Targum Rishon Esther

1 It happened in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus in whose days the work on the house of our great God was halted. It remained halted until the second year of Darius, because of the advice of the sinful Vashti, daughter of Evil-merodach son of Nebuchadnezzar. Because she would not allow the Temple to be built, it was decreed against her that she be put to death. And because he too listened to her advice, his days were cut short and his kingdom was divided. Before this, all the peoples, nations, languages and provinces had been subdued under his hand, but now, because of this, they were no longer subject to him. Afterward, when it was revealed before the LORD that Vashti was going to be put to death and that he was going to take Esther, a descendant of Sarah, who lived a hundred and twenty-seven years, he was granted more time, and he reigned from Greater India to Ethiopia, from the east of Greater India to the west of Ethiopia, over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces. Five passages are written with “And it happened,” an expression of woe, and these are they: “And it happened in the days of Amraphel,” when kings gathered for war, for there was no strife or sword in the world until Amraphel came. “And it happened in the days when the judges judged”: every kind of woe was in their days. And what woe was there? There was famine in the land, as it is written, “there was a famine in the land.” “And it happened in the days of Ahaz”: woe was in his days. And what woe was there? It is written concerning it, “Rezin king of Aram,” and what is written after it? “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it.” From this you learn that wherever “And it happened in the days of” is written, it is an expression of woe. Yet so it has been since the days of old, since the earliest years: whenever troubles came upon the house of Israel, they would pray before their Father in heaven, and he would answer them, as it is written, “And it will happen that before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” 2 In those days, King Ahasuerus wanted to sit on the royal throne of Solomon. It had been carried off from Jerusalem by Shishak king of Egypt; from Egypt it was carried off by Sennacherib; from Sennacherib it was taken by Hezekiah and brought back to Jerusalem; from Jerusalem it was carried off again by Pharaoh the Lame, king of Egypt; from Egypt it was carried off by Nebuchadnezzar and brought down to Babylon; and when Cyrus the Mede laid Babylon waste, he brought it down to Elam. After that Ahasuerus became king and wanted to sit on it, but he could not. So he sent for master builders from Alexandria and brought them to make one like it, but they could not; instead they made another, inferior to it, and they worked on it for two years. In the third year of his reign he sat on that royal throne of his, which the master builders had made for him, in Susa the citadel. 3 In the third year of the reign of Ahasuerus he held a drinking feast. And why did he hold the feast? Some say that the provinces had rebelled against him, and he went and subdued them, and after he had subdued them he came back and held the feast. Others say it was a festival day of his, and he sent letters to all the provinces for people to come and celebrate before him. He sent word and invited all the nobles of the provinces to come and rejoice with him, and a hundred and twenty-seven kings from a hundred and twenty-seven provinces came before him, all of them with crowns bound on their heads. They reclined beside him on cushions of fine wool, eating and rejoicing before the king. The noblemen and the princes of the provinces were before him, and some of the leaders of Israel were there too; because they saw the vessels of the Temple there, they wept and mourned there. 4 After they had eaten and drunk and taken their pleasure, he showed them his wealth, which Cyrus the Mede had left in his hands. Cyrus too had found that wealth when he laid Babylon waste: he dug on the bank of the Euphrates and found there six hundred and eighty bronze jars filled with fine gold, gleaming jewels, beryls and other precious stones. Through that wealth his glory grew strong for many days, and he held a drinking feast for his nobles for a hundred and eighty days. 5 When these days of feasting were over, the king held a seven-day drinking feast for all the people of the house of Israel who were found guilty in Susa the citadel, who were counted with the uncircumcised inhabitants of the land, from the greatest to the least. It was held in the court of the king’s inner garden, which was planted with fruit-bearing trees and spice plants, overlaid with fine gold up to half their height and finished with a border of precious stones, and they cast their shade over the guests. But the righteous Mordecai and his company were not there. 6 From tree to tree were spread curtains of fine linen, white in color, set with sapphires, green and blue, held by cords of silk dyed purple that hung on silver hooks, and round silver rings fastened onto pillars of marble, red, green, gleaming, polished and white. He seated them on couches of fine wool spread over divans whose frames were of fine gold and whose legs were of silver, resting on a pavement laid with crystal and marble and the Dura stone of the cities of the Great Sea, and embroidered hangings surrounded them on every side. 7 He ordered that they be given drink in the golden vessels of the Temple, which the wicked Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem. The other vessels belonging to King Ahasuerus that were there changed their appearance and looked like lead; in the presence of the vessels of the Temple they were transformed. They drank sweet new wine fit for the king to drink, rich in aroma and pleasant in taste, and there was no shortage; it flowed as freely as the king’s generosity. 8 The drinking followed the rule, according to each person’s own custom, and no one was forced. For the king had given this order to everyone he had appointed as steward over his household: to do as each man of Israel wished and as each man of every nation and language wished. 9 Queen Vashti, the wicked one, also held a feast for the women in the royal palace, in the bedchamber, the sleeping quarters that belonged to King Ahasuerus. 10 The righteous Mordecai prayed before the LORD from the first day of the feast until the seventh day, which is the Sabbath; he ate no bread and drank no water. On the seventh day, which was the Sabbath, his plea and the plea of the Sanhedrin came up before the LORD. When the king’s heart was merry with wine, the LORD sent the angel of confusion against him to throw their feast into confusion. Then he spoke to Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha and Abagtha, Zethar and Carcas. Mehuman: the one appointed over confusion. Biztha: the plundering of the house. Harbona: ruin follows it. Bigtha and Abagtha: the Master of the universe is going to tread them as a man treads his grapes in the winepress twice, and he is going to lay waste and wipe out these seven chamberlains who served before King Ahasuerus during these seven days. 11 The king ordered these seven chamberlains to bring Queen Vashti naked, because she used to make the daughters of Israel work naked and made them card wool and flax on the Sabbath day. For this reason it was decreed against her that she be brought naked. But the royal crown was to be on her head, because of the merit of her grandfather Nebuchadnezzar, who clothed Daniel in purple. For this reason he ordered that she come before him wearing the royal crown, to show the peoples and the nobles that she was beautiful to look at. 12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command, which was delivered to her through the nobles. The king was furious, and his anger burned within him. 13 The king spoke to the wise men, the sons of Issachar, who were wise in knowing the times and seasons in the book of the Torah and in the reckoning of the world, for this was how it was proper for the king’s business to be laid before all who were wise and knew the Law and justice. 