lament.


THE BOOK OF ESTHER


These are the chapters of the Book of Esther, which are found
neither in the Hebrew nor in the Chaldee.


In the second year of the reign of Artaxerxes the Great, Mardocheus, who
was a Jew and dwelt in the city of Susa, had a dream. And the same night
he overheard two eunuchs plotting to lay hands on Artaxerxes, and he,
being a servitor in the king's court, told the king; and the eunuchs,
after examination, were strangled. Aman, because of this, induced
Artaxerxes to write to all the princes and governors from India unto
Ethiopia to destroy all the Jews, with their wives and children, without
pity, on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar. Mardocheus and
Queen Esther, being in the fear of death, resorted unto the Lord, and
prayed for deliverance, and for the preservation of the children of
Israel. On the third day, Queen Esther cometh unto the king's presence;
and she was ruddy through the perfection of her beauty, but her heart
was in anguish for fear. The king looketh angrily at her as she stood
before his royal throne, and she fainteth. Then God changed the spirit
of the king, who leaped from his throne, took her in his arms, saying:
Be of good cheer, thou shalt not die, though our commandment be general.
As he was speaking, she fell a second time for faintness, and the king
was troubled and all his servants comforted her.

Artaxerxes then wrote a letter to all the princes wherein he taxed Aman,