UNROLL
Dusk at the citadel of Susa: in the lower third, one small veiled woman, seen from behind and far off, stands on a high terrace between two tall slender columns, the flat-roofed city and date palms falling away below her with a few lamps lit, under a calm, clear, empty sky of deep blue fading to a last amber at the horizon.

The Book of

Esther Intro

A queen with a secret, a man who would not bow, and a plot that turned on its maker.

Before chapter 1≈ 2 min10 chapters

Images are artistic interpretations.

In 30 seconds

A Persian king deposes his queen.

An orphan named Esther takes her place.

Haman buys a decree to kill every Jew.

Esther risks her life before the king.

The plot is overturned, and Purim begins.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Who wrote it

Unknown writer

A Jew who knew the Persian court

  • The book doesn’t name its writer.Most scholars
  • It knows Susa and the court in close detail.Esther 1:6
  • It points to the Persian kings’ records.Esther 10:2
  • Probably written in the fifth or fourth century BC.Most scholars

Big themes

Four threads to follow

Where it happens

PersiaMediaTo IndiaCushJerusalemBabylonSusa

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

The Jews who stayed

Many Jews never went home after Cyrus let them go. Esther’s story happens far from Jerusalem, at Susa, the empire’s winter capital.

Meet the cast

Four people to know

Watch for

And who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Esther 4:14

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Question

Quick question

Esther ends with a feast, and it has never stopped.

What feast comes from the book of Esther?

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