1And it happened after these matters in the days of Artaxerxes—this Artaxerxes ruled over one hundred and twenty-seven territories from India— 2 in those days, when King Artaxerxes was enthroned in the city of Susa, 3 in the third year of his reign, he prepared a banquet for his friends, and for the rest of the nations, and for the honored of Persia and Media, and for the rulers of his satrapies. 4 And afterward, after he had shown the riches of his kingdom and the glorious splendor of his wealth over one hundred and eighty-four days, 5 when the days of the wedding feast were completed, the king held a drinking party for the people who were found in the city. It lasted for six days in the courtyard of the king’s house. 6 The courtyard was adorned with fine linen and cotton cloths that were stretched by cords of fine linen and purple, fastened to rings of gold and silver on pillars of marble and stone. There were couches of gold and silver on a precious pavement of emerald, pearl, and marble, and diaphanous mattresses, variously adorned with flowers, and roses were scattered round about. 7 The drinking vessels were of gold and silver, and there was a small cup of carbuncle, an exhibit worth thirty thousand talents. There was abundant sweet wine, which the king himself drank. 8 Now this drinking party did not take place according to prescribed law, but as the king wanted, and he commanded his stewards to fulfill his and his peoples’ desire. 9 Queen Vashti also held a drinking party for the women in the palace where King Artaxerxes dwelt. 10 Now on the seventh day, when he was merry, the king told Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Zethar, Abagtha, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who were the court servants of King Artaxerxes, 11 to bring in the queen before him so that she might reign and put on her diadem, and so that she might show the rulers and the people her beauty, because she was beautiful. 12 But Queen Vashti refused to come with the eunuchs; and the king was grieved and angry. 13 Then he said to his friends, “Because of these things that Vashti has spoken, make a law and judgment concerning this matter.” 14 So Arkesaios and Sarsathais and Malesear, the rulers of the Persians and the Medes, who were near the king, the first in importance, the ones who sat beside the king, came to him. 15 And they reported to him according to the laws how it was necessary to deal with Queen Vashti, because she had not done the things which were commanded by the king through the eunuchs. 16 Then Memucan said to the king and the rulers, “Queen Vashti has not wronged only the king, but also all the king’s rulers and leaders.” 17 (In fact he detailed for them the words of the queen and how she had opposed the king.) “Therefore as she has opposed King Artaxerxes, 18 so, today the rest of the princesses of the rulers of the Persians and the Medes, having heard the things that were said by her before the king, will dare likewise to dishonor their husbands. 19 If therefore it seems good to the king, let him prescribe a royal decree, and let it be written corresponding to the laws of the Medes and Persians, and do not let it be used otherwise, and do not let the queen go in to him any longer, and let the king give her queenship to a woman more worthy than she. 20 And let the king’s law be obeyed, which, if it should work in his kingdom in this way, all the women will show honor to their men, from the poor to the rich.” 21 And the word pleased the king and his rulers, and the king did just as Memucan said.
2And he sent word throughout all the kingdom, in every territory in their language, so that there would be fear for the mena in their houses. 2 Now after these things, the king ceased from his anger and no longer was mindful of Vashti, recalling what she had said and how he had condemned her. 2 And the servants of the king said, “Let uncorrupt and beautiful maidens be sought for the king. 3 And the king shall appoint commissioners in all the territories of his kingdom and allow them to choose young maidens, beautiful in appearance, for the harem in the city of Susa, and let them be handed over to the king’s eunuch, the guard of the women; and let cosmetics and such other things as needed be given to them. 4 And the woman who pleases the king shall reign instead of Vashti.” And the command pleased the king, and he did accordingly. 5 Now there was a Judean in the city of Susa whose name was Mordecai, who was the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin. 6 He was a captive from Jerusalem, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had captured. 7 And he had a foster child, the daughter of Abihail, the brother of his father, and her name was Esther. Now when her parents died, he raised her for himself as a wife; and the maiden was beautiful. 8 So when the ordinance of the king was heard, they gathered together many girls in the city of Susa under the hand of Ai; and he brought Esther to Ai, the guard of the women. 