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Esther 3
Septuagint (LXX2012) compared with World English Bible
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The MT removes God entirely from the Book of Esther. The Masoretic version does not mention God a single time.
God references: 52 LXX vs 0 MT+107 verses in LXX
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Septuagint (LXX2012)
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1And after this king Artaxerxes highly honored Aman [son] of Amadathes, the Bugaean, and exalted him, and set his seat above all his friends.
1After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.
2And all in the palace did him obeisance, for so the king had given orders to do: but Mardochaeus did not do him obeisance.
2All the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai didn’t bow down or pay him homage.
3And they in the king's palace said to Mardochaeus, Mardochaeus, why do you transgress the commands of the king?
3Then the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s commandment?”
4[Thus] they spoke daily to him, but he listened not to them; so they represented to Aman that Mardochaeus resisted the commands of the king: and Mardochaeus had shown to them that he was a Jew.
4Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily to him, and he didn’t listen to them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.
5And when Aman understood that Mardochaeus did not obeisance to him , he was greatly enraged,
5When Haman saw that Mordecai didn’t bow down nor pay him homage, Haman was full of wrath.
6and took counsel to destroy utterly all the Jews who were under the rule of Artaxerxes.
6But he scorned the thought of laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had made known to him Mordecai’s people. Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even Mordecai’s people.
7And he made a decree in the twelfth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, and cast lots daily and monthly, to kill in one day the race of Mardochaeus: and the lot fell on the fourteenth [day] of the monthwhich is Adar.
7In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, and chose the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
8And he spoke to king Artaxerxes, saying, There is a nation scattered among the nations in all your kingdom, and their laws differ from [those of] all the [other] nations; and they disobey the laws of the king; and it is not expedient for the kingto let them alone.
8Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different from other people’s. They don’t keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not for the king’s profit to allow them to remain.
9If it seem good to the king, let him make a decree to destroy them: and I will remit into the king's treasury ten thousand talents of silver .
9If it pleases the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who are in charge of the king’s business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”
10And the king took off his ring , and gave it into the hands of Aman, to seal the decrees against the Jews.
10The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy.
11And the king said to Aman, Keep the silver , and treat the nation as you will.
11The king said to Haman, “The silver is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”
12So 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 one hundred and twenty-seven provinces; and to the rulers of the nations according to their [several] languages, in the name of king Artaxerxes.
12Then the king’s scribes were called in on the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month; and all that Haman commanded was written to the king’s local governors, and to the governors who were over every province, and to the princes of every people, to every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus, and it was sealed with the king’s ring.
13And [the message] was sent by posts throughout the kingdom of Artaxerxes, to destroy utterly the race of the Jews on the first day of the twelfth month, which is Adar, and to plunder their goods. [And the following is the copy of the letter; The great king Artaxerxes writes thus to the rulers and inferior governors of one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India even to Ethiopia, who hold authority under [him]. Ruling over many nations and having obtained dominion over the whole world, I was minded (not elated by the confidence of power, but ever conducting [myself] with great moderation and gentleness) to make the lives of [my] subjects continually tranquil, desiring both to maintain the kingdom quiet and orderly to [its] utmost limits, and to restore the peace desired by all men. But when I had enquired of my counselors how this should be brought to pass. Aman, who excels in soundness of judgment among us, and has been manifestly well inclined without wavering and with unshaken fidelity, and had obtained the second post in the kingdom, informed us that a certain ill-disposed people is mixed up with all the tribes throughout the world, opposed in their law to every [other] nation, and continually neglecting the commands of the king, so that the united government blamelessly administered by us is not quietly established. Having then conceived that this nation [alone of all others] is continually set in opposition to every man, introducing as a change a foreign code of laws, and injuriously plotting to accomplish the worst of evils against our interests, and against the happy establishment of the monarchy; we signified to you in the letter written by Aman, who is set over [the public] affairs and is our second governor, to destroy them all utterly with their wives and children by the swords of the enemies, without pitying or sparing any, on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month Adar, of the present year; that the people aforetime and now ill-disposed [to us] having been violently consigned to death in one day, may hereafter secure to us continually a well constituted and quiet [state of affairs.] ]
13Letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their possessions.
14And the copies of the letters were published in every province; and an order was given to all the nations to be ready against that day.
14A copy of the letter, that the decree should be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, that they should be ready against that day.
15And the business was hastened, and [that] at Susa: and the king and Aman began to drink; but the city was troubled.
15The couriers went out in haste by the king’s commandment, and the decree was given out in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Susa was perplexed.