Beginning

6 ¶ On that night the king could not sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles, and they were read before the king.

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

³ And the king said, What honour and dignity has been done unto Mordecai for this? Then the king’s servants who ministered unto him answered, Nothing has been done for him.

⁴ ¶ And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman had come into the outward court of the king’s house to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

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

⁶ So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delights to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?

⁷ And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delights to honour,

⁸ let the royal apparel be brought which the king wears, and the horse that the king rides upon, and the royal crown which is set upon his head;

⁹ and let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that he may clothe the man whom the king delights to honour and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honour.

¹⁰ Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do so unto Mordecai, the Jew, that sits at the king’s gate; let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.

¹¹ Then Haman took the apparel and the horse and clothed Mordecai and brought him on horseback through the plaza of the city and caused it to be proclaimed before him, Thus shall be done unto the man whom the king delights to honour.

¹² ¶ After that Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hastened to his house mourning and having his head covered.

¹³ And Haman told Zeresh, his wife, and all his friends all that had befallen him. Then his wise men and Zeresh, his wife, said unto him, If Mordecai is of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.

¹⁴ And while they were yet talking with him, the king’s eunuchs came in haste to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

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

² And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, Queen Esther? And it shall be granted thee. What is thy request? And it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom.

³ Then Esther, the queen, answered and said, If I have found grace in thy sight, O king and if it pleases 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. If we had been sold for menslaves and womenslaves, I would remain silent, even though the enemy could not recompense the damage to the king.

⁵ And King Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther, the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that has filled his heart with the arrogance to do so?

⁶ Then Esther said, The man who is the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.

⁷ ¶ And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden, and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther, the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.

⁸ Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine, and Haman had fallen upon the bed upon which Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? When this word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

⁹ Then said Harbonah, one of the eunuchs before the king, Behold also, the gallows {Heb. stake} fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, stands in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him upon it.

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

8 ¶ On that same day King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the Jews’ enemy, unto Esther, the queen. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was 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 spoke yet again before the king and fell down at his feet and besought him with tears to put away the evil of Haman, the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews.

⁴ Then the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king,

⁵ And said, If it pleases the king and if I have found grace in his sight and if the thing is right before the king and if I am good in his eyes, let it be written to reverse 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.

⁶ For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? How can I endure to see the destruction of my nation?

⁷ Then King Ahasuerus said unto Esther, the queen, and to Mordecai, the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him upon the gallows because he extended his hand against the Jews.

⁸ Write ye also for the Jews, as it pleases you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring; for the writing which is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s ring may not be revoked.

⁹ Then the king’s scribes were called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the twenty-third day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews and to the lieutenants and the captains and the princes of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, unto each province according to the writing thereof, and unto each people after their language, 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 sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, mules that were born of mares,

¹¹ that the king granted power to the Jews who were in all the cities to gather themselves together and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish any army of the people or province that would assault them, and even their little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey,

¹² upon the same day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.

¹³ The copy of the writing which was to be given as law in each province was published unto all people and said that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves of their enemies.

¹⁴ So the posts rode upon mules, they went out on mules, being hastened and pressed on by the king’s commandment. And the law was given at Shushan, the palace.

¹⁵ ¶ And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white and with a great crown of gold and with a mantel of fine linen and purple; and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.

¹⁶ The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honour.

¹⁷ And in each province and in each city wherever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a banquet and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.

9 ¶ Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his law drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, it was turned to the contrary; for the Jews took dominion over those that hated them.

² The Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt; and no one could withstand them, for the fear of them had fallen upon all the peoples.

³ And all the princes of the provinces and the lieutenants and the captains and officers of the king helped the Jews because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.

⁴ For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces, for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.

⁵ Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword and slaughter and destruction and did what they would unto those that hated them.

⁶ And in Shushan, the palace, the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men.

⁷ Then they also slew Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,

⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vajezatha,

¹⁰ the ten sons of Haman, the son of Hammedatha; the enemy of the Jews, they slew, but on the spoil they did not lay their hand.

¹¹ On the same day the number of those that were slain in Shushan, the palace, was brought before the king.

¹² And the king said unto Esther, the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan, the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is thy petition, and it shall be granted thee? What is thy request further, and it shall be done?

¹³ Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do tomorrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows. {Heb. stake}

¹⁴ And the king commanded it to be so done; and it was given as law at Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.

¹⁵ And the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together also on the fourteenth day of the month Adar and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the spoil they did not lay their hand.

¹⁶ And the other Jews that were in the king’s provinces also gathered themselves together and stood for their lives and had rest from their enemies and slew of their foes seventy-five thousand, but they did not lay their hands on the spoil,

¹⁷ on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same they rested and made it a day of banquet and gladness.

¹⁸ But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested and made it a day of banquet and gladness.

¹⁹ Therefore, the Jews of the villages that dwelt in the unwalled towns made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and banquet and a good day and of sending portions one to another.

²⁰ ¶ And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

²¹ to establish this among them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,

²² as the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy and from mourning into a good day, that they should make them days of banquet and joy and of sending portions one to another and gifts to the poor.

²³ And the Jews accepting this began to do as Mordecai had written unto them.

²⁴ Because Haman, the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them and to destroy them,

²⁵ but when she came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

²⁶ Therefore, they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore, for all the words of this letter and of that which they had seen concerning this matter and which had come unto them,

²⁷ the Jews ordained and took upon them and upon their seed 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 each year,

²⁸ and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.

²⁹ Then Esther, the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai, the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim.

³⁰ And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth,

³¹ to confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai, the Jew, and Esther, the queen, had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, the words of the fastings and their cry.

³² And the commandment of Esther confirmed these words of Purim, and it was written in the book.

10 ¶ And King Ahasuerus laid 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 greatness of Mordecai, unto which the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?

³ For Mordecai, the Jew, was next unto King Ahasuerus and great among the Jews and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace unto all his seed.