Beginning

6 That night, the king did not sleep. And he commanded that the Book of the Records be brought, and the Chronicles. And they were read before the king.

² Then, it was found written what Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

³ Then the king said, “What honor and dignity has been given to Mordecai for this?” And the king’s servants said, “Nothing.”

⁴ And the king said, “Who is in the court?” (Now Haman had come into the inner court of the king’s house to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the tree that he had prepared for him).

⁵ And the king’s servants said to him, “Behold, Haman stands in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.”

⁶ And when Haman came in, the king said to him, “What shall be done for 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 “should be brought the royal apparel which the king used to wear, and the horse that the king used to ride on, with the crown royal set upon his head.

⁹ “And let the clothing and the horse be delivered by the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes. And let them dress the man whom the king will honor and have him ride upon the horse through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king will honor.’”

¹⁰ Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the clothing and the horse, and do as you have said for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Let nothing be left out of all that you have spoken.”

¹¹ So Haman took the clothing and the horse, and dressed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, “This is what is done for the man whom the king will honor!”

¹² And Mordecai came back to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried home, mourning, with his head covered.

¹³ And Haman told Zeresh, his wife, and all his friends, all that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh, his wife, said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you shall not prevail against him, but shall surely fall before him.”

¹⁴ And while they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs came and quickly brought Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

7 So, the king and Haman came to banquet with Queen Esther.

² And the king repeated to Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, “What is your petition, Queen Esther that it may be given to you? And what is your request? It shall be done, even up to the half of the kingdom.”

³ And Esther the Queen answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given to 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. If we were merely sold as servants and handmaids, I would have held my tongue, for it would not have been worth the king’s time.”

⁵ Then king Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he? And where is he who presumes to do this?”

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 beg Queen Esther for his life. For he saw that the king intended to do him harm.

⁸ And when the king came out of the palace garden into the house again, where they had been drinking wine, Haman had fallen upon the bed where Esther sat. Therefore, the King said, “Will he also force himself on the queen before me in the house?!” As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

⁹ And Harbonah, one of the eunuchs, said in the presence of the king, “Behold, a hanging tree still stands at Haman’s house, 75 feet high, which Haman had prepared for Mordecai, who spoke well of the king.” Then the King said, “Hang him on it.”

¹⁰ So they hanged Haman on the tree that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the King’s wrath was pacified.

8 That same day, King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the adversary of the Jews, to Queen Esther. And Mordecai came before the king (for Esther had told him what he was to her).

² And the king took off his ring which he had taken from Haman and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

³ And Esther spoke to the king again and fell down at his feet, weeping, and begged him to reverse the wickedness of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had imagined against the Jews.

⁴ And the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. Then Esther arose 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 is acceptable before the king, and I please him —let it be written that the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces, may be revoked.

⁶ “For how can I suffer and see the evil that shall come to my people? Or how can I suffer and see the destruction of my kindred?”

⁷ And King Ahasuerus said to 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 laid hands upon the Jews.

⁸ “Also, write for the Jews as you like, 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 not be revoked)

⁹ At that same time, the king’s scribes were called, on the twenty-third day of the third month (that is, the month Sivan). And it was written according to all as Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the princes, and captains and rulers of the provinces which were from India to Ethiopia (a hundred and twenty-seven provinces), to every province according to its writing and to every people according to their speech, and to the Jews according to their writing and according to their language.

¹⁰ And he wrote in King Ahasuerus’s name, and sealed it with the king’s ring. And he sent letters, by couriers on horseback and by riders of royal steeds.

¹¹ In these, the king granted the Jews (in whatever cities they were) to gather themselves together and to stand for their life —to root out, to slay and to destroy all the power of the people and of the province that attacked them, both children and women, and to plunder their goods —

¹² upon one day, in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (which is the month Adar).

¹³ The copy of the writing was to be given as a decree in all and every province, and published among all the people, so that the Jews would be ready for that day, to avenge themselves on their enemies.

¹⁴ So the couriers rode upon royal steeds 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 to the Jews came light and 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 a holiday. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.

9 So, in the twelfth month (which is the month Adar), upon the thirteenth day of the same, when the execution of the king’s commandment and his decree drew near, on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them (but it had ended differently, for the Jews had rule over those who hated them),

² the Jews gathered themselves together into their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, to lay hand on those who had 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, 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, grew greater and greater.

⁵ Thus, the Jews struck all their enemies with strokes of the sword and slaughter and destruction and did what they would to those who hated them.

⁶ And at Shushan, the palace, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men,

⁷ including 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. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

¹¹ That same day, the number of those who were killed was reported to the king, to the palace of Shushan.

¹² And the king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed in Shushan, the palace, and destroyed five hundred men, including the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? And what is your petition, so that it may be given to you? Or, moreover, what is your request, so that it may be performed?”

¹³ Then Esther said, “If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do again tomorrow according to today’s decree: that they may hang Haman’s ten sons upon the tree.

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 who were in Shushan assembled themselves upon the fourteenth day of the month, Adar, and killed three hundred men in Shushan. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

¹⁶ And the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces assembled themselves and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and killed 75,000 of those who hated them. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

¹⁷ They did this on the thirteenth day of the month, Adar, and rested the fourteenth day. And they kept it as a day of feasting and joy.

¹⁸ But, the Jews who were in Shushan assembled themselves on the thirteenth day, and on the fourteenth. And they rested on the fifteenth and kept it as a day of feasting and joy.

¹⁹ Therefore, the Jews of the villages, who dwelt in the un-walled towns, kept the fourteenth day of the month, Adar, with joy and feasting, a joyful holiday. And everyone sent presents to his neighbor.

²⁰ And Mordecai wrote these words and sent letters to all the Jews who were through all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

²¹ establishing that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month, Adar, and the fifteenth day, every year,

²² as the days when the Jews rested from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning into a joyful day, to keep as days of feasting and joy, and for everyone to send presents to his neighbor, and gifts to the poor.

²³ And the Jews promised to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them,

²⁴ because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, all the Jews’ adversary, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, a lot) to consume and destroy them.

²⁵ And when she came before the king, he commanded by letters, “Let this wicked plan 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 (from the name, 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 fail to observe these two days every year, according to their writing and according to their season,

²⁸ and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation and every family and every province and every city. And these days of Purim should not fail among the Jews, and the memorial of them should not perish from their seed.

²⁹ And Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew wrote with all authority, to confirm this letter of Purim a second time.

³⁰ And he sent letters to all the Jews (to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus) with 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 themselves and for their seed with fasting and prayer.

³² And the decree of Esther confirmed these words of Purim and was written in the Book.

10 And 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 with which 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 second to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted among the multitude of his brothers. He procured the wealth of his people and spoke peaceably to all his seed.