14 But the sons of Issachar refused to judge that case. Instead they prayed before the LORD and said, “Master of the universe, throw their feast into confusion, and remember the righteous who offered sacrifices before you in your Temple: year-old lambs, and two young pigeons and turtledoves, on the altar of earth, by the hand of the high priest who wore the breastpiece the color of the sea, while the young priests stirred and mixed the blood and set out the bread of the Presence before you.” So the king turned back and asked advice from his nobles who were close to him, and these are their names: Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven nobles of Persia and Media, who saw the king’s face and sat on the first step of the royal throne. 15 “According to the law, what is to be done with Queen Vashti, since she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus that he decreed for her through the nobles?” 16 Then Memucan, who is Haman, grandson of the wicked Agag, said before the king and the nobles, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but all the nobles and all the peoples in all the provinces that King Ahasuerus rules. 17 For word of the queen’s decision will reach all the women, so that their husbands will be scorned in their eyes as they talk with one another: ‘The truth is, King Ahasuerus ordered Queen Vashti brought before him, and she did not come.’ 18 This very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media will be talking of treating their husbands just as they heard Queen Vashti did, and they will plan to do the same to all the king’s nobles. Who can bear so much contempt and anger? 19 If it pleases the king, let a royal decree go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, never to be revoked: this decree, that Vashti may not come before the king. And once she does come before the king, let the king decree that her head be removed, and let the king give her royal position to another woman, more beautiful than she. 20 When the king’s decree that he will make throughout his kingdom is heard, for it is a great decree, then all the women will give honor and respect to their husbands, from the greatest to the least.” 21 The proposal pleased the king and the nobles, and the king did as Memucan proposed. 22 He sent letters, written and sealed with his signet ring, to all the king’s provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own spoken language, reading as follows: “You peoples, nations and languages who live throughout my dominion, take care that every man is master over his wife and compels her to speak in her husband’s language, the language of his people.”

1 After these events, when King Ahasuerus had cooled off and sobered up from the drunkenness of his wine, and when the force of his anger had subsided, he began to remember Vashti. His princes answered him, saying, “Was it not you who sentenced her to death for what she had done?” The king said to them, “I did not decree that she be killed, only that she come before me, and she did not come; so I ordered that the kingdom be taken away from her.” They said to him, “Not so. You decreed the death sentence on her on the advice of the seven princes.” At once the force of his anger grew strong, and he decreed that the seven princes be hanged on the gallows. 2 Then the king’s young men who served him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king’s use. 3 Let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom, and let them gather every beautiful young virgin to Susa the citadel, to the house of the women, where there are public baths and bathhouses, and where Hegai, the king’s chief chamberlain, keeper of the women, is in charge; and let it be decreed that their cosmetic ointments be given to them. 4 The young woman who pleases the king shall come in to take possession of the kingdom in place of Vashti.” The thing pleased the king, and he did so. 5 There was in Susa the citadel a pious man who gave thanks and prayed before God for his people. His name was called Mordecai because he was likened to pure myrrh. He was the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Gera, son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin. This is the Shimei who cursed David, whom Joab wanted to kill; but David would not let him, because he looked at him with the spirit of prophecy and saw that Mordecai and Esther were destined to come from him. So when Shimei had stopped having children, David commanded his son Solomon to kill him. 6 Mordecai went into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who were carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon carried away. When Cyrus and Darius captured Babylon, Mordecai left Babylon with Daniel, and the whole community of Israel that was there in Babylon left with them and went up with King Cyrus to live in Susa the citadel. 7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is, Esther, the daughter of his father’s brother. Why did they call her Hadassah? Because she was a righteous woman, and the righteous are likened to the myrtle. They called her Esther because she was kept hidden in Mordecai’s house for seventy-five years and never saw the face of any man except the face of Mordecai, who became her guardian, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely in form and beautiful in appearance. When her father died she was still in her mother’s womb, and when her mother gave birth to her, her mother died; and Mordecai took her into his house and called her daughter. 8 When the word of the king’s proclamation and his decree was heard, and many young women were gathered to Susa the citadel into Hegai’s care, Esther was taken by force and brought into the king’s palace, into the care of Hegai, keeper of the women. 9 The young woman pleased him and won his kindness, and he gave orders to hurry her cosmetic ointments and her gifts, the necklaces and royal garments, to be given to her, along with seven young women to serve her on the seven days of the week. Hulta served first, on the first day of the week; Roqeita on the second day of the week; Genunita on the third day of the week; Nehorita on the fourth day of the week; Ruhashita on the fifth day of the week; Hurfita on the sixth day of the week; Regoita on the Sabbath day. All of them were righteous and fit to give her food and drink from their own hands from the royal palace. He moved her and her young women to the best place, to treat them well and to pamper them in the house of the women. 10 Esther did not reveal her people or her ancestry, because Mordecai had commanded her not to reveal them. Why did he command her not to reveal them? Because Mordecai thought to himself: Vashti, who stood on her own dignity and refused to come to show her beauty to the king and the rulers, he sentenced to harsh punishment and killed. And why did Esther not reveal the people of her ancestry? In case the king became angry with her, killed her, and destroyed the people she came from. That is why he commanded her not to reveal her people or her ancestry. 11 Every single day Mordecai would pray and walk in front of the court of the house of the women, to learn how Esther was and what was being done with her. 12 When each young woman’s turn came to go in before King Ahasuerus, at the end of the time set for her by the rule for women, who waited in their pampering for twelve months of the year, since that was how the days of their cosmetics were completed: six months with oil of myrrh and oil of unripe olives, which removes the hair and softens the skin, and six months with spices and women’s cosmetics, 13 then at that time, after the twelve months of the year were completed, the young woman would go in to the king. Any noble or official she wished to name was given to her at once to go in with her from the house of the women to the king’s palace. 