Esther

Optional titlesQueen Esther saved the Jews from death [genocide].God protected the Jews during their exile [captivity].

King Xerxes [Sirksis] ruled over Persia [the Persian Empire] for [20] years. His Queen [main wife] was named Vashti. One time, when Xerxes held a big feast for his officials, he wanted them to see his queen. But Vashti replied, “I will not come to your feast and show myself!”

Xersex’ advisors said to him, “You should send Vashti away and marry a new Queen!” He agreed. So the king’s servants went to many places, and brought many beautiful young women to Xersex’s palace, so he could choose a new Queen.

A Jewish man name Mordecai was rearing up his young cousin [a dead uncle’s daughter]. Her name was Esther, and she was very beautiful. So the king’s servant also brought Esther to Xersex’s palace.

All the young women were kept safe in the king’s palace for one year. Then the young women came to King Xerxes. He liked Esther more than the other young women, so he announced, “I have chosen Esther to become my queen!” But he did not know that Esther was Jewish [a Jew].

Mordecai the Jew worked as a gate keeper at the king’s palace. One day, he heard some palace guards plotting together, “Let us kill the king!” Mordecai reported this to Esther who told it to King Xerxes.

The king then ordered some soldiers, “Go arrest [capture] those guards and put them to death [kill them]!” The king then said to his scribe [writer], “Write a note about this in my official records [books]!”

Another day, King Xerxes appointed [named] a new official over his kingdom. His name was Haman, a descendent of a tribe [Agagites] that hated Jews.

King Xerxes made a decree [law] that everyone must bow down before Haman, whenever they saw him. However [But] Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, would never bow before Haman.

The king’s other servants often urged [told] Mordecai to bow before Haman, but he would always reply, “No, I will not do so, because I am a Jew!”

One day, some of the king’s servants went to see Haman and asked [told] him, “Do you know that Mordecai never bows down before you?”

Haman became so angry towards Mordecai, that he said to himself, “I will kill Mordecai. I will also kill all the other Jews who dwell in the kingdom [Persian Empire]!”

Haman went to see King Xerxes and said to him, “O King! There is a people [tribe], dwelling in your kingdom, who do not obey your laws. If you will order your officials to kill those people, then you will get all of their wealth [money / riches]!”

So King Xersex told Haman to send a decree [law] to all the governors and official in all of the provinces [parts of the kingdom], which read [said], “The thirteenth day of the twelfth month, this year, you must allow men to kill all Jews!”

When Mordecai heard about Haman’s decree, he ran into the city’s streets, wailing [weeping loudly].Esther ordered a servant, “Go ask Mordecai why he is wailing [‘Why are you wailing?’]!”

Mordecai told everything to the servant and gave him a copy of the Haman’s decree, and said, “Go show this to Esther. Tell her that she must beg the king not to let Haman kill all us Jews!”

Esther sent a message to Mordecai, saying, “If I go to the king when he has not sent for me, then his guards will kill me. Only if he holds out his scepter [king’s royal stick] to me, will they not kill me!”

Mordecai sent a message to Esther, saying, “You are a Jew, too, and Haman will kill you, too, if you do not speak to the king. “Perhaps God has made you to be queen, to save us Jews at this time!”

Esther sent another message to Mordecai, saying, “Tell all the Jews in the city that we must fast and pray [to the Lord God] for three days. After that, I will go talk with the king. If they kill me, then I shall die!”

After the third day, Queen Esther went into the king’s part of his palace and stood at its door. When Xerxes saw her there, he was glad [happy]. So he held out his scepter towards her.

Esther came near to the king. He said to her, “Tell me what you want. I shall give to you whatever you request [ask].”

Esther told her request, “O King! Please, will you and Haman come to my part of the palace today, to eat a feast with me?” The king agreed.

The king and Haman came and ate a feast with Esther. The king again said to her, “Tell me what you want.” She replied, “O King! Please, will you and Haman come again tomorrow, to eat a feast with me?“I shall tell you tomorrow my request!”

Haman felt proud because Esther had invited him. But when he left the palace, he saw Mordecai who did not bow down before him. This made Haman angry, but he said nothing about it.

