Esther 6–8

Chapter 6

The King Plans to Honor Mordecai

¹During that night ¹the king ^acould not sleep so he gave an order to bring ^bthe book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.

²It was found written what ^aMordecai 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.

³The 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.”

⁴So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just ^aentered the outer court of the king’s palace in order to speak to the king about ^bhanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had prepared for him.

⁵The king’s servants said to him, “Behold, Haman is standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.”

⁶So Haman came in and the king said to him, “What is to be done for the man ^awhom the king desires to honor?” And Haman said ¹to himself, “Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?”

⁷Then Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king desires to honor,

⁸let them bring a royal robe which the king has worn, and ^athe horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head ^ba royal crown has been placed;

⁹and 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, ^aand proclaim before him, ‘Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.’ ”

Haman Must Honor Mordecai

¹⁰Then 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.”

¹¹So 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.”

¹²Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried home, mourning, ^awith his head covered.

¹³Haman recounted ^ato 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 ¹of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.”

¹⁴While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hastily ^abrought Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.

Chapter 7

Esther’s Plea

¹Now the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen.

²And the king said to Esther on the second day also ¹as they drank their wine at the banquet, “^aWhat is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? ^bEven to half of the kingdom it shall be done.”

³Then Queen Esther replied, “^aIf I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request;

⁴for ^awe have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, ^bto 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 ¹trouble would not be commensurate with the ²annoyance to the king.”

⁵Then King Ahasuerus ¹asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, ²who would presume to do thus?”

⁶Esther said, “^aA foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.

Haman Is Hanged

⁷The king arose ^ain his anger from ¹drinking wine and went into ^bthe 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.

⁸Now when the king returned from the palace garden into the ¹place where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling on ^athe 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.

⁹Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were before the king said, “Behold indeed, ^athe gallows standing at Haman’s house fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai ^bwho spoke good on behalf of the king!” And the king said, “Hang him on it.”

^10aSo they hanged Haman on the ¹gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, ^band the king’s anger subsided.

Chapter 8

Mordecai Promoted

¹On that day King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, ^athe enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had disclosed ^bwhat he was to her.

^2aThe 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.

³Then 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.

^4aThe king extended the golden scepter to Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king.

⁵Then she said, “^aIf 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 ^bletters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.

⁶“For ^ahow can I endure to see the calamity which will befall my people, and how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?”

⁷So King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, ^aI 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.

The King’s Decree Avenges the Jews

⁸“Now you write to the Jews ¹as you see fit, in the king’s name, and ^aseal 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 ^bmay not be revoked.”

^9aSo the king’s scribes were called at that time in the third month (that is, the month Sivan), on the twenty-third ¹day; 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 ^bfrom India to ²Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to ^cevery 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.

¹⁰He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on ^ahorses, riding on steeds sired by the royal stud.

¹¹¹In them the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right ^ato assemble and to defend their lives, ^bto destroy, to kill and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them, including children and women, and ^cto plunder their spoil,

¹²on ^aone day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar).

^13aA copy of the edict to be ¹issued as law in each and every province was published to all the peoples, so that the Jews would be ready for this day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

¹⁴The couriers, hastened and impelled by the king’s command, went out, riding on the royal steeds; and the decree was given out at the citadel in Susa.

¹⁵Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king ^ain royal robes of ¹blue and white, with a large crown of gold and ^ba garment of fine linen and purple; and ^cthe city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.

¹⁶For the Jews there was ^alight and gladness and joy and honor.

¹⁷In 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 ^1aholiday. And ^bmany among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them.