⁵ Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish,^{(A) 6} who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin^[a](B) king of Judah.^{(C) 7} Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther,^(D) had a lovely figure^(E) and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.

¹⁵ When the turn came for Esther (the young woman Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail^(A)) to go to the king,^(B) she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor^(C) of everyone who saw her. ¹⁶ She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

¹⁷ Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen^(D) instead of Vashti. ¹⁸ And the king gave a great banquet,^(E) Esther’s banquet, for all his nobles and officials.^(F) He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality.^(G)

¹² When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, ¹³ he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. ¹⁴ For if you remain silent^(A) at this time, relief^(B) and deliverance^(C) for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”^(D)

¹⁵ Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast^(E) for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”^(F)

¹⁷ So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.

³ Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite,^(A) which he had devised against the Jews. ⁴ Then the king extended the gold scepter^(B) to Esther and she arose and stood before him.

⁵ “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor^(C) and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. ⁶ For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”^(D)

⁷ King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled^(E) him on the pole he set up. ⁸ Now write another decree^(F) in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal^(G) it with the king’s signet ring^(H)—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”^(I)