But the queen Vashti would not come at the king's word by his chamberlains. Then was the king very wroth, and his indignation kindled in him.

For the matter concerning the queen will spread to all the women, leading them to treat their husbands with contempt, saying, 'When King Ahasuerus gave orders to bring Queen Vashti into his presence, she would not come.'

And every day Modecai would walk up and down in front of the courtyard of the {harem} to learn {how Esther was doing}.

When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the palace.

In the evening she would go and in the morning she would return to the {second harem} {under the care of} Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch in charge of the concubines. She would not go back to the king unless the king delighted in her and she was called by name.

The entire royal staff at the King’s Gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded this to be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.

Now it came to pass, when they spake daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's matters would stand: for he had told them that he was a Jew.

When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel and bow down to him, he flew into a rage.

A copy of this edict was to be presented as law throughout every province; it was to be made known to all the inhabitants, so that they would be prepared for this day.

When Esther's female attendants and her eunuchs came and informed her about Mordecai's behavior, the queen was overcome with anguish. Although she sent garments for Mordecai to put on so that he could remove his sackcloth, he would not accept them.

Mordecai told him everything that had happened and the exact amount of money that Haman had said he would pay into the king's treasury in order to destroy the Jewish people.

Then the king asked her, "What would you like, queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you even to the half of the kingdom."

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

And Haman said unto the king, "Let the man unto whom the king would be glad to do worship, be brought hither,

And let this raiment and horse be delivered under the hand of one of the king's princes, that he may array the man withal, whom the king would fain honour: and carry him upon the horse through the streets of the city, and cause it to be proclaimed before him, 'Thus shall it be done to every man, whom the king would fain honour.'"

For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss.

King Ahasuerus spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?”

Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the house of wine drinking, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually violate the queen while I am in the palace?” As soon as the statement left the king’s mouth, Haman’s face was covered.

And Esther spake yet more before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him, that he would put away the wickedness of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had imagined against the Jews.

For how can I endure to see the evil that would come to my people? How can I endure to see the destruction of my relatives?"

By these the king granted the Jews who were in every city to gather themselves together, and to defend their lives, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the forces of the people and province that would assault them, their little ones and women, and to take their possessions for a spoil,

This would take place on a single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar.

A copy of the {edict} [was] to be given [as] law in each province to inform all the people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves from their enemies.

In the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), on its thirteenth day, the edict of the king and his law were to be executed. It was on this day that the enemies of the Jews had supposed that they would gain power over them. But contrary to expectations, the Jews gained power over their enemies.

Then gathered the Jews together in their cities within all the lands of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as would do them evil, and no man could withstand them: for the fear of them was come over all people.

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

The Jews ordained, and took upon themselves, and upon their descendants, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so that it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to what was written, and according to their appointed time every year;

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.