Now it came about in the days of Ahasuerus, (that Ahasuerus who was ruler of a hundred and twenty-seven divisions of the kingdom, from India as far as Ethiopia:)

If it is pleasing to the king, let an order go out from him, and let it be recorded among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it may never be changed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her place to another who is better than she.

Who had been taken away from Jerusalem among those who had been made prisoner with Jeconiah, king of Judah, when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had taken him away.

And he was pleased with the girl and was kind to her; and he quickly gave her what was needed for making her clean, and the things which were hers by right, and seven servant-girls who were to be hers from the king's house: and he had her and her servant-girls moved to the best place in the women's part of the house.

Esther had not said what family or people she came from, for Mordecai had given her orders not to do so.

And in this way the girl went in to the king; whatever she had a desire for was given to her to take with her from the women's house into the house of the king.

Then the king gave a great feast for all his captains and his servants, even Esther's feast; and he gave orders through all the divisions of his kingdom for a day of rest from work, and gave wealth from his store.

In the first month, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, from day to day and from month to month they went on looking for a sign given by Pur (that is chance) before Haman, till the sign came out for the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar.

And Haman said to King Ahasuerus, There is a certain nation living here and there in small groups among the people in all the divisions of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of any other nation, and they do not keep the king's laws: for this reason it is not right for the king to let them be.

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

Then Mordecai sent this answer back to Esther: Do not have the idea that you in the king's house will be safe from the fate of all the Jews.

If at this time you say nothing, then help and salvation will come to the Jews from some other place, but you and your father's family will come to destruction: and who is to say that you have not come to the kingdom even for such a time as this?

And the king in his wrath got up from the feast and went into the garden: and Haman got to his feet to make a prayer for his life to Esther the queen: for he saw that the king's purpose was evil against him.

Then the king came back from the garden into the room where they had been drinking; and Haman was stretched out on the seat where Esther was. Then the king said, Is he taking the queen by force before my eyes in my house? And while the words were on the king's lips, they put a cloth over Haman's face.

And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther put Mordecai over the family of Haman.

Then at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, which is the month Sivan, the king's scribes were sent for; and everything ordered by Mordecai was put in writing and sent to the Jews and the captains and the rulers and the chiefs of all the divisions of the kingdom from India to Ethiopia, a hundred and twenty-seven divisions, to every division in the writing commonly used there, and to every people in their language, and to the Jews in their writing and their language.

In these letters the king gave authority to the Jews in every town to come together and make a fight for their lives, and to send death and destruction on the power of any people in any part of the kingdom attacking them or their children or their women, and to take their goods from them by force,

And Mordecai went out from before the king, dressed in king-like robes of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold and clothing of purple and the best linen: and all the town of Shushan gave loud cries of joy.

And the other Jews in every division of the kingdom came together, fighting for their lives, and got salvation from their haters and put seventy-five thousand of them to death; but they did not put a hand on their goods.

As days on which the Jews had rest from their haters, and the month which for them was turned from sorrow to joy, and from weeping to a good day: and that they were to keep them as days of feasting and joy, of sending offerings to one another and good things to the poor.

And that those days were to be kept in memory through every generation and every family, in every division of the kingdom and every town, that there might never be a time when these days of Purim would not be kept among the Jews, or when the memory of them would go from the minds of their seed.