BibleWare/BibWare.bin/bibtrans/darby.exe/ES.DBY

Text File | 1996-06-12 | 32KB | 578 lines

1:1 And it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus (that is, the
 Ahasuerus that reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over a
 hundred and twenty-seven provinces),
1:2 in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of
 his kingdom, which was in Shushan the fortress,
1:3 in the third year of his reign, he made a feast to all his
 princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the
 nobles and the princes of the provinces being before him;
1:4 when he shewed the glorious wealth of his kingdom and the
 splendid magnificence of his grandeur many days, a hundred and
 eighty days.
1:5 And when these days were expired, the king made a feast to
 all the people that were present in Shushan the fortress, both
 to great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of
 the king's palace.
1:6 White, green, and blue [hangings] were fastened with cords
 of byssus and purple to silver rings and pillars of white
 marble; couches of gold and silver [lay] upon a pavement of red
 and white marble, and alabaster, and black marble.
1:7 And they gave drink in vessels of gold (the vessels being
 diverse one from another), and royal wine in abundance,
 according to the king's bounty.
1:8 And the drinking was, according to commandment, without
 constraint; for so the king had appointed to all the magnates
 of his house, that they should do according to every man's
 pleasure.
1:9 Also the queen Vashti made a feast for the women of the
 royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.
1:10 On the seventh day, when the king's heart was merry with
 wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and
 Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served
 in the presence of king Ahasuerus,
1:11 to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the royal
 crown to shew the peoples and the princes her beauty; for she
 was of beautiful countenance.
1:12 But the queen Vashti refused to come at the word of the
 king which was [sent] by the chamberlains; and the king was
 very wroth, and his fury burned in him.
1:13 And the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for
 so was the king's business [conducted] before all that knew law
 and judgment;
1:14 and the next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha,
 Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, [and] Memucan, the seven princes of
 Persia and Media, who saw the king's face, and who sat first in
 the kingdom),
1:15 What shall be done to the queen Vashti according to law,
 because she has not performed the word of the king Ahasuerus by
 the chamberlains?
1:16 Then said Memucan before the king and the princes, The
 queen Vashti has not done wrong to the king only, but also to
 all the princes, and to all the peoples that are in all the
 provinces of the king Ahasuerus.
1:17 For the act of the queen will come abroad to all women, so
 as to render their husbands contemptible in their eyes, when
 they shall say, The king Ahasuerus commanded the queen Vashti
 to be brought in before him, and she came not!
1:18 And the princesses of Persia and Media who have heard of
 the queen's act, will say it this day to all the king's
 princes, and there will be contempt and anger enough.
1:19 If it please the king, let a royal order go forth from him,
 and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the
 Medes, that it may not pass, That Vashti come no more before
 king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate to
 another that is better than she;
1:20 and when the king's edict which he shall make shall be
 heard throughout his realm -- for it is great -- all the wives
 shall give to their husbands honour, from the greatest to the
 least.
1:21 And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the
 king did according to the word of Memucan.
1:22 And he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into
 every province according to the writing thereof, and to every
 people according to their language, That every man should bear
 rule in his own house, and should speak according to the
 language of his people.
2:1 After these things, when the fury of king Ahasuerus was
 appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what
 was decreed against her.
2:2 Then said the king's servants that attended upon him, Let
 there be maidens, virgins of beautiful countenance, sought for
 the king;
2:3 and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of
 his kingdom, that they may gather together all the young
 virgins of beautiful countenance to Shushan the fortress, to
 the house of the women, unto the custody of Hegai the king's
 chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for
 purification be given.
2:4 And let the maiden that pleaseth the king be queen instead
 of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.
2:5 There was in Shushan the fortress a certain Jew, whose name
 was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of
 Kish, a Benjaminite,
2:6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives
 who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom
 Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.
2:7 And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's
 daughter; for she had neither father nor mother -- and the
 maiden was fair and beautiful -- and when her father and mother
 were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.
2:8 And it came to pass when the king's commandment and his
 decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together
 unto Shushan the fortress, unto the custody of Hegai, that
 Esther also was brought into the king's house, unto the custody
 of Hegai, keeper of the women.
2:9 And the maiden pleased him, and obtained favour before him;
 and he speedily gave her her things for purification, and her
 portions, and the seven maidens selected to be given her, out
 of the king's house; and he removed her and her maids to the
 best [place] of the house of the women.
2:10 Esther had not made known her people nor her birth; for
 Mordecai had charged her that she should not make it known.
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.
2:12 And when every maiden's turn came to go in to king
 Ahasuerus after that she had been treated for twelve months,
 according to the manner of the women (for so were the days of
 their purification accomplished -- six months with oil of
 myrrh, and six months with spices, and with things for the
 purifying of the women,
2:13 and thus came the maiden in unto the king), whatever she
 desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the
 women to the king's house.
2:14 In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned
 into the second house of the women, unto the custody of
 Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, keeper of the concubines.
 She came in to the king no more, unless the king delighted in
 her, and she were called by name.
2:15 And when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the
 uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to
 go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the
 king's chamberlain, keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther
 obtained grace in the sight of all them that saw her.
2:16 So Esther was taken to king Ahasuerus, into his royal
 house, in the tenth month, that is, the month Tebeth, in the
 seventh year of his reign.
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, and he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her
 queen instead of Vashti.
2:18 And the king made a great feast to all his princes and his
 servants, Esther's feast; and he made a release to the
 provinces, and gave presents according to the king's bounty.
2:19 And when the virgins were gathered together the second
 time, Mordecai sat in the king's gate.
2:20 (Esther, as Mordecai had charged her, had not yet made
 known her birth nor her people; for Esther did what Mordecai
 told her, like as when she was brought up with him.)
2:21 In those days, while