9 And the maiden pleased him and found favor with him, and he hastened to give her cosmetics and her allotment, and the seven girls appointed for her from the king, and he cared well for her and her maids in the harem. 10 Esther did not reveal her race or her country, for Mordecai had ordered her not to tell. 11 And every day, Mordecai walked through the women’s courtyard to observe what might happen to Esther. 12 Now this was the appointed time for a girl to go in to the king, when she had completed twelve months thusly: for the days of treatment comprised six months of being anointed in oil made from myrrh and six months with aromatic spices and women’s cosmetics. 13 And then she goes in to the king; and whatever she asks will be given to her to take with her from the harem into the palace. 14 She enters in the evening and toward morning she hurries away into the second women’s apartment, where Ai, the king’s eunuch, is the guard of the women; no longer does she go in to the king, unless he calls her by name. 15 And when the time was completed for Esther, the daughter of Abihail, the brother of the father of Mordecai, to go in to the king, the eunuch who guarded the women refused nothing that she commanded, for Esther found favor from all who saw her. 16 And Esther went in to Artaxerxes the king in the twelfth month, which is Adar, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 And the king loved Esther, and she found favor more than all the other virgins, and he placed the queen’s crown upon her. 18 Then the king held a drinking party for all his friends and for those with influence; for seven days he celebrated his marriage to Esther and granted rest to those under his reign. 19 Now Mordecai was attending in the courtyard.[1] 20 And Esther had not revealed her country, for Mordecai had commanded her to fear God and to keep his commandments, as when she was with him, and Esther did not change her way of life. 21 But the two eunuchs of the king, the chiefs of the bodyguard, were distressed because Mordecai was promoted, and they were seeking to kill King Artaxerxes. 22 And the matter was revealed to Mordecai, and he made it known to Esther, and she reported the plot to the king. 23 Then the king examined the two eunuchs and hanged them. And the king ordered that a memorial be recorded in the royal library in praise of Mordecai concerning his goodwill.
3And after these things, King Artaxerxes exalted Haman son of Hammedatha, a Bougaion,a and he elevated him, and he assumed the first seat among all the friends of the king. 2 And all the men in the courtyard bowed low to him, for thus the king ordered that they do. But Mordecai did not bow down to him. 3 And the men in the courtyard of the king said to Mordecai, “Mordecai, why do you disobey the orders spoken by the king?” 4 Every day they asked him, and he did not listen to them. So they informed Haman that Mordecai was resisting the commandments of the king, and Mordecai pointed out to them that he was a Judean. 5 Now when Haman learned that Mordecai did not bow down to him, he became very angry; 6 and he resolved to destroy all the Judeans under the reign of Artaxerxes. 7 And he made a decree in the twelfth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, and he cast lots day after day and month after month in order to destroy the race of Mordecai in one day; and the lot fell on the fourteenth of the month of Adar. 8 Then he spoke to King Artaxerxes, saying, “There is at your disposal a nation, which is dispersed among the Gentiles throughout your entire kingdom, and their laws are more peculiar than all the laws of the Gentiles, and they disobey the laws of the king; it is not advantageous to the king to allow them to do this. 9 If it seems good to the king, let him command to destroy them, and I will draft ten thousand talents of silver for the treasury of the king.” 10 And the king removed his ring and placed it in the hand of Haman to seal concerning the things written against the Judeans. 11 And the king said to Haman, “You hold the silver, and deal with the nation as you wish.” 12 Then the scribes of the king were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day, and they wrote as Haman ordered to the generals and to the rulers over every territory—from India to Ethiopia—to the one hundred and twenty-seven territories and to the rulers of the nations, according to their language from Artaxerxes the king. 13 And he sent by letter-carriers throughout the kingdom of Artaxerxes that they should destroy the Judean race on the first day of the twelfth month, which is Adar, and that they should plunder their possessions. 14 And copies of the letters were posted publicly in each territory, and it was commanded that all the nations be prepared for this day. 15 And the deed was hastened even in Susa. The king and Haman were getting drunk, but the city was troubled.
