ESTHER

Chapter 1

¹ This account happened during the reign of Ahasuerus. This king named Ahasuerus ruled a very large empire which had 127 provinces, extending from India in the east to Ethiopia in the west. ² At this time King Ahasuerus ruled his empire from the throne which was inside the citadel at Susa, the capital city of Persia. ³ During the third year that Ahasuerus ruled his empire, he hosted a feast for all his officials and the people who worked in his administration. He invited the officers who served in the combined army of Persia and Media, the wealthy landowners, and the provincial governors. All of them came to Susa for the feast. ⁴ The festivities lasted about six months, which was a long time for a royal feast. Ahasuerus wanted to demonstrate to his guests that his empire was extremely wealthy and that he was a splendid, wonderful, and majestic king.

⁵ At the end of those six months, the king hosted another feast for every man that worked for him in the citadel at Susa, from the most important official even to the least important servant. This feast happened in the courtyard of the king's palace garden, and it lasted seven days. ⁶ In the courtyard, blue and white curtains were hanging from purple and linen cords attached to silver rings on marble pillars. The guests reclined on couches made of gold and silver, which were set on a mosaic floor made of expensive stones such as feldspar, alabaster, and pearl. ⁷ The attendants served wine in many various kinds of golden cups. There was vast amounts of royal wine, and the king provided all of it. ⁸ Furthermore, Ahasuerus had established the rule for all his household attendants who served the wine that there was to be no restriction on drinking, because the king wanted every guest to be able to drink as much as he wanted. ⁹ During this time, Queen Vashti, the king's wife, also hosted a feast for the wives of the men who attended. This feast was inside the royal palace where King Ahasuerus lived.

¹⁰ On the seventh day, after King Ahasuerus was in a good mood from drinking wine, he called the seven castrated servants who attended him personally. (Their names were Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Karkas.) ¹¹ He told them to bring Queen Vashti before him, wearing a royal crown, to display her beauty to his guests, especially the officials. (He wanted to make them jealous, because she was a sexually attractive woman.) ¹² But when those servants told Queen Vashti what the king wanted, she refused to come because she did not want a group of drunken men staring at her lustfully. Then the king was very furious, and he seethed with rage. ¹³ Then the king called his advisors who understood the culture, because it was the king's habit to consult with others who knew the law and could make good decisions. ¹⁴ (Now the names of his closest advisors were Karshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memukan. These seven officials were from various places in Persia and Media. They advised the king personally, and they were the most powerful officials in the empire.) ¹⁵ The king asked them, “Queen Vashti did not do what I told my castrated servants to command her to do. According to the law, what should be done about this situation?”

¹⁶ Then Memukan spoke so that both the king and the officials could hear: "Queen Vashti has commited a crime not only against the king, but also against every official and against every man who lives in the entire empire of King Ahasuerus! ¹⁷ This is what will happen. The news about what the queen has done will spread to all the women. Then they will despise their husbands and say, "King Ahasuerus commanded his servants to bring Queen Vashti before him, and she did not come!" ¹⁸ Even this very day, that is what the wives of the officials who govern Persia and Media who have heard what the queen has done will say to all the king's officials. Our wives will treat us with contempt and refuse to obey us, and we will be furious as much as we can bear. ¹⁹ If this advice is pleasant to you, O king, you should write a decree in the law books of Persia and Media, which laws never become invalid. This decree should say: 'Vashti can never again come before King Ahasuerus, and the king will give her position as queen to some other woman, a woman who is more pleasing than Vashti.' Then you should send out this royal decree and make it public. ²⁰ Even though your empire is very large, when everyone in your empire hears the decree that you have commanded, then all the women will respect and obey their husbands. This will be true for both the most important man and the least important man in the empire, and everyone in between.”

²¹ Both the king and the other officials found this advice appealing, so King Ahasuerus wrote a law proclaiming what Memukan had suggested. ²² This law said that every man should rule in his own house and should speak the language of his own people group. Then King Ahasuerus sent letters stating this law to all the provinces in his empire. Scribes translated these letters into the languages of each and every province and into the dialects of each and every people group.

