Esther 7-10
Complete Jewish Bible
7 So the king and Haman went to Queen Ester’s banquet; 2 and the king again said to Ester at the wine banquet, “Whatever your request, Queen Ester, you will be granted it; whatever you want, up to half the kingdom, it will be done.” 3 Ester the queen answered, “If I have won your favor, king, and if it pleases the king, then what I ask be given me is my own life and the lives of my people. 4 For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, killed, exterminated. If we had only been sold as men- and women-slaves, I would have remained quiet; since then [our] trouble would not have been worth the damage it would have caused the king [to alter the situation].” 5 King Achashverosh asked Ester the queen, “Who is he? Where is the man who dared to do such a thing?” 6 Ester said, “A ruthless enemy — it’s this wicked Haman!” Haman stood aghast, terrified before the king and queen. 7 In a rage, the king got up from the wine banquet and went out to the palace garden. But Haman remained, pleading with Ester the queen to spare his life; for he could see that the king had decided to do him in. 8 Haman had just fallen on the couch where Ester was, when the king returned from the palace garden to the wine banquet. He shouted, “Is he even going to rape the queen here in the palace, before my very eyes?” The moment these words left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Harvonah, one of the king’s attendants, said, “Look! The gallows seventy-five feet high that Haman made for Mordekhai, who spoke only good for the king, is standing at Haman’s house.” The king said, “Hang him on it.” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordekhai. Then the king’s anger subsided.
8 That same day King Achashverosh gave the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Ester the queen. Also Mordekhai appeared before the king, for Ester had revealed his relationship to her. 2 The king removed his signet ring, which he had taken back from Haman, and gave it to Mordekhai. Then Ester put Mordekhai in charge of Haman’s house.
3 Again Ester spoke to the king; she fell at his feet and begged him with tears to put an end to the mischief Haman the Agagi had caused by the scheme he had worked out against the Jews. 4 The king extended the gold scepter toward Ester. So Ester got up and stood in front of the king. 5 She said, “If it pleases the king, if I have won his favor, if the matter seem right to the king and if I have his approval, then let an order be written rescinding the letters devised by Haman the son of Hamdata the Agagi, which he wrote to destroy the Jews in all the royal provinces. 6 For how can I bear to see the disaster that will overcome my people? How can I endure seeing the extermination of my kinsmen?” 7 King Achashverosh said to Ester the queen and Mordekhai the Jew, “Listen! I gave Ester the house of Haman, and they hanged him on the gallows, because he threatened the lives of the Jews. 8 You should issue a decree in the king’s name for whatever you want concerning the Jews, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; because a decree written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s ring can’t be rescinded by anyone.”
9 The king’s secretaries were summoned at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan; and a decree was written according to everything Mordekhai ordered concerning the Jews, to the army commanders, governors and officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its script and to each people in their language, also to the Jews in their script and language. 10 They wrote in the name of King Achashverosh and sealed it with the king’s signet ring; they sent the letters by couriers on horseback riding fast horses used in the king’s service and bred from the royal stock. 11 The letters said that the king had granted the Jews in every city the right “to assemble and defend their lives by destroying, killing and exterminating any forces of any people or province that would attack them, their little ones or their women or would try to seize their goods as plunder 12 on the designated day in any of the provinces of King Achashverosh, namely, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.” 13 A copy of the edict was to be issued as a decree in every province and proclaimed to all the peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance against their enemies. 14 Couriers riding fast horses used in the king’s service left quickly, pressed by the king’s order; and the decree was issued in Shushan the capital.
15 Meanwhile, Mordekhai left the king’s presence arrayed in royal blue and white, wearing a large gold crown and a robe of fine linen and purple; and the city of Shushan shouted for joy. 16 For the Jews, all was light, gladness, joy and honor. 17 In every province and city where the king’s order and decree arrived, the Jews had gladness and joy, a feast and a holiday. Many from the peoples of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews had overcome them.
9 The time approached for the king’s order and decree to be carried out, the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to overpower them. But, as it turned out, the opposite took place — the Jews overpowered those who hated them. Thus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, 2 the Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Achashverosh to attack anyone who tried to do them harm; and no one was able to withstand them; because all the peoples were afraid of them. 3 All the officials of the provinces, the army commanders, the governors and those occupied with the king’s affairs helped the Jews; because they were afraid of Mordekhai. 4 For Mordekhai had become a powerful person in the king’s palace, and his fame had spread through all the provinces; Mordekhai continued to grow increasingly powerful.
5 The Jews put all their enemies to the sword; there was great slaughter and destruction, as they did whatever they wanted to those who hated them; 6 in Shushan the capital, the Jews slaughtered 500 men. 7-10 They put to death the ten sons of Haman the son of Hamdata, the enemy of the Jews — Parshandata, Dalfon, Aspata, Porata, Adalya, Aridata, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizata. But they did not touch the spoil.