4Now when Mordecai discovered what was being perpetrated, he tore his own garments and put on sackcloth and sprinkled himself with ashes and rushed out through the streets of the city, crying out with a great voice, “A nation which has done nothing unjust is to be destroyed!” 2 And he came as far as the gate of the king and stood, for it was not lawful for him to enter into the courtyard wearing sackcloth and ashes. 3 And in every territory where the letters were being posted publicly, there was shouting and weeping and great mourning among the Judeans; they brought down sackcloth and ashes for themselves. 4 Then the queen’s maids and eunuchs came in and reported to her, and she was troubled when she heard what had taken place. So, she sent to clothe Mordecai and to take away his sackcloth, but he was not persuaded. 5 Then Esther summoned Hachratheus, her eunuch who attended her, and she sent him to find out for her from Mordecai the exact situation. 7 And Mordecai revealed to him what had happened, and the promise which Haman gave to the king of ten thousand talents for the treasury so that he might destroy the Judeans. 8 He also gave him the copy of the letter that had been published in Susa concerning their destruction to show to Esther, and he told him to command her to go in and entreat the king, “Beg him for our people. Remember your days of low estate, how you were sustained by my hand, because Haman, who is second to the king, has spoken against us for death. Call upon the Lord and speak to the king for us, to deliver us from death.” 9 So Hachratheus went in and told her all these words. 10 Then Esther said to Hachratheus, “Go to Mordecai and say, 11 ‘For all the people of the kingdom know that every man or woman who goes in to the king in the inner court unbidden has no deliverance, however, to whom the king extends the golden scepter, this person will be safe. And I have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days.’” 12 So Hachratheus told Mordecai all Esther’s words. 13 Then Mordecai said to Hachratheus, “Go and say to her, ‘Esther, do not say to yourself that you alone will be saved of all the Judeans in the kingdom. 14 For if you do not listen at this time, there will be help and shelter for the Judeans from another place, but you and the house of your father will be killed; and who knows whether you are queen for this time?’” 15 Then Esther sent him who had come to her to Mordecai, saying, 16 “Go, convene the Judeans who are in Susa and fast for me, and do not eat nor drink for three days, night and day, and I, indeed also my maids, shall fast, and then I shall go into the presence of the king contrary to the law, even if I die.” 17 And Mordecai went and did all Esther commanded him.
5Then the king said, “What do you want, Esther? What is your petition? Even up to half my kingdom, and it will be yours.” 4 And Esther said, “Today is my significant day. If therefore it seems good to the king, let both he and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare today.” 5 And the king said, “Hasten, Haman, that we may do Esther’s request.” And both arrived for the banquet that Esther requested. 6 And during the drinking party, the king said to Esther, “What is it, Queen Esther? And it will be as much as you ask.” 7 And she said, “This is my request and petition: 8 If I have found favor before the king, let both the king and Haman come again tomorrow to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and tomorrow I shall do these things.” 9 So Haman went out from the king overjoyed and celebrating, but when Haman saw Mordecai the Judean in the courtyard, he became very angry. 10 And when he entered into his own home, he summoned his friends and Zeresh, his wife. 11 And he told them about his wealth and the glory that the king had invested in him and how he had made him to have the first place and to lead the kingdom. 12 And Haman said, “The queen did not invite anyone to the banquet with the king but me, and I have been invited for tomorrow. 13 And yet these things do not please me whenever I see Mordecai the Judean in the courtyard.” 14 Then his wife, Zeresh, and his friends said to him, “Let a pole of fifty cubits be cut down for you, and at daybreak speak to the king, and let Mordecai be hung on the pole. Then go to the banquet with the king and celebrate.” And what was said pleased Haman, and the pole was prepared.
6But the Lord withdrew sleep from the king that night, so he called his teacher to bring the written daily memoranda to read to him. 2 And he found the letters that were written concerning Mordecai, how he informed the king about the two eunuchs of the king when they were guards and sought to lay their hands upon Artaxerxes. 3 Then the king said, “What honor or favor have we made for Mordecai?” And the servants of the king said, “You have not done anything for him.” 4 And while the king was inquiring about the goodwill of Mordecai—behold, Haman was in the courtyard. Then the king said, “Who is in the courtyard?” And Haman entered to tell the king to hang Mordecai on the pole that he prepared. 5 And the servants of the king said, “Behold, Haman is standing in the courtyard.” And the king said, “Summon him.” 6 Then the king said to Haman, “What shall I do for the person I want to honor?” And Haman said to himself, “Whom does the king want to honor if not me?” 7 So he answered the king, “As for the person the king wants to honor: 8 Let the servants of the king bring a stole of fine linen, which the king wears, and a horse upon which the king rides 9 and give it to one of the honored friends of the king, and let him dress the person whom the king loves, and let him mount him upon the horse, and let him proclaim through the broad streets of the city, saying, ‘So it will be for every person the king exalts.’” 10 And the king said to Haman, “You have spoken rightly. Do so for Mordecai the Judean, who attends in the courtyard, and don’t let one word that you have said fall away.” 11 So Haman took the stole and the horse, and he adorned Mordecai and mounted him upon the horse, and he passed through the broad street of the city, and he proclaimed, saying, “So it will be for every person the king wants to honor!” 12 Then Mordecai returned to the courtyard, but Haman turned back to his own home distressed, his head covered. 13 And Haman related the things that had happened to him to Zeresh, his wife, and his friends. Then his friends and his wife said to him, “If Mordecai is of the Judean race, and you have begun to be humbled before him, when falling, you will fall and not be able to withstand him, for the living God is with him.” 14 While they were speaking the eunuchs arrived, urging Haman to the drinking party that Esther had prepared.