Chapter 2

¹ Some time later, after he had proclaimed that decree, King Ahasuerus no longer felt so angry. He thought about Vashti and what she had done, and he regretted the decision that he had made about her. ² So his personal servants said to him, “You could send some men to find young virgins who are sexually attractive. ³ Also, you could appoint officers in every province of your empire to bring every young, sexually attractive virgin here to the citadel at Susa. They could stay in the women's harem under the custody of Hegai (the castrated servant who is in charge of the women with whom you have not yet sexual intercourse). And he could arrange for them to receive beauty treatments. ⁴ Then you could choose whichever young virgin you find attractive and make her queen instead of Vashti.” The king found their suggestion appealing, so he did that.

⁵ At that time, a Jewish man named Mordecai was living in the citadel at Susa. Mordecai was the son of Jair, who was the son of Shimei, who was the son of Kish. Kish was a man from the tribe of Benjamin. ⁶ Many years earlier, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had taken Kish away from Jerusalem and brought him to Babylon along with some other captives. Those were the captives who Nebuchadnezzar took away from Jerusalem at the same time that he took King Jehoiachin of Judah from Jerusalem and brought him to Babylon. ⁷ Now Mordecai was taking care of his uncle's daughter, because both her father and mother had died. Her Hebrew name was Hadassah, and her Persian name was Esther. After her father and her mother had died, Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter. Esther grew up into a young woman, and she was very sexually attractive with a beautiful body.

⁸ When the messengers proclaimed the king's decree and the scribes published the king's law, the officers brought many young virgins to the citadel at Susa, and put them under the custody of Hegai (who was in charge of the women with whom Ahasuerus had not yet had sexual intercourse). The officers also brought Esther to the king's palace, so Hegai had custody of her. ⁹ Hegai found Esther attractive, and she obtained kindness from him. So he quickly arranged for Esther to receive her beauty treatments and gave her fine food to eat. He also chose seven maids from the king's house and assigned them to take care of Esther. And Hegai moved Esther and her seven maids to the best rooms in the harem where the women wtih whom Ahasuerus had not yet had sexual intercourse lived. ¹⁰ Esther did not tell anyone that she was a Jew, neither did she tell anyone who her relatives were. She did that because Mordecai had instructed her that she should not tell those things to anyone. ¹¹ Each and every day, Mordecai walked around in front of the courtyard of the harem for virgins. He asked people who were going in and out of the harem how Esther was doing and what was happening with her.

¹² Now there was a law in Persia which said that someone must put ointments on the body of a woman to make her more beautiful for twelve months before the king had sexual intercourse with her. The law stated that someone must put olive oil mixed with myrrh on the body of a woman for six months, and for the next six months someone put perfumes and feminine ointments on her body. So for each and every young woman, this is how she would spend the time preparing for when her turn came to go to King Ahasuerus so he could have sexual intercourse with her. ¹³ Then, when that woman went to the king, she could wear whatever clothes and jewelry she wanted to take with her from the harem for virgins to the king's residence. ¹⁴ In the evening, the king's servants would take her to the king's private room. The next morning, they would take her to another women's harem under the custody of Shaashgaz (the king's castrated servant who was in charge of the women with whom Ahasuerus had had sexual intercourse). She would live there for the rest of her life, and she would never again go back to the king unless she had pleased the king very much and the king called for her by name.

¹⁵ Now when the time came for Esther (the daughter of Abihail, who was the uncle of Mordecai, who had adopted Esther as his daughter) to go to the king, she did not ask for anything else to wear except what Hegai (the king's castrated servant who was in charge of the women with whom Ahasuerus had not yet had sexual intercourse), suggested. And Esther obtained favor from all the men who saw her. ¹⁶ The king's servants took Esther to King Ahasuerus in his royal residence during the tenth month (Tebeth is the name of that month) of the seventh year after he became king of Persia. ¹⁷ The king loved Esther more than any of the other women, and she obtained favor and kindness from the king more than any of the other virgins. So King Ahasuerus put a royal crown on her head and made her the queen instead of Vashti. ¹⁸ Then, to celebrate her becoming the queen, the king hosted "Esther's Feast," a great feast for all his officials and the people who worked in his administration. He proclaimed a temporary reprieve from taxes for all the provinces of his empire, and he personally gave gifts from his own expense.