11 The same day, after the king had been told the number of those killed in Shushan the capital, 12 he said to Ester the queen, “If the Jews have slaughtered 500 men in Shushan the capital and the ten sons of Haman, what have they done in the rest of the royal provinces! Now, whatever your request, you will be granted it; whatever more you want, it will be done.” 13 Ester replied, “If it pleases the king, let the Jews in Shushan act again tomorrow in accordance with today’s decree; also have Haman’s ten sons hanged on the gallows.” 14 The king ordered these things done — a decree was issued in Shushan, and they hanged Haman’s ten sons. 15 So the Jews in Shushan assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed 300 men in Shushan, but they did not touch the spoil.
16 The other Jews, those in the royal provinces, had assembled, defended their lives and won rest from their enemies, killing 75,000 of those who hated them, but without touching the spoil, 17 on the thirteenth day of the month Adar. So on the fourteenth day of Adar they rested and made it a holiday for celebrating and rejoicing. 18 However, the Jews of Shushan assembled on both the thirteenth and fourteenth days of Adar, so it was on the fifteenth that they rested and made it a holiday for celebrating and rejoicing. 19 This is why the Jews of the villages, those who live in unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a day for celebrating and rejoicing, a holiday and a time for sending each other portions [of food].
20 Mordekhai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Achashverosh, both near and far, 21 instructing them to observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day, every year, 22 [to commemorate] the days on which the Jews obtained rest from their enemies and the month which for them was turned from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; they were to make them days of celebrating and rejoicing, sending portions [of food] to each other and giving gifts to the poor.
23 So the Jews took it upon themselves to continue what they had already begun to do, and as Mordekhai had written to them; 24 because Haman the son of Hamdata the Agagi, the enemy of the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had thrown pur (that is, “cast lots”) to crush and destroy them; 25 but when Ester came before the king, he ordered by letters that [Haman’s] wicked scheme, which he had plotted against the Jews, should recoil on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26 This is why these days have been called Purim, after the word pur. Thus, because of everything written in this letter, and what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had come upon them, 27 the Jews resolved and took upon themselves, their descendants and all who might join them that without fail they would observe these two days in accordance with what was written in [this letter] and at the appointed time, every year; 28 and that these days would be remembered and observed throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and that these days of Purim would never cease among the Jews or their memory be lost by their descendants.
29 Then Ester the queen, the daughter of Avichayil, and Mordekhai the Jew, gave full written authority to confirm a second letter about Purim. 30 He sent copies of it to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Achashverosh, ensuring their peace and security 31 and requiring the observance of these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordekhai the Jew and Ester the queen had enjoined them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants concerning the matters of fasting and lamenting. 32 At Ester’s order these matters of Purim were confirmed and put in writing in the book.
10 King Achashverosh laid tribute on the land, the coasts and the islands. 2 All the acts of his power and might, along with a full account of the high honor to which the king advanced Mordekhai, are written in the Annals of the Kings of Media and Persia. 3 For Mordekhai the Jew was second only to King Achashverosh; he was a great man among the Jews, popular with all his many countrymen. He sought the good of his people and interceded for the welfare of all their descendants.
Esther 7-10
Orthodox Jewish Bible
7 So HaMelech and Haman came to banquet with Ester HaMalkah.
2 And HaMelech said again unto Ester on the yom hasheni (second day) at the mishteh hayayin (feast), What is thy she’elah (petition), Ester HaMalkah? And it shall be granted thee; and what is thy bakash (request)? And it shall be performed, even to chatzi HaMalchut.
3 Then Ester HaMalkah answered and said, If I have found chen (favor) in thy sight, O HaMelech, and if it is tov to HaMelech, let nafshi (my life) be given me at my she’elah (petition), and my Am at my bakash (request);
4 For we are sold, Ani (I) and Ami (my People), to be made shmad, to be slain, and to be annihilated. But if we had been sold for avadim and shfakhot, I would have held my tongue, since then the tzoros would not have been such as to injure the interests of HaMelech.
5 Then HaMelech Achashverosh answered and said unto Ester HaMalkah, Who is he, and where is he, who dares to presume in his lev to do such?
6 And Ester said, HaTzar (the foe) and the oyev (enemy) is this Haman HaRah (Vile Haman). Then Haman was terrified before HaMelech and HaMalkah.
7 And HaMelech, arising in his wrath from the mishteh hayayin, went into the palace garden; and Haman stood up to make bakash (request) for his nefesh (life) to Ester HaMalkah; for he saw that harm was determined against him by HaMelech.
