Best of Bible Study & Games/BestOfBibleStudyAndGames1996isv.zip/KBIBLE/EST.TXT

Text File | 1986-01-04 | 33KB | 654 lines

EST 1:1  Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which
 reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty
 provinces:)

EST 1:2  That in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his
 kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace,

EST 1:3  In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes
 and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes
 of the provinces, being before him:

EST 1:4  When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of
 his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days.

EST 1:5  And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the
 people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small,
 seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace;

EST 1:6  Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of
 fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of
 gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black,
 marble.

EST 1:7  And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, (the vessels being
 diverse one from another,) and royal wine in abundance, according to the
 state of the king.

EST 1:8  And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the
 king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do
 according to every man's pleasure.

EST 1:9  Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house
 which belonged to king Ahasuerus.

EST 1:10  On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine,
 he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and
 Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the
 king,

EST 1:11  To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to
 shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on.

EST 1:12  But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his
 chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.

EST 1:13  Then the king said to the wise men, which knew the times, (for so was
 the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment:

EST 1:14  And the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish,
 Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw
 the king's face, and which sat the first in the kingdom;)

EST 1:15  What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she
 hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?

EST 1:16  And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the
 queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and
 to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus.

EST 1:17  For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that
 they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported,
 The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him,
 but she came not.

EST 1:18  Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all
 the king's princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall
 there arise too much contempt and wrath.

EST 1:19  If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and
 let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be
 not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king
 give her royal estate unto another that is better than she.

EST 1:20  And when the king's decree which he shall make shall be published
 throughout all his empire, (for it is great,) all the wives shall give
 to their husbands honour, both to great and small.

EST 1:21  And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the king did
 according to the word of Memucan:

EST 1:22  For he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every
 province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their
 language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it
 should be published according to the language of every people.

EST 2:1  After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he
 remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.

EST 2:2  Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, Let there be
 fair young virgins sought for the king:

EST 2:3  And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom,
 that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the
 palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king's
 chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be
 given them:

EST 2:4  And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti.
 And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.

EST 2:5  Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was
 Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite;

EST 2:6  Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had
 been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king
 of Babylon had carried away.

EST 2:7  And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for
 she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom
 Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.

EST 2:8  So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his decree was
 heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace,
 to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king's house,
 to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.

EST 2:9  And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he
 speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged
 to her, and seven maidens, which were meet to be given her, out of the king's
 house: and he preferred her and her maids unto the best place of the house
 of the women.

EST 2:10  Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had
 charged her that she should not shew it.

EST 2:11  And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house,
 to know how Esther did, and what should become of her.

EST 2:12  Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after
 that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for
 so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with
 oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the
 purifying of the women;)

EST 2:13  Then thus came every maiden unto the king; whatsoever she desired was
 given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king's house.

EST 2:14  In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the
 second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's
 chamberlain, which kept the concubines: she came in unto the king no more,
 except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name.

EST 2:15  Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of
 Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the
 king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper
 of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them
 that looked upon her.

EST 2:16  So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the
 tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

EST 2:17  And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace
 and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal
 crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

EST 2:18  Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes and his
 servants, even Esther's feast; and he made a release to the provinces, and
 gave