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.

And Esther's maids and her eunuchs came and they told her, and the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he might remove his sackcloth--but he did not accept [them].

And King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "Look, I have given Haman's house to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he {plotted against} the Jews.

When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard she found favor in his eyes, and the king held out the gold scepter that [was] in his hand to Esther, and Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter.

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.

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 the matter became known to Mordecai and he told [it] to Queen Esther, and Esther told [it] to the king in the name of Mordecai.

And the king said, "Bring Haman quickly {to fulfill} the request of Esther." So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

And the king again said to Esther, on the second day {while they were drinking}, "What [is] your petition, Queen Esther? It will be given to you. What [is] your request? It will be given [to you]--even half the kingdom."

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 the king held out to Esther the scepter of gold, and Esther rose and stood before the king,

And it happened, at the proclaiming of the edict of the king and his law, when many young women were being gathered to the citadel of Susa {under Hegai's care}, Esther was taken to the {king's palace} {under the care of} Hegai who was in charge of the women.

And it happened, on the third day, and Esther put on royal clothes, and she stood in the inner courtyard of the {king's palace}, opposite the {king's palace}; the king [was] sitting on his royal throne in the {throne room} opposite the doorway of the palace.

And the king returned from the palace garden to the {banquet hall}, [where] Haman [was] lying prostrate on the couch that Esther [was] on, and the king said, "Will he also molest the queen with me in the house?" As the words went from the king's mouth they covered Haman's face.

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.

Then Esther called Hathach from the king's eunuchs {who regularly attended to her}, and she ordered him [to go] to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why.

As they [were] still speaking with him the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

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.

And the king said to Queen Esther, "In the citadel of Susa the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? What [is] your petition? It will be granted to you. And what further [is] your request? It will be done."

Esther replied, "If it is good to the king, let tomorrow also be granted to the Jews who [are] in Susa to do according to the edict of today; and let them hang Haman's ten sons on the gallows."

Esther did not disclose her people and her family because Modecai had charged her that she must not tell.

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

Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, to his {palace}, in the tenth month that is Tebeth in the seventh year of his reign.

And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won his favor and loyalty more than all the virgins, so he put a {royal crown} on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

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 Hathach went [back] and told Esther the words of Mordecai.

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

And they told Mordecai the words of Esther.

Then Mordecai told [them] to reply to Esther: "Do not think that your life will be saved [in] the palace of the king more than all the Jews.

Esther replied to Mordecai:

And Mordecai went away and he did everything that Esther commanded him.

And the king said to her, "What [is] it, Queen Esther? What [is] your request? It will be given to you--even half the kingdom."

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."

And the king said to Esther {while they were drinking wine}, "What [is] your petition? It will be given to you. What [is] your request? Even half the kingdom, it will done.

And Esther answered and said, "[This is] my petition and my request.

{And Haman added}, "Esther the Queen did not let [just anyone] come to the banquet that she prepared with the king except me, and I am also invited tomorrow to her [banquet] with the king.

So the king and Haman went {to dine} with Queen Esther.

Then Queen Esther answered, and she said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and if it is good to the king, let my life be given to me at my petition and my people at my request;

And King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, "Who [is] he, and where [is] he, who {gave himself the right to do this}?"

And Esther said, "The adversary and enemy [is] this evil Haman!" And Haman was terrified before the king and queen.

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 the king removed his signet ring that he had taken away from Haman, and he gave it to Mordecai. So Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

So Queen Esther the daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Jew wrote in full authority to confirm this second letter of Purim.

to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had imposed, and just as they had imposed on themselves and their offspring regulations of the fast and their lament.

And the command of Esther established these practices of Purim, and [it was] written on the scroll.

And the priest shall take {some of} the guilt offering's blood, and the priest shall put [it] on the right ear's lobe of the one who presents himself for cleansing and on his right hand's thumb and on his right foot's big toe.

Then the priest shall put {some of} the remaining oil, which [is] on his palm, on the right ear's lobe of the one to be cleansed and on his right hand's thumb and on his right foot's big toe, on [top of] the guilt offering's blood.

and he shall slaughter the male lamb of the guilt offering, and the priest shall take {some of} the guilt offering's blood, and he shall put [it] on the right ear's lobe of the one who presents himself for cleansing and on his right hand's thumb and on his right foot's big toe.

