“Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa and fast in my behalf. Don’t eat and don’t drink for three days, night or day. My female attendants and I will also fast in the same way. Afterward I will go to the king, even though it violates the law. If I perish, I perish!”
These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.
8He also gave him a written copy of the law that had been disseminated in Susa for their destruction so that he could show it to Esther and talk to her about it. He also gave instructions that she should go to the king to implore him and petition him on behalf of her people.
9So Hathach returned and related Mordecai’s instructions to Esther.
10Then Esther replied to Hathach with instructions for Mordecai:
11“All the servants of the king and the people of the king’s provinces know that there is only one law applicable to any man or woman who comes uninvited to the king in the inner court– that person will be put to death, unless the king extends to him the gold scepter, permitting him to be spared. Now I have not been invited to come to the king for some thirty days!”
12When Esther’s reply was conveyed to Mordecai,
13he said to take back this answer to Esther:“Don’t imagine that because you are part of the king’s household you will be the one Jew who will escape.
14If you keep quiet at this time, liberation and protection for the Jews will appear from another source, while you and your father’s household perish. It may very well be that you have achieved royal status for such a time as this!”
15Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:
17So Mordecai set out to do everything that Esther had instructed him.
1Esther Decides to Risk Everything in order to Help Her People Now when Mordecai became aware of all that had been done, he tore his garments and put on sackcloth and ashes. He went out into the city, crying out in a loud and bitter voice.
2But he went no further than the king’s gate, for no one was permitted to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth.
3Throughout each and every province where the king’s edict and law were announced there was considerable mourning among the Jews, along with fasting, weeping, and sorrow. Sackcloth and ashes were characteristic of many.
4When 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.
5So Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs who had been placed at her service, and instructed him to find out the cause and reason for Mordecai’s behavior.
4Esther replied,“If the king is so inclined, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.”
5The king replied,“Find Haman quickly so that we can do as Esther requests.”So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared.
2On the second day of the banquet of wine the king asked Esther,“What is your request, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your petition? Ask up to half the kingdom, and it shall be done!”
3Queen Esther replied,“If I have met with your approval, O king, and if the king is so inclined, grant me my life as my request, and my people as my petition.
4For we have been sold– both I and my people– to destruction and to slaughter and to annihilation! If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not have been sufficient for troubling the king.”
5Then King Ahasuerus responded to Queen Esther,“Who is this individual? Where is this person to be found who is presumptuous enough to act in this way?”
31to establish these days of Purim in their proper times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established, and just as they had established both for themselves and their descendants, matters pertaining to fasting and lamentation.
32Esther’s command established these matters of Purim, and the matter was officially recorded.
7Esther responded,“My request and my petition is this:
8If I have found favor in the king’s sight and if the king is inclined to grant my request and perform my petition, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet that I will prepare for them. At that time I will do as the king wishes.”
3Then Esther again spoke with the king, falling at his feet. She wept and begged him for mercy, that he might nullify the evil of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had intended against the Jews.
4When the king extended to Esther the gold scepter, she arose and stood before the king.
5She said,“If the king is so inclined and if I have met with his approval and if the matter is agreeable to the king and if I am attractive to him, let an edict be written rescinding those recorded intentions of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, which he wrote in order to destroy the Jews who are throughout all the king’s provinces.
6For how can I watch the calamity that will befall my people, and how can I watch the destruction of my relatives?”
15The king asked,“By law, what should be done to Queen Vashti in light of the fact that she has not obeyed the instructions of King Ahasuerus conveyed through the eunuchs?”
19If the king is so inclined, let a royal edict go forth from him, and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media that cannot be repealed, that Vashti may not come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king convey her royalty to another who is more deserving than she.
4When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
8It so happened that when the king’s edict and his law became known many young women were taken to Susa the citadel to be placed under the authority of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the royal palace to be under the authority of Hegai, who was overseeing the women.
9This young woman pleased him, and she found favor with him. He quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her rations; he also provided her with the seven specially chosen young women who were from the palace. He then transferred her and her young women to the best quarters in the harem.
10Now Esther had not disclosed her people or her lineage, for Mordecai had instructed her not to do so.
11And day after day Mordecai used to walk back and forth in front of the court of the harem in order to learn how Esther was doing and what might happen to her.
12At the end of the twelve months that were required for the women, when the turn of each young woman arrived to go to King Ahasuerus– for in this way they had to fulfill their time of cosmetic treatment: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfume and various ointments used by women–
13the woman would go to the king in the following way: Whatever she asked for would be provided for her to take with her from the harem to the royal palace.
25But when the matter came to the king’s attention, the king gave written orders that Haman’s evil intentions that he had devised against the Jews should fall on his own head. He and his sons were hanged on the gallows.
26For this reason these days are known as Purim, after the name of pur. Therefore, because of the account found in this letter and what they had faced in this regard and what had happened to them,
1Esther Appeals to the King for Help It so happened that on the third day Esther put on her royal attire and stood in the inner court of the palace, opposite the king’s quarters. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the palace, opposite the entrance.
29So Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim.
12Then the king said to Queen Esther,“In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman! What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? What is your request? It shall be given to you. What other petition do you have? It shall be done.”
13Esther replied,“If the king is so inclined, let the Jews who are in Susa be permitted to act tomorrow also according to today’s law, and let them hang the ten sons of Haman on the gallows.”
4Let the young woman whom the king finds most attractive become queen in place of Vashti.” This seemed like a good idea to the king, so he acted accordingly.
12Haman said,“Furthermore, Queen Esther invited only me to accompany the king to the banquet that she prepared! And also tomorrow I am invited along with the king.
7In rage the king arose from the banquet of wine and withdrew to the palace garden. Meanwhile, Haman stood to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king had now determined a catastrophic end for him.
8When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet of wine, Haman was throwing himself down on the couch where Esther was lying. The king exclaimed,“Will he also attempt to rape the queen while I am still in the building!”As these words left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.
21to have them observe the fourteenth and the fifteenth day of the month of Adar each year
21I called for a fast there by the Ahava Canal, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and seek from him a safe journey for us, our children, and all our property.
10The king then said to Haman,“Go quickly! Take the clothing and the horse, just as you have described, and do as you just indicated to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Don’t neglect a single thing of all that you have said.”