¹⁹ Later, during the time when the king's officers were gathering virgins a second time, Mordecai was working at the gate to the king's residence. ²⁰ Esther still had not yet told anyone who her relatives were or that she was a Jew, just as Mordecai had instructed her. In fact, she continued to obey Mordecai's commands, just as she had done when she was growing up. ²¹ During that time, when Mordecai was doing his work at the king's gate, he heard two men talking. Their names were Bigthana and Teresh, and they were two of the king's castrated servants who guarded the doorway to the king's private rooms. They were angry with King Ahasuerus and were planning how they could assassinate him. ²² When Mordecai learned about what they were planning, he told Queen Esther about it. Then she told the king about it, explaining that the information came from Mordecai. ²³ Then the king investigated Mordcai's report and found that it was true. So the king ordered his servants to kill those two men and display them on a wooden pole. And the king watched a scribe write all of this down in the daily record book.

Chapter 3

¹ Some time later, King Xerxes promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha, who was a descendant of King Agag. Haman became more important than all his other officials. Only the king was more important. ² Then the king commanded that all the other officials had to bow down in front of Haman to honor him when he walked by. But Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman. ³ The other officials saw that, and they asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey what the king commanded?” ⁴ Mordecai told them that he was a Jew, and that Jews would bow down only to God. Day after day the other officials spoke to Mordecai about that, but he still refused to obey. So they told Haman about it, to see if Haman would tolerate it. ⁵ When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down to him, he became extremely angry. ⁶ After he found out that Mordecai was a Jew, he decided that it would not be enough to get rid of only Mordecai. He decided to kill all the Jews in all the area that Xerxes ruled.

⁷ So, during the twelfth year that Xerxes was ruling, during the month of April, Haman told his advisors to cast lots to determine the best month and the best day to kill the Jews. Haman's advisors did that, and the day that was selected was March 7th during the following year. ⁸ Then Haman went to the king and said to him, “ Your majesty, there is a certain group of people who live in many areas of your empire whose customs are different from ours. They even refuse to obey your laws. So it would be good for you to get rid of them. ⁹ If it pleases you, command that they should all be killed. If you do that, I will give 375 tons of silver to your administrators so that you can use it for your government.” ¹⁰ The king liked what Haman said, so, and to confirm what he decided, he gave the ring that had his official seal on it to Haman, who now hated the Jews. ¹¹ The king told Haman, “Keep your money, but do what you want to with those people whom you talked about!”

¹² On April 17th Haman summoned the king's secretaries, and he dictated a letter to them that they translated and wrote to all the governors and administrators and other officials in all the provinces. They wrote copies of the letter in every language and every kind of writing that was used in the empire. They wrote that all the Jews, including young people and old people, women and children, had to be killed on one day. That day was March 7th of the following year. They also wrote that those who killed the Jews could take everything that belonged to the Jews. They signed the king's name at the end of the letters. Then they sealed the letters with wax, and stamped the wax by using the king's ring. ¹³ Then they prepared to send the letters to every province in the empire, in order that everyone would be ready. ¹⁴ The king also commanded that copies of these letters should be nailed up where all the people could see them, in every province, so that the people would be ready to do on that day what the king had written in the letter. ¹⁵ Then, according to what the king commanded, men riding horses took these letter quickly to every province in the empire. And one of the letters was read aloud to the people in the capital city, Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down and drank wine, but the people in Susa were very perplexed about why this was going to happen.

Chapter 4

¹ When Mordecai found out about those letters, he was so anguished that he tore his clothes and put on rough sackcloth and threw ashes over himself. Then he went into the city, crying very loudly. ² He stood outside the gate of the palace, because no one who was wearing sackcloth was allowed to enter the palace. ³ In every province of the empire, when the letter from the king was read to the Jewish people, they cried and mourned. They fasted and wailed loudly. Many of them also put on sackcloth and threw ashes on themselves and lay on the ground. ⁴ When Esther's maids and other officials came to her and told her what Mordecai had done, she was very distressed. So she sent to Mordecai some good clothes to wear instead of the sackcloth, but he refused to take them.