7Now the king and Haman entered to drink together with the queen. 2 Then the king said to Esther on the second day during the drinking party, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request, and what is your petition? Let it be yours, up to the half my kingdom.” 3 And she answered and said, “If I have found favor with the king, let my life be given for my request, and my word for my petition. 4 For we have been sold, both I and my people, for destruction, and plunder, and slavery, we and our children for servants and maidservants, and I took no heed, for the slanderer is not worthy of the court of the king.” 5 Then the king said, “Who is this, whoever dared to do this thing?” 6 And Esther said, “The person, the enemy, is Haman! This is an evil man.” Then Haman was terrified by the king and the queen. 7 And the king stood up from the symposium and went into the garden, but Haman was begging the queen, for he saw himself in trouble. 8 Then the king returned from the garden, but Haman had fallen upon the couch, begging the queen. And the king said, “So, you assault even my wife in my house?” And when Haman heard this, he was confounded in his face. 9 Then Bougatha, one of the eunuchs to the king, said, “Behold, Haman prepared a pole for Mordecai, who spoke on behalf of the king, and a pole fifty cubits high has been set up at the house of Haman.” And the king said, “Let Haman be crucified upon it.”[2] 10 So Haman was hanged upon the pole which was prepared for Mordecai, and the king ceased his anger.
8And on that day King Artaxerxes bestowed upon Esther whatever possessions belonged to Haman the slanderer, and Mordecai was summoned by the king, for Esther made it known that he was related to her. 2 Then the king took the ring that he had taken from Haman and gave it to Mordecai, and Esther appointed Mordecai over all of the things that had been Haman’s. 3 And having advanced toward the king, she spoke and fell before his feet, and she begged him to take away the evil of Haman, as great as he had done to the Judeans. 4 Then the king stretched out the golden scepter to Esther, and Esther raised up to stand near the king. 5 And Esther said, “If it seems good to you, and I have found favor, let letters be sent to return the letters which were sent by Haman, the letters that were to destroy the Judeans who are in your kingdom. 6 For how can I bear to see the oppression of my people? How can I dare to be saved amidst the destruction of my country?”[3] 7 Then the king said to Esther, “If all the possessions of Haman I gave to you, and I showed kindness to you, and I hanged him upon a pole because he laid his hands upon the Judeans, what more do you seek? 8 Likewise you write in my name as seems good to you and seal it with my ring, for whatever is written from the king, being enjoined and sealed with my ring, it is not for them to oppose.” 9 So the scribes were summoned in the first month, which is Sivan, on the twenty-third day of the same year, and it was written for the Judeans whatever had been commanded to the stewards and the rulers of the satraps from India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven satrapies, territory by territory, in the language of each. 10 And it was written through the agency of the king, and it was sealed with his ring, and they dispatched the letters by letter-carriers, 11 that he commanded them to use their laws in each city, both to aid them and to help them, against their opponents and those who resist them, as they wish, 12 in one day in all the kingdom of Artaxerxes, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is Adar. 13 And the transcript was posted publicly, conspicuously, in all the kingdom, and all the Judeans were prepared on this day to make war on their enemies. 14 Accordingly, the horsemen went out, hastening to fulfill the orders by the king, and the ordinance was publicized even in Susa. 15 And Mordecai came out adorned in the royal robe and wearing a golden crown and a diadem made of fine purple linen, and the people in Susa rejoiced when they saw him. 16 Then light and merriment appeared for the Judeans 17 throughout every city and territory, wherever the ordinance was publicized. Wherever the proclamation was publicized, there was joy and merriment for the Judeans, feast and mirth. And many of the Gentiles were circumcised and lived as Judeans, for fear of the Judeans.