Then the priest shall put {some of} the oil that [is] on his palm on the right ear's lobe of the one who presents himself for cleansing and on his right hand's thumb and on his right foot's big toe on the place of the guilt offering's blood.

Then Laban went into Jacob's tent and Leah's tent and the tent of the two female servants and did not find [his gods]. And he came out of Leah's tent and went into Rachel's tent.

" 'If Israel's whole assembly did wrong unintentionally and the matter was concealed from the assembly's eyes, and they acted [against] {any of} Yahweh's commands that should not be {violated}, so that they incur guilt,

Or if a person touches anything unclean, {whether} an unclean [wild] animal's dead body or an unclean domestic animal's dead body or an unclean swarmer's dead body, but {he is unaware of it}, he [is] unclean and he is guilty.

and he shall spatter {some of} the sin offering's blood on the altar's side, and the leftover blood must be drained out on the altar's base; it [is] a sin offering.

and he slaughtered [it]. Then Moses took {some of} its blood and put [it] on Aaron's right ear lobe and on his right hand's thumb and on his right foot's big toe.

Then he brought Aaron's sons near, and Moses put {some of} the blood on their right ear lobe and on their right hand's thumb and on their right foot's big toe, and Moses sprinkled the blood on the altar all around.

Then Aaron's sons presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood, and he put [it] on the altar's horns, and he poured out the blood on the altar's base.

"Then he shall go out to the altar that [is] {before} Yahweh, and he shall make atonement for it; and he shall take {some of} the bull's blood and {some of} the goat's blood, and he shall put [it] all around on the altar's horns.

[As for] your sister's nakedness, [whether] your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, [whether] {born at home} or {born abroad}, you must not expose their nakedness.

" 'As for a man who takes his sister, his father's daughter or his mother's daughter, and he sees her nakedness and she herself sees his nakedness, it [is] a disgrace, and they shall be cut off {before} the eyes of {their people}; he has exposed his sister's nakedness--he must bear his guilt.

But a priest's daughter, when she becomes a widow or divorced or there is no offspring for her, and she returns to her father's house as [in] her childhood, she may eat from her father's food, but {no layman may eat it}.

And an Israelite woman's son, and he [was] an Egyptian man's son, went out in the midst of the {Israelites}; and the Israelite woman's son and an Israelite man fought in the camp.

And whatever [anyone] redeems from the Levites then must go out [of the buyer's hand] in the Jubilee, [including] a house's selling {in his city's property}, because the houses in the cities of the Levites [are] their property in the midst of the {Israelites}.

And it happened [that], when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, Jacob drew near and rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother.

For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

to {proclaim} [the] year of Yahweh's favor, and our God's day of vengeance, to comfort all those in mourning,

Asher's food [is] delicious, and he shall provide from the king's delicacies.

Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, "I will go up and report to Pharaoh, and I will say to him, 'My brothers and my father's household who [were] in the land of Canaan have come to me.

He shall bring the bull to [the] tent of assembly's entrance before Yahweh, place his hand on the bull's head, and slaughter the bull before Yahweh.

He must put {some of} the blood on the altar's horns before Yahweh {in the tent of assembly}, and all [the rest] of the blood he must pour out on the base of the altar of the burnt offering, which [is at the] tent of assembly's entrance.

The priest shall take {some of} the sin offering's blood with his finger, and he shall put [it] on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering, and he must pour out all [the rest] of its blood on the altar's base.

He must remove all of its fat {just as} the lamb's fat from the fellowship offerings' sacrifice was removed, and the priest shall turn them into smoke on the altar upon Yahweh's offerings made by fire; and the priest shall make atonement for him because of his sin that he {committed}, and {he will be forgiven}.'"

The one who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward.

and a dead body's fat or mangled carcass's fat may be used for any {purpose}, but you certainly must not eat it.

because I have taken the wave offering's breast section and the contribution [offering's] upper thigh from the {Israelites} out of their fellowship offerings' sacrifices, and I have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons from the {Israelites} [as] a lasting rule.'"