⁵ Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king's officials whom he had appointed to help take care of Esther. She told him to go out and talk to Mordecai to find out what was distressing him and why he was wearing sackcloth to show that he was grieving. ⁶ Hathach went to Mordecai, who was in the plaza in front of the palace gate. ⁷ Mordecai told him everything that had happened. He told him how much money Haman had promised to give to the government if the king commanded that all the Jews be killed. ⁸ Mordecai also gave to Hathach a copy of the decree that had been read in Susa, which said that all the Jews must be killed. He told Hathach to show the copy to Esther. He told Hathach to explain to Esther what it meant. Then he told him to urge her to go to the king and request the king to act mercifully to her people. ⁹ So Hathach returned to Esther and told her what Mordecai said.

¹⁰ Then Esther told Hathach to return to Mordecai and tell this to him: ¹¹ “There is a law about people going to talk to the king. All the king's officials and all the people in the empire know this law. In that law it states that anyone who goes to the king when the king has not held out his gold scepter toward him must be executed. Only those to whom the king has extended his scepter will not be executed. And a month has passed since the king has held out his scepter toward me, so what will happen to me if I try to see him and he doesn't want to see me?” ¹² So Hathach went back to Mordecai and told him what Esther had said.

¹³ Mordecai told Hathach to tell this to Esther: “Do not think that just because you live there in the palace, you will escape when all the other Jews are killed. ¹⁴ If you say nothing now, someone from some other place will rescue some of us Jews, but you and your relatives will be killed. Furthermore, perhaps God has put you here as queen for a situation like this!” ¹⁵ Then after Hathach told this to Esther, she told him to return to Mordecai and say this to him: ¹⁶ “Gather together all the Jews here in Susa, and tell them to fast for my sake. Tell them to not eat or drink anything for three days and nights. My maids and I will also fast. Then, I will go to talk to the king. Even if I am executed for disobeying the law by seeing him when he does not hold out the scepter toward me, I am willing for that.” ¹⁷ So after Hathach told this to Mordecai, Mordecai went and did what Esther told him to do.

Chapter 5

¹ Three days later, Esther prepared a big banquet. Then she put on the robes that showed that she was queen, and she went to the inner courtyard of the palace, across from the room where the king was. He was sitting on the throne, facing the entrance of the room. ² When the king saw Esther standing there in the courtyard, he extended the gold scepter toward her to signal that he would be glad to talk to her. So Esther came close and touched the tip of the scepter.

³ Then the king asked her, “Esther, what do you want? Tell me, and I will give you what you want, even if you ask me to give you half of my kingdom!” ⁴ Esther replied, “ Your majesty, if it pleases you, you and Haman come to the banquet that I have prepared for you!” ⁵ The king said to his servants, “Go and tell Haman to come quickly to a banquet that Esther has prepared for the two of us!” So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared for them.

⁶ While they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, “Tell me what you really want. I will give it to you, even if you ask for half of my kingdom.” ⁷ Esther answered, "My petition and my request is this, ⁸ if you are pleased with me, if you are willing to do this for me: will you and Haman come to another feast I am preparing for you tomorrow. At that time, I will answer your question."

⁹ Haman was feeling very happy as he left the banquet. But then he saw Mordecai sitting at the gate of the palace. Mordecai did not stand up and tremble fearfully in front of Haman, so Haman became extremely angry. ¹⁰ However, he did not show that he was angry; he just went home. Then he gathered together his wife Zeresh and his friends, ¹¹ and he boasted to them about being very rich, and about having many children. He also boasted that the king had greatly honored him, and that the king had promoted him, so that all the other officials had to respect him. ¹² Then Haman added, “And that is not all! Queen Esther invited just two of us, me and the king, to a banquet she prepared for us today. And she is inviting only the two of us to another banquet that she will prepare tomorrow!” ¹³ Then Haman said, “But those things mean nothing to me while I keep seeing that Jew, Mordecai, just sitting there at the gate of the palace and ignoring me!” ¹⁴ So Haman's wife Zeresh and all his friends who were there suggested, “ Why don't you quickly set up a gallows. Make it 75 feet tall. Then tomorrow morning ask the king to hang Mordecai on it. After that, you can go to the banquet with the king and be cheerful.” That idea pleased Haman very much, so he gave men orders to set up the gallows.

