Beginning
6 2 The king turneth over the Chronicles, and findeth the fidelity of Mordecai, 10 and commandeth Haman to cause Mordecai to be had in honor.
1 The same night [a]the king slept not, and he commanded to bring the book of the Records, and the Chronicles: and they were read before the king.
2 Then it was found written that Mordecai (A)had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs keepers of the door, who sought to lay hands on the King Ahasuerus.
3 Then the king said, What honor and dignity hath been given to Mordecai [b]for this? And the king’s servants that ministered unto him, said, There is nothing done for him.
4 And the king said, Who is in the court? (Now Haman was come into the inner court of the king’s house, that he might speak unto the king to [c]hang Mordecai on the tree that he had prepared for him.)
5 And the king’s servants said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in the court. And the king said, Let him come in.
6 And when Haman came in, the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king will honor? Then Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king do honor more than to me?
7 And Haman answered the king, The man whom the king would honor,
8 Let them bring for him royal apparel, which the king useth to wear, and the [d]horse that the king rideth upon, and that the crown royal may be set upon his head.
9 And let the raiment and the horse be delivered by the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, and let them apparel the man (whom the king will honor) and cause him to ride upon the horse through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king will honor.
10 Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, take the raiment and the horse, as thou hast said, and do so unto Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.
11 So Haman took the raiment and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king will honor.
12 And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate, but Haman hasted home mourning and his head covered.
13 And Haman told Zeresh his wife, and all his friends, all that had befallen him. Then said his wise men, and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, [e]but shalt surely fall before him.
14 And while they were yet talking with him, came the king’s eunuchs and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared.
7 3 The queen biddeth the king and Haman again, and prayeth for herself and her people. 6 She accuseth Haman, and he is hanged on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai.
1 So the king and Haman came to banquet with the queen Esther.
2 And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of [f]wine, What is thy petition, Queen Esther, that it may be given thee? and what is thy request? It shall be even performed unto the half of the kingdom.
3 And Esther the queen answered, and said, If I have found favor in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.
4 For we are sold, I, and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish: but if we were sold for servants, and for handmaids, I would have held my tongue, although the adversary could not [g]recompense the king’s loss.
5 Then king Ahasuerus answered, and said unto the queen Esther, Who is he? and where is he that [h]presumeth to do thus?
6 And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
7 And the king arose from the banquet of wine in his wrath, and went into the palace garden: but Haman stood up to make request for his life to the queen Esther: for he saw that there was a [i]mischief prepared for him of the king.
8 And when the king came again out of the palace garden, into the house where they drank wine, Haman was [j]fallen upon the bed whereon Esther sat: therefore the King said, Will he force the Queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the King’s mouth, they [k]covered Haman’s face.
9 And Harbonah one of the eunuchs, said in the presence of the King, Behold, there standeth yet the tree in Haman’s house fifty cubits high, which Haman had prepared for Mordecai, that spake [l]good for the king. Then the King said, Hang him thereon.
10 So they hanged Haman on the tree, that he had prepared for Mordecai: then was the King’s wrath pacified.
8 1 After the death of Haman was Mordecai exalted. 14 Comfortable letters are sent unto the Jews.
1 The same day did King Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the adversary of the Jews, unto the Queen Esther. And Mordecai [m]came before the King: for Esther told what he was [n]unto her.
2 And the King took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai: and Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
3 And Esther spake yet more before the King, and fell down at his feet weeping, and besought him that he would put away the [o]wickedness of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had imagined against the Jews.
4 And the King held out the golden [p]scepter toward Esther. Then arose Esther, and stood before the King,
5 And said, If it please the King, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing be acceptable before the King, and I please him, let it be written, that the letters of the device of Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite may be called again, which he wrote to destroy the Jews, that are in all the King’s provinces.
6 For how can I suffer and see the evil, that shall come unto my people? Or how can I suffer and see the destruction of my kindred?
7 And the king Ahasuerus said unto the Queen Esther, and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, whom they have hanged upon the tree, because he [q]laid hand upon the Jews.
8 Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you in the King’s name, and seal it with the King’s ring, (for the writings written in the King’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may [r]no man revoke.)
9 Then were the King’s Scribes called at the same time, even in the third month, that is the month [s]Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof: and it was written, according to all as Mordecai commanded, unto the Jews and to the princes, and captains and rulers of the provinces, which were from India even unto Ethiopia, an hundred and seven and twenty provinces, unto every province according to the [t]writing thereof, and to every people after their speech, and to the Jews, according to their writing, and according to their language.
10 And he wrote in the King Ahasuerus’s name, and sealed it with the King’s ring, and he sent letters by posts on horseback and that rode on beasts of price, as dromedaries, and [u]colts of mares.
11 Wherein the King granted the Jews (in what cities soever they were) to gather themselves together, and to stand for [v]their life, and to root out, to slay and to destroy all the power of the people and of the province that vexed them, both children and women, and to spoil their goods:
12 Upon one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, even in the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month [w]Adar.
