1
MEGILLAT ESTHER,
abridged for Public reading on Purim by 3 or more readers
(Narrator, Chorus and parts) by J M Keren-Black 2011/5771 - 110320
(Chapter and verse references are to the original Hebrew, and hence some verses and sections are shortened or missing. Mid-verse omissions are indicated as‘…’
Additions in square brackets should be read for clarity but are not in the original text)
Chapter 1
NARR (1) Inthe third year of the reign of Ahashverosh, king of one hundred and twenty seven provinces from India to Ethiopia, (3) he made a banquet for the nobles and princes of Persia and Media, (9) and Vashti the queen made a banquet for the women. (10) On the seventh day, when the king was merry with wine, he commanded (11)to bring Vashti the queen before him wearing the royal crown, (12) butshe refused to come and he was very angry.(13) He said to his wise men:(15)
KING:'What shall we do to queen Vashti, because she has not performed my command?'
NARR (16) They answered:
CHORUS: 'Vashti the queen has wronged not only the king, but all the people who are under your rule,(17) for all the women will hear of her action, and shall despise their husbands,becauseshe refused the king’s command. (19) Therefore let a royal command be made that Vashti shall never again enter your presence; and let the king choose a queen more deserving than she is. (20)Then all the wives shall respect their husbands, whoever they be.'
NARR: (21) The advice pleased the king, so (22) they sent letters to every province and to every people, so that every man should rule in his own house!
Chapter 2
NARR (1) Some time later, when the king's anger had subsided, he found he was missing Vashti. (2) So the king's servants said:
CHORUS: 'Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king...(4) And let the girl which pleases the king be queen in place of Vashti.'
NARR: The king liked the idea,and agreed. (5) Now in the capital, Shushan, lived a Jew by the name of Mordecai, (6) whose family had come there as exiles from Jerusalem, (7) and he had adopted his neice Esther as his daughter; for she was an orphan. She was shapely and beautiful and, (8) when the king's decree was heard, and when many girls were gathering in Shushan, Esther too went to join the king's harem... (10) Now she had not revealed that she was Jewish, for Mordecai had said it would be better to hide it. (16) [After more than three years training], it was her turn to go toKing Ahashverosh, (17) [whosoon realised that Esther was different from all the other women]; she found grace and favor in his sight; so he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
(21) About this time, Mordechai overheard two of the king's eunuchs, Bigtan and Teresh, plotting to kill king Ahashverosh. (22) He told Esther; and she informed the king. (23) When the matter was investigated, it was found to be true and they were both hanged; and it was recorded in the king's records.
Chapter 3
NARR: (1) Some time later, king Ahashverosh promoted Haman, and put him in charge of the court. (2) All the king's servants knelt and bowed low to him; but Mordecai would not kneel or bow (4)… for he had told them that he was a Jew, [and would bow only to God]. (5) When Haman saw this, he was filled with anger, (6) but he decided not to lay hands on Mordecai alone; insteadhe plotted to destroy all the Jews throughout the entire empire.
(insert from Chapter 5: 13)
NARR: Haman said:
HAMAN: ‘This promotion means nothing to me, so long as I see that Mordecai the Jew, sitting at the palace gate.'
NARR: (14) And Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him,
CHORUS: 'Have a gallows made, fifty cubits high, and tomorrow speak to the king that Mordecai may be hanged on it'.
NARR: The idea pleased Haman; and he had the gallows made.(Back to ch 3:7) He cast Purim, that is, [dice or] lots, to select the thirteenth day (from vs 13)of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. (8) Then he said to the king:
HAMAN: 'There is a certain people dispersed among all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of every other people and they do not keep the king's laws; therefore it is not in your majesty's interest to tolerate them. (9) If it please the king, let it be decreed that they may be destroyed; ...and I will also contribute ten thousand talents of silver to the king's treasuries.'
NARR:(10) So the king took his signet ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman, the enemy of the Jews. (11) And the king said to him:
KING: 'I give these people to you, to deal with as you think fit.'
NARR (12) So the decree was issued in the kings name, and signed with the king's signet ring, (13) to destroy, massacre and exterminate all Jews, young and old, children and women, on that day.
Chapter 4
NARR(1) When Mordecai discovered what had happened, he cried with a loud and a bitter cry;...
MORDECHAI: Ahhhhhhhhhhhh...... woe...... (very long wail!)
NARR (3)and in every province, wherever the king'sdecree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and wailing;(Indicate for congregation to wail). (7) Mordecai told Esther what had happened, and (8)asked her to go to the king, to plead with him for her people.... (10) but she replied....:
ESTHER: (11) 'Everyone knows that whoever comes before the king without being called is to be put to death, unless the king holds out his golden scepter, that they may live; and I have not been called to come to the king for a month.'
MORDECHAI: 'Do not think that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life because you are in the king's palace;(14) on the contrary, if you remain silent at this time, relief will come to the Jews from another quarter(this is the closest we come to mentioning God in the M’gilah!); but you and your family will be destroyed. But who knows - perhaps you have attained your royal position for just such a crisis as this?(perhaps this is how God influences the world?)'
ESTHER: (16) 'Then go, assemble all the Jews of Shushan, and fast for me for three days, night and day; I and my maidens will also fast; Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish - I perish!'
NARR:(17) So Mordecai went his way, and did as she had said.
Chapter 5
NARR:(1) On the third day, Esther put on her royal robes, and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, and the king sat upon his royal throne... (2)and when he saw her standing there, he was pleased; and held out his golden sceptre, So she drew near, and (3) the king said to her,
KING: 'What do you wish, queen Esther? and what is your request? It shall be given to you, even to half the kingdom.'