Chapter 6

¹ That night the king was unable to sleep, so he summoned a servant and told him to bring the records of what had happened during all the time he had been king. So the servant brought the records and read some of them to the king. ² The servant read about Bigthana and Teresh, the two men who had guarded the entrance to the king's rooms. He read the account of when Mordecai had found out that they planned to assassinate the king and that he had told the king about it.

³ The king asked some of his servants, “What did we do to reward Mordecai or show that we appreciate what he did?” The servants replied, “We did not do anything for him.” ⁴ At that moment, Haman entered the outer courtyard of the palace. He wanted to talk to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had just set up. The king saw him and said, “Who is that out there in the courtyard?” ⁵ His servants replied, “That is Haman standing there in the courtyard.” The king said, “Bring him in here!”

⁶ When Haman came in, the king asked him, “What should I do for a man whom I want to honor?” Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king like to honor more than me?” ⁷ So he replied to the king, “ If there is someone you wish to honor, ⁸ you should tell your servants to bring out one of the robes you wear to show that you are the king. Also tell them to bring out one of the horses you have ridden. Tell them to put something on the horse's head to show that it belongs to you, the king. ⁹ Then tell one of your very important officials to put the robe on the man whom you want to honor, and tell that man to sit on the horse, and then lead the horse through the city streets. And tell that official to keep shouting, ‘This is what the king does for the man whom he wants to honor!’” ¹⁰ The king replied to Haman, “ Fine. Go and do what you said immediately! Get my robe and my horse, and do just what you suggested! Do it for Mordecai, the Jew, who is sitting outside at the gate of the palace. Do not forget anything that you suggested!”

¹¹ So Haman did what the king said. He got the robe and the horse. He put the robe on Mordecai, and as Mordecai sat on the horse, Haman led the horse through the city streets proclaiming “This is what the king does for the man whom the king wants to honor!” ¹² Then, Mordecai returned and sat at the gate of the palace. But Haman hurried home, covering his face because he felt completely disgraced. ¹³ He told his wife Zeresh and his friends everything that had happened to him that day. Then his wife and his friends said to him, “Mordecai, the man who has caused you to be completely disgraced, is a Jew. It is clear that the God whom the Jews worship is fighting for them. So you will never be able to defeat Mordecai. He will defeat you!” ¹⁴ And while they were still talking, some of the king's officials arrived to take Haman quickly to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

Chapter 7

¹ So the king and Haman went to eat at the second banquet that Queen Esther had prepared. ² As they were drinking wine, the king asked again, “Esther, what do you want me to do for you? Tell me, and I will do it for you. Even if you ask me for half of my kingdom, I will give it to you.” ³ Esther replied, “O king, if you are pleased with me, and if you are willing to do what I ask, save me, and save my people. That is what I want you to do for me. ⁴ It is as though I and my people are cattle that have been sold to be slaughtered. It is as though we have been sold to people who want to completely destroy us. If we had only been sold to people to become their male and female slaves, I would not say anything, because that would have been a matter too small to bother you, the king.”

⁵ Then King Xerxes asked her, “Who is the one who would want to do such a terrible thing? Where is he?” ⁶ Esther replied, “ The man who is our enemy is this evil man Haman!” Then Haman was terrified as he stood in front of the king and queen. ⁷ The king became extremely angry. He immediately left his wine and got up and went outside into the palace garden to decide what to do. But Haman stayed, in order to plead with Queen Esther that she would spare his life. ⁸ He threw himself down on the couch where Esther was reclining. But at that moment the king returned from the garden to the room where they had been eating. He saw Haman, and assumed he was preparing to rape Esther. He exclaimed, “Are you going to rape the queen while she is here with me in my own palace?” As soon as the king said that, some officials covered Haman's head, as they did to people who were about to be hanged.

