Bible verses about "esther" | Thomson

¹ And on the third day Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king's palace over against the king's house, when the king was sitting on his royal throne, in the royal house, over against the gate. ² And when the king saw Esther standing in the court, she obtained favour in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre which was in his hand, and Esther drew near and touched the top of the sceptre. ³ And the king said, What would queen Esther? And what is thy petition? To the half of my kingdom it shall be granted thee. ⁴ Thereupon Esther said, To-day is my set day, if therefore it seemeth good to the king, let him come with Hainan to the banquet which I will this day prepare. ⁵ And the king said, Call Haman quickly that we may do as Esther hath said. So they both went to the banquet which Esther had ordered. ⁶ And at the banquet the king said to Esther, What would queen Esther? Whatever thou askest shall be granted. ⁷ To which she replied, ⁸ If I have found favour in the sight of the king, Let the king come again with Haman to-morrow to the banquet which I will prepare for them, and to-morrow I will make my request and my petition. ⁹ Then Haman went out from the king overjoyed and gladdened, but upon seeing Mordecai the Jew in the court, he was inflamed with great indignation. ¹⁰ So going home, he called his friends and his wife Zosara, ¹¹ and having displayed to them his riches and the honour which the king had conferred on him; how he had promoted him to the highest rank and made him ruler of the kingdom, ¹² the queen, said he, invited none to the banquet with the king, but only me: and to-morrow I am invited: ¹³ but these things give me no pleasure, when I see Mordecai the Jew in the court. ¹⁴ Thereupon Zosara his wife and his friends said to him, Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made for thee, and early in the morning speak to the king and let Mordecai be hanged thereon, then go to the banquet with the king and take thy fill of joy. And the thing pleased Haman. So the gallows was got ready.

¹⁷ And the king was enamoured of Esther, and she found favour above all the virgins, so that he set the queen's crown on her head

¹⁴ Be assured, that if thou neglectest the present opportunity, help and protection will come to the Jews from some other quarter; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed. Who knoweth but that for this very occasion thou hast been made queen.

¹ And on that same day the king made a present to Esther of all that belonged to Haman the accuser. And the king sent for Mordecai; [for Esther told him that he was her kinsman;] ² and the king took the ring which he had taken back from Haman and gave it to Mordecai, and Esther set him over all that belonged to Haman. ³ Then she spoke to the king again and fell at his feet and besought him to avert the mischief of Haman, and what he had devised against the Jews. ⁴ And when the king stretched forth the golden sceptre to Esther, she arose and stood near the king ⁵ and said, If it seemeth good to thee, and I have found favour, let despatches be sent to reverse the letters sent by Haman, which were written to destroy the Jews who are in thy kingdom. ⁶ For how can I see the calamity of my people? or how can I survive the destruction of my kindred? ⁷ Thereupon the king said to Esther, If I have given thee all the substance of Haman; and to gratify thee have caused him to be hanged on a gallows, because he laid his hands on the Jews, what more dost thou desire? ⁸ Write ye yourselves what you please in my name, and seal it with my ring. For what is written by the king's order, and sealed with my ring cannot be reversed. ⁹ So the secretaries were convened in the first month which is Nisan, on the three and twentieth day thereof in the same year, and a letter was written to the Jews reciting all that had been given in charge to the lieutenants and to the chief governors of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, a hundred and twenty seven provinces, to every province as they could read it, ¹⁰ then it was written by the king's command and sealed with his ring, [and these letters were sent by posts] ¹¹ that he ordered them to use their own laws in every city, and to assist each other, and to use their adversaries, and them who assaulted them as they pleased, ¹² on a certain day, the thirteenth of the twelfth month Adar, throughout the whole kingdom of ¹³ Artaxerxes; that these subsequent writings were to counterbalance the former letter; and that these counterbalancing writings should be exposed to publick view throughout the whole kingdom, that the Jews might be ready against that day to combat their adversaries. ¹⁴ So the horsemen set out in all haste to execute the king's orders. And when the decree was published at Susoi, ¹⁵ Mordecai went forth, arrayed in a royal robe, wearing a crown of gold and a turban of purple cotton. And upon seeing him the inhabitants of Susoi rejoiced. ¹⁶ And among the Jews, there was light and joy in every city and province where the decree was published. ¹⁷ Wherever proclamation was made, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, feasting and mirth; so that many of the nations were circumcised and became Jews, for fear of the Jews.

¹⁶ Go and assemble the Jews who are at Susoi and fast for me. You must neither eat nor drink for three days; night nor day; and as for me, I and my maids will fast likewise, and then I will go to the king contrary to law, though perhaps I must die.