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Mfumu Ikwatira Estere

Pambuyo pake mtima wa Ahasiwero utatsika, Ahasiwero anakumbukira Vasiti ndi zimene anachita Vasitiyo. Anakumbukiranso lamulo lomukhudza limene anasindikiza. Tsono anyamata a mfumu amene ankamutumikira anati, “Mfumu, akufunireni anamwali okongola. Mfumu isankhe oyangʼanira pa chigawo chilichonse cha ufumu wake kuti abwere nawo pamodzi anamwali onse okongola ku nyumba yosungira akazi ku Susa. Hegai, mdindo wofulidwa wa mfumu, amene amayangʼanira amayi, akhale wosamalira anamwaliwa ndipo aziwapatsa mafuta odzola. Ndipo namwali amene mfumu yakondwera naye akhale mfumukazi mʼmalo mwa Vasiti.” Mfumu inakondwera ndi uphunguwu, ndipo inachita momwemo.

Myuda wina wa fuko la Benjamini, dzina lake Mordekai, mwana wa Yairi, mwana wa Simei, mwana wa Kisi, anali mu mzinda wa Susa. Iyeyu anali mmodzi mwa anthu amene anatengedwa ukapolo ndi Nebukadinezara mfumu ya ku Babuloni kuchokera ku Yerusalemu pamodzi ndi Yekoniya mfumu ya Yuda. Mordekai nʼkuti atalera Hadasa, amene ankatchedwanso Estere, mwana wamkazi wa amalume ake chifukwa analibe abambo kapena amayi. Mtsikanayu anali wokongola ndi wooneka bwino ndipo Mordekai ankamutenga ngati mwana wake weniweni pamene abambo ndi amayi ake anamwalira.

Lamulo la mfumu atalilengeza ndi kubwera nawo pamodzi anamwali ambiri ku mzinda wa Susa kuti akasamalidwe ndi Hegai, Estere nayenso anatengedwa kupita naye ku nyumba ya mfumu kuti akasamalidwe ndi Hegai woyangʼanira nyumba yosungiramo akazi uja. Hegai anasangalatsidwa naye namwaliyo ndipo anamukomera mtima. Mosataya nthawi anamupatsa mafuta ake odzola ndi chakudya chapadera. Anamusankhiranso anamwali asanu ndi awiri a ku nyumba ya mfumu kuti azimutumikira, ndipo iye pamodzi ndi anamwali omutumikira aja anawapatsa malo abwino koposa mʼnyumba yosungira akazi.

10 Estere sanawulule mtundu wake ndi abale ake chifukwa Mordekai anamuletsa kutero. 11 Tsiku ndi tsiku Mordekai ankayendayenda pafupi ndi bwalo la nyumba yosungiramo akazi ija kuti adziwe za moyo wa Estere ndi kuti zinthu zikumuyendera bwanji.

12 Tsono nthawi inkafika kuti namwali aliyense akaonekere kwa mfumu Ahasiwero, pakutha pa miyezi khumi ndi iwiri yomwe inakhazikitsidwa kuti amayi azidzikongoletsa. Pa miyezi isanu ndi umodzi ankadzola mafuta a mure ndipo pa miyezi isanu ndi umodzi inayo ankadzola zonunkhira ndi zokongoletsa. 13 Ndipo namwali ankapita kwa mfumu motere: Ankaloledwa kutenga chilichonse angafune mʼnyumba yosungiramo akazi kupita nacho ku nyumba ya mfumu. 14 Ankalowa madzulo kwa mfumu ndi kutuluka mmawa kupita ku nyumba ina yosungira akazi yomwe ankayangʼanira ndi Saasigazi, mdindo wofulidwa wa mfumu amene amayangʼanira akazi a mfumu. Namwali sankabwerera kwa mfumu pokhapokha amukomere mtima ndi kumuyitana potchula dzina lake.