ESTHER: 'Sir… if it seem good to you, let the king and Haman come to a banquet that I am preparing.'
NARR (5) Then the king said,
KING: '[Certainly] - make Haman hurry, that he may do as you have said.'
Chapter 6
NARR: (1) That night, the king could not sleep, and ordered the Book of Records to be read before him. (2)They read how Mordecai had reported Bigtan and Teresh, who had plotted to kill the king.
KING: (3) 'What honor has been given to Mordecai for this?'
CHORUS 1: ['Er, let me check... Er...] Nothing was done for him, Sir.'
KING: '[What, nothing?] Who is in the court[at present]?'
NARR: Now Haman had just entered the outer court, so (5)the king's servants said:
CHORUS 2: 'Behold, Haman is standing in the court.'
KING: '[Good!]Let him come in.'
NARR:(6) So he came in, and the king said to him,
KING: 'What shall be done to the man whom the king wishes to honour?'
HAMAN (aside): 'Whom would the king wish to honour more than me?'
(to the KING)'Sir, for the man whom the king wishes to honour, (8)let the king’s royal clothing be brought, and the horse that the king rides upon, with the royal crown set upon its head; (9)and let this clothing and horse be delivered at the hand of one of the king's most noble men, who will dress him and lead him on horseback through the streets of the city, declaringloudly before him, 'Thus shall be done to the man whom the king wishes to honour.'
KING: '[Excellent]. Hurry, and take the clothing and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew - omit no detail of what you have said.'
HAMAN: [Gasping, flummoxed, angry, purple, indignant, speechless!]
NARR: (11) So he had to take the clothing and the horse, and dress Mordecai, and lead him on horseback through the streets of the city, declaringloudly before him:
HAMAN: 'Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honour.'
NARR:(12) As soon as they got back to the palace gate, he hurried home, his head covered in mourning, (13) and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Butthey… said to him,
CHORUS: 'If Mordecai, before whom you have stumbled, is a Jew, you will not prevail against him –you will surely fall before him.'
NARR:(14) Just then, the king's eunuchs came, and took himoff to Esther’s banquet.
Chapter 7
NARR:(1) So the king and Haman came to feast with Esther the queen. (2) And the king… asked Esther once more...
KING: 'What is your petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted;... even to half the kingdom.'
ESTHER: 'If I have found favour in your sight, O king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request; (4) For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be slain and to be wiped out...'
KING: (angry)'[What?] Who is he, and where is he, thatplans to do this?'
ESTHER: 'The adversary and enemy is… this wicked Haman.'
NARR: Then Haman cringed in terror before the king and queen.... (9) And.... one of the eunuchs, said to the king,
CHORUS 2 (high voice): 'Sir, there is a gallows, fifty cubits high, standing at Haman's home, which he built for Mordecai, whose words saved the king.
KING: '[Perfect]. Hang him on it.'
NARR:(10) So they hanged him on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king's anger was abated.
Chapter 8
NARR:(1)That very day king Ahashverosh gave Haman’s estate to Esther the queen. Mordecai presented himself before the king after Esther explained how they were related, (2)and the king took off his ring, which he had taken back from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Then Esther(5) said:
ESTHER: 'If it please the king... let the decreeto destroy the Jews be cancelled; (6) for how can I bear to see the evil and destruction that shall come to my people?'
NARR(7) But king Ahashverosh said to Esther and Mordecai:
KING: '[Unfortunately],once a decree has been decreed in the king's name and sealed with the king's ring, it can never be cancelled. However(8) you may write [another decree] in the king's name, as you think best, and seal it with the king's ring.
NARR:(9) The king's scribes were called… and they wrote...in the king’s… name to … every province and to every people, and to the Jews in their own language...(10) and sealed it with the king's ring,... (11)permitting the Jews in each city to gather together, and to fight for their lives, defending themselves against anybodywho attacked them...
MORDECAI (15) So I went out from the king's presence in royal clothes of blue and white, with a magnificent crown of gold, and in every province, and in every city… the Jews enjoyedlight and gladness, happiness and honour…(quoted in Havdalah ceremony, see Mishkan T’filah page 610, penultimate line)
Chapter 9
NARR: (1) And so,on the thirteenth day of the twelth month*,Adar, on the very day that the enemies of the Jews had planned to have power over them, the very opposite happened...;(16) they dealt with their enemies on the... (17) thirteenth of Adar, and rested on the fourteenth, making it a day of feasting and merrymaking, (18) except in Shushan, the capital, where the fighting lasted two days, (6) and they killed... five hundred men, including (7)(in one breath!)Parshandata, Dalfon, Aspata, (8) Porata, Adalia, Aridata, (9) Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizata, (10) the ten sons of Haman, the enemy of the Jews....,(18) and only on the fifteenth day of Adar did they rest, making it a day of feasting and gladness…
MORDECAI: (20) So I sent letters to all the Jews that were in all the provinces of king Ahashverosh, both near and far, (21)that they should observe the fourteenth day of the month Adar, or the fifteenth day, each year, (22) [to remember] when the month was turned from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to a holiday; that they should celebrate days of feasting and joy, and of sending presents to one another, and gifts to the poor…
Chapter 10
NARRATOR: (3) And Mordecai the Jew ranked next to king Ahashverosh; he was great among the Jews, and was popular with the multitude of his people, seeking their good, and speaking for their welfare.
(The End!)
* Although Rosh Hashanah is in Tishri, the first month is Nisan, the month after Adar.