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NASB | Esther 1:1 Now it took place in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Esther 1:1 It was in the days of Ahasuerus (Xerxes) who reigned from India to Ethiopia (Cush) over 127 provinces, |
Bible Question: who was esther |
Bible Answer: A Jewish orphan girl of the tribe of Benjamin whose Hebrew name was Hadassah (meaning “Myrtle”); a descendant from among those deported from Jerusalem along with King Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) in 617 B.C.E. (Es 2:5-7) She was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai. (Es 2:15) Her guardian was her older cousin Mordecai, one of “the king’s servants that were in the king’s gate” of the palace at Shushan during the reign of the Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes I, in the fifth century B.C.E.). (Es 2:7; 3:2) In brief, the book of ESTHER is a vivid account of how Esther, with guidance from her older cousin Mordecai, was used by God to deliver the Jews from extermination; Ester was written evidently by Mordecai, and apparently covering 493–c. 475 B.C.E. When King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I) calls for Queen Vashti during a royal banquet, so he can show off her loveliness, she persistently refuses to come; the king removes her as queen (1:1-22) Esther is chosen above all the other beautiful virgins in the realm and is made queen; at Mordecai’s direction, she does not reveal that she is a Jewess (2:1-20) Mordecai is given the king’s signet ring that was taken from Haman (8:1, 2) With the king’s approval, a decree is issued permitting the Jews to defend themselves and to annihilate their enemies on the day that had been set for their own destruction; many thousands of the Jews’ enemies are slaughtered (8:3–9:19) It is decreed that this deliverance be commemorated each year (9:20-32) Mordecai comes to be second to the king and works for the good of his people (10:1-3) |