--- title: "Book of Esther: Summary & All 16 Chapters · Bless" url: https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/ description: "The Book of Esther, a court tale in 16 chapters. Bp. Challoner’s summary of all 16 chapters, and the full text free." --- Old Testament # The Book of Esther The Book of Esther is the nineteenth of the 46 books of the Old Testament: 16 chapters and 275 verses. [Start reading: Esther 1](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/1/) Chapters 1–16: [1](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/1/) … [16](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/16/) ## About Esther About Esther · Court tale Esther tells how a Jewish orphan became queen of Persia and, at the risk of her life, undid a decree of annihilation against her people — the deliverance Jews still celebrate at Purim. Its author is unknown; the Catholic Bible includes the longer Greek edition, whose added prayers make explicit the faith the shorter Hebrew text famously leaves unspoken. It was written for communities living at the mercy of foreign powers, to teach that providence works through timing, courage, and a woman willing to say: if I perish, I perish. *Esther in Bless* | | | |---|---| | Testament | Old Testament — book 19 of 46, 19 of 73 in the Bible | | Canon | Protocanonical (in every Christian canon) | | Chapters | 16 | | Verses | 275, as Bless numbers them | | Latin | Clementine Vulgate, every chapter | | Bp. Challoner | Summaries of all 16 chapters · 5 notes | | Catechism | No references | Chapter by chapter ## All 16 chapters, *in brief.* Bishop Richard Challoner’s summary of each chapter, from his revision of the Douay-Rheims (1749–52). Open a chapter for the full text. 1. ### [Esther 1](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/1/) 22 verses King Assuerus maketh a great feast. Queen Vasthi being sent for refuseth to come: for which disobedience she is deposed. 2. ### [Esther 2](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/2/) 23 verses Esther is advanced to be queen. Mardochai detecteth a plot against the king. 3. ### [Esther 3](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/3/) 15 verses Aman, advanced by the king, is offended at Mardochai, and therefore procureth the king's decree to destroy the whole nation of the Jews. 4. ### [Esther 4](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/4/) 17 verses Mardochai desireth Esther to petition the king for the Jews. They join in fasting and prayer. 5. ### [Esther 5](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/5/) 14 verses Esther is graciously received: she inviteth the king and Aman to dinner, Aman prepareth a gibbet for Mardochai. 6. ### [Esther 6](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/6/) 14 verses The king hearing of the good service done him by Mardochai, commandeth Aman to honour him next to the king, which he performeth. 7. ### [Esther 7](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/7/) 10 verses Esther's petition for herself and her people: Aman is hanged upon the gibbet he had prepared for Mardochai. 8. ### [Esther 8](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/8/) 17 verses Mardochai is advanced: Aman's letters are reversed. 9. ### [Esther 9](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/9/) 32 verses The Jews kill their enemies that would have killed them. The days of Phurim are appointed to be kept holy. 10. ### [Esther 10](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/10/) 13 verses Assuerus's greatness. Mardochai's dignity. 11. ### [Esther 11](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/11/) 12 verses The dream of Mardochai, which in the ancient Greek and Latin Bibles was into the beginning of the book, but was detached by St. Jerome, and put in this place. 12. ### [Esther 12](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/12/) 6 verses Mardochai detects the conspiracy of the two eunuchs. 13. ### [Esther 13](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/13/) 18 verses A copy of a letter sent by Aman to destroy the Jews. Mardochai's prayer for the people. 14. ### [Esther 14](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/14/) 19 verses The prayer of Esther for herself and her people. 15. ### [Esther 15](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/15/) 19 verses Esther comes into the king's presence: she is terrified, but God turns his heart. 16. ### [Esther 16](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/16/) 24 verses A copy of the king's letter in favour of the Jews. Bp. Richard Challoner · chapter summaries In the comments ## What the saints *said.* 1 quotation from 1 saint linked to passages of Esther in Bless. Each names the work it comes from. [St. Joan of Arc](https://blessbible.app/saints/st-joan-of-arc/) · on [Esther 4:14](https://blessbible.app/bible/esther/4/#v14) On this theme > I am not afraid; I was born to do this. Trial testimony, 1431, 1431 [Previous book The Book of Judith](https://blessbible.app/bible/judith/) [Next book The Book of Job](https://blessbible.app/bible/job/)