1 Now in the days of A·has·u·eʹrus, that is, the A·has·u·eʹrus who ruled over 127 provinces+ from Inʹdi·a to E·thi·oʹpi·a, 2 in those days when King A·has·u·eʹrus was sitting on his royal throne in Shuʹshan+ the citadel, 3 in the third year of his reign, he held a banquet for all his princes and his servants. The army of Persia+ and Meʹdi·a,+ the nobles, and the princes of the provinces were before him, 4 and he showed them the wealth of his glorious kingdom and the grandeur and the splendor of his magnificence for many days, 180 days. 5 And when these days were completed, the king held a banquet for seven days for all the people present in Shuʹshan the citadel, from the greatest to the least, in the courtyard of the garden of the king’s palace. 6 There were linen, fine cotton, and blue material held fast in ropes of fine fabric, purple wool in silver rings, pillars of marble, and couches of gold and silver on a pavement of porphyry, marble, pearl, and black marble.
7 Wine was served in gold cups; each cup was different from the other, and the royal wine was plentiful, according to the means of the king. 8 The drinking was according to the rule that no one was under compulsion, for the king had arranged with the officials of his palace that each should do as he pleased.
9 Queen Vashʹti+ also held a banquet for the women at the royal house of King A·has·u·eʹrus.
10 On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was in a cheerful mood because of the wine, he told Me·huʹman, Bizʹtha, Har·boʹna,+ Bigʹtha, A·bagʹtha, Zeʹthar, and Carʹkas, the seven court officials who were personal attendants to King A·has·u·eʹrus, 11 to bring before the king Queen Vashʹti, wearing the royal headdress, to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was very beautiful. 12 But Queen Vashʹti kept refusing to come at the king’s order that was conveyed through the court officials. At this the king became very angry, and his rage flared up within him.
13 The king then spoke to the wise men who had insight with regard to precedents (for in this way the king’s matter came before all those versed in law and legal cases, 14 and those closest to him were Car·sheʹna, Sheʹthar, Ad·maʹtha, Tarʹshish, Meʹres, Mar·seʹna, and Me·muʹcan, seven princes+ of Persia and Meʹdi·a, who had access to the king and who occupied the highest positions in the kingdom). 15 The king asked: “According to law, what is to be done with Queen Vashʹti because she has not obeyed the order of King A·has·u·eʹrus conveyed through the court officials?”
16 To this Me·muʹcan said in the presence of the king and the princes: “It is not against the king alone that Queen Vashʹti has done wrong,+ but against all the princes and against all the peoples in all the provinces of King A·has·u·eʹrus. 17 For what the queen did will become known by all the wives, and they will despise their husbands and say, ‘King A·has·u·eʹrus said to bring in Queen Vashʹti before him, but she refused to come.’ 18 This very day the princesses of Persia and Meʹdi·a who know about what the queen did will talk to all the princes of the king, resulting in much contempt and indignation. 19 If it seems good to the king, let a royal decree be issued from him, and let it be written among the laws of Persia and Meʹdi·a, which cannot be repealed,+ that Vashʹti may never again come in before King A·has·u·eʹrus; and let the king confer her royal position on a woman who is better than she is. 20 And when the decree of the king is heard in all his vast realm, all the wives will give honor to their husbands, from the greatest to the least.”
21 This proposal pleased the king and the princes, and the king did what Me·muʹcan said. 22 So he sent letters to all the royal provinces,+ to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, for every husband to be master in his own house and to speak in the language of his own people.
2 After these things, when the rage of King A·has·u·eʹrus+ had subsided, he remembered what Vashʹti had done+ and what had been decided against her.+ 2 Then the king’s personal attendants said: “A search should be made for young, beautiful virgins for the king. 3 And let the king appoint commissioners in all the provinces of his realm+ to bring together all the beautiful young virgins to Shuʹshan the citadel, to the house of the women. Let them be put in the care of Hegʹa·i+ the king’s eunuch and guardian of the women, and let them be given beauty treatments. 4 And the young woman who is most pleasing to the king will be queen instead of Vashʹti.”+ The suggestion was pleasing to the king, and that is what he did.
