The
Book of Esther, also known in
Hebrew as "the Scroll" (
Megillah), is a book in the third section (
Ketuvim, "Writings") of the
Jewish Tanakh (the
Hebrew Bible) and in the Christian
Old Testament. It relates the story of a
Jewish girl in
Persia, born as Hadassah but known as
Esther, who becomes queen of Persia and thwarts a
genocide of her people. The story forms the core of the
Jewish festival of
Purim, during which it is read aloud twice: once in the evening and again the following morning. Along with the
Song of Songs, Esther is one of only two books in the Bible that do not explicitly mention
God.