At his house, Haman invited his friends to come, and he boasted to them, “Tomorrow, the queen will serve a feast for the king and me!” Then he said to them, “But I cannot be happy until Mordecai be killed [is dead]!”

Haman’s friends said to him, “Set up a stake [sharp pole] on a high place, and ask the king to let you hang [impale] Mordecai on it. Then you will be happy at the feast tomorrow!” This idea [plan] pleased Haman, so he decided [planned] to do so.

That night, while Haman was setting up a pole [somewhere] [on which] to hang Mordecai, King Xerxes [in his palace] was not able to sleep. So he ordered some servants, “Bring my official records and read them to me!”

From the records, a servant read, “Mordecai saved the king’s life by reporting how some guards were plotting to kill the king.”

So the king asked the servants, “In what way did you [we] thank Mordecai and reward him?” They replied, “Sir, no one has done anything for Mordecai!”

While the king was talking, Haman came near the door. He was going to ask the king to let him hang Mordecai on the pole to kill him.

The king said to his servants, “Let Haman come in.” Before Haman could say anything, the king asked him, “What would you do to honor a man?” Haman said [thought] to himself, “Surely, the king is going to honor me!”

So Haman replied, “Let the man wear royal [king’s] clothes and sit on a royal horse. Then let a high official lead him through city streets, shouting, ‘The king wishes to honor this man!’”

Then Xerxes said to Haman, “This [idea] is good! Go put royal clothes on Mordecai and have [let] Mordecai mount [ride] one of my horses. Then, you, go lead the horse through the city, shouting the words you have said!”

Thus [so], Haman had to go give to Mordecai the honor that Haman wanted for himself!

When Haman returned to his house, he felt much anger and shame. Later, the king’s messengers came to Haman’s house summoning him, “It is time for you to go to the feast that Esther had prepared for the king and you!”

While Xersex and Haman were eating the feast with Esther, the king said to her again, “Tell me what you want. I shall give to you whatever you request [ask].”

Esther replied, “O my King, Men have plotted to kill my people [tribe] and me, very soon! Please, O King, save us!” The King asked, “Who [is it that] has plotted to do this?”Esther replied, “It is this evil man, Haman, who has plotted to kill us [Jews]!”

This terrified [frightened] Haman.The King became so angry that he left and went to walk in a beautiful garden while deciding what to do.Haman stayed with [near] Queen Esther to beg her to save him!

Haman then threw himself onto Esther’s couch [long chair], begging her, “Please! Save me!” Just then, the king came back. When he saw Haman [lying] on the Queen’s couch, he became more angry and shouted, “Will Haman molest [touch] my Queen? Here in my palace?” [OR “Haman is trying to touch [force / molest] my Queen [wife] right here in my palace!”

One of the king’s servants told him [the King] about the pole that Haman had set up, on which to kill Mordecai. The king then ordered some soldiers, “Seize Haman! Take him away and hang [impale] him on his own pole!”

Esther informed the king, “Mordecai the Jew, he is my relative [cousin uncle].” The king immediately appointed [chose] Mordecai to become his high official instead of Haman.

Esther then bowed down before King Xerxes and wept.She begged him, “Please! O King! Make a new decree to stop your officials, so they will not let men kill all my people, the Jews!”

The king then ordered Mordecai, “Write a new decree and to send it to all the governors in the empire. Put my name and my sign on it, so that no one can change it!”

Mordecai spoke the decree while scribes wrote it in all the languages that the governors spoke in the empire [kingdom].

Mordecai then wrote King Xerxes’ name on all the copies [decrees] and put the king’s sign on each one. He then ordered messengers, “Mount [ride] fast horses! Carry this decree to every governor in the empire!”

In the new decree, Mordecai wrote, “You must allow the Jews to defend themselves [to fight] against all their enemies!” This happened on the same day that Haman’s decree said that men could kill Jews and take their wealth.

In this way, the Jews were saved in the Persian Empire. To this day, every year, Jews everywhere celebrate [the festival they called Purim] and remember how Queen Esther turned their sadness to joy.