⁹ Then Harbona, one of the king's personal officials, said, “ Outside, near Haman's house, there is a gallows. It is 75 feet high. Haman made it for Mordecai, the man who spared your life!” The king said, “Hang him on it!” ¹⁰ So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for hanging Mordecai! And then the king's anger cooled off.

Chapter 8

¹ Later on that same day, King Xerxes declared that everything that Haman, the enemy of the Jews, owned, would now belong to Queen Esther. Esther told the king that Mordecai was her cousin. When the king heard that, he sent a message to tell Mordecai to come in. ² When Mordecai came in, the king took off the ring that had his official seal on it, the ring that he had previously given to Haman, and gave it to Mordecai, to indicate that Mordecai was now his most important official. And Esther appointed Mordecai to be in charge of everything that had belonged to Haman.

³ Esther again came to talk to the king. She prostrated herself at his feet, crying. She wanted to plead for him to stop what Haman had planned, to kill all the Jews. ⁴ The king held out his gold scepter toward Esther, so Esther arose and stood in front of him. ⁵ She said, “Your majesty, if you are pleased with me, and if you think that it is the right thing to do, make a new law to cancel what Haman decreed, that all the Jews in all the provinces in your empire should be killed. ⁶ I cannot endure seeing all my family and all the rest of my people killed.”

⁷ King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and Mordecai, “Because Haman tried to get rid of all the Jews, I have given to Esther everything that belonged to Haman, and I have ordered my soldiers to hang Haman. ⁸ So now I am also permitting you to write other letters, to save your people. You may put my name on the letters, and use my ring to seal them because no letter that has my name on it and which is sealed with my ring can ever be changed.”

⁹ Then the king summoned his secretaries, on June 25th, and Mordecai told them to write letters to the Jews and to all the governors and other officials in all of the 127 provinces, which extended from India in the east to Ethiopia in the west. They wrote these letters in all the languages that the people in each area spoke. They also wrote letters to the Jewish people, in their language. ¹⁰ Mordecai wrote the decree in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's signet ring. He sent the documents by couriers riding on the fast horses that were used in the king's service, bred in the king's stables. ¹¹ The king gave to the Jews living in every city permission to gather together and to fight together to protect their lives. He allowed them to kill any armed men in any province, belonging to any people group, who might attack them or their families, or who might try to take their possessions. ¹² All this was to be done on March 7th of the following year. Mordecai signed the king's name on the letters, and sealed them with the seal that was on the king's ring. Then he gave them to messengers, who rode on fast horses that had been raised especially for the king. ¹³ Copies of this law were to be nailed to posts in every province and read to all the people, in order that the Jews would be ready to get revenge on their enemies on March 7th. ¹⁴ The king commanded the men who took these letters to all the provinces to ride quickly on the king's horses. And copies of the letter were also posted and read to the people in the capital city, Susa.

¹⁵ Before Mordecai left the palace, he put on the blue and white robe and a large gold crown that the king gave him. He also put on a coat made of fine purple cloth. When the people in Susa heard the new law, they all shouted and cheered. ¹⁶ The Jews in Susa were very happy, and other people honored them. ¹⁷ And when the new law arrived in every city and province, the Jews there celebrated and prepared feasts and were very joyful. And many people throughout the empire were circumcised and became Jews, because they were now afraid of what the Jews would do to them if they were not Jews.

Chapter 9

¹ The first law that their king had commanded was to be made effective on March 7th. On that day the enemies of the Jews hoped to get rid of them. But instead, on that same day the Jews defeated their enemies. ² Throughout the empire, the Jews gathered together in their cities to attack those who wanted to get rid of them. No one could fight against the Jews, because all the other people in the areas where the Jews lived were afraid of the Jews, so they did not want to help anyone who attacked the Jews. ³ All the governors and other officials and important people in all the provinces helped the Jews, because they were afraid of Mordecai. ⁴ They were afraid of him because in all the provinces they knew that Mordecai was now the king's most important official, with the authority that Haman previously had. Mordecai was becoming more famous because the king was giving him more and more power.