This [is] Aaron's allotted portion and his sons' allotted portion from Yahweh's offerings made by fire {when} he brought them forward to serve as priests for Yahweh.

and he slaughtered [it], and Moses took the blood and put [it] with his finger on the altar's horns all around and purified the altar; then he poured the blood out on the altar's base--thus he consecrated it [in order] to make atonement for it.

"Why did you not eat the sin offering on the sanctuary's site, because it [is] {a most holy thing}? And he gave it to you to remove the community's guilt, to make atonement for them {before} Yahweh.

"When a {person} has on his body's skin a swelling or an epidermal eruption or a spot and it becomes an infectious skin disease on his body's skin, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests.

And the priest shall examine the infection on his body's skin, and [if] [the] hair in the infection turns white and the appearance of the infection [is] deeper than his body's skin, it [is] an infectious skin disease, and the priest shall examine it, and he shall declare him unclean.

But if it the spot has stayed [unchanged] in its place, it has not spread on the skin and it [is] faded, [then] it is the burn-spot's swelling, so the priest shall declare him clean, because it [is] the burn-spot's scar.

"And Aaron shall present the sin offering's bull, which [is] for himself, and so he shall make atonement for himself and for his family; then he shall slaughter the sin offering's bull, which [is] for himself.

And he shall take {some of} the bull's blood, and he shall spatter [it] with his finger on the atonement cover's surface on the eastern [side], and {before} the atonement cover he shall spatter {some of} the blood with his finger seven times.

"And he shall slaughter the sin offering's goat, which [is] for the people, and he shall bring its blood {from behind} the curtain, and he shall do with its blood as that which he did with the bull's blood, and he shall spatter it on the atonement cover and {before} the atonement cover.

And Aaron shall place his two hands on the living goat's head, and he shall confess over it all the {Israelites}' iniquities and all their transgressions for all their sins, and he shall put them on the goat's head, and he shall send [it] away into the desert {with} a man [standing] ready.

And the sin offering's bull and the sin offering's goat, whose blood was brought to make atonement in the sanctuary, shall be brought {outside the camp}, and they shall burn their hide and their flesh and their offal in the fire.

and he shall make atonement for the sanctuary's holy place, and he shall make atonement for [the] tent of assembly and the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all of the assembly's people.

and he does not bring it to the tent of assembly's entrance to present an offering to Yahweh {before} Yahweh's tabernacle, then that man shall be accounted bloodguilty--he has poured out blood, and that man shall be cut off from the midst of his people.

And the priest shall sprinkle the blood on Yahweh's altar [at the] tent of assembly's entrance, and he shall {burn} the fat as an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh.

You must not expose your father's nakedness or your mother's nakedness--she [is] your mother; you must not expose her nakedness.

You must not expose the nakedness of your father's wife--it is your father's nakedness.

[As for] the nakedness of your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, you must not expose their nakedness, because they [are] your nakedness.

You must not expose the nakedness of your father's sister; she [is] {your father's close relative}.

You must not expose the nakedness of your mother's sister, because she [is] {your mother's close relative}.

You must not expose your daughter-in-law's nakedness; she [is] your son's wife; you must not expose her nakedness.

You must not expose the nakedness of your brother's wife; she [is] your brother's nakedness.

You must not expose the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, or her son's daughter, or her daughter's daughter; you must not take [her as wife] to expose her nakedness; they [are] {close relatives}--that [is] wickedness.

" 'As for a man who commits adultery with a man's wife, who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, [both] the man who commits adultery and the woman who commits adultery shall surely be put to death.

As for a man who lies with his father's wife, he has exposed his father's nakedness; both of them shall be put to death--their blood [is] on them.

And you shall not expose the nakedness of your mother's sister, and you shall not expose your father's sister, because such a person has dishonored his close relative--they must bear their guilt.

As for a man who marries his brother's wife, it [is] an abomination; he has exposed his brother's nakedness--they shall be childless.