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The Book of Esther is a book of the Old Testament and Jewish Tanakh.

The Biblical Book of Esther is set in the time of Xerxes I (in Greek; Persian: Khshayarsha; Hebrew: Ahasuerus), the Persian king, who ruled 486 - 465 B.C.. The exploits of the historical Xerxes do not enter into the Book of Esther which is a tale of palace intrigue, attempted genocide and a brave Jewish queen. Esther was written possibly as late as 130 B.C., after historical details had become legendary.

In the story, Xerxes is married to Vashti, whom he puts aside after she rejects his offer to visit him during a feast ( 484 B.C.). Mordecai's cousin Hadassah is selected from the candidates to be Xerxes's new wife and assumes the "throne name" of Esther ( 480 B.C.Centuries: 6th century BC 5th century BC 4th century BC Decades: 530s BC 520s BC 510s BC 500s BC 490s BC 480s BC 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC Years: 485 BC 484 BC 483 BC 482 BC 481 BC 480 BC 479 BC 478 BC 477 BC 476 BC 475 BC Events King Xerxes). His prime minister HamanIn Jewish tradition, Haman was the key instigator in the Purim story (told in the Book of Esther) and is descended from Amalek. He attempted to trick King Xerxes into thinking that Mordecai was a traitor. Upon finding out that Haman was lying, Xerxes orde (an Amalekite) and Haman's wife Zeresh plot to have Xerxes kill all the JewThe word Jew is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to either a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or a member of the Jewish culture or ethnicity. This article discusses the term as describing an ethnic group; for as, without knowing that Esther is Jewish. Esther saves the day for her people: her loyal servants warn Xerxes of Haman's plot to kill all the Jews. Haman is hanged on the gallows he had had built for Mordecai, and Mordecai becomes prime minister in Haman's place.

Mordecai is described as having been carried away from JerusalemCapitals in Asia For alternate uses see Jerusalem (disambiguation Jerusalem ( Modern Hebrew: Yerushalayim Biblical Hebrew: Arabic: al-Quds see also Names of Jerusalem) is an ancient Middle Eastern city of key importance to the religions of Judaism, Christ with JeconiahJeconiah (also known as Jehoiachin Joachin and Coniah was king of Judah. He was the son of Jehoiakim and Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. Both Albright and Thiele date his reign to 598 BC. He began to reign in Jerusalem at the age of eight, up by NebuchadnezzarNebuchadnezzar or Nevuchadnetzar Standard Hebrew Nvuadnear Tiberian Hebrew Nuanar Akkadian origin Nabu-kudurri-uur "Nabu, defend my boundary marker. was the name of several kings of Babylonia. The best known of these kings was Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, which happened in 597 B.C., some 110 years before. Xerxes's wife in the late 480s was Amestris, a daughter of one of his generals. The Elamites had been a people whose capital city was Shushan and whose traditional enemy was Babylon. Elam had been crushed (in 640 B.C.) by the Assyrians, whose campaign against the Elamites drew the Assyrian forces away from Judah, thus saving the Jews; at the same time, the Assyrians were so weakened by their efforts that Assyria fell to Persia, and Darius I built Susa where Shushan had been. By the time Esther was written, the foreign power visible on the horizon as a future threat to Judah was the Macedonians of Alexander the Great, who defeated the Persian empire about 150 years after the time of the story of Esther; thus the Apocryphal version has Xerxes call Haman a Macedonian instead of an Amalekite, who had been the Jews' enemies at an earlier time.

Esther is the only book of the Bible that does not mention God. It is the only book of the Tanakh that is not represented among the Dead sea scrolls.

Later additions were made to Esther in its translation into Greek in the Septuagint, which then was used by Jerome in compiling the Latin Vulgate, although it is claimed that he recognized them as later additions. These interpolations were dismissed by the scholars making the King James Version and were relegated to the Apocrypha, but as part of the Vulgate they remain in Catholic Bibles. That the interpolations are inspired scripture in the Catholic Church was formally declared at the Council of Trent. Catholic circles use the term "deuterocanonical" rather than "apocryphal".

The classic film version of the story is the 1960 Esther and the King starring Joan Collins and Richard Egan and directed by Raoul Walsh.