14 In the evening she would go in to lie with the king, and in the morning she would return again to the house of the women, into the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s chief officer, keeper of the concubines. From then on she would not go in to the king again unless the king delighted in her and called her by name, expressly and in writing. 15 When the turn came for Esther, daughter of Abihail, the brother of Mordecai’s father, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing she needed except what Hegai, the king’s chief officer, keeper of the women, advised. And Esther won grace and found favor in the eyes of all who saw her. 16 Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus as his wife, and he brought her into the bedchamber of his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 The king loved Esther more than all the women he had married, and she won his favor and kindness more than all the virgins. He set a golden necklace on her head, removed the portraits of Vashti from the chamber where he slept, and set up the portraits of Esther there in their place. He seated her on the second throne and made her queen in place of Vashti. 18 Then the king gave a great feast for all his princes and servants, and it was called Esther’s feast. He granted the provinces a release from tax, and he gave her gifts and a share as befitted the king’s bounty. 19 When the virgins were gathered a second time, Mordecai would pray and walk about, and he sat at the king’s gate. 20 At this time the king asked her, “What nation are you from?” But Esther did not reveal her ancestry or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her. Esther kept Mordecai’s instruction: she observed the Sabbaths and the festivals; in the days of her separation she was careful; she did not taste the cooked food or the wine of the foreign nations; and all the commandments that the women of the house of Israel are bound to keep, she kept at Mordecai’s word, just as she had kept them when she was being brought up with him. 21 In those days, while Mordecai sat in the Sanhedrin that Esther had set up for him at the king’s gate, two officials saw this and grew furious and angry, and said to each other, “Does the queen not want, by the king’s word, to remove us and install Mordecai? There is no honor in removing two courtiers to install one.” So Bigthan and Teresh, the Tarsians, two of the king’s officials who guarded the palace, plotted together in their own language and said they would give Queen Esther a deadly poison to drink and lay hands on King Ahasuerus to kill him with the sword in his bedchamber. 22 The matter became known to Mordecai, because he was skilled at speaking seventy languages, and he told Queen Esther, and Esther told the king, and it was recorded in Mordecai’s name. 23 The matter was investigated and found to be true, and both of them were hanged on the gallows. It was recorded in the book of records that was read continually before the king.

1 After these events the attribute of justice came before the Master of all the world and spoke thus: “Did not the wicked Haman go down from Susa to Jerusalem to stop the building of your Temple? And now King Ahasuerus has promoted Haman son of Hammedatha, of the family of Agag son of the wicked Amalek, appointed him chief over everyone, and set his throne above all the princes who were with him.” The Lord of the world answered, “Until now he is not known in the world. Leave him to me until he grows great and becomes known to all the nations, and after that I will punish him for all the oppression that he and his ancestors have done to the people of the house of Israel.” 2 All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down to the image that Haman had set up on his chest and prostrated themselves before Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai would not bow down to the image or prostrate himself before Haman, because Haman was his bond servant and had sold himself to him for a loaf of bread. 3 The king’s servants who were at the gate of the king’s palace said to Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s command?” 4 They spoke to him day after day, and he would not listen to them, so they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand against Haman’s words. For he had told them that he would not bow down to Haman because Haman was his slave who had sold himself to him for a loaf of bread, and that he would not bow down to the image Haman had set up on his chest because he was a Jew, and Jews do not worship it or bow down to it. 5 When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down to the image or prostrate himself before him, Haman was filled with fury against Mordecai. 6 But it seemed a laughable thing to him to lay his hands on Mordecai alone to kill him, for they had told him that Mordecai came from Jacob, who took the birthright and the blessing from Esau, the father of Haman’s father, and that the Jews were Mordecai’s people. So Haman sought to wipe out all the Jews throughout the kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai. 7 In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, Pur, that is, the lot, was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, until it fell on the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. 8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and kept separate among the nations, peoples and languages, and some of them live in all the provinces of the kingdom. The decrees of their Law differ from those of every other people. Our bread and our cooked food they will not taste, our wine they will not drink, our feast days they do not keep, and our customs they do not follow. They do not carry out the decrees of the king’s laws, the king gains nothing of value from them, and what benefit does he have from them if he leaves them on the face of the earth? 9 If it please the king, let a decree be written to destroy them, and I will weigh out ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to be brought into the king’s treasuries. And who can count the six hundred thousand whose ancestors came up out of their slavery to the Egyptians?” 10 So the king took his signet ring off his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, of the family of Agag, the oppressor of the Jews. 11 The king said to Haman, “The silver is given to you, and the people are handed over into your power, to do with them whatever seems good to you.” 12 The king’s scribes were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of it, and everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s generals, to the governors appointed as rulers over each and every province, and to the princes of each and every people, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language. It was written and set out in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces, to wipe out, to kill and to destroy all the Jews, young and old, children and women, in a single day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. 14 A copy of the edict was to be issued with the full force of its decree in every province and made known to all the peoples, so that they would be ready for that day. 15 The couriers went out in haste at the king’s word, and the decree was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink wine, while the city of Susa was in turmoil with the rejoicing of the foreign nations and the sound of weeping from the people of the house of Israel.