8 Then HaMelech returned out of the palace garden into the Bais Mishteh HaYayin, and Haman was fallen upon the mittah (couch, [see 1:6 mittot, couches]) whereon Ester was. Then said HaMelech, Will he ravish HaMalkah also before me in the bais? As the davar (word) went out of the mouth of HaMelech, they covered Haman’s face.
9 And Charvonah, one of the sarisim, said before HaMelech, Hinei, also, HaEtz fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordechai, who has spoken tov for HaMelech, standeth in the Bais Haman. Then HaMelech said, Hang him thereon.
10 So they hanged Haman on HaEtz that he had prepared for Mordechai. Then was the wrath of HaMelech pacified [Ps 24:10; Isa 53:11].
8 On that day did HaMelech Achashverosh give the Bais Haman Tzorer HaYehudim (the estate of Haman the Vexer, Harasser, Enemy of the Jews) unto Ester HaMalkah. And Mordechai came before HaMelech; for Ester had told what he was unto her.
2 And HaMelech took off his taba’at (signet ring), which he had reclaimed from Haman, and gave it unto Mordechai. And Ester set Mordechai over the Bais Haman.
3 And Ester spoke yet again before HaMelech, and fell down at his feet, and she wept and made supplication to him to avert the rah of Haman HaAgagi and the machshevet of him (his scheme, i.e., final solution plan) that he had devised against the Yehudim.
4 Then HaMelech held out the sharvit hazahav (golden sceptre) toward Ester. So Ester arose, and stood before HaMelech,
5 And said, If it is tov to HaMelech, and if I have found chen (favor, grace) in his sight, and the thing seem kosher (fit, right, proper) before HaMelech, and I be tovah (pleasing) in his eyes, let it be written to revoke the seferim machashevet Haman (letters devised by Haman) ben Hamdata the Agagi, which he wrote to destroy the Yehudim which are in all the provinces of HaMelech;
6 For how can I endure to see the ra’ah that shall come unto Ami (my people)? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my moledet (kindred, Jewish kinsmen)?
7 Then HaMelech Achashverosh said unto Ester HaMalkah and to Mordechai HaYehudi, Hinei, I have given Ester the Bais Haman, and him they have hanged upon the etz, because he laid his hand against HaYehudim.
8 Write ye also in behalf of HaYehudim, as you please, b’shem HaMelech, and seal it with the taba’at (signet ring) of HaMelech; for the writing which is written b’shem HaMelech, and sealed with the taba’at (signet ring) of HaMelech may no man reverse.
9 Then were the soferim of HaMelech summoned at that time in the chodesh hashelishi, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and according to all that Mordechai ordered it was written unto HaYehudim, and to the satraps, and the governors and nobles of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the script thereof, and unto every people after their leshon, and to the Yehudim according to their script, and according to their leshon.
10 And he wrote b’shem HaMelech Achashverosh, and sealed it with the taba’at of HaMelech, and sent seferim by couriers on horseback riding thoroughbred royal steeds;
11 Wherein HaMelech granted the Yehudim which were in every city to assemble themselves together, and to engage in self-defense, to make shmad, to slay and to annihilate, any chayil (armed force) of any people or province that would attack them, both little ones and nashim, and to plunder their property
12 On yom echad in all the provinces of HaMelech Achashverosh, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
13 A copy of the edict was to be issued as dat (law) in every province and was galui (made known) unto kol ha’amim (all nationalities), and that the Yehudim should be atidim (ready, prepared, [see 3:14]) for yom hazeh to avenge themselves on their oyvim (enemies).
14 So the couriers that rode upon royal steeds went out, being hastened and pressed on by the devar HaMelech. And the dat (decree) was given at Shushan the capital.
15 And Mordechai went out from the presence of HaMelech in levush malkhut (royal robe, clothing) of blue and white, and with an ateret zahav gedolah (a great crown of gold), and with a tachrich (garment, robe, [see OJBC Mt 27:59]) of fine linen and purple; and the city of Shushan celebrated and rejoiced.
16 The Yehudim had orah (light), and simcha, and sasson, and yekar (honor).
17 And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the devar HaMelech and his dat came, the Yehudim had simcha and sasson, a mishteh (feast) and a yontef. And many of the people of the land mityahadim (became Yehudim); for the pachad HaYehudim fell upon them.
9 Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the devar HaMelech and his dat drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the oyvei HaYehudim hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Yehudim had rule over them that hated them);
2 The Yehudim assembled themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of HaMelech Achashverosh, to lay hands on such as sought their hurt, and no man could withstand them, for the pachad of them fell upon all people.
3 And all the nobles of the provinces, and the satraps, and the governors, and officials of HaMelech helped the Yehudim; because the pachad of Mordechai fell upon them.