5 There was a certain Jewish man in Shuʹshan+ the citadel whose name was Morʹde·cai+ son of Jaʹir son of Shimʹe·i son of Kish, a Benʹja·min·ite,+ 6 who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the people who were deported with King Jec·o·niʹah+ of Judah, whom King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon took into exile. 7 He was the guardian of Ha·dasʹsah, that is, Esther, the daughter of his father’s brother,+ for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was beautifully formed and attractive in appearance, and at the death of her father and her mother, Morʹde·cai took her as his daughter. 8 When the king’s word and his law were proclaimed and when many young women were brought together at Shuʹshan the citadel under the care of Hegʹa·i,+ Esther was also taken to the king’s house under the care of Hegʹa·i the guardian of the women.
9 Now the young woman was pleasing to him and won his favor, so he promptly arranged for her beauty treatments+ and her diet, and he assigned to her seven selected young women from the king’s house. He also transferred her and her young attendants to the best place in the house of the women. 10 Esther did not say anything about her people+ or her relatives, for Morʹde·cai+ had instructed her not to tell anyone.+ 11 Day after day Morʹde·cai would walk in front of the courtyard of the house of the women to learn about Esther’s welfare and about what was happening to her.
12 Each young woman had her turn to go in to King A·has·u·eʹrus after completing the 12-month treatment that was prescribed for the women, for this was the way they had to fulfill their beauty treatment—six months with oil of myrrh+ and six months with balsam oil+ and various ointments for beauty treatment. 13 Then the young woman was ready to go in to the king, and whatever she asked for would be given her when she went from the house of the women to the king’s house. 14 In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second house of the women, under the care of Sha·ashʹgaz the king’s eunuch,+ the guardian of the concubines. She would not go to the king again unless the king had been especially pleased with her and she was requested by name.+
15 And when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abʹi·ha·il the uncle of Morʹde·cai, who had taken her as his daughter,+ to go in to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegʹa·i the king’s eunuch, the guardian of the women, recommended. (All the while Esther was winning the favor of everyone who saw her.) 16 Esther was taken to King A·has·u·eʹrus at his royal house in the tenth month, that is, the month of Teʹbeth, in the seventh year+ of his reign. 17 And the king came to love Esther more than all the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he put the royal headdress on her head and made her queen+ instead of Vashʹti.+ 18 And the king held a great banquet for all his princes and his servants, the banquet of Esther. He then proclaimed an amnesty for the provinces, and he kept giving gifts according to the means of the king.
19 Now when virgins+ were brought together a second time, Morʹde·cai was sitting in the king’s gate. 20 Esther did not say anything about her relatives and her people,+ just as Morʹde·cai had instructed her; Esther continued to do what Morʹde·cai said, just as when she was under his care.+
21 In those days while Morʹde·cai was sitting in the king’s gate, Bigʹthan and Teʹresh, two court officials of the king, doorkeepers, got angry and plotted to do away with King A·has·u·eʹrus. 22 But Morʹde·cai learned about it, and he immediately told Queen Esther. Esther then spoke to the king in Morʹde·cai’s name. 23 So the matter was investigated and eventually confirmed, and both men were hanged on a stake; and this was all recorded in the book of the history of the times in the presence of the king.+
3 After this King A·has·u·eʹrus promoted Haʹman+ the son of Ham·me·daʹtha the Agʹag·ite+ and exalted him by putting his throne above all the other princes who were with him.+ 2 And all the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate would bow low and prostrate themselves to Haʹman, for this is what the king had commanded respecting him. But Morʹde·cai refused to bow low or prostrate himself. 3 So the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate said to Morʹde·cai: “Why are you ignoring the king’s commandment?” 4 Day after day they would ask him, but he would not listen to them. Then they told Haʹman to see whether Morʹde·cai’s conduct would be tolerated;+ for he had told them that he was a Jew.+
5 Now when Haʹman saw that Morʹde·cai refused to bow low and prostrate himself to him, Haʹman became filled with rage.+ 6 But he despised the thought of doing away with Morʹde·cai alone, for they had told him about Morʹde·cai’s people. So Haʹman began seeking to annihilate all the Jews who were in the entire realm of A·has·u·eʹrus, all of Morʹde·cai’s people.
