he gave a banquet in the third year of his reign for all his officials and servants. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and officials of the provinces were in his presence

as he displayed the wealth of the glory of his kingdom and the glorious splendor of his greatness [for] many days, one hundred and eighty days.

And when those days were completed, the king gave for all the people that were present at the citadel of Susa, both great and small, a banquet in the courtyard of the king's palace garden that lasted seven days.

There were no restrictions on the drinking, for the king had instructed every official of his palace to do as each one pleased.

Furthermore, Queen Vashti gave a banquet for the women [in] {the palace} that belonged to King Ahasuerus.

to bring Queen Vashti before the king {with her royal crown} to show the people and the officials her beauty, {for she was very attractive}.

And the king said to the wise men, {the ones who know the times}--for it [was] the procedure of the king before all those who knew law and rights;

For this deed of the queen {will be known} to all the women, causing them {to look with contempt on their husbands}, as they will say, 'King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him but she did not come!'

And the king's servants attending him said, "Let them seek attractive young virgins for the king.

He was raising Hadassah, that [is] Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she did not have a father or a mother; the young woman [had] a beautiful figure and [was] very attractive. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had taken her as his daughter.

{The young woman pleased him} and she won favor in his presence, and he quickly provided for her beauty treatment and her portion of food, with seven chosen maids to give to her from the {king's palace}, and he advanced her and her maids to the best part of the {harem}.

When the turn came for each girl to go to King Ahasuerus, after the end of twelve months of being under the regulations of the women--for the days of their beauty treatments had to be filled, six months with the oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and women's cosmetics--

When the turn came near for Esther daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken [her] as a daughter, to go to the king, she did not ask anything except what Hegai the eunuch of the king who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther carried favor in the eyes of everyone that saw her.

And the king gave a great banquet, Esther's banquet, for all his officials and servants. And he granted a tax amnesty to the provinces and he gave gifts with royal liberality.

Esther had not made known her family and her people, just as Mordecai had instructed her; for Esther {did what Mordecai told her}, just as when she was brought up by him.

And all of the king's servants who [were] at the gate of the king [were] kneeling and bowing down to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him, but Mordecai did not kneel and bow down.

They spoke to him day after day, but he did not listen to them, and they informed Haman to see if {Mordecai's resolve would prevail}; for he had told them that he [was] a Jew.

But {he considered it beneath him} to lay hands on Mordecai only, for they told him of Mordecai's people, and Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who [were] in the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

In the first month, that [is], the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasurus, he cast pur--that [is], the lot--before the presence of Haman {for the day and for the month}, until the twelfth month, that [is], the month of Adar.

And Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples in all of the provinces of your kingdom; their laws [are] different from every [other] people, and they do not {observe} the laws of the king; it is not appropriate for the king to tolerate them.

A copy of the edict [was] presented [as] law in every province making [it] known to all the people to be ready for that day.

he went up to the entrance of the gate of the king, for he could not go to the gate of the king in sackcloth.

In every province [each] place where the king's edict and his law came, there [was] great mourning for the Jews with fasting, crying, wailing, [and] sackcloth; and ashes were spread out as a bed for them.

and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman has promised to pay to the treasury of the king for the destruction of the Jews.

And he gave him a copy of the edict of the law that had been issued in Susa for their destruction to show Esther, and to inform her, and to charge her to go to the king and make supplication to him and entreat before him for her people.

And Esther spoke to Hathach and {she gave him a message for Mordecai}:

"All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that [if] any man or woman who goes to the king to the inner courtyard, who is not called, he has one law, to be killed, except if the king extends to him the gold scepter so that he may live. I have not been called to come to the king {for thirty days}."

For if indeed you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and the family of your father will perish. Who knows? [Perhaps] you have come to a royal position for a time such as this."

"Go, gather all the Jews that are found in Susa and fast for me; do not eat or drink [for] three days, both night and day. I and my young girls will fast likewise, and then I will go to the king, which [is] not according to the law; if I perish, I perish.

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

If I have found favor in the eyes of the king, and if it is good to the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I will prepare for them tomorrow, and I will do according to the word of the king.

But Haman controlled himself and went to his house, and he sent [for] and brought his friends and Zeresh his wife.

And the king asked, "What has been done to bestow honor to Mordecai for this?" And the king's servants who attended him said, "Nothing has been done for him."

And the king asked, "Who [is] in the courtyard?" Haman had just come to the courtyard of the king's outer palace to tell the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

And Haman came, and the king said to him, "What [is] to be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?" And Haman thought to himself, "Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?"

So Haman said to the king, "For a man whom the king wishes to honor,

And let the clothing and the horse be given {to the man} by the officials of the king's nobles; let them cloth the man whom the king wishes to honor, and let him ride on his horse through the public square of the city, and let them proclaim before him, 'Thus, it will be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor.'"

The king rose in his anger {from the banquet} [and went] to the palace garden, and Haman stood to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for {he realized that the king was determined to make an end to his life}.

And Habrona, one of the eunuchs in the presence of the king, said, "Look, the same gallows that Haman had prepared for Mordecai who spoke good [for the sake] of the king stands at Haman's house, fifty cubits high." And the king said, "Hang him on it."

And they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai, and the anger of the king was abated.

On that day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he [was] to her.

And Esther again spoke before the king, and she fell before his feet and wept, pleading for his grace to avert Haman the Agagite's evil [plan] and the plot that he devised against the Jews.

For {how can I bear} to look on the disaster that will find my people, and {how can I bear} to look on the destruction of my family?"

Write {as you see fit} concerning the Jews in the name of the king, and seal [it] with the king's signet ring; for a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's signet ring cannot be revoked."

For the Jews, there was light and gladness, joy and honor.

In every province and city, wherever the king's edict and his law came, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a banquet and a {holiday}, and many of the people from the country [were] posing as Jews because the fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

the Jews gathered in their cities in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus {to strike against} those who sought their destruction, and no one could withstand them, as the fear of them fell on all the people.

All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, governors, and {those who did the work of the king} [were] supporting the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them.

For Mordecai [was] high-ranking in the {king's palace} and his fame spread throughout all the provinces as {Mordecai grew more and more powerful}.

Mordecai wrote down these things and he sent letters to all the Jews who [were] in all [of] the provinces of King Ahasuerus, [both] near and far,

as the day that the Jews {found relief} from their enemies, and the month which changed for them from sorrow to joy, and from a mourning ceremony to a {festive day}; to make them days of feasting and joy, and giving gifts to each other and to the poor.

For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and he had cast pur, that [is] the lot, to rout them out and destroy them.

the Jews established and adopted [it] for themselves and for their offspring, and for all who joined them. They did not neglect {to observe} these two days every year as it was written and appointed to them.

For Mordecai the Jew [was] second-in-command to King Ahasuerus. [He was] great for the Jews and popular with many of his brothers, for he sought good for his people, {interceding for the welfare of all his descendants}.