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

And they gave them drink in vessels of gold (the vessels being diverse one from another), and royal wine in abundance according to the bounty of the king.

If it please the king, let there go forth a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, that Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus, and let the king gi

who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.

And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from him. And he quickly gave her things for purification, with her portions, and the seven maidens who were suitable to be given her out of the king's house. And he removed her

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

And Haman said to king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom, and their laws are diverse from [those of] every people, nor do they keep the king's

And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy.

And Esther's maidens and her chamberlains came and told it to her. And the queen was exceedingly grieved. And she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take his sackcloth from off him, but he did not receive it.

For if thou altogether keep quiet at this time, then relief and deliverance will arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father's house will perish. And who knows whether thou have not come to the kingdom for such a

And the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine [and 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.

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.

And Mordecai went forth from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of fine linen and purple. And the city of Shushan shouted and was glad.

And in every province, and in every city, wherever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had gladness and joy, a feast and a good day. And many from among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews

And the other Jews who were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them. But they did not lay their hand

as the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies. And the month which was turned to them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day, that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending

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 remembrance of them perish from