7 In the first month, that is, the month of Niʹsan, in the 12th year+ of King A·has·u·eʹrus, they cast Pur+ (that is, the Lot) before Haʹman to determine the day and the month, and it fell on the 12th month, that is, Aʹdar.+ 8 Haʹman then said to King A·has·u·eʹrus: “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples+ in all the provinces of your realm,+ whose laws are different from those of all other peoples; and they do not obey the king’s laws, and it is not in the king’s interests to let them be. 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed. I will pay 10,000 silver talents to the officials to put into the royal treasury.”
10 At that the king removed his signet ring+ from his own hand and gave it to Haʹman+ the son of Ham·me·daʹtha the Agʹag·ite,+ who was the enemy of the Jews. 11 The king said to Haʹman: “The silver and the people are given to you, to do with them as you see fit.” 12 The king’s secretaries+ were then called on the 13th day of the first month. They put in writing+ all of Haʹman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors who were over the provinces, and the princes of the different peoples, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language. It was written in the name of King A·has·u·eʹrus and sealed with the king’s signet ring.+
13 The letters were sent by means of couriers to all the king’s provinces, giving the order to annihilate, to kill, and to destroy all the Jews, young and old alike, children and women, on a single day, on the 13th day of the 12th month, that is, the month of Aʹdar,+ and to seize their possessions.+ 14 A copy of the document was to be issued as a law in every province and proclaimed to all the peoples, so that they would be prepared for that day. 15 The couriers went out quickly+ by order of the king; the law was issued in Shuʹshan+ the citadel. The king and Haʹman then sat down to drink, but the city of Shuʹshan was in confusion.
4 When Morʹde·cai+ learned of everything that had been done,+ he ripped his garments apart and put on sackcloth and ashes. Then he went out into the middle of the city, crying out loudly and bitterly. 2 He went only as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate wearing sackcloth. 3 And in every province+ where the king’s word and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, along with fasting+ and weeping and wailing. Many were lying down in sackcloth and ashes.+ 4 When Esther’s female attendants and her eunuchs came in and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. Then she sent garments for Morʹde·cai to wear instead of his sackcloth, but he refused them. 5 At this Esther summoned Haʹthach, one of the king’s eunuchs, whom he had appointed to serve her, and she ordered him to find out from Morʹde·cai what this meant and what was happening.
6 So Haʹthach went out to Morʹde·cai in the public square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7 Morʹde·cai told him about everything that had happened to him and the exact amount of money+ that Haʹman had promised to pay to the king’s treasury for the Jews to be destroyed.+ 8 He also gave him a copy of the written decree that had been issued in Shuʹshan+ for their annihilation. He was to show it to Esther and explain it to her and instruct her+ to go in to the king to beg for his favor and to plead directly with him in behalf of her people.
9 Haʹthach came back and told Esther what Morʹde·cai had said. 10 Esther replied to Haʹthach with instructions to tell Morʹde·cai:+ 11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces are aware that if any man or woman goes into the king’s inner courtyard+ without being summoned, there is only one law that applies: He is to be put to death; he may live only if the king holds out to him the golden scepter.+ And I have not been summoned to the king now for 30 days.”
12 When Morʹde·cai was told what Esther had said, 13 he replied to Esther: “Do not imagine that because you are in the king’s household you are any more likely to escape than all the other Jews. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another source,+ but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether it is for a time like this that you have attained to your royal status?”+
15 Then Esther replied to Morʹde·cai: 16 “Go, gather all the Jews who are found in Shuʹshan and fast+ in my behalf. Do not eat or drink for three days,+ night and day. I along with my female attendants will also fast. I will go in to the king, which is against the law, and if I am to perish, I will perish.” 17 So Morʹde·cai went his way and did all that Esther had instructed him to do.