4 For Mordechai was gadol in the Bais HaMelech, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces; for haish Mordechai grew more and more powerful.
5 Thus the Yehudim struck all their oyvim with makkat cherev, slaughter, destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them.
6 And in Shushan the capital the Yehudim slew and destroyed 500 men.
7 And Parshandata, Dalphon, Aspata,
8 Porata, Adalya, Aridata,
9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizata,
10 The aseret bnei Haman ben Hamdata, tzorer (enemy of) HaYehudim; but on the plunder laid they not their hand.
11 On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the capital was brought before HaMelech.
12 And HaMelech said unto Ester HaMalkah, The Yehudim have slain and destroyed 500 men in Shushan the capital, and the ten bnei Haman. What have they done in the rest of the provinces of HaMelech? Now what is thy she’elah (petition)? And it shall be granted thee. Or what is thy bakash further? And it shall be done.
13 Then said Ester, If it be tov to HaMelech, let it be granted to the Yehudim which are in Shushan to do tomorrow also according unto the dat of this day, and let the aseret bnei Haman be hanged upon haetz [see Esth 6:4].
14 And HaMelech commanded it so to be done; and the dat (decree) was given at Shushan; and they hanged aseret bnei Haman.
15 For the Yehudim that were in Shushan assembled themselves together on the 14th day also of the month Adar, and slew 300 men at Shushan; but on the plunder they laid not their hand.
16 But the she’ar (remainder, remnant) of the Yehudim that were in the provinces of HaMelech assembled themselves together, engaged in selfdefense, got relief from their oyvim, slew of those hating them 75,000, but they laid not their hands on the plunder.
17 This was on the 13th day of the month Adar, and on the 14th day of the same rested they, and made it a yom mishteh and simcha.
18 But the Yehudim that were at Shushan assembled together on the 13th day thereof, and on the 14th thereof, and on the 15th day of the same they rested, and made it a yom mishteh and simcha.
19 Therefore the Yehudim of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the 14th day of the month Adar a simcha and mishteh, and a yontef, and of sending presents each one to his neighbor.
20 And Mordechai wrote these things, and sent seferim unto all the Yehudim that were in all the provinces of HaMelech Achashverosh, both near and far,
21 To establish this among them, that they should keep the 14th day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, shanah v’shanah,
22 As the yamim wherein the Yehudim got relief from their oyvim, and the month which was turned unto them from yagon (sorrow) to simcha (joy), and from evel (mourning) into yontef; that they should make them yemei mishteh v’simcha, and of sending presents one to another, and mattanot (gifts) to the evyon (needy, poor).
23 And the Yehudim undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordechai had written unto them;
24 Because Haman ben Hamdata, the Agagi, the tzorer kol HaYehudim, had devised against the Yehudim to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the goral (lot), to utterly defeat them, and to destroy them;
25 But when Ester came before HaMelech, he commanded by hasefer that his wicked machashevah, which he devised against the Yehudim, should return upon his own head, and that he and his banim should be hanged on the etz.
26 Wherefore they called these yamim Purim after the shem of the Pur. Therefore for all the words of this iggeret (letter), and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had happened unto them,
27 The Yehudim established, and took upon them, and upon their zera, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time shanah v’shanah;
28 And that these yamim should be remembered and kept dor v’dor (throughout every generation), in every mishpachah, every province, and every city; and that these yemei HaPurim should never cease from among the Yehudim, nor the memorial of them perish from their zera.
29 Then Ester HaMalkah, the bat Avichayil, and Mordechai HaYehudi, wrote with kol tokef (all authority, see Yn 1:12-13), to confirm this second iggeret (letter of) Purim.
30 And he sent seferim unto all the Yehudim, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the malchut of Achashverosh, with words of shalom and emes,
31 To confirm these yemei HaPurim in their times appointed, according as Mordechai HaYehudi and Ester HaMalkah had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their zera, the matters of the tzomot (fasts) and their ze’akah (lamentation).
32 And the decree of Ester confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the sefer.
10 And HaMelech Achashverosh laid a tribute upon the land, even to its distant shores.
2 And all the acts of his authority and of his might, and the parashat gedulat Mordechai (full account of the greatness of Mordechai), whereunto HaMelech advanced him, are they not written in the sefer of the divrei hayamim of the kings of Media and Persia?
3 For Mordechai HaYehudi was next unto HaMelech Achashverosh, and gadol among the Yehudim, and esteemed of the multitude of his achim, seeking the tov of his people, and speaking shalom to all their zera. [T.N. The following book was written during the Sixth Century B.C.E. by Daniel HaNavi. See Mt.24:15.]
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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