Chapter 13

Foreigners Excluded

1 On that day athey read aloud from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that bno Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,

2 because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but ahired Balaam against them to curse them. However, bour God turned the curse into a blessing.

3 So when they heard the law, athey excluded ball foreigners from Israel.

Tobiah Expelled and the Temple Cleansed

4 Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, awho was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being 1related to bTobiah,

5 had prepared a large 1room for him, where formerly they put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils and the tithes of grain, wine and oil aprescribed for the Levites, the singers and the gatekeepers, and the 2contributions for the priests.

6 But during all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in athe thirty-second year of bArtaxerxes king of Babylon I had gone to the king. After some time, however, I asked leave from the king,

7 and I came to Jerusalem and 1learned about the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, aby preparing a 2room for him in the courts of the house of God.

8 It was very displeasing to me, so I athrew all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.

9 Then I gave an order and athey cleansed the rooms; and I returned there the utensils of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense.

Tithes Restored

10 I also 1discovered that athe portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had 2gone away, beach to his own field.

11 So I 1areprimanded the officials and said, “bWhy is the house of God forsaken?” Then I gathered them together and restored them to their posts.

12 All Judah then brought athe tithe of the grain, wine and oil into the storehouses.

13 In charge of the storehouses I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and in addition to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for athey were considered reliable, and it was 1their task to distribute to their 2kinsmen.

14 aRemember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my loyal deeds which I have performed for the house of my God and its services.

Sabbath Restored

15 In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses aon the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, band they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So cI admonished them on the day they sold food.

16 Also men of Tyre were living 1there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the sabbath, even in Jerusalem.

17 Then aI 1reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, 2by profaning the sabbath day?

18 “aDid not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the sabbath.”

19 aIt came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut 1and that they should not open them until after the sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the sabbath day.

20 Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem.

21 Then aI 1warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will 2use force against you.” From that time on they did not come on the sabbath.

22 And I commanded the Levites that athey should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the sabbath day. For this also bremember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.

Mixed Marriages Forbidden

23 In those days I also saw that the Jews had 1amarried women from bAshdod, cAmmon and Moab.

24 As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but 1the language of his own people.

25 So aI contended with them and cursed them and bstruck some of them and pulled out their hair, and cmade them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

26 “aDid not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? bYet among the many nations there was no king like him, and che was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin.

27 “1Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil aby acting unfaithfully against our God by 2marrying foreign women?”

28 Even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of aSanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me.

29 aRemember them, O my God, 1because they have defiled the priesthood and the bcovenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

30 aThus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his task,

31 and I arranged afor the supply of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits. bRemember me, O my God, for good.

The Book of

ESTHER

Chapter 1

The Banquets of the King

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

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

3 in 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.

4 1And he displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty for many days, 180 days.

5 When 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.

6 There 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.

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

8 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.

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

Queen Vashti’s Refusal

10 On 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,

11 to 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.

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.

13 Then 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

14 and 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?”

16 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.

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.”

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

22 So 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

1 After 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.

2 Then 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.

5 Now 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,

6 awho 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.

7 He 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

8 So 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.

9 Now 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.

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

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

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—

13 the 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.

14 In 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.

15 Now 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.

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.

Esther Becomes Queen

17 The 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.

18 Then 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.

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

20 aEsther 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

21 In 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.

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

23 Now 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

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

2 All 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.

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

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.

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

6 But 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.

7 In 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.

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; 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.”

10 Then athe king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha bthe Agagite, cthe enemy of the Jews.

11 The king said to Haman, “The silver is 1yours, and the people also, to do with them as you please.”

12 aThen the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written just as Haman commanded to bthe 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 cin the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring.

13 Letters were sent by acouriers to all the king’s provinces bto destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, cin one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to dseize their possessions as plunder.

14 aA copy of the edict to be 1issued as law in every province was published to all the peoples so that they should be ready for this day.

15 The couriers went out impelled by the king’s command while the decree was 1issued at the citadel in Susa; and while the king and Haman sat down to drink, athe city of Susa was in confusion.