15 Tsono inafika nthawi kuti Estere, mwana wamkazi wa Abihaili amenenso analeredwa ndi Mordekai amalume ake, alowe kwa mfumu. Iye sanapemphe kanthu kalikonse, koma anatenga zokhazo zimene ananena Hegai mdindo wofulidwa wa mfumu woyangʼanira nyumba yosungiramo akazi. Ndipo aliyense amene anamuona Estere, anasangalatsidwa naye. 16 Anapita naye kwa mfumu Ahasiwero ku nyumba ya ufumu pa mwezi wa khumi, mwezi wa Tebete, chaka cha chisanu ndi chiwiri cha ufumu wake.

17 Ndipo mfumu inamukonda Estere koposa wina aliyense wa akazi aja, kotero inamukonda ndi kumukomera mtima koposa wina aliyense wa anamwali aja. Choncho anamumveka chipewa chaufumu pa mutu pake nakhala mfumukazi mʼmalo mwa Vasiti. 18 Ndipo mfumu inakonza phwando lalikulu, phwando la Estere, kukonzera anthu olemekezeka ndi nduna zake zonse. Analamuliranso kuti anthu mʼzigawo zonse asapereke msonkho ndipo anapereka mphatso monga mwakukoma mtima kwa mfumu.

Mordekai Awulula Chiwembu

19 Anamwali atasonkhanitsidwa pamodzi, Mordekai anakhala pansi pa chipata cha mfumu. 20 Koma Estere anali asanawululebe za mtundu wake ndi anthu a pa banja lake monga momwe analamulira Mordekai, chifukwa anapitirira kutsata malangizo a Mordekai monga ankachitira pamene ankamulera.

21 Pa nthawi imene Mordekai ankalondera pa chipata cha mfumu, Bigitana ndi Teresi, awiri mwa adindo ofulidwa amfumu, olondera pa khomo la nyumba yake, anayipidwa mtima ndipo anakonza chiwembu chofuna kupha mfumu Ahasiwero. 22 Koma Mordekai atazindikira za chiwembuchi anawuza mfumukazi Estere ndipo iye anakawuza mfumu mʼmalo mwa Mordekai. 23 Ndipo pamene anafufuza za chiwembuchi kuti zinali zoona, adindo awiriwa anaphedwa monyongedwa. Zinthu izi zinalembedwa mʼbuku la Mbiri ndi kusungidwa ndi Mfumu.

Esther Made Queen

Later when King Xerxes’ fury had subsided,(A) he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. Then the king’s personal attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them. Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it.

Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish,(B) who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin[a](C) king of Judah.(D) Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther,(E) had a lovely figure(F) and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.

When the king’s order and edict had been proclaimed, many young women were brought to the citadel of Susa(G) and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem. She pleased him and won his favor.(H) Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food.(I) He assigned to her seven female attendants selected from the king’s palace and moved her and her attendants into the best place in the harem.

10 Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so.(J) 11 Every day he walked back and forth near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her.

12 Before a young woman’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes(K) and cosmetics. 13 And this is how she would go to the king: Anything she wanted was given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 14 In the evening she would go there and in the morning return to another part of the harem to the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines.(L) She would not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name.(M)

15 When the turn came for Esther (the young woman Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail(N)) to go to the king,(O) she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor(P) of everyone who saw her. 16 She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

17 Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen(Q) instead of Vashti. 18 And the king gave a great banquet,(R) Esther’s banquet, for all his nobles and officials.(S) He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality.(T)

Mordecai Uncovers a Conspiracy

19 When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate.(U) 20 But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.(V)

21 During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthana[b] and Teresh, two of the king’s officers(W) who guarded the doorway, became angry(X) and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. 22 But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai. 23 And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the two officials were impaled(Y) on poles. All this was recorded in the book of the annals(Z) in the presence of the king.(AA)

Footnotes

  1. Esther 2:6 Hebrew Jeconiah, a variant of Jehoiachin
  2. Esther 2:21 Hebrew Bigthan, a variant of Bigthana