9For in the twelfth month, on the thirteenth day of the month that is Adar, the letters that had been written by the king arrived. 2 On this day, those who opposed the Judeans were destroyed, for no one withstood, fearing them. 3 For the rulers of the satraps and the tyrants and the royal scribes honored the Judeans, for fear of Mordecai weighed upon them. 4 For the ordinance of the king became known; it was remembered in all the kingdom. 6 And in it, the city, the Judeans killed five hundred men, 7 including Parshan and Nestain and Dalphon and Aspatha 8 and Poratha and Adalia and Aridatha 9 and Parmashta and Arisai and Aridai and Vaizatha, 10 the ten sons of Haman, the son of Hammedatha, the Bougaios, the enemy of the Judeans, and they plundered 11 on the same day. And the number of those who were destroyed in Susa was given to the king. 12 Then the king said to Esther, “The Judeans killed five hundred men in the city of Susa and in the surrounding area. How do you imagine they suffered? What therefore do you deem worthy still to ask? It will be done for you.” 13 And Esther said to the king, “Grant the Judeans to do in like manner tomorrow, so that they may hang the ten sons of Haman.” 14 So he permitted it to happen in this way, and he published for the Judeans of the city to hang the bodies of the sons of Haman. 15 And the Judeans in Susa were assembled on the fourteenth day of Adar, and they killed three hundred men, but no one plundered. 16 Then the remainder of the Judeans who were in the kingdom were assembled, and they helped themselves and ceased from their warring activities, for they had killed fifteen thousand of them on the thirteenth day of Adar, but no one plundered. 17 So they rested on the fourteenth of the same month and observed the same as a day of rest with joy and merriment. 18 And the Judeans who were in the city of Susa gathered as well on the fourteenth day and rested, but they observed also the fifteenth day with joy and merriment. 19 Therefore, on account of this, the Judeans who are scattered abroad in every territory on the outside observe the fourteenth day of Adar as a good day; with merriment they send portions, each to his neighbor. But those who dwell in the mother-city also observe the fifteenth of Adar for good merriment, also sending forth portions to their neighbor. 20 Now Mordecai wrote these words into a document and sent it to all the Judeans in the kingdom of Artaxerxes, to those near and to those far away, 21 to establish these as good days, to observe both the fourteenth and the fifteenth days of Adar, 22 for in these days the Judeans rested from their enemies, and to observe the entire month, which was Adar, in which it changed for them from grief to joy and from pain to a good day, all the good days of feasting and merriment, to send portions to their friends and to the poor. 23 So the Judeans accepted it just as Mordecai wrote for them, 24 how Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Macedonian, made war against them, how he set a decree and a lot to destroy them, 25 and how he went to the king, saying that he should hang Mordecai, but as much as he made an attempt to bring evil things upon the Judeans, they came upon him, and he was hanged, and his children. 26 On account of this, these days were called Purim because of the lots that in their dialect are called Purim, on account of the words of this letter, and as much as they suffered on account of these things, and as much as happened to them. 27 And the Judeans established it and took it upon themselves and upon their seed, and upon those they handed it after them, so that they would not celebrate the month differently, and so that these days would be kept as a remembrance, throughout generation after generation, by city, and family, and territory. 28 And these days of Purim will be celebrated for all time, and their remembrance will not come to an end from the generations. 29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Judean, wrote all that they did, and the confirmation of the letter concerning Purim. 30 abAnd Mordecai and Esther the queen established themselves privately, and then they stood according to their own health and their plan. 31 And Esther established it by command for eternity, and it was written for a memorial.
10Now the king inscribed upon his kingdom, by land and by sea, 2 both his strength and bravery, and the wealth and glory of his kingdom; behold, it is written in the document of the kings of the Persians and the Medes for a memorial. 3 And Mordecai was next in rank to King Artaxerxes, and he was great in the kingdom and was honored and loved by the Judeans. He told his way of life to all his people.