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Then I testified against them, and said to them, Why do ye lodge in front of the wall? if ye do so again, I will stretch out my hand upon you. From that time they came not on the sabbath.

So we will not hearken to you to do all this evil, to break covenant with our God, �to marry strange wives.

So I purged them from all foreign connection, and established courses for the priests and the Levites, every man according to his work.

And this banquet was not according to the appointed law; but so the king would have it: and he charged the stewards to perform his will and that of the company.

But queen Astin hearkened not to him to come with the chamberlains: so the king was grieved and angered.

So Arkesaeus, and Sarsathaeus, and Malisear, the princes of the Persians and Medes, who were near the king, who sat chief in rank by the king, drew near to him,

so this day shall the other ladies of the chiefs of the Persians and Medes, having heard what she said to the king, dare in the same way to dishonour their husbands.

And let the law of the king which he shall have made, be widely proclaimed, in his kingdom: and so shall all the women give honour to their husbands, from the poor even to the rich.

And let the woman who shall please the king be queen instead of Astin. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.

Now this was the time for a virgin to go into the king, when she should have fulfilled twelve months; for so are the days of purification fulfilled, six months while they are anointing themselves with oil of myrrh, and six months with spices and women�s purifications.

So Esther went in to king Artaxerxes in the twelfth month, which is Adar, in the seventh year of his reign.

Now Esther had not discovered her kindred; for so Mardochaeus commanded her, to fear God, and perform his commandments, as when she was with him: and Esther changed not her manner of life.

And all in the palace did him obeisance, for so the king had given orders to do: but Mardochaeus did not do him obeisance.

Thus they spoke daily to him, but he hearkened not unto them; so they represented to Aman that Mardochaeus resisted the commands of the king: and Mardochaeus had shewn to them that he was a Jew.

So the king�s recorders were called in the first month, on the thirteenth day, and they wrote as Aman commanded to the captains and governors in every province, from India even to Ethiopia, to a hundred and twenty-seven provinces; and to the rulers of the nations according to their several languages, in the name of king Artaxerxes.

So Esther called for her chamberlain Achrathaeus, who waited upon her; and she sent to learn the truth from Mardochaeus.

So Achrathaeus went in and told her all these words.

So Mardochaeus went and did all that Esther commanded him.

And the king said, Hasten Aman hither, that we may perform the word of Esther. So they both come to the feast of which Esther had spoken.

So Aman went out from the king very glad and merry: but when Aman saw Mardochaeus the Jew in the court, he was greatly enraged.