhen the anger of King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and ^bwhat had been decreed against her.

²Then the king’s attendants, who served him, said, “^aLet beautiful young virgins be sought for the king.

³“Let the king appoint overseers in ^aall the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather every beautiful young virgin to the citadel of Susa, to the harem, into the custody of ^bHegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and ^clet their cosmetics be given them.

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.

⁵Now there was at the citadel in Susa a Jew whose name was ^aMordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite,

^6awho 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.

⁷He was bringing up Hadassah, that is ^aEsther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and ¹face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

Esther Finds Favor

⁸So it came about when the command and decree of the king were heard and ^amany young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the custody of ^bHegai, that Esther was taken to the king’s ¹palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women.

⁹Now the young lady pleased him and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with her ^acosmetics and ¹food, gave her seven choice maids from the king’s palace and transferred her and her maids to the best place in the harem.

^10aEsther did not make known her people or her kindred, for Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make them known.

¹¹Every day Mordecai walked back and forth in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and how she fared.

¹²Now 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—

¹³the young lady would go in to the king in this way: anything that she ¹desired was given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.

¹⁴In the evening she would go in and in the morning she would return to the second harem, to the ¹custody 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.

¹⁵Now when the turn of Esther, ^athe 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 ^bHegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the women, ¹advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her.

¹⁶So 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.

Esther Becomes Queen

¹⁷The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that ^ahe set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

¹⁸Then ^athe 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 ^baccording to the king’s bounty.

^19aWhen the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai ^bwas sitting at the king’s gate.

^20aEsther had not yet made known her kindred or her people, even as Mordecai had commanded her; for Esther did ¹what Mordecai told her as she had done ^bwhen under his care.

Mordecai Saves the King

²¹In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, ^aBigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s officials from those who guarded the door, became angry and sought to ¹lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

²²But the ¹plot became known to Mordecai and ^ahe told Queen Esther, and Esther ²informed the king in Mordecai’s name.

²³Now when the plot was investigated and found to be so, they were both hanged on a ¹gallows; and it was written in ^athe Book of the Chronicles in the king’s presence.

Chapter 3

Haman’s Plot against the Jews

¹After these events King Ahasuerus ^apromoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha ^bthe Agagite, and advanced him and ¹established his authority over all the princes who were with him.

²All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down ¹and paid homage to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him. But ^aMordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage.

³Then the king’s servants who were at ^athe king’s gate said to Mordecai, “^bWhy are you transgressing the king’s command?”

⁴Now 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.

⁵When Haman saw that ^aMordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled with rage.

⁶But he ¹disdained to ²lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were; therefore Haman ^asought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.

⁷In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, ¹Pur, that is the lot, was ^acast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, ²until the twelfth month, that is ^bthe month Adar.

⁸Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; ^atheir 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.

⁹“If it is pleasing to the king, let it be ¹decreed 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.”

¹⁰Then ^athe king…