1 Mordecai learned through Elijah the high priest all that had been done in the heavens above: that the people of the house of Israel had been condemned to be destroyed from the world, and that just as it had been written and sealed on earth to destroy them from the face of the earth, so it had been written and sealed in the heavens above, because they had enjoyed the feast of the wicked Ahasuerus. But the seal was sealed in clay. So the Lord of the world sent Elijah the high priest to tell Mordecai to rise and pray before the Lord of the world for his people. When Mordecai learned this, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his body and ashes on his head, cried out with a great cry, and wept in bitterness of soul with a grieving voice. 2 He came as far as the front of the gate of the king’s palace, for no one was allowed to enter the gate of the king’s palace dressed in sackcloth. 3 In every province and in every city, wherever the king’s word and his decree of judgment reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and lament, and sackcloth and ashes were laid on many righteous people. 4 When Esther’s young women and her chamberlains came and told her, the queen was deeply shaken. She sent royal garments for Mordecai to wear, so that he would take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5 Esther called Daniel, who is called Hathach, by whose word the affairs of the kingdom were decided, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this sound of weeping was and why he had not accepted the royal garments she had sent him. 6 Hathach went out to speak with Mordecai in the city square in front of the gate of the king’s palace. 7 Mordecai told him all that had happened to him because he would not prostrate himself before Haman or bow down to his image, and the exact sum of money, ten thousand talents of silver, that Haman had promised to weigh out into the hands of the collectors appointed over the king’s treasury in return for the Jews, to destroy them. 8 He also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, to show to Esther and to tell her what the wicked Haman had plotted against the Jewish people, and to charge her to go in to the king to appease him and plead for mercy for her people. 9 Hathach went in and told Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Esther told Hathach to go and speak to Mordecai, and charged him to tell Mordecai not to stir up a quarrel with Haman, because Haman was nursing the old enmity between Jacob and Esau. 11 Esther put words in Hathach’s mouth and said to him, “Say this to Mordecai: Did not the wicked Haman decree, by the order of Ahasuerus, that no one may go in to the king in the inner court without permission? And now all the king’s servants and the peoples who live in the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes in to the king in the inner court without being summoned at Haman’s word faces one and the same sentence, death, unless the king holds out the golden scepter to that person, who then lives. And I have not been summoned to go in to the king for thirty days now.” 12 When the wicked Haman saw Hathach, whose name was Daniel, going in and out to Esther, his anger burned against him and he killed him. Then the angels Michael and Gabriel appeared there, and they told Mordecai what Esther had said. 13 Mordecai told Michael and Gabriel to reply to Esther, “Say this to her: Do not imagine that you alone of all the Jews will escape in the king’s house. 14 For if you keep silent at this time and do not plead for the Jews, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, for the sake of the merit of the fathers of the world, and the Lord of the world will rescue them from the hand of their enemies; but you and your father’s family will perish for that sin. And who is wise enough to know whether, at this time next year, you will still come to possess the kingdom?” 15 Esther told Michael and Gabriel to reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go, gather all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, and pray before the Lord of the world by night and by day. I and my young women will fast in the same way, and after that I will go in to the king, though it is against the law. And just as I was lost from the house of women and taken from you by force, so I will be lost from the life of this world for the redemption of the people of the house of Israel.” 17 Mordecai grieved and gathered the Jews, and he set aside the joy of the festival of Passover, decreed a fast, sat in ashes, and did everything Esther had commanded him.

1 It happened on the third day of Passover that Esther put on royal garments, and the holy spirit rested upon her. She rose and prayed in the inner court of the king’s palace, which was built facing the king’s palace in Jerusalem. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal palace, looking straight toward the entrance of the house. Esther spoke up and said, “Master of the world, do not hand me over into the hand of this uncircumcised man, and do not let the will of the wicked Haman be done to me as it was done to Vashti. He gave the king counsel, and the king ordered her killed, because Haman wanted him to marry his daughter. When the young women were gathered into the care of Hegai, Haman’s daughter was there, and by the will of Heaven every single day she soiled herself with excrement and with urine, and her mouth stank terribly, so they hurried her out. Because of her this lot fell to me, to be married to him. Now make me find compassion in his eyes, so that he does not kill me but grants the wish and the request I am asking of him. And you too, in your great mercy, spare your people, and do not hand the children of Jacob over into the hands of Haman son of Hammedatha, son of Ada, son of Biznai, son of Aphlitus, son of Diosus, son of Peros, son of Hamdan, son of Talyon, son of Atnisomus, son of Harum, son of Harsum, son of Shegar, son of Genar, son of Parmashta, son of Vaizatha, son of Agag, son of Sumkar, son of Amalek, son of Eliphaz, son of Esau, wicked men all.” 2 When the king saw Queen Esther standing downcast in the court, her two eyes streaming with tears and looking up toward heaven, at once she won compassion in his eyes. The king held out to Esther the golden scepter he was holding in his hand, and Esther came near, reached out her hand, and took hold of the tip of the scepter. 3 The king said to her, “What do you need, Queen Esther, and what is your request? Even if you ask for half my kingdom, I will give it to you. Only the building of the Temple, which stands within the border of half my kingdom, I will not grant you, for I have sworn an oath to Geshem the Arab, Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant not to allow it to be built, because I fear the Jews and that they may rebel against me. This request I will not do for you. Any other thing you ask of me I will decree, and it will be done at once, and your wish is granted you.” 4 Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the feast I have prepared for you.” 5 The king said, “Bring Haman quickly, to carry out what Esther has asked.” So the king and Haman came to the banquet Esther had prepared. 6 At the wine banquet the king said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther, and what is your request? Even if you ask for up to half my kingdom, your request will be done. Only the building of the Temple, which stands within the border of half my kingdom, I will not grant you, for I have sworn an oath to Geshem the Arab, Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant not to allow it to be built, in case the Jews rebel against me.” 7 Esther answered and said, “I am not asking for half the kingdom in my petition, nor for the building of the Temple in my request. 8 If I have found compassion in the king’s eyes, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and to do my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet I will prepare for them in the evening, and tomorrow I will do as the king has decreed.” 