13 The copy of the writing was, how there should be a commandment given in all and every province, published among all the people, and that the Jews should be ready against that day, to [x]avenge themselves on their enemies.
14 So the posts rode upon beasts of price, and dromedaries, and went forth with speed, to execute the King’s commandment, and the decree was given at Shushan the palace.
15 And Mordecai went out from the King in royal apparel of blue, and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple, and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.
16 And unto the Jews was come light and [y]joy and gladness, and honor.
17 Also in all and every province, and in all and every city and place, where the King’s commandment and his decree came, there was joy and gladness to the Jews, a feast and good day, and many of the people of the land [z]became Jews: for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.
9 1 At the commandment of the King, the Jews put their adversaries to death. 14 The ten sons of Haman are hanged. 17 The Jews keep a feast in remembrance of their deliverance.
1 So in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, upon the thirteenth day of the same, when the King’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them (but it [aa]turned contrary: for the Jews had rule over them that hated them.)
2 The Jews gathered themselves together into their cities throughout all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt, and no man could withstand them: for the fear of them fell upon all people.
3 And all the rulers of the provinces, and the princes and the captains, and the officers of the King [ab]exalted the Jews: for the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.
4 For Mordecai was great in the King’s house, and the report of him went through all the provinces: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.
5 Thus the Jews smote all their [ac]enemies with strokes of the sword and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them.
6 And at Shushan the palace slew the Jews and destroyed [ad]five hundred men,
7 And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,
8 And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
9 And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,
10 The ten sons of Haman, the son of Hammedatha, the adversary of the Jews slew they: but they laid not their hands [ae]on the spoil.
11 On the same day came the number of those that were slain, unto the palace of Shushan before the King.
12 And the King said unto the Queen Esther, The Jews have slain in Shushan the palace, and destroyed five hundred men, and the ten sons of Haman: what have they done in the rest of the King’s provinces? and what is thy petition, that it may be given thee? or what is thy request moreover, that it may be performed?
13 Then said Esther, If it please the King, let it be granted also tomorrow to the Jews that are in Shushan, to do according [af]unto this day’s decree, that they may hang upon the tree Haman’s ten sons.
14 And the King charged to do so, and the decree was given at Shushan, and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.
15 ¶ So the Jews that were in Shushan, assembled themselves upon the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men in Shushan, but on the spoil they laid not their hand.
16 And the rest of the Jews that were in the King’s provinces assembled themselves, and stood for [ag]their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of them that [ah]hated them, seventy and five thousand: but they laid not their hand on the spoil.
17 This they did on the [ai]thirteenth day of the month Adar, and rested the fourteenth day thereof, and kept it a day of feasting and joy.
18 But the Jews that were in Shushan assembled themselves on the thirteenth day, and on the fourteenth thereof, and they rested on the fifteenth of the same, and kept it a day of feasting and joy.
19 Therefore the Jews of the villages that dwelt in the unwalled towns, [aj]kept the fourteenth day of the month Adar with joy and feasting, even a joyful day, and everyone sent presents unto his neighbor.
20 ¶ And Mordecai wrote [ak]these words, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were through all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus, both near and far,
21 Enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, every year.
22 According to the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a joyful day, to keep them the days of feasting and joy, and to [al]send presents every man to his neighbor, and gifts to the poor.
23 And the Jews promised to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them,
24 Because Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite all the Jews’ adversary had imagined against the Jews to destroy them, and had [am]cast Pur (that is a lot) to consume and destroy them.
25 And when [an]she came before the king, he commanded by letters, Let this wicked [ao]device (which he imagined against the Jews) turn upon his own head, and let them hang him and his sons on the tree.
26 Therefore they called these days Purim, by the name of Pur, and because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen besides this, and of that which had come unto them.
27 The Jews also ordained, and promised for them and for their seed, and for all that joined unto them, that they would not [ap]fail to observe those two [aq]days every year, according to their writing, and according unto their season,
28 And that these days should be remembered, and kept throughout every generation and every family, and every province, and every city: even these days of Purim should not fail among the Jews, and the memorial of them should not perish from their seed.
29 And the Queen Esther the daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Jew wrote with all [ar]authority (to confirm this letter of Purim the second time.)
30 And he sent letters unto all the Jews to the hundred and seven and twenty provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with [as]words of peace and truth,
31 To confirm these days of Purim according to their seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the Queen had appointed them, and as they had promised for [at]themselves and for their seed with [au]fasting and prayer.
32 And the decree of Esther confirmed these words of Purim, and was written in the book.
10 1 The estimation and authority of Mordecai.
1 And the King Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea.
2 And all the acts of his power, and of his might, and the declaration of the dignity of Mordecai, wherewith the King magnified him, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia?
3 For Mordecai the Jew was the second unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and [av]accepted among the multitude of his brethren, who procured the wealth of his people, and spake peaceably to all his seed.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.