⁵ On March 7th, the Jews attacked and killed with their swords all of their enemies. They did whatever they wanted to, to the people who hated them. ⁶ Just in Susa, the capital city, they killed 500 people. ⁷ Among those whom they killed were the ten sons of Haman. Their names were Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha. ¹⁰ Those were grandsons of Hammedatha and sons of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. The Jews killed them, but they did not take the things that belonged to the people whom they killed. ¹¹ At the end of that day someone reported to the king the number of people whom the Jews killed in Susa.

¹² Then the king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed 500 people here in Susa, including the ten sons of Haman! So I think that they must have killed many more people in the rest of my empire! But okay, now what else do you want me to do for you. You tell me, and I will do it.” ¹³ Esther replied, “If it pleases you, allow the Jews here in Susa to do again tomorrow what you commanded them to do today. And command that the bodies of Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows.” ¹⁴ So the king commanded that the Jews be permitted to kill more of their enemies the next day. After he issued another order in Susa, the bodies of Haman's ten sons were hanged. ¹⁵ On the next day, the Jews in Susa gathered together and killed 300 more people. But again, they did not take away the things that belonged to the people whom they killed.

¹⁶ That happened on March 8th. On the following day, the Jews in Susa rested and celebrated. In all the other provinces, the Jewish people gathered together to defend themselves, and they killed 75,000 people who hated them, but again they did not take the things that belonged to the people whom they killed. ¹⁷ That occurred on March 7th, and on the following day they rested and celebrated. ¹⁸ After the Jews in Susa gathered together and killed their enemies on March 7th and 8th, they rested and celebrated on March 9th. ¹⁹ That is why every year, on March 8th, the Jews who live in villages now celebrate defeating their enemies. They have feasts and give gifts of food to each other.

²⁰ Mordecai wrote down all the things that had happened. Then he sent letters to the Jews who lived throughout the empire of King Xerxes. ²¹ He told them that every year they should celebrate on the 8th and 9th of March, ²² because those were the days when the Jews got rid of their enemies. He also told them that they should celebrate on those days by feasting and giving gifts of food to each other and to poor people. They would remember it as the month in which they changed from being very sorrowful to being very joyful, from crying to celebrating. ²³ So the Jews agreed to do what Mordecai wrote. They agreed to celebrate on those days every year.

²⁴ They would remember how Haman, son of Hammedatha, a descendant of King Agag, became an enemy of all the Jews. They would remember how he had made an evil plan to kill the Jews, and that he had cast lots to choose the day to kill them. ²⁵ They would remember that when Esther told the king about Haman's plan, the king arranged that the evil plan that Haman had made to kill the Jews would fail, and that he would be killed instead of the Jews, and that Haman and that his sons were hanged. ²⁶ Because the lot that Haman threw was called Pur, the Jews called these days Purim. And, because of everything that Mordecai wrote in that letter, and because of all that happened to them, ²⁷ the Jews throughout the empire agreed to celebrate in that manner on those two days every year. They said that they would tell their descendants and those people who became Jews to be certain to celebrate this festival every year. They should celebrate just as Mordecai told them to do in the letter that he wrote. ²⁸ They said that they would remember and celebrate on those two days every year, in each family, in every city, and in every province. They solemnly declared that they and their descendants would never stop remembering and celebrating those days called Purim.

²⁹ Then Mordecai and Queen Esther, who was the daughter of Abihail, wrote a second letter about the Purim feast. Esther used the authority that she had because of being the queen to confirm that what Mordecai had written in the first letter was true. ³⁰ These letters were sent to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus—words of peace and truth— ³¹ to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established, just as the Jews had established for themselves and their descendants, matters that included their times of fasting and lamenting. ³² The letter that Esther wrote about the manner in which they should celebrate the Purim feast was also written in an official record.

Chapter 10

¹ King Xerxes required that all the people in his empire pay taxes. Even the people who lived on the islands in the Mediterranean Sea were required to pay taxes. ² And all the great things that Xerxes did because of his power were written in the scroll called ❛The record of the things done by the kings of Media and Persia❜. In this book were also written the great things done by Mordecai, the man whom the king had greatly honored. ³ Mordecai, who was a Jew, became the king's most important official, and all the Jews also considered him to be a very great man. They all respected him, because he did many good things for the Jews, and he often asked the king to do good things for them.