9 Haman went out from the king’s presence that day glad and cheerful of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai, and the children who were busy with the words of the Torah in the Sanhedrin that Esther had set up for them at the king’s gate, and saw that Mordecai did not rise before his image or tremble before him, but stretched out his right foot and showed him the bill of sale by which he had sold himself to him for a loaf of bread, written on his legging just over his knee, at once his anger flared, and Haman was filled with fury against Mordecai. 10 Haman hurried home, and sent for his friends and his wicked wife Zeresh, daughter of Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River. 11 Haman told them of the splendor of his wealth, how he had been counted among the king’s generals, and how his many sons ran before him, two hundred and eight of them, besides ten others who were commanders over the provinces, and besides Shimshai, who was the king’s scribe. He told them how the king had promoted him and raised him above all the king’s princes and servants. 12 Haman said, “Queen Esther brought no one but me in with the king to the feast she prepared, and tomorrow at this time I am invited by her again, to dine with the king. 13 Yet all this is worth nothing to me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting in the Sanhedrin with the young men at the gate of the king’s palace.” 14 His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “If you are willing, let us tell you one thing, what we should do to Mordecai the Jew. He is one of the righteous who were created in the world. If we kill him with the sword, a sword was turned aside once before, and it would fall on us. If we hand him over to be stoned, David once shattered Goliath the Philistine with a stone. If we throw him into a bronze bull, Manasseh once split one open and came out of it. If we throw him into the Great Sea, the children of Israel once split it and passed through the middle of it. If we throw him into a blazing furnace of fire, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah once broke out of one and came out from inside it. If we throw him into the lions’ den, the lions once did Daniel no harm, and he lived. If we throw him to the dogs, the mouths of the dogs were once shut against the children of Israel in the land of Egypt. If we exile him to the wilderness, they once grew many and multiplied in the wilderness. What other death can we kill him with, and what kind of death can be made for him? If we throw him into prison, Joseph was once made king out of prison. If a knife is laid on his neck, the knife was once turned away from Isaac. If we blind his eyes and let him go, he will kill us, as Samson killed. We do not know what punishment fits this man or what to do, except to make a great gallows for him. At the door of his house let his blood be poured out, let his body be thrown upon the gallows, and let all the Jews and all his companions and friends see him.” Heaven and earth together were listening for the gallows that Haman prepared for Mordecai. Haman waited for morning, to go in before the king and ask him about this gallows. In that hour Haman son of Hammedatha did not take off his clothes or lie down until he had gone and brought the carpenters and the smiths: the carpenters to build the gallows, and the smiths to make iron blades. Haman’s sons were dancing and rejoicing, and his wife Zeresh was playing the harp beside the wicked Haman. He said, “I am paying the carpenters their wages, and for the smiths I am preparing a feast over this gallows.” In the hour when the wicked Haman stood up to measure the gallows against his own height, a heavenly voice came out from the heavens on high and said to him, “It suits you, wicked Haman, and it fits you well, son of Hammedatha.” The idea pleased Haman, and he made the gallows for himself. From the day Esther invited Haman to the feast, the children of Israel had been in distress, saying to one another, “Every single day we hoped Esther would ask the king to kill this man we hate, and instead she invites him to a feast.” In that hour all the house of Jacob poured out their hearts and put their trust in their Father in heaven, and this is what they said before him: “Answer us, you who answer all the oppressed. As the eyes of servants look to their master, and the eyes of a maidservant to her mistress, so our eyes look to you until the time you reveal yourself and redeem us, for see, the enemy and foe blasphemes and says, ‘Who are these Jews?’” Then he heard the sound of their prayer and granted their request that very night, for every time he redeemed them from their enemies it was by night: he redeemed them from Pharaoh, and from Sennacherib, and from all who rose up against them.

1 On that night the king’s sleep fled. On that night deliverance went out for the Jews. On that night Sarah was taken to the house of Abimelech. On that night all the firstborn of the Egyptians were killed. On that night prophecies were revealed to the prophets, and dreams to those who dream visions. On that night the whole world was shaken, the provinces and all who lived in them. There was great mourning in all the cities, lament and wailing in every province. Young men were bound in sackcloth, old men and old women beat upon their hearts, and all of them cried out bitterly and wailed with a loud voice, saying, “Woe to us, for we have seen trouble upon trouble and ruin upon ruin! We have not been healed of our first ruin, no cure has been given for our wound, we have not been comforted in our sorrow, and the pain of our heart has not left us. For the city of our fathers is dashed to the ground, the enemy has shut up the sanctuary, and our enemies have trampled our courts. Pharaoh and the Egyptians never plotted such a plot against us, and the kings of the nations never devised such a scheme against us as this, that we should be marked out for this day, to be wiped from the face of the earth.” The Revealer of secrets revealed this secret to Mordecai: that a decree of death had been decreed against the house of Israel, and that they would not even sell us as slaves and maidservants. On that night the sleep of the Holy One, blessed be he, fled on high. If this verse were not written, it would be impossible to say it, for it is written, “Awake! Why do you sleep, O LORD?” God forbid! There is no sleep before him. But when the house of Israel sins, he makes himself like one who sleeps, and when they do his will, the Keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. On that night the sleep of Mordecai the righteous fled. He was awake and not lying down, lying down and not asleep, because the house of Israel had gathered and were sitting before him and saying to him, “You have brought all this evil on us. If you had stood up before the wicked Haman and knelt and bowed down to him, all this trouble would not have come on us.” Mordecai answered them, “On the garment the wicked Haman wears two images are embroidered, one on the front and one on the back. If I had stood and bowed down to him, I would have been found worshiping idols, and you know that whoever worships idols perishes from this world and is driven out of the world to come.” And all of them fell silent before him. On that night the sleep of the wicked Haman fled. He was awake and not lying down, lying down and not asleep, because he was preparing the gallows to hang Mordecai on it, and he did not know that he was preparing it for himself. On that night the sleep of the righteous Esther fled, because she was preparing the meal to bring Haman to the banquet with King Ahasuerus. On that night the sleep of the foolish King Ahasuerus fled. He was awake and not lying down, lying down and not asleep, for the spirit that seizes kings had seized him and tossed him about all night long. He spoke up and said to all his nobles, “What I have eaten has done me no good, and what I have drunk has not agreed with me. The heavens thunder against me, and the highest heavens raise their voices. What gifts did I promise to grant the provinces and fail to grant them? Or are Esther and Haman planning to kill me? For Esther brought no one to the banquet with me except Haman alone.” On that night the remembrance of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob came before their Father in heaven, and an angel was sent from on high. This was Michael, the commander of Israel’s host. He sat at the king’s head and drove sleep from him all night long, until the king ordered the book of records, the chronicles, to be brought before him. They read in it before the king the judgments of the former kings who had reigned before him. Then the angel sat above the king’s eyes, and the king looked and saw the likeness of a man, who spoke up and said to the king, “Haman wants to kill you and make himself king in your place. Look, he will come early in the morning wanting to ask you for the man who saved you from death, because he wants to kill him. But say to Haman, ‘What should be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?’ and you will see that he asks you for nothing but the king’s garments, the royal crown and the horse the king rides.” 2 And it was found written in the book that Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the palace, who had sought to lay a hand on King Ahasuerus and kill him in his bedchamber. 3 The king said, “What honor and distinction has been given to Mordecai for this?” And the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing at all has been done for him yet.” 4 The king said, “Who is the man standing in the court?” Now Haman had come into the outer court of the king’s house to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him. 5 The king’s servants said to him, “Haman is standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.” 6 So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What is fitting to be done for a man whom the king wishes to honor?” Haman thought in his heart and said, “Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?” 7 And Haman said to the king, “The man whom the king wishes to honor, 8 let the king give an order, and let them bring the purple robe in which they dressed the king on the day he came to the throne, and the horse the king rode on the day he came to the throne, on whose head the royal crown was placed. 9 Let the purple robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s great nobles, one of the generals, and let the young men raised in the king’s household dress the man whom the king wishes to honor. Let them set him on the horse in the city square and proclaim praises before him: ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king wishes to honor.’” 10 The king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the purple robe and the horse, as you have said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew.” Haman said to him, “Which Mordecai?” The king answered him, “Mordecai the Jew.” Haman said to him, “There are many Jews named Mordecai in Susa.” The king answered him, “The one for whom Esther set up the Sanhedrin at the gate of the king’s palace.” Haman said to him, “I beg you, kill me, but do not lay this order on me.” The king said to him, “Hurry, and leave out nothing of all you have said.” 11 So Haman took the purple robe and the horse, dressed Mordecai, set him on the horse in the city square and proclaimed praises before him: “This is what is done for the man whom the king wishes to honor.” 12 Then Mordecai went back to the Sanhedrin at the gate of the king’s palace. He took the purple robe off, put on sackcloth and sat on ashes, and he gave thanks and prayed until evening. But Haman hurried home in dismay, mourning for his daughter, with his head covered like one who mourns for his daughter and for his disgrace. 13 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 Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is from the seed of the righteous, then you will not be able to harm him, for you will surely fall before him. The kings fell before Abraham in the plain of the fields, and Abimelech before Isaac. Jacob overcame the angel. By the hands of Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh and all his army drowned in the Red Sea. And all the kings and rulers who did them harm, their God handed over into their hands.” 14 While they were still speaking with him, the king’s officers arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared.

1 So the king and Haman came to drink with Queen Esther. 2 On the second day too, at the wine banquet, the king said to Esther, “What is your request, Queen Esther? It will be granted you. And what is your petition? Even up to half the kingdom, I will give it to you. Only the building of the Temple, which stands at the midpoint of the border of my kingdom, I will not give you, for I have sworn an oath on this to Geshem, Tobiah and Sanballat. But wait until your son Darius grows up and inherits the kingdom, and it will be done.” 3 Esther lifted her eyes toward heaven, and Queen Esther answered, “If I have found mercy before you, O exalted King, and if it seems good before the king of the earth, let the rescue of my life from the hands of the enemy be given me as my request, and the redemption of my people from the hands of their foe as my petition. 4 For we have been sold for nothing, I and my people the house of Israel, to be destroyed, to be killed and to perish. If we had only been sold as slaves and maidservants, I would have kept silent, for the oppressor is worth nothing and brings no gain set against the king’s loss.” 5 Then King Ahasuerus spoke and said to Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is he, the insolent, guilty and rebellious man whose heart has led him to do this?” 6 She said, “The oppressor and enemy who sought to kill you last evening in your bedchamber, and who today sought to put on the royal robe, to ride on your horse, to set the gold crown on his head, to rebel against you and take the kingdom from you. But the matter was settled from heaven, and that honor was given to Mordecai the righteous, my father’s brother, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Shemida, son of Baanah, son of Elah, son of Micah, son of Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of King Saul, son of Kish, son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, son of Shaharaim, son of Uzziah, son of Sason, son of Michael, son of Eliel, son of Ammihud, son of Shephatiah, son of Penuel, son of Pethah, son of Malluch, son of Jerubbaal, son of Jeroham, son of Hananiah, son of Zabdi, son of Elpaal, son of Shimri, son of Zebadiah, son of Remuth, son of Hashum, son of Shehora, son of Uzza, son of Guza, son of Gera, son of Benjamin, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham. The oppressor and enemy, this evil Haman, sought to hang him.” And Haman was struck with terror before the king and the queen. 7 The king raised his eyes and looked, and there were ten angels who looked like the ten sons of Haman, cutting down the trees in the inner garden. At that he rose in his fury from his wine banquet and went to the inner garden to see what this was. And Haman stood up to plead with Queen Esther for his life, for he saw that the king had resolved on evil against him. 8 The king came back in his fury from the inner garden to the hall of the wine banquet, and there was the angel Gabriel pushing the wicked Haman. The king saw Haman bent over the couch Esther was on, and the king was astonished and said, “Look! Truly Haman came here for nothing but to lie with the queen while I am in the house. Now, all you peoples, nations and languages, judge what should be done to him!” The word went out from the king’s mouth, and Haman’s face was covered with shame. 9 Harbona, one of the officers, said before the king, “Look, there is the gallows Haman prepared to hang Mordecai on, the man who spoke up for the king’s good and through whom the king was saved from being killed. Look, the gallows is standing in Haman’s house. Now, if it pleases the king, let a beam be pulled from his house, and let Haman be raised up and impaled on it. Its height is fifty cubits.” And the king said, “Go and hang him on it.” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s fury subsided.

