And it happened in the days of Ahasuerus (this is the Ahasuerus who reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces).

And the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for so was the king's manner toward all who knew law and judgment;

If it please the king, let there be a royal command from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it may not be changed, that Vashti come no more before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her royal state to another who is better than she is.

And when the king's decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire (for it is great), all the wives shall give their husbands honor, both the great and small.

In Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite

And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter. For she had neither father nor mother, and the young woman was fair and beautiful, whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.

And Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

Esther had not yet revealed her kindred nor her people, as Mordecai had commanded her. For Esther obeyed the command of Mordecai as she did when she was brought up with him.

In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, the month Adar.

And Haman said to King Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people, in all the provinces of your kingdom. And their laws are different from all people, neither do they keep the king's laws. And it is not for the king's gain to allow them to live.

And the king said to Haman, The silver is given to you, the people also, to do with them as seems good to you.

And the letters were sent by postal riders into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take what they owned for a prize.

And the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that whoever, whether man or woman, shall come to the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his, execution, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter so that he may live. But I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.

Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and do not eat nor drink three days, night or day. My maidservants and I will also fast in the same way. And so I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law. And if I perish, I perish.

And the king said to her, What do you desire, Queen Esther? And what is your wish? It shall be given to you even to half of the kingdom.

And Esther answered, If it is good to the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet which I have prepared for him.

And the king said, Cause Haman to hurry so that he may do as Esther has said. And the king and Haman came to the banquet which Esther had prepared.

And the king said to Esther at the banquet of wine, What is your petition that it shall be granted to you? And what is your request? It shall be performed even to half of the kingdom.

And Esther answered and said, As to my petition and my request,

if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet which I shall prepare for them, and I will do tomorrow as the king has said.

Yet all this avails me nothing as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.

And the king said, Who is in the court? And Haman had come into the outer court of the king's house to speak to the king to hang Mordecai on the wooden gallows which he had prepared for him.

let the royal clothing be brought, which the king wears, and the horse that the king rides on, and the royal crown which is set on his head.

And let this clothing and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes so that they may dress the man whom the king delights to honor, and bring him on horseback through the streets of the city, and proclaim before him, This is what shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.

And the king said to Haman, Make haste! Take the clothing and the horse, as you have said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate. Do not fail to do any of all the things you have spoken.

And 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 shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!

And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends every thing that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, If Mordecai is of the seed of the Jews, before whom you have begun to fall, you shall not prevail against him but shall surely fall before him.

And the king said again to Esther on the second day of the banquet of wine, What is your petition, Queen Esther, that it may be granted you? And what is your request? And it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom.

And King Ahasuerus answered and said to Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is the one who dares presume in his heart to do so?

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

And the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine. And Haman had fallen on the bed on which Esther was. And the king said, Will he also force the queen before me in the house? As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.

and said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing is right before the king, and if I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to bring back the documents (a sly plan by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite) which he wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king's provinces.

And you write 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, no man may turn back.

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

And the king said to Esther the queen, The Jews have killed 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? And what is your petition, that it may be granted you? Or what further request do you have? And it shall be done.

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

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

the Jews ordained, and took on them and on their seed, and on all such as joined themselves to them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their time every year,

in order to confirm these days of Purim in their set times, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had ordered them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed the matters of the fastings and of their cry.