1 On that day King Ahasuerus handed over to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the oppressor of the Jews, together with the people of his household and all his wealth. And Mordecai came in before the king, for Esther had told him who he was to her. 2 The king took off the seal of the signet ring that he had taken back from Haman and gave it to Mordecai, and Esther made Mordecai chief and overseer over Haman’s household. 3 Esther spoke again before the king. She fell at his feet, wept, and pleaded with him to undo the wickedness of Haman, who was descended from Agag, and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. 4 The king held out the golden scepter to Esther, and Esther straightened up and stood before the king. 5 She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor before him, and the matter seems right to the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let the king command and give an order in writing that the letters be revoked, the plots of Haman son of Hammedatha, who was descended from Agag, which he wrote to destroy all the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces. 6 For how can I bear to look on the evil with which my people will be punished? And how can I bring myself to stand ready and look on at the time when the family I was born into is destroyed?” 7 King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “See, I have given Haman’s house to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he raised his hand against the Jews. 8 Now hurry and write concerning the Jews as you see fit, in the name of the king’s word, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for a letter written in the name of the king’s word and sealed with the king’s signet ring does not return empty.” 9 So the king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, the month of Sivan, on its twenty-third day. Everything that Mordecai commanded was written to the Jews, and to the satraps, the governors, and the officials appointed as rulers over the provinces from Greater India to Cush, a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, to each province in the form of its own script and to each people in the speech of its own language, and to the Jews in the form of their script and in the speech of their language. 10 It was written in the name of the word of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring, and he sent the letters by couriers riding on horses and riders of bareback steeds, dromedaries whose spleens had been removed and the soles of whose feet had been hollowed out. 11 In them the king granted the Jews in every city the help to gather and defend their lives, to wipe out, to kill, and to destroy all the forces of any people or province that oppressed them, children and women, and to take their goods as plunder, 12 on a single day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. 13 A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree of judgment in every province and made plain to all the peoples, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to take revenge on their enemies. 14 The couriers riding bareback steeds went out swiftly and in great haste at the king’s word, and the decree of judgment was issued in Susa the citadel. 15 Mordecai went out from the king’s presence in royal garments of blue, glad and cheerful of heart, in great honor and surpassing greatness. He wore royal garments of fine wool, cotton, and blue, with a chain of fine gold of Ophir, and pearls and precious stones were set in them. Under his robe he wore a fine garment of the sea color of the western sea, and under that a tunic of purple on which every winged bird and the birds of the sky were embroidered, and the price of the tunic was four hundred and twenty talents of gold. A belt was fastened around his waist, and beryl stones were set along its length. Parthian shoes were on his feet, fastened with Macedonian gold and sealed with emeralds. A Median sword hung at his waist on a chain of golden links, with the city of Jerusalem engraved on it, and on the hilt of the sword was engraved the guardian figure of the city. A Median cap painted in many colors was set on his head, and above it was made a great crown of Macedonian gold, and above the crown tefillin set in gold, so that all the peoples, nations, and languages would know that he was Mordecai the Jew. This fulfilled the verse that is written, “All the peoples of the earth will see that the name of the LORD is called over you.” When Mordecai went out from the king’s gate, the streets were strewn with myrtle, the courtyard was spread with purple, and a canopy was stretched out on cords of fine linen. Young women wore crowns on their heads, and the priests held trumpets in their hands and proclaimed, saying, “Whoever does not come out to greet Mordecai and to greet the Jews will be cut to pieces, and his house will be made a dunghill.” The ten sons of Haman, with their hands bound, walked along singing before Mordecai the righteous, praising the One who gives reward to the Jews and brings the reward of the wicked down on their own heads, and saying, “This Haman our father, the fool, who trusted in his wealth and in his honor, Mordecai the humble has broken by his fasting and his prayer.” Esther the righteous was looking out through the window, since a queen cannot walk among the people in the street. Mordecai lifted his eyes and saw her, and said to her, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.” Esther answered him, “My help comes from the LORD, maker of heaven and earth.” Many people were rejoicing at the downfall of Haman the wicked, giving thanks and praise for the deliverance that had come to the Jews, and giving praise for the deliverance and the honor that had come to Mordecai the righteous at that time. So it is written: “Mordecai the righteous went out from the king’s presence in royal garments of blue and fine wool, with a great crown of gold, wrapped in fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.” 16 The Jews had permission to occupy themselves with the Torah, to keep the Sabbaths and the festivals, to circumcise their sons, and to lay tefillin on their hands and on their heads. 17 In every province and in every city, wherever the king’s word and his decree of judgment reached, there was joy and gladness of heart for the Jews, feasting and a holiday. And many of the peoples of the land became proselytes, for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

1 In the twelfth month, the month of Adar, on its thirteenth day, when the king’s word and his decree of judgment were due to be carried out, on the day the enemies of the Jews had planned to rule over them, it was turned around from heaven for the sake of the merit of the fathers, so that the Jews themselves ruled over those who hated them. 2 The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on all who sought to harm them, and no one stood against them, for the fear of them had fallen on all the peoples. 3 All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and those who did the king’s work appointed the Jews over themselves, for the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them. 4 For Mordecai was guardian, chief, and overseer in the king’s house, and his coinage went out through all the provinces; for the man Mordecai was head of the royal household, and he kept growing greater. 5 The Jews struck all their enemies with the deadly blow of the sword, with the killing of hewn stones, and with the destruction of lives, and they did as they pleased to those who hated them. 6 In Susa the citadel the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men, all of them military officers from the house of Amalek, 7 and Parshandatha 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 son of Hammedatha, the oppressor of the Jews, they killed; but they did not lay their hands on the plunder. 11 On that day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was reported before the king. 12 The king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, officers from the descendants of Amalek, and the ten sons of Haman. In the rest of the king’s provinces, what have they done? Now what is your request? It will be given to you. And what more do you ask? It will be done.” 13 Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let permission be given to the Jews in Susa tomorrow also to make a holiday and rejoicing, as is fitting to do on the day of the miracle, and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.” 14 The king commanded that it be done so. The decree of judgment was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman. This is the arrangement of their hanging, as they were hanged with Haman their father on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Its height was fifty cubits. Three cubits were sunk in the ground, and Parshandatha was four and a half cubits above the ground. Parshandatha was hanged in a space of three cubits and was half a cubit away from Dalphon. Dalphon was hanged in a space of three cubits and was half a cubit away from Aspatha. Aspatha was hanged in a space of three cubits and was half a cubit away from Poratha. Poratha was hanged in a space of three cubits and was half a cubit away from Adalia. Adalia was hanged in a space of three cubits and was half a cubit away from Aridatha. Aridatha was hanged in a space of three cubits and was half a cubit away from Parmashta. Parmashta was hanged in a space of three cubits and was half a cubit away from Arisai. Arisai was hanged in a space of three cubits and was half a cubit away from Aridai. Aridai was hanged in a space of three cubits and was half a cubit away from Vaizatha. Vaizatha was hanged in a space of three cubits and was half a cubit away from Haman. Haman was hanged in a space of three cubits, and three cubits were left clear above his head, so that the birds would not eat from him. Zeresh fled with the seventy sons who were left to Haman, and they went around from door to door begging for their bread. Shimshai the scribe was killed by the sword, and a hundred and eight died along with the five hundred men who were killed in Susa, who had been appointed over the king’s markets. 15 The Jews in Susa gathered also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed in Susa three hundred men from the house of Amalek; but they did not lay their hands on the plunder. 16 The rest of the Jews in the king’s provinces gathered and defended their lives, and they found rest from their enemies and killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them, from the house of Amalek; but they did not lay their hands on the plunder. 17 On the thirteenth day of the month of Adar the descendants of Amalek were slaughtered, and Israel had rest on its fourteenth day and made it a day of feasting and joy. 18 But the Jews in Susa gathered to wipe out the sons of Amalek on its thirteenth day and on its fourteenth, and they rested on its fifteenth and made it a day of feasting and joy. 19 That is why the Jews of the open country, who live in unwalled towns, keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting and a holiday, and send gifts to one another. 20 Mordecai wrote these things down and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, near and far, 21 to make a decree of judgment binding on them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and its fifteenth day every year, 22 as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month that was turned for them from grief to joy and from mourning to a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another, and of giving charity money as gifts to the needy. 23 All the Jews together took upon themselves what they had begun to do and what Mordecai had decreed and written for their sake. 24 For Haman son of Hammedatha, who was descended from Agag, the oppressor of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast the lot, that is, the drawing of lots, to throw them into confusion and destroy them. 25 But when Esther came before the king, the king said to her, “Let the evil plot that he devised to carry out against Mordecai and the Jews come back on his own head, and let them hang him and his sons on the gallows.” 26 That is why they called these days Purim, after the name of the lot. That is why they keep it at its set time year after year, so that they may make known the days of the miracles and the words of this scroll, to be heard by all the people of the house of Israel, so that they may know why it was right to fix these days of Purim: because a miracle was done on them for Mordecai and Esther; and so that they may know of the deliverance that came to them. 27 The Jews established and took upon themselves the statute, for themselves and for their children and for all the proselytes who would join them, and the statute would not lapse: that they would keep these two days and read the scroll, written in Hebrew script, in their synagogues on the eleventh, the twelfth, the thirteenth, the fourteenth, and the fifteenth, in the open towns and in the provinces and the cities, each according to its time. 28 These days were made binding on them, to be a remembrance and to be kept with feasting in every generation, by the families of the priests and the Levites and the families of the whole house of Israel, who live in every province and dwell in every city. These days of Purim will not pass away from among the Jews, and the remembrance of them will not cease from their children. 29 Queen Esther daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Jew wrote this whole scroll, the power of the miracle, to confirm this second letter of Purim. 30 He sent letters to all the Jews in the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, words of peace and faithfulness, 31 to establish these days of Purim in the second Adar, in the time of a leap year, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established them for them, and just as the Jews had established them for themselves and for their children, so that they would remember the matters of the fasts and their prayer. 32 By Esther’s word these matters of Purim were established, and by the hand of Mordecai the scroll was written down in a letter.

1 King Ahasuerus laid tribute on the land and on the provinces of the sea. 2 All his mighty and powerful deeds, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king raised to high rank, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? 3 For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, treasurer and elder of the Jews, chief over all the peoples. His fame was heard from one end of the world to the other, all the kings were afraid of him, and when they mentioned him they trembled before him. This Mordecai was like the planet Venus shining among the stars, and like the dawn that breaks in the morning. He was the leader of the Jews, well liked by